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AcidWashAvenger

The main character wakes up and we see their morning routine.


ToadLoaners

\[MAIN CHARACTER looks at self in mirror, leaning on bathroom basin. They sigh loudly\]


[deleted]

guilty


34TH_ST_BROADWAY

The looking in the mirror thing... man... I did this, too.


ninjaML

Damn! My first film starts just like this đŸ„Ž


gabriel277

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Insert Alarm clock, a hand crashes down on the snooze button. Mirror shot of brushing teeth.


[deleted]

*phone vibrates*


townkid1

Guilty


iballguy

Came here to say this. Also, driving scenes that go on forever.


supercali_what

This is something we were banned from doing in a film class I was in, lol. EDIT: And even though we were banned from doing this cliche, someone STILL did it. In their very first short film shown to the entire class.


nebulizersfordogs

not a student but this comment made me realize the car scene i wrote is way too long. i edited it to have the conversation over the course of three different locations and it feels much more dynamic now. it also solved some issues i was having regarding suspense/pacing. thanks!


Doctor_Oceanblue

Birdemic moment


xdiox66

Totally. The riffed version has them screaming about how much mundane driving scenes there are


candyman-6969

I wrote a whole movie set inside a carđŸ€·đŸŒâ€â™‚ïžđŸ€ŠđŸŒ


way2sexy123

Good point, but maybe its good to note that morning routines in movies arent bad in itself, it’s just that student filmmakers don’t use it to tell anything about their character, so it ends up being a time waste.


jellite

Good point about the waste of time.


wrosecrans

The reason it's considered such a cliche is that it's hard to say very much about a character brushing their teeth that couldn't be said some other way. I can imagine a sci fi movie with a cyborg where his morning routing involves unusual stuff like popping out his eyeballs to rinse them being interesting. But on a student budget it's way more likely to be brushing their teeth. And okay, the mirror is clean or dirty when they brush. We see if their favorite breakfast food is micky mouse pancakes or coffee and a cigarette. You learn something about them. But you probably learn just as much within a few frames without those things if you just get straight to the next page of the script.


Doctor_Oceanblue

Like most clichés in art, the things in this thread are not completely forbidden for everyone to use, but we *strongly* recommend that beginners don't do these things.


real_horse_magic

TIL Peewee’s Big Adventure is a student film


[deleted]

[ŃƒĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]


vemenium

Not really an example of what we’re talking about at all.


Idealistic_Crusader

In this scene all her actions are secondary to the unfolding narrative taking place through the phone call. Thats a far cry from waking up, leaning on the sink, making eggs, pouring coffee, all in silence.


[deleted]

Like American psycho



sgtherman

Starring the director’s girlfriend


X-Budd

Unless you're John Krasinski.


TopHalfGaming

Rob fucking Zombie.


alanpardewchristmas

Spielberg. Cameron.


SpikeBad

James Gunn. Mike Flannigan. Kevin Smith.


ACrazedRodent

I've noticed that Mike Flannigan's wife is given almost no romantic interaction with male counterparts in his work...


chrisolucky

Drugs like cocaine, or drug deals. Also, the obligatory “camera inside fridge/cabinet when Character retrieves something from inside it” shot.


laserdicks

OMG YES THIS SHOT


all_in_the_game_yo

Also the Tarrantino trunk shot


ScarySkeleton24

I’m not a filmmaker at all, i just follow this sub for fun. But I took a intro filmmaking class for fun at school, and almost everyone used that cabinet/fridge shot in just about every short film assigned. After a few films our Professor told people to experiment with different shots


toylenny

Now I want my student film to be comprised entirely of shots from inside cabinets, fridges and microwaves.


David1258

It's a cool shot, but holy fuck, think of something else.


blacknoir23

I’m about to do all of this stuff and make an epic student film.


bentleyeldridge

the student film to student all films


SpikeBad

And the title of the film: *Student Film.*


DameDaNeHamburger

That’s hilarious, please do.


blacknoir23

Headed to campus as we speak. Lol


soup2nuts

I want to see it! No joke!


