Art Film	Mainstream Film	Historically Significant Film
The Breakfast Club  Drama/Teen  John Hughes  1985	A Bugs Life Comedy/Family  John Lasseter  1998	Battleship Potemkin  Drama/Silent  Sergei Eisenstein  1925
Once Upon a Time-in the West  Western/Drama  Sergio Leone  1968	The Shape of Water  Romance/Fantasy  Guillermo del Toro  2017	Seven Samurai  Action/Drama  Akira Kurosawa  1954
Alphaville  Sc-ifi/Noir  Jean-Luc Godard  1965	Love, Simon  Romance/Drama Greg Berlanti  2018	The Wizard of Oz  Fantasy/Musical  Victor Fleming  1939

1. Knowledgeable 

You need to have a good understanding and be eager to become knowledgeable about film during the course. 

2. Risk-taker 

You need to be able to take risks regarding the making process of certain projects during the film course.  

3. Balanced 

In group projects its important to make sure the workload and skill set is all balanced fairly between everyone.  

4. Open-minded 

As we will be exploring films from all types of genres and from across the world, you need to keep an open mind, even if it’s not the type of film you typically enjoy. 

5. Reflective 

When critically analysing films we have watched and discussed you must be able to reflect in order to comment accurately and help your understanding of the film.  

6. Caring 

Linking to when we will be producing our own film you must take care of your work as you will be in groups and so you will be affecting others too. As with the blogs and the work produced in class you need to take care of your notes and stay up to date to help your own revision.  

7. Principled 

As you are responsible for submitting your work on the blog you must be principled to ensure the blog is frequently updated with your work up to the best standard.  

8. Communicators 

Working in groups requires a lot of communication especially when producing a short film together. You need to communicate to your group, so everything is clear for everyone, and it runs smoothly. 

9. Inquirers  

You must have a passion and interest for film and be eager to learn and so actively inquiring will help you gain more of that understanding.  

10. Thinkers 

Working in groups and individually means you must contribute something and so thinking about what you’re writing or creating is important in this course.  

Asking a person ‘what makes a film “good”?’ will give you an array of answers depending on the person you ask. These could range from good cinematography, editing, acting, sound or even the message and values within the film. 

Other people will base their opinions, not by any of these elements, but the feelings they experience when or after watching the film. For example, did the film make them feel tense? Bored? Excited? However, the underlying reason for these feelings occurring is when all the elements, both micro and macro, come together to tell an entertaining and impactful story that resonates with the viewer in one way or another. 

For me, if a film is too confusing and not easy to keep track of then I quickly determine I don’t like it. This is down to the editing, if the sequence isn’t smooth and the pace is too quick, it can become too hard to follow. I love a film that makes me feel immersed into its world. This effect heavily relies on the sounds used in the film as it captures all the viewers senses.

One of my favourite films is The Silence of the Lambs. This film has a perfect mix of micro elements along with macro elements like the genre, theme, and style. The Silence of the Lambs is a horror film fixating on dark topics such as murder. So, for some, these themes wouldn’t interest them, whereas for me, I love the tension that can be created. The Silence of the Lambs was the first “scary movie” to win an Academy Award and swept the 5 major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.  Every scene in the film means something, every piece of dialogue is building to something, and every character has its purpose. The director, Jonathan Demme, perfectly orchestrated the film to constantly be building the tension till the very end with no dips. 

Another film I really enjoy is Fantastic Mr Fox, which goes in a completely different direction to The Silence of the Lambs. Wes Anderson cleverly constructed a beautiful film regarding cinematography and the message of the film. Taking a simple children’s story and portraying it in a way that can reach all types of audiences.  The film uses unique sound effects and music and the use of comedy throughout works very well as its kept simple. The warm colour tones and symmetry used within every scene, along with the editing keeping a perfect pace throughout, allows an extremely heart-warming feeling to be portrayed. 

In conclusion, there is no simple answer to “What makes a film ‘good’?” and its predominantly based on the viewers opinions and how deeply they think about the individual elements used. However, the micro and macro elements contribute massively to how people feel whether they realise it or not.