What makes a great film?

    There are many things that make a great film. Since I like certain types of movies the conventions used in them truly make them great for me. I like a film that has well-trained and experienced actors, a wide variety of action or comedy scenes within them, and a unique plot line and twist that will make the film different than any other you have seen before.

   Actors are vital to a production. If your actors are not well trained, it can potentially ruin the entire film. They also have a lot of responsibilities such as knowing their lines, adding a sense of realism to what the director is trying to portray by being more believable, and also selling their role. This is the most important because the actor must know who the person they are re-creating really is. They must have the ability to act out all the emotions and actions in a way that will lure the audience into becoming interested in the film.  If you have good actors that know what they are doing, you're film will probably be successful. A film that I want to reference is one that my team made last year called What Had Happened Was. Our protagonist was played by a really good actor (guy on the bottom right) and he was the person that saved our film from really being a disaster.

   Also, since I like comedies and action films, I like it when films incorporate them into the plot. An example of this was in my favorite film of the year, White House Down. The movie had some humorous elements but was mostly an action packed thriller. I loved it because it was a very story: a new secret service agent must protect the president of 'Merica and the White House from terrorists while his daughter is somewhere inside and in danger as well. The scene below shows and ending scene in the film when the president is safe from danger with the newly-destroyed White House in the background. It was a wide shot which helped to show all of the chaos and destruction in the shot. 

   Another thing that makes a good film is the twist and the uniqueness of the film. Our class watched a film called Psycho last year. The basic plot was about a woman who had just stolen a large sum of money and was fleeing because she was trying to get to her husband in another state. She stops at a motel for the night because weather was getting bad and she soon realizes how weird the manager of the hotel is. The film revolves around the consequences for stealing the money and running away. Hitchcock introduced many original ideas such as this one and the twist at the end is what really sold the film because everything in the rest of the story led up to the moment of the twist. The shot below occurs right after the twist. Norman Bates, the hotel manager, is sitting in a room in the police department. Since it is an older film, we do not see the colors but I actually liked this factor because it added a sense of suspense and darkness to the plot. The shot here zooms in from a medium close up to an extreme close up and this is where we see how evil and controlling Norman's mom is because he has a devilish stare on his face.