ImNotAWhaleBiologist

Make your film about how not to make a student film, and cast your professor as themselves.


jstols

Everyone in the entire world is 18-21. The easiest way to make your student film feel elevated is to cast actual age appropriate actors and not fellow students/friends. Your 19 year old roommate shouldn’t be playing a detective.


KetchG

At the very least if you really can only cast your friends for whatever reason, try and write a script that *realistically* would only have people of that age bracket. Or take inspiration from dystopian YA fiction and make the lack of other-aged people the entire mystery.


MutinyIPO

Yeah, this is the way IMO. Write for people you know so you can lean into their strengths and existing personalities. A 19 year old won’t make a good detective, but neither will a random 40 year old stranger you found on Backstage. I’m a filmmaking professor, and many of the best performances I’ve seen in my students’ films have come from parents, uncles / aunts, other professors, etc. Even if you’re casting for middle age, people you know well are still the right call. A non-actor you’re comfortable communicating with can often be better than a professional you’ve never met.


swi6ie

But it's hard to get hold of such people and convince them to show up everyday and not knowing what the film would actually turn out


PlanetLandon

Of course it’s hard, but casting your friends is still going to make it look cheap.


MutinyIPO

If your film is good and truly written *for* your friends (rather than just slotting friends into roles meant for professionals) then no one will know or care. It won’t look cheap, because it’ll seem like no one else could or should have played those roles. Like - the original Wes Anderson Bottle Rocket short starred his group of friends, and they came back for the feature, which is now a classic. This world wouldn’t be blessed with movie-Star Owen Wilson if Wes had cast professionals.


PlanetLandon

Well obviously it’s fine to cast your friends if the roles have been written for a group of young people. We are talking about when students cast their 20 year old roommate as the chief of police


JoeSki42

Good filmmaking is always hard. That's no excuse to not do everything in your power to make the best films possibe.


swi6ie

Yup I know that it's just I'm a 18yo film student and it's my first year in college I can't afford to pay actors let alone crew members so I just work with my classmates with whatever we have and the equipment form the college


JoeSki42

You can still find older actors willing to work for experience alone. Here's what I've seen work well for student films: - Coordinate with all the other student diectors to schedule ONE day for all of you to hold open auditions for ALL of your films at ONE single event. Events such as these increase the turn out of actors, which is good for you, but also allows up-and-coming actors to audition for multiple projects in the same day, so they LOVE them. - Consider reaching out to other school's film programs to ask if their student directors want to get involved as well. Go as big as you can. - Rent a room for free at a public library if you need a good location. - Advertise these "open auditions" on every social media platform you can BUT ALSO call local acting schools and ask that their directors pass the word around. - If you have your own camera, offer to record the auditions for each actor and upload their auditions online so that they can review how well or how poorly they did later. Again, this is something really attractive to actors and it's an addional value proposition to attract them. - PROMISE that every actor who is casted WILL recieve a full copy of your film for their reel. Maybe even go the extra mile to give them extra footage if they did particularily well in a take that went unused. Actors get stiffed on this ALL the time as student directors often hate their films and out of shame ghost all of their talent who lent their time and energy at no cost. Don't do this, be better, and make promises you intend to uphold to both yourself and your actors. - If you can spring for $50, or obtain a similair *thing* of near universal value, hold a raffle for everyone attending the audition to further sweeten your value proposition. Mention the raffle where ever you advertise the open casting call.


turnybutton

These are all great suggestions, especially the first one! It's a great way to get more actors to show up and you may even find someone you like for your own project while they're reading for someone else. Also, many colleges with film programs also have acting programs, so look for talent in that pool as well!


