I've heard many actors admit this fact. But it just seems so...slow. How are you able to even...like get into a flow of your character and movie? I've seen scripts, and it seems like a scene is a good...6 or more pages I guess. One page per script means, roughly, one minute of dialogue. So every day they are only completing 2, maybe 3 minutes of the movie per day. That's amazing.

Also, do people know the averag length of film shoots?

And do they film on every day, or do they give maybe a day or two off per week?

That is why an actor MUST know the script and have already worked out their character before filming has even begun. Communication is also very vital, establishing trust with a good director who hopefully has a clear vision of what he/she wants to accomplish and can help the actor out during those times on a long shoot where there's a tendency to feel "lost".

As for your last couple questions, every film production is different. Different people, different work environments, different speeds, everything. Some shoots take four weeks, some four months. Some films are shot in chronological order, some are broken up and mixed around according to the sets currently available, actor availability, etc. Many different things factor into all of this. 2 -3 pages filmed a day doesn't seem that slow when you see the process and know how complicated it is for all involved.

You have to remember that films are very well planned out. They have a shooting schedule on what scenes they have to get done and so forth. people know how long a shoot is schedule to be ahead of time and there is call sheets on who is up and so forth so they know well in advance when they may have some time of not shooting, but they are pretty much busy elseware.

Actors are professionals. they can turn their character on and off easy so they do know well in advance what the director wants out of them for a specific scene.

Also, productions do really have long hours. They may not work every day, but on shooting days, you can bet that it's pretty intense schedule.

Also, there is this thing called coverage, which means basically shooting every angle they need in a particular scene. So one week could be dedicated to shooting only a couple of pages in the script if it really dialogue heavy. Check out the director/writer commentary (I think) on FOTR:EE, because I think Peter Jackson talks about how long it took to shoot that one scene in Rivendell. Many days, because they needed to get every angle on every actor, including wide shots, medium shots and close ups.

Basically it takes a long time to set up the lights, grip equipment, set dressing, props, and god forbid special effects. That's not including the actors. 2-3 pages is pretty good actually. I heard on most action films they shoot about 1/4-1/2 a page a day.

well to be fair, those 1/4 - 1/2 are intensive action scenes were stunt crews need to set up and make sure to do the stunt correctly. Not to mention prepare for the scene. Really intensive stuff.

Heh. 2 - 3 pages is good. Time between setups can take a bite out of the day, even when you're pulling 12 - 14 hours. Lighting changes, direction tweaks, coverage, etc etc etc not to mention variables that might come into play on location shoots.

I just wrapped shooting on a project of five one-hours, and we averaged 6 - 7 pages a day. It was murder. Shooting 24p digital with minimal light setups and minimal coverage was the ONLY way we got it done. 45 shooting days for over 250 pages of script was a race against the clock. Working with bigger rigs, larger crews, and more complex material will easily drop you to below 3 pages a day. That, and the desire to maintain sanity.

At the same time, look at the beginning of Lethal Weapon 4. Donner had up to 14 cameras simultaneously doing coverage and only a few scenes with dialog had more than 1 take.

I never knew what it took to put a film together till I actually started doing it. now I have a real appreciation for the art. It takes a LOT of hard work, long hours and dedication to put even the smallest project together. The filming process is long but post production can be even longer. Editing, sound stuff, etc. You can't just point a camera at someone and say action... well you can, but it'll look like that's what you did