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	This story was printed from dtheatre.com,
	located at http://www.dtheatre.com/read.php?sid=741.
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Article: The Movie-Making Urge
By Azad, (DT)
February 29, 2000 12:16 PM PT

The basic common sense question always lingers the budding filmmaker: So what essentially makes a good movie? Elaborate sets? Expensive special effects and equipment? Tons of attractive Hollywood people? Maybe, or maybe not. But if the movie does not have a good and solid foundation on its story, then it will fail, no matter how good the additional effects are. The whole entire point of making a movie, is to tell a good narrative in a visually interesting way. And if the narrative bites the dust, audiences will have a taste for that bitter dust too without an easy cure. Read my article.

So how do you make a good movie without overblowing the budget? Depending on the type of movie that is to be produced, the question can have more than one answer. For example, a story about the relationship of a family in a rural countryside might have a lower budget when compared to an action packed military techno-thriller, or anything in between. Basically, what can a filmmaker do to assess the required production budget? Here are a few tips:

Script assessment:
Everything always starts off with the script, and usually what goes into it is produced. Carefully read all parts of the script and make sure that the elements found within are possible to perform and manufacture. Make revisions a necessity if an element is impossible to produce.

Screen assessment:
It is very important to know the ability of the talents involved, in other words, the ability of the actors and actresses to act. Even if the script assessment concludes that special effects or expensive rentals are at a minimum, on screen talent is a very crucial element. The difference between good acting and horrible acting has a heavy impact on a production. Try to write the script in a way that will utilize available talent. Hiring more capable actors and actresses is quite costly. Since a movie is also a highly visual piece of work, try to make artful scenes and use interesting camera angles to accentuate storyline elements within reason.

Music and audio assessment:
Even if the screen quality of the production is something to be proud of, the lack of good audio compliments will destroy the mood and setting of the movie. The voices of the actors and actresses must be crisp and audible, and the aid of sound effects in scenes can even make a dramatic difference. Music composition plays a key role in setting the mood of the movie, adding a solid feel of action and suspense to a good picture. Make the soundtrack count even with a reasonably modest budget.

Schedule assessment:
Be very succint and direct about the time duration to complete the project. A project without a fixed deadline will cause the crew to become easily agitated and may even cause them to become less productive due to the fact that the production time is dragging. Give the crew something to expect from a deadline. A dragging deadline also means added cost to the production budget, and that is definitely a big NO!.

Whenever writing the script for a production, keeping these assessments in mind is good practice. And sometimes, having budget constraints can even bring out the best in one's creativity.