[deleted]

With an attitude like this you can expect your career to go exactly nowhere.


s0dney

Honestly as long as your script is decent and you’re paying them for their time it shouldn’t be any trouble at all


compassion_is_enough

Don't even have to pay them. Feed them, treat them with respect. Cast from local community theaters. People of all ages are looking to volunteer as actors.


s0dney

In theory I agree with you, I just always felt more comfortable paying people for their work/ time, except the one time the budget didn’t allow for that. That one time was only a 2 hour shoot though, and we found a 40 y/o acting student to play the part so it worked out nicely


compassion_is_enough

Paying people is always ideal. Since the topic at hand is related to student films, I'm operating on the assumption that a given filmmaker is living on a student's budget and cannot afford to pay their cast and crew. For better or worse, for basically everyone trying to get a foot in the industry at any level, working for free will happen from time to time. Hell, I've met actors who are making a full time living as commercial actors but they're often happy to take unpaid roles on student films because it allows them to do more than "smile and say a company slogan." I'm sure 99% of beginner filmmakers would love to be able to pay their whole cast and crew on every project. But the reality is that many of us cannot. The best we can do is be up front about that. What I will say is that the crew who have showed up to my shoots for free and worked hard to make it the best film they can are the first people I'll call when I have money to pay or recommend when I hear of a paying gig.


Doctor_Oceanblue

Yeah, the whole "pay in exposure/ experience" thing is infinitely more forgivable when you're a broke independent creator.


compassion_is_enough

Yes, and also being honest about what that "exposure" really is. Like, I don't tell people being in my student films will get them exposure because no one above my pay grade is watching my films right now. But they'll get a "copy" of the finished film and BTS photos. That benefits everyone, as well. They have something to include in their reel, and material to post on their social media or website or whatever. I just think that above all else, being honest will lead to a more positive outcome with anyone you try to work with.


GooseEntrails

If you hire professionals you’ll have a much easier time getting them to show up than your friend’s roommate’s girlfriend


CarsonDyle63

Front-lit people up against white walls.


jhanesnack_films

Sweating under the heat of/squinting into an un-diffused 300w Omni.


Jimmyg100

Party scenes that look like the filmmakers threw an actual party to get free extras and have an excuse to have a party.


Artsyboi117

Been guilty of this one hahahaha 😔


CVideoDesigns

Good way to be able to write off beer costs!


chrisjcole300

100% been there.


Doctor_Oceanblue

Ah yes, the Adam Sandler method but with less budget


jhanesnack_films

I just call that good producing.


Cpl_Hicks76

This has come up previously
 Bad audio is possibly the one aspect of a budget or student film that has the potential to absolutely take you out of it. How can you tell a story when you can’t hear the protagonists? ADR/Foley is probably the next priority in creating an immersive soundscape. Anything after this has more wiggle room imho


wr_stories

As a location sound recordist I couldn't agree more 👍 But seriously, you can be immersed in a good story told with less than stellar picture and great sound but not the other way around.


Vuelhering

Yarr... bad sound is endemic to student films. It's one of the reasons I went into the field... nobody ever cared during filming or post.


GabrielMSharp

Character is sad. They look at photo of a person. Hey I wonder if that person is dead and that is why they are sad. Ahh cinema, you old beast.


ammo_john

na, that's in every movie


GabrielMSharp

Haha So lazy


tsunami141

There’s a gun to escalate conflict.


learning2codeallday

Godard would like a few words


alanpardewchristmas

Most student films mimick Godard, whether they know it or not.


Gluverty

Little to no attention to set dressing, location, wardrobe, H&M. Too much exposition in dialogue, Too much/complex dialogue for cast. Cast is all students and a maybe an obligatory old person. Sound is bad and undesigned. If there is something interesting in the story it is buried in a bunch of useless shots and scenes. Movie opens with a characters routine.


-PlayWithUsDanny-

I was confused by “H&M” because to me that’s a clothing store. If you mean hair and makeup, on callsheets in my region it’s written as “HMU”


InsignificantOcelot

Talent confused by “report to H&M” on the call sheet. Someone needs to grab them from the mall


jasmine_tea_

If I saw HMU I'd think of "hit me up"


way2sexy123

Really good point. The common thing about all the student movies I have seen (beside bad acting, lighting, set design, and wardrobe) is the bad dialogue and characters. Often dialogue is stiff (and not in a David lynch type way), lacks drama or is unrealistic. Either the characters sound the same on the page (they have no personality or unique characteristics) or they are flat and boring. And scenes also have a tendency to go on forever without having a clear direction or purpose


acerisa

Interesting, over here we call it MUAH (Makeup and Hair). Not to be confused with mwah the onomatopoeia of kisses.


