Terrible Short Film Starter Pack

[Music] I owe you all an apology I recently realized that I've been ignoring a big portion of filmmakers with this channel what about all the writers directors and producers who want to make bad films well finally I got a video Just For You disclaimer don't take this list personally I've been guilty of pretty much all these you know some tropes are a classic for a reason and you got to try this one it's the ultimate copout ending writing a mysterious film has never been easier simply do whatever weird and change you can think of and then have your character wake up right before the end credits works every time if we didn't know that these characters were siblings before this incredibly natural line of dialogue will surely clear up any confusion this must be what they mean when they say show don't tell in screenwriting also I feel like this style of writing has been taken over by a different type of film I don't know that's just what I heard though you cannot have too many lens flares folks it's cinematic you don't like being cinematic hey there's the door don't look up with an anamorphic lens when you step outside it you might accidentally see something distractingly blue and awesome and no I'm not talking about Avatar but if you want to be the best first you got to beat the best so that's why I always make sure to double the lens flares per minute lfpm in my films versus the leading Hollywood lens flare director and that my friends is why they call me JJ JJ abrs give the people what they want text scrolling torturously slow over a black screen you literally can't have enough of this throw it in the beginning repeat the same names at the end go nuts because guess what it's called entertainment and no story is more entertaining than reading strangers names an unstyled aerial font over royalty-free music I'm still waiting for the Visionary director who's finally going to step up and start throwing in some middle credits too but hey maybe the world's not ready yet is there anything more heartwarming than watching an acne ridden protagonist with braces coming home to his wife and child after another long day at the office he can almost feel the relief as he loens his tie because all adults wear ties to work and finally Embraces his child who happens to be 5 years younger than him but unfortunately our protagonist has miles to go before he sleeps a call from boss lights up his cell phone we learned that those reports need to be on his desk tomorrow morning from the look on his world weary wrinkleless wife we know this is a familiar story but you know what today's going to be different and after a deep heart-to- heart our protagonist finally realizes he's getting too old for this he puts down his briefcase because all adults bring one to work and plays a long overdue game of catch with his younger brother I mean son son I think this is more of a modern take on the classic it was all a dream but you know what in a pinch it still gets the job done take your characters out of the literal world without the baggage of those pesky writing responsibilities like making sense hey you might get to finally bust out that fishey lens too your production company logo is the business card of the film world and I think we all know how critical business cards are so make your mark simple or understated logos are not your friend here spend a minimum of 3 to 6 weeks designing an over rought logo in Microsoft Paint then animate it add some music consider making this music way louder than the rest of the film and bonus points go for distracting or off-putting company names sound effects and amateur Motion Graphics you know let the audience really feel each of those key frames cuz remember if they can't connect with unic unicorn pictures Internationals logo how can you expect them to connect with unick unicorn pictures Internationals films fun fact the standard story company logo took me about 30 minutes to make and that mistake has cost me millions of dollars and Academy Award consideration year after year Friday film notes is the free newsletter I send out to 8,500 filmmakers every Friday and in fact this video script is just me stealing one of my own newsletters you definitely don't want to join this because then you'd be getting free film making tips every week as well as inspiration news humor for filmmakers I try to make these things as helpful and fun and quick to read as possible so that's just all going to be absolute hell for anybody who wants to make bad films in fact it's probably going to make you want to get out there and go make more films which is definitely a bad idea plus everybody who signs up gets sent my Google Sheets templates I use for producing my own short films sending them to film festivals and you'll get exclusive discounts stuff like that so whatever you do do not spend 10 seconds right now popping over to standard story code.com and joining that newsletter that's not for you you don't want this get out of here ever hear that saying that we only use 10% of our brains well guess what filmmakers who try to keep actors eyelines consistent by adhering to the 180° rule are only using 50% of their story why hem yourself in to only shooting a scene from one side you can literally double the emotional impact by embracing the 360° rule instead the math doesn't lie open your minds she you know back in the day it was Windows Movie Maker it was iMovie while all the snobby Pros were out there using Premiere Avid Final Cut our creativity blossomed and was unfettered by the capitalistic greed of paid editing software and then DCI resolve came around offering all the same features and power as that pro software but for free but you and I we're not going to be fooled that easily we're going to stick to our guns but the Arsenal's changed and now we have cap cut and finally we have the versatility to edit thirst trap Tick Tock dances and hard-hitting character study dramas in the same app and you know what no more gatekeeping folks because without even lifting a finger everyone's going to know how we achiev that movie Magic right at the end of the edit all these people on YouTube talking about color grading first of all slow down you're going to grade my color what am I back in elementary school you're going to give me a report card you're going to call me out for sharting and social studies I don't think so I almost had him I almost had him log footage looks good if it didn't why would they even put it on the camera it's called a low con look folks it's cool and honestly if you edit with log footage long enough it looks normal so I don't see why I would mess with it and bring in all this extra junk like saturation and contrast or Luts you know what Lut actually stands for lousy un wanted tent I don't want a l i want a natural log by the way if you're shooting log you definitely don't want to use cinematch either picture this scenario you're shooting a film right then you want to jump over to a drone shot I don't have a drone so this is my drone shot now if you were to use cine match you could perfectly match the footage from your main camera to your DJI drone right here or your iPhone or your Blackmagic pocket or your fx6 whatever just with a few clicks they've analyzed the sensors to these cameras to take the guesswork out of the whole process and give you fine tuning controls to make your match even more precise this is a big mistake do you really want the audience to think that you shot your film with only one camera hello dead giveaway that you're a lowbudget bush League filmmaker if I bust out a GoPro for a stunt shot I want my audience to know I busted out a GoPro and you do that by manually fiddling with the color on that GoPro shot for an hour in L metri color not getting it anywhere close to the aam's color and then when that one shot shows up the film shocking the audience with totally different skin tones and contrast curves and Etc they'll be thinking wow was that a whole another camera let me tell you taking the audience out of the story like that such a small price to pay to let them know yes I did have enough money to use two different cameras on this thing so don't use cinematch cuz if you do you're going to make your film too seamless and besides who would want to make their iPhone footage emulate an Ari Alex's color science anyways but if you do decide to go down that dangerous path you can click the link in my description for 10% off off cinematch and I apologize for letting such a helpful tool sponsor this video now for the honorable mentions we got the camera budget being 90% of the film's budget while the audio budget is the coins I found in between my couch cushions we've got razor thin depth of field with actors going in and out of focus throughout every shot because cinematic and we've got 100 tiny Film Festival Laurels all over the poster but none of them are from a festival you've ever heard of do you have any additions you'd like to make to this list if so drop a comment because bad films can be so much worse if we all work together and remember not to sign up for my Weekly Newsletter at standard story code.com even though it only takes 10 seconds it will definitely hurt your chances of making bad films thanks to our sponsor cinematch check them out with the link in my description see you next time

Channel: Standard Story Company

Views: 149,384

Keywords: how to make a short film, filmmaking tips, filmmaking 101, filmmaking for beginners, low budget filmmaking

Id: 7s9pXXi3iUI

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Mon May 20 2024