Amateur filmmaker quirks

moonshieldmedia

moonshieldmedia

I once read an interview from a film festival programmer who gave the advice "Whatever you do, don't start your film with a character hitting an alarm clock and then getting out of bed."

Apparently he gets an unbelievably comical amount of submissions starting that way, and ever since I read that article I've noticed dozens of student films with that familiar "close-up on alarm clock with hand reaching in frame to silence it" opening.

Besides production quality, what are some other quirks, or tell-tale signs of an amateur filmmaker?
 
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moonshieldmedia said:
I once read an interview from a film festival programmer who gave the advice "Whatever you do, don't start your film with a character hitting an alarm clock and then getting out of bed."

Apparently he gets an unbelievably comical amount of submissions starting that way, and ever since I read that article I've noticed dozens of student films with that familiar "close-up on alarm clock with hand reaching in frame to silence it" opening.

Besides production quality, what are some other quirks, or tell-tale signs of an amateur filmmaker?
Click to expand...

Poor or no color grading/color correction. Bad or no lighting.
 
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Bad or no lighting.
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Terrible sound.
Half assed editing with those awkward silent moments in between shot changes.
Really cool looking production company intro, followed by a crappy opening shot.
Super long intro with people names that nobody recognizes.
Bare walls.
Lighting fixture chords.
Handheld camera.
Really crappy CGI gun shots.
Slow fight scenes.
Prolonged "meaninful" stares into a sunset.
Also I havent seen that many lately but "Royal with cheese" type of conversation, only much shittier and boring.
An obvious 19 year old playing a mafia boss. (goes along with teenage acne covered super secret fbi/cia hero)

I could keep going but gotta go back to editing :)
 
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All of the above, and add poor audio to that list. Possibly the most common (and worst) of them all.

Edit: nevermind, dlevanchuk posted right as I did. He covered them all that I can think of. The "teenagers playing adult roles" is a huge one and I've learned my lesson there. From here on out I refuse to write characters for stuff that I plan on shooting unless I'm sure I can cast someone whose appearance will fit the role.
 
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Okay, I’ll not mention anything technical (lighting, audio, bad acting) and
stick to the things I see in way too many short films.

Films about filmmakers
Dream Sequences
Stories about suicide
Shooting into a mirror
An opening credit sequence
Zooming
The “vertigo” shot
Homage to a current, “hot” trend
An homage to Tarantino
 
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dlevanchuk said:
Terrible sound.
Half assed editing with those awkward silent moments in between shot changes.
Really cool looking production company intro, followed by a crappy opening shot.
Super long intro with people names that nobody recognizes.
Bare walls.
Lighting fixture chords.
Handheld camera.
Really crappy CGI gun shots.
Slow fight scenes.
Prolonged "meaninful" stares into a sunset.
Also I havent seen that many lately but "Royal with cheese" type of conversation, only much shittier and boring.
An obvious 19 year old playing a mafia boss. (goes along with teenage acne covered super secret fbi/cia hero)

I could keep going but gotta go back to editing :)
Click to expand...

+1
gold121.jpg


Gotta get back to (not) screenwriting. ;)
 
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dlevanchuk said:
An obvious 19 year old playing a mafia boss.
Click to expand...

It's funny that you mention that. We're trying to cast a mafia boss for our web series and one of my actors (who is 21) wants his YOUNGER brother to play him.

10 minute argument ended with the sentence "The audience is not fucking retarded!"
 
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All of the above and.....

Boring subject matter
Unbelievable story or sequences
Inability to properly pace the footage appropriately to the subject matter.

and the number #1 reason something looks amateur: Camera bobbing up and down in shots that should be still. For some reason, almost every amateur film maker doesn't use a tripod or a steadycam or use any post stabilization. There's a percentage of the population that suffers from motion sickness. Poor camerawork can set that off. Hell, I don't suffer from motion sickness and there are a fair few clips I've seen here that make me feel ill due to unstable camera movement.
 
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I'll also add:

flabby script/action. And by that I mean the script isn't tight. So many amateur films I see that have Person A walking around for half the film. Audiences aren't stupid, and unless there's a poignant story reason for Person A to walk from place B to place C, then we don't need to see it.

I see it so often.
 
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YES YES YES....

As Jax said, people watch films to entertain. What is entertaining about seeing the same old boring stuff that most people already live?

Also: Too many shots that mimic real life's view. POV, eye line shots.
 
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logos.
long logos.
long logos with opening credits.
long logos with opening credits and solo piano.
. . .
---------
fuck.
fuck you.
fuck off.
fuck all.
you fuck my wife?
. . .
 
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In the spirit of that redneck guy:

If there are 13 positions in the closing credits and your name is listed 12 times... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If registering the copyright for your script costs 42 cents and an envelope... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If Rebel Without A Crew is your single template to success... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If the cast & crew menu for the entire week reads Little Caesars... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If a police-car drives by while you're filming in public and the director loudly whispers, "If anyone asks, this is a student film"... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If your script ends with...

Code: 
The gun muzzle flashes white.

Fade out

...you might be an amateur filmmaker!
 
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If you have massive continuity errors.... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If your opening credits contain no famous people, and you take ten minutes to get through them... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If you don't shoot in HD... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If you shoot in 30fps... you might be an amateur filmmaker!

If you use Windows Movie Maker... you ARE an amateur filmmaker!
 
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Have you ever been watching a movie and caught an error like that? I was watching Tommy Boy the other day, and the scene where Farley gets out to take a piss, and Spade drives away, a van drives past them on the road. For a few brief seconds you can see the director's shadow sitting on one of those really tall chairs, and I think the camera too.
 
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