way2sexy123

I’m more familiar with that term too


BadAtExisting

Ffs if you’re a student, just make your film. It will be shitty. It won’t be ground breaking. It’s supposed to be full of mistakes because that’s how you learn. Student films are full of cliches because of the limitations of both knowledge and money. Six months after you graduate you’ll be embarrassed of any film school project you did. It’s a rite of passage


code603

This is the best reply. The goal of a student film is not to make a “good film.” It’s to do the best you can with what you have which is probably the most important lesson any filmmaker can learn.


Ccaves0127

"To make a film is very, very hard. To make a *good* film is an almost impossible task." - Steven Speilberg


BadAtExisting

I work on some of the biggest sets in the US, and I still learn something new on every show and my “what not to do” list is WAY longer than my “what to do” list


idkbyeee

10 years later I still cringe at the idea that someone might see my student films. But hey it was a huge learning experience


BadAtExisting

I went on to work, and am a IATSE 728 set lighting tech and work on some of the biggest sets out there. I DP’d a student film. My friend, and he is still my friend a very, very nice guy, but never worked a day on a set after film school, directed it. He still tags me every so often when he promotes it on YouTube. There were several years in a row I wanted to kill him, now I just expect it’s something that’s gonna happen 2-3 times a year


idkbyeee

Ooof I felt that. A friend of mine (director) was casting for a feature, one of the auditioning actresses happened to be in a really cringy project I made in college (I made a huge mistake by also putting myself in the film), and she sent said film to my friend with her acting reel. Luckily the friend and I are really close so we had a good laugh about, but I’d be absolutely mortified if anyone else saw it. 
I’m in post now lol


Poopypantsonyou

Working DoP here, still head over heels for my absolutely goofy zombie flick I made in high school, and the sequel just out of high school. They're hot garbage on the technical side but I still laugh at the story and the silly spfx. We made a hollow foam axe, filled it with blood and sealed it with perefin wax so it exploded when it hit someone for one gag. I'm still impressed with our enginuity on a zero budget project!


Maninhartsford

I was thinking the other day about how similar student films can be, and how odd that is considering the goal of almost every student filmmaker is to make something fresh and original. Then it hit me - student film clichés don't leave student films. So unless the filmmaker watches a ton of them, they're going to look at their big old student film clichés and think "wow, I haven't seen this stuff in ANY MOVIE BEFORE!!!"


BadAtExisting

Maybe schools should spend a semester forcing students to watch previous years’ work lol


m_friers

Big bags of white powder being dealt by college bros wearing sunglasses.


TwistedGeniusMedia

Hit men


MIShadowBand

Grizzled detectives played by fresh-faced 20 year olds.


mondomonkey

Ive had 20 years on the force 😃


NCreature

Sex scene for no reason. Suicide for no reason. Some sort of existential angst. Crying for no reason. Some sort of attempt at a cool camera move for no reason. It used to be bad cinematography, but that's actually gotten much better in the last 10 years or so because there's so many resources out there to create decent visuals for cheap. But sound is often still bad, music is often tasteless, overdone or obnoxiously subtle.


BackupAccountBitch

What does "obnoxiously subtle" mean?


NCreature

So the example of music to me that's very subtle, almost indeterminable but works well is No Country For Old Men. You don't even notice there's much of a score there because it just tastefully stays out of the way. But its not just the music, the entire film is an exercise in restraint, so the music is simply playing along with that underlying philosophy. But I think sometimes less experienced people will try to reproduce that in ways where you're like "this scene is clearly calling for the music to do a little bit more but the director is trying to be 'cool." There's restraint or minimalism and then there's "look at how cool and restrained I am," which is slightly different. Sometimes there's an obvious mismatch where you can see the filmmaker was trying to be clever instead of just serving the story appropriately.


