Editing Invasion of the Body Snatchers (section)

===Principal photography===
Originally, producer Wanger and Siegel wanted to film ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' on location in [[Mill Valley, California]], the town just north of [[San Francisco]], that Jack Finney described in his novel.<ref name= "LaValley">LaValley 1989, p. 25.</ref> In the first week of January 1955, Siegel, Wanger, and screenwriter [[Daniel Mainwaring]] visited Finney to talk about the film version and to look at Mill Valley. The location proved too expensive, and Siegel with Allied Artist executives, found locations resembling Mill Valley in the [[Los Angeles]] area, including [[Sierra Madre, California|Sierra Madre]], [[Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California|Chatsworth]], [[Glendale, California|Glendale]], [[Los Feliz, Los Angeles|Los Feliz]], [[Bronson Canyon|Bronson]], and [[Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles|Beachwood Canyon]]s, all of which went on to make up the fictional town of "Santa Mira" for the film.<ref name="LaValley"/> In addition to these outdoor locations, much of the film was shot in the Allied Artists studio on the east side of [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]].<ref name="Warren"/>

''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'' was shot by cinematographer Ellsworth Fredericks in 23 days between March 23 and April 27, 1955. The cast and crew worked a six-day week with Sundays off.<ref name="LaValley"/> The production went over schedule by three days because of the [[night-for-night]] shooting that Siegel wanted. Additional photography took place in September 1955, filming a frame story on which the studio had insisted (see [[#ending|Original intended ending]]). The final budget was $382,190.<ref name="Warren"/>