Movie Making Advice For Film Students
Movie making advice for film students is all over the place, but here's some which they just might not be expecting.
According to popular opinion, all student films have one thing in common, they're not very good. Now, that was a really polite way of, shall we say, interpreting the comments of many other people on the subject, but what is the reason for this? These students of film study hard, they very often go on to have wonderfully successful careers, they have the drive, they have the ability, they have the determination, so what's the problem? Basically, the problem is that so many student films fall into the same traps, they are so 'student film' that each one thinks they are being original but guess what, they're not.
Movie Making Advice for Film Students – Audio Problems
Student film budgets are tight, they all have that in common, but the reality is that a really good film can give the illusion of being bad, with a sub standard sound track, so it's important to take the sound track into account as much as the actual filming. Here's a few real no goes for the musical score:
- Your mates band, unless your best mate is Jon Bon Jovi forget it, they'll probably suck
- Synthesizers, if you're making a porn movie ok, if you're not, it'll sound like a porn movie anyway so you'll just have lots of disappointed viewers
- The flamenco guitar – get real, only to be used in extreme circumstances
- Wooden blocks and coconut shells – a bit old hat and the trouble is, everybody knows that they're wooden blocks and coconut shells so there's no mystery.
Movie Making Advice for Film Students – Dream Sequences
The only things that a dream sequence realistically says are – "I got myself into a tight spot and couldn't get out of it", or "I couldn't realistically think of any other way to explain this." Think it through bozo.
Movie Making Advice for Film Students – Nothing's Happened
Many students films are about wait for it – nothing at all - or so it seems to the viewer anyway. Nothing much happens for the first 90% of the film, and then in the last five minutes some excuse for a climax appears out of thin air, but guess what, the audience are already asleep and completely miss it.
Movie Making Advice for Film Students – Casting and Acting
We know that students have to use their pals for the starring roles, but do try to make the casting realistic. Don't expect us to believe that "Ugly Betty" is a super model, and don't fall back on the old eyebrow trick. It may have worked for Roger Moore but there can be too much facial expression you know, plus, it is not compulsory for an actor to take a long drag on a cigarette to show us how serious something is! Get the picture?