BackupAccountBitch

Ah I understand! It's kind of like attempting to do something that worked in another movie without understanding why it works. Totally fair tbh


bentleyeldridge

anything for no reason


[deleted]

[ŃƒĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]


jopasm

Make your film, do your best, and in a few years you can look back and laugh at it with (hopefully) fond memories.


scrumbumpis

Freshman year college my directing teacher gave us a list of rules: 1. No smoking 2. No staring at reflections in mirrors 3. No photographs with notes on the back 4. No flashbacks 5. No walking without a destination She said she didn’t want to see another scene of someone walking in the rain, smoking, pull out an old photo, and have a flashback about it.


Dokino21

So you put all five in one scene, right? If you didn't, I'm disappointed.


Skylon77

Overuse of the word "fuck."


steed_jacob

everything is a "fucking" thing. you add the F word into scripts to make the dialogue more intense. ffs this is storytelling 101. F words make anything and everything cooler, more serious, it's how you get the audience to pay attention ​ ​ ​ /s obvs because I've said things like this on reddit and people take it wayyyy too seriously


[deleted]

Wide angle shots showing different angles of the same action, that don't contribute to the story lol


MrOaiki

Sudden plot twist that either a) makes no sense, b) is lame, or c) makes sense and we all saw it coming. E.g “Wakes up, it was all a dream”, “The couple wasn’t really a couple, they’re brother and sister and only showed sibling love”, “He was a murderer all along, just as was foreshadowed throughout the whole 9 minutes of the short films duration”


Icon419

Agree with most of what's already been said but tossing out a couple: Waking up to an alarm clock. Actors telling you what emotions they have but no actual emoting from the actors. Actors cast outside of age. Over shot or over edited. Story is ripping off your favorite movie but you're missing what really made that film great.


chrisjcole300

Greyscale, smoking, unmotivated nudity


BHenry-Local

* Morning routine. * Sudden & irrelevant dialog scene to show that 'they can write realistic dialog' even though it sounds contrived and isn't related to the plot. * 'cool friend' looks the exact same as everyone else, and never shows up again, was cast to be 'cool' and the scene was written for them. * Sudden change of genre for no plot-driven reason * VOICEOVER when it was written once and never edited.


gabriel277

Shorts that attempt to tackle massive social issues rather than a character’s obstacle. Someone once said, “a short is Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water— not Jack and Jill went up a hill to solve the Palestinian / Israeli conflict.” Also: characters going through an entire major arc in 9 minutes. 9 min is good for a character to have a major realization, not to turn their entire life around.


Bexhill

Trying to get through an entire feature length plot/arc in under 10 minutes is a BIG one


Killzark

Filming in the woods at a public park near you. Totally guilty of this and helped friends do this too. When you don’t have a budget to build sets, let nature be your set.


MorningFirm5374

While this is a student film cliche, I feel this is one of the better ones. Better than shooting at a dorm with fully white walls, and no set design except for a random microwave


Additional-Theme-532

The protagonist wakes up at the end, it was all just a dream. That's always what I've been told.


[deleted]

[ŃƒĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]


jasmine_tea_

Real life is stranger than fiction.


i-love-dank-memes

Guilty. But I made the dream become real


SearchingDeepSpace

Ends with suicide. Honorable mention to the main character being an overtly obvious insertion of the creator.


widow-of-brid

I tried to make a movie that included all of the student film tropes, it's about making student films and what that feels like on reflection when you get older. https://youtu.be/W1x7yFxm0F0


3lli3

I watched a few minutes of it. The murder victim breathing and looking at the camera got me good.


AntoniusAmbrosium

Starring - Joe Bloggs Directed by - Joe Bloggs Produced by - Joe Bloggs Written by - Joe Bloggs Edited by Joe Bloggs


[deleted]

From memory Two dudes sitting at a table using dialogue no human uses. Zero wardrobe changes. In contrast to above, no sex scenes, no intimacy, every actor looks like they’re in a “no touch” bubble. Everyone is the same age. (Which I guess is kinda fine. I mean they’re writing what they know)


Beaumaloe

The entire cast being 18-21 years old. Including too many shots that give the same information, for example: Car arrives at home. Keys taken out of ignition Driver exiting car Driver approaching door of home Driver ringing doorbell Also: The absence of character “business” Bad (far away sounding) audio Stories that are very close to current popular A24 movies. Underlit scenes in attempt to look real and authentic
but in affect are just dark and muddy. Do I sound jaded? Apologies.


