What makes a good film?
A lot of different micro elements are used when it comes to creating a successful film. This includes the editing, the sound, the cinematography. What other elements are involved with making an enjoyable film? Is it that it has a great story? Great characters? Is it that the cinematography is beautiful? Is it that each actor is giving an impeccable performance? Or maybe even the soundtrack to the film. The answer is yes to all of these.
If you take The Greatest Showman, a highly successful musical film, as an example, it includes all the elements needed. The soundtrack is amazingly popular along with the actors who played the characters. Even each of the performances were incredibly impressive.
All of these elements are important in making a great film, but let’s highlight the one thing that I personally think can make or break your movie: storytelling. Cinema is all about storytelling, and pretty much everything you put into your film, dialog, props, lighting, a song, or even an edit, communicates something to your audience. However, one highly important concept that I believe is one of the most important components within a decent movie — and that’s subtext.
Subtext can be used in just about anything in your film, whether it be in the script, the editing, or the cinematography. Essentially, subtext is all about the subtle messages you’re trying to convey to your audience without explicitly coming out and stating them. When you over-explain your complicated scenes, your story begins to feel too heavy and the audience may get bored or lost. Your audience is being told what’s going on instead of being allowed to explore the story and figure it out themselves. Implications are 100% necessary when it comes to films.
In The Greatest Showman, one of the famous scenes shows, rich and well known, Phillip holding hands with, poor and ill-treated “freak”, Anne. Although finally displaying their first ever on-screen affections for each other and developing their obvious chemistry that has been implied since they met, Phillip notices other rich people eyeing and whispering about them being together and immediately let’s go of her hand. These implications are not outright said to the audience but are rather fed to them through sub-text and creates a plot in the story line between Phillip and Anne.
In conclusion, all aspects to make a great movie are all equally as important. However without subtext and story telling, there is no excitement of figuring out what’s happening in comparison to being outright told. Therefore, I’d say subtext and implications is what makes a great movie.
