How long does it take to make a feature-length documentary?

While ‘feature’ documentaries can take a year or more to produce, most shorter form documentaries can be finalized in as little as 2-3+ months, in three phases: Preproduction: Research and writing, interview and location scouting, scheduling shoot days. This will take approximately 4-6+ weeks.

Are documentaries longer than features?

A documentary film that runs 40 minutes or longer would be a documentary feature film. A documentary film that runs for less than 40 minutes would be a documentary short.

How long are documentaries usually?

Traditionally, documentaries are 30-minutes to 2 hours in length (to fit within a television schedule or for theatrical release). However, documentaries are often shorter in length, especially in recent years with the advent of the Internet and web video. Learn about mini-documentaries.

How long is a short documentary?

The Academy Awards defines the line between a short and a feature-length film at 40 minutes, while the Sundance Film Festival places the cutoff at 50 minutes. Short documentary films are then, of course, roughly between 5 minutes and 45 minutes.

What is the difference between short film and feature film?

A short film is basically any film that is too short to be considered a feature film. The special effects, music, actors, and all other aspects of a movie are irrelevant; the only thing that is relevant to defining a film as a “short film” is simply its length.

How long does it take to edit a feature length documentary?

Based on the documentary’s duration, type, and purpose, the time taken to complete a documentary film from its planning stage to the final edit will easily take from 12 weeks to 36 weeks. However, aberrations are ranging from a month up to 15 years in making a documentary. Yes, you can make a documentary in a day too.

How long does it take to film a feature film?

For the average movie, the actual shooting of footage usually takes between one and three months. The time depends on the length of the script, but the going is slow. “One or two script pages will take a whole day to film,” says cinematographer Margaret Kurniawan.

How short can a feature film be?

A modern feature is typically between 80 and 180 minutes long, but different groups have different minimum lengths to be considered a feature. The Screen Actors Guild definition sets the minimum length at 80 minutes, while AFI and BFI’s definitions call any film longer than 40 minutes a feature.

How long should a feature film be?

Depending on which definition you choose to follow, a film may qualify as a feature if it is 40 minutes, 50 minutes, 60 minutes, 75 minutes, or 80 minutes. In other words, there is no actual standard. Subjectively, many of us are accustomed to the typical 90 minute feature film runtime.

What is the average length of a documentary film?

I can’t find any data on the average length of documentary feature films, but the average feature length of films released in 2013 was 130 minutes. Casual evidence (i.e. me looking at the documentaries on Netflix) suggests the average runtime is around about 90 minutes.

What is the difference between a documentary and feature film?

A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or maintaining a historical record. A documentary film that runs 40 minutes or longer would be a documentary feature film. A documenta Whether or not a film is a feature film depends on its runtime.

What was the first feature-length film in the world?

History Actor playing the Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), the world’s first dramatic feature-length film. A poster for The Jazz Singer (1927) the first feature film to use recorded sound.