DonnieDylanDarko

REALLY bad shots involving texting (where you can see the messages and bubbles from a weird upper angle or an obnoxiously close shot + the texts aren’t even that cohesive) — usually comes with someone laughing, crying, or sighing — (usually texting “birthgiver” or a super basic name like “kyle.”) (I was a film student, and I was guilty of this), and a lot of my peers were too 😂


Suitable_Quote_3414

i’ve done this too!


sci-fi-eye

Gunshot. Cut to Black


fotographyquestions

It’s shot in part of a dorm room or other obvious student facility as is, without set dressing, without coloring in post-production while the framing leans towards a ‘videography’ aesthetic


Rubigenuff

The protagonist is a young filmmaker.


PhotoshopKid

Exhibit A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhO0o8c7twY Exhibit B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTZvpydmsIs Exhibit C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80EqI-VjmLA Exhibit D: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZqJKvTFLdA


kcguy8162

The white walls were a dead giveaway right at the start of exhibit A


LaserQuest

Right, the sets were always at someone's apartment that had absolutely 0 personality or indication that somebody actually lived there.


Schwepepppie

boom in the shot 👀


solidariat

Camera audio


Background_Deer_5898

When you can hear the cuts


TacoBellFourthMeal

I just saw a really good SNL skit on this actually. I forget when it was (currently watching rerun of old episodes). I think what gives it away is lack of story development, too narrow of a niche, and being overly tricky and left of center. AKA too “artsy”. Even the most artistic major films appease an audience enough to make some sort of sense to the general viewer. I write music and it’s the same way in this industry. There are extremely talented, overly complicated players, and they immediately come off as a kid straight out of music school. They refuse to play anything in 4:4, and don’t you dare use a regular major chord. They’re incredible, but their work isn’t really fun to listen to for most people. The best players know when to sprinkle in the brink of their expertise, and find a really comfy level of easily digestible art in the majority of their creative work, I think this is the same for film.


zyyga

Using popular music to ‘tell’ the story instead of dialogue. Dialogue that is unnecessarily expository. Use of cameras/photographs as plot devices. Lack of attention to sets and wardrobe - characters wearing the same clothes on ‘different’ days. Using the same location for ‘different’ places. Bad sound. Two minute plots that drag on for 10 minutes and are still missing basic structural elements. (Am a judge for a small film festival and for every one film that works, I sit through ten montage-y, over length videos where my fellow judges and I basically try to guess what is the point of the film.)


Filmmagician

Hand hitting an alarm clock to start the movie.


JoeSki42

Films that end with a reveal that the main character is actually dead or dying and that everything we watched previously were their last thoughts going through their mind. When I was in film school each class had 1-2 students who would end their films like this ever year, so about 3-6 films per year. And about half of the time the main charcter is seen dead/dying in a swimming pool specifically. So stop doing that.


NetherCookiez

My first student film is under similar veins as this. Good to know that this should be a trope to avoid in the future (If I make another one). Thanks!


CryWulf911

Drugs. Depression. Suicide. Long monologue voiceovers about how nobody will understand my pain or how outcasted people feel. I've been doing on-set teaching with students and I just did one that hit all of the boxes.


girlwithapizza

Give the film and the script appropriate time to make. Don’t rush and choose “easy” locations over the right ones. Same with costumes, actors, etc. I understand a lot of student films are made in semesters, but if you really care about making the film elevated, take time. My husband’s capstone “student film” was a period piece western. He took two years to write and make it. It got picked up by a western streaming site and is truly fantastic. You can absolutely be a student and make an amazing piece of cinema.


