For my article review this week, I decided to review 5 Completely Different Approaches You Can Take to Make Your First Feature. The article is about 5 pieces of advice for aspiring filmmakers for their first feature, taken from 5 directors whose first features were chosen to be presented at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and the 2020 Slamdance Film Festival. The 5 case studies are as followed. Got an idea but tired of development? Just grab the camera and go. Have a directorial style that’s difficult to explain? Make a short first. Start below-the-line. By the time you have a great idea, you will have the skills and crew to make it! Need to inspire confidence that you know what you’re doing? Shoot your film before you shoot your film. Got no direct experience in the lead? Enlist the help of a co-director. The article includes another case study, saying “Have the contact of someone in the industry who is amazing? Cold-email away!” I learned a lot of things from this article. For example, I had never thought of using a co-director, or cutting rehearsals and sharing them with people so they could see your vision for the feature. I found the subject very interesting, especially how one of the first-time filmmakers was able to just cold-email someone he knew in the industry, Darren Aronofsky, and that’s how he got his producer. This article has many implications for me as a filmmaker. It shows that there is really no barriers you can’t get over into making your first feature film. That whatever is stopping you is either mental or something you can easily get over. This article’s subjects has many ramifications for the film industry as a whole. The most prominent is seeing a lot more first features from filmmakers that are a little more indie and not as expensive-looking.
https://nofilmschool.com/five-casestudies-making-your-first-feature
Sean’s filmmaking blog 