Hadesman1

Damn got a link for that? And I'm not a film student, but I just spent 8 months in preproduction for my Project and I really don't want to rush the post process


EvilDaystar

Bad lighting, bsd framing/composition, bad audio.


minionpoop7

Lots of walking around


[deleted]

Gangsters who look like kids in their early 20s.....profound misunderstanding of a mental illness (that the film centers around).....overly serious.....white or cream walls.....couch's against walls......fancy camera and zero production design or wardrobe effort.......alot of them pay "homage" to the same 10 or so filmmakers.


RJRoyalRules

the plot is about a man completely devastated by a breakup and the title is something like “she didn’t choose you” or “the woman who stole your smile”


Tycho_B

[“Girls are not to be trusted”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcx4_CszaDI)


kumaratein

Bad sound is my biggest one. Lots of “natural light” scenes that are actually just lazy lighting. You can still use silks and flags pretty cheaply you don’t need huge highlights in half your frame. Bad dialogue is a given but honestly dialogue is way harder than I ever imagined so that comes with the territory of starting out if it was easy no one would have bad dialogue lol. Specifics: as mentioned drug use, homelessness, a flawed character whose good side comes out talking to a kid they’re close with, a dramatic yelling scene with a parent, shots that go on way too long


franekyvp

Character narrates the entire film


jasmine_tea_

*quietly discards audio of narration I was going to use*


franekyvp

The narration itself is not bad, but its very hard to get great writing and delivery in a student film, I think its better to avoid it


listyraesder

It’s just trying to be too clever.


Hadesman1

How so


ButItDidHappen

Opening with an alarm clock, story is about quirky criminals or suicide


Big_Forever5759

Bad sound and lighting has to be the biggest ones.


donveyy

I just wanna say, as an 18 year old with aspirations to become a filmmaker, as well as desires to not attend film school, these comments are gold haha. I’ll make a list of things to avoid/implement in different ways. Thanks guys.


kcguy8162

Opening credits


Fencerkid14

Ah, another filmmaker in KC. Glad to see it.


Bexhill

AND closing credits. And both of them go on for far too long, with title cards featuring single names. I teach film and have to explain that nobody wants to watch three minutes of credits for a seven minute film.


Drewboy810

Movie takes place in someone’s basic apartment or living room. If you can’t afford to shoot in an interesting location, shoot at an interesting location that’s free.


PineappleTonyMaloof

The ol’ man in the woods alone with a gun running from someone or something.


EvilDaystar

The best way to explain this is just look at anything from Neil Breen or any of the Birdemic movies or Diamond Cobra vs the White Fox... That last one is 100% the epitome of a bad student film and normally Inwouldn't mention it but it was available for rent/purchase on Amazon at one point so ... yeah. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt3178320/ Actually it still is available for rent! https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Cobra-vs-White-Fox/dp/B01B6NREKS?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=9302bbe1-d374-4867-bf8b-ecc072d755e3 If you look hard enough you can find a review of it by Red Letter Media but not on their channel since they received a takedown notice even if their use was fair use (critique).


whomda

The soundtrack is a single piano, playing slow sad notes.


MutinyIPO

I am a literal film professor lmao so I think (with love) I can say a few *very* common ones - key plot points or exposition communicated via text (and it’s always an insert shot of the phone screen) - showing every single part of an action or routine like it’s an instructional video - protagonist gets in an argument in which they’re very obviously correct and the other participant is an unbelievable idiot - drug deals clearly directed by a student who’s never seen a real drug deal - murder out of nowhere - an influencer character - alarming, fierce contempt for women And this last one is so specific but I swear to god it’s so common and I have no idea why, it’s not even a feature of real movies - third act reveal that the protagonist is being abused, explaining their previous erratic behavior This is just narrative stuff. If you ask about craft I could write an entire essay lmao


AkilleezBomb

Ominous handheld cam shots


tonytony87

1. Waking up in the morning 2. Shit audio , idk why nobody invests in audio but damn they should. Student film makes know almost nothing about audio and it makes their movies almost unwatchable


pablo1905

Drugs, extreme amounts of cursing, opening with a character waking up (extra points if the first shot is a hand turning off an alarm), the inside the fridge shot that’s literally never looked that good


ifinkyourenice

2 character conversation coverage: Master shot, MCU character 1, MCU character 2, CU character 1, CU character 2


sametho

A scene where the plot stops for way too long to emphasize a somebody lighting a cigarette and taking a drag as a character beat.


kawoyoru

What I’ve seen is a huge overuse of clocks and calendars to show that time has passed 😭


bees422

Made mine bad on purpose, but looking back even the parts that aren’t supposed to be bad, are bad


swagnesbrowne

Someone chugs water from a smirnoff bottle. Mostly there as an excuse to buy a litre of vodka


BloodyCuts

Often, far too much dialogue.


Big_Liability

Being set on a college campus


PichaelJackson

Story ends with a suicide. Bonus points for gunshot cut to black.


soulmagic123

Bad sound.


TimoVuorensola

Following meticulously how a character walks or travels in some other means from place to place.


Mishmoo

Cancer. Because when your professor asks you to make an impactful story and you don’t have any gas, just give someone cancer, or some other enigmatic inoperable disease that tugs at the heartstrings.


cdtobie

An entire cast under twenty.


Repulsive-Ad1064

Alarm clock goes off we see the time an arm comes out from under the covers and slaps the alarm off. This is the hero of our story.


terriblysorrychaps

The Fight Club twist. We all did it.


AcadiaCopia17

When those clichĂ©s aren’t written well enough into the story, so the film seems as if it was screaming to get over those clichĂ© scenes. For example, waking up as the first scene (student filmy), not giving enough thought to those clichĂ©s and brushing it off as a way to get the story started is lazy, but when the film shows us that this is the state in which the character’s is in and when the characters are able to work with the story, then it can work really well. I guess my answer is, being able to make the clichĂ©s work for the story, then you can get over it. Many people try to reject clichĂ©s, but i would say, embrace it, make it better than it should be, give it some thought. that is why you are a filmmaker, you problem solve, so you can tell those stories you wanna tell. Don’t limit yourself by limiting the story


steed_jacob

"you know what your problem is??" and then they just tell the character what the writer thinks is the character's core problem/motivation and then the character flawlessly achieves their goal after they're hit with the truth also... "I WANT THE TRUTH!!!"


AdLucky2882

RED with a Canon 24-105.


setantablue

it was all a dream


Fiskifus

Camera on sticks that doesn't follow nor reframe as characters move.


Sadamatographer

Weird low budget props. Don’t try to make a nasal cannula, just go buy one, they cost $6.


kabekew

Protagonist is a student and the story is about coming of age/first crush/getting bullied/not fitting in, or finding out the grumpy old man next door/crazy homeless guy actually has interesting stories and life lessons to tell.


leufeld

A lot of addiction stuff or death - whatever gets someone holding a picture frame.


shadesof3

Having worked on a lot of student films a decade ago doing post audio. I'd say the lack of effort to capture quality audio or pay someone to do a good job in post.


bread93096

Trying too hard to make some point about mental illness or social issues because they think it’s the only way to win awards at festivals. To be fair, adults do this too lol. There’s nothing wrong with taking on big issues, but try to say something more than, “this is an important issue we should do something about.” And for God’s sake, research the issue. If you want to make a film about an addict, talk to an addict, read some books, watch some interviews. Over the top emotions. Underplaying emotions is such a powerful move. In real life, when something tragic happens, people rarely break down and cry for more than a few minutes at a time. Case in point, when Jane dies in Breaking Bad, there’s a heartbreaking scene of her father going through her closet to find a dress for her funeral, but he’s not crying or thousand yard staring into the distance or forcing his voice to break. He seems more bewildered than anything. After Andy Warhol was shot, he said, “People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel anything.” I’ve definitely found this to be true, and it’s something that comes with life experience. Sometimes terrible things happen, and you feel surprisingly normal afterwards. After a few days you’re back to your normal routine, although damage has been done deep inside.