This content originally appeared on Envato Tuts+ Tutorials and was authored by Marie Gardiner
It sounds like a trick question, or something purely subjective. What makes a film… good? While there’s a lot of subjectivity to this, there are things that we collectively agree contribute towards a film being good. Let’s take a look at what those are!
What Makes a Good Film?
The Story (or Plot)
A bad story is a bit of a non-starter, isn’t it? Everything else could be fantastic, but if the plot is rubbish, then we’d hate the film. So is the question, then, ‘What makes a good plot’? Alright, we won’t get too meta. Most of us agree that a decent plot:
- is engaging
- is easy to understand (even if it’s a complex plot)
- has a good balance between originality and relatability
- has a clear progression from beginning to middle to end
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), directed by Frank Darabont and based on the book by Stephen King, has wonderful character development between the two main characters, Andy and Red. This helps the story really resonate as these two become the emotional anchor. The themes of hope, perseverance, and redemption are threaded through a plot full of twists and turns that's still very easy to follow, keeping it fresh until the end.
In Moonlight (2016), directed and co-written by Barry Jenkins, the plot explores the life of a young Black man grappling with his identity and sexuality while growing up in Miami. It has a three-stage (tripartite) structure, and as well as offering a nuanced portrayal of Black experiences in America, its themes are universally relatable.
Cultural Impact
This sounds a bit highfalutin, but really this just looks at how a film influences society. Does it spark conversations, and can it even possibly drive social change? Films that tick some (or all) of these boxes are often part of the conversation for years after their release.
Stephen Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) offers a haunting view of the Holocaust but also sparks conversations about humanity, history, and morality. The black and white cinematography punctuated by the iconic, harsh red (the little girl in the red coat scene) is a powerful piece of storytelling that went on to win seven Academy Awards.
‘Until Schindler’s List hit theatres, depictions of history in films were often “essentially set decoration” – Time.
Spielberg has said his motivation was to gather testimony from the Holocaust and to debunk Holocaust denial. The following year, he went on to found the USC Shoah Foundation which seeks to preserve these stories and make them available for education and research.
Technical Innovation
If a film is pushing the boundaries of what’s gone before, that can be enough to push it into the ‘good film’ category. Innovations in special effects, cinematography, sound design, and editing can create new and sometimes immersive experiences.
Avatar (2009) by James Cameron used cutting-edge 3D technology for something that was, at the time, unparalleled. It hasn't aged desperately well, but for its time it was certainly unique and demonstrated that new technological advancements could potentially help to tell stories in new, visually spectacular ways.
Flipping back in time a little, in 1999 The Matrix was released, directed by the Wachowskis, and although it didn’t have the cutting-edge 3D stuff that Avatar would benefit from (depending on your perspective) a decade later, it was still ground-breaking. The ‘bullet time’ technique, or The Matrix Effect, as it became known, was a method of using multiple cameras to make it look as though time was slowing down or stopping entirely. As well as the dynamic action sequences, the philosophical themes and cyberpunk aesthetic had a long-lasting impact.
Suspending Disbelief
If there’s a fictional world being created in a film, we need to believe in it, otherwise we just can’t enjoy what we’re seeing. Achieving this means a lot of quality world-building, consistent logic (you can have whatever rules you like as long as you stick to them!) and convincing performances by the actors.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) by Guillermo del Toro blends a post-Civil War Spain with a fantastical underworld. Del Toro is a master of world-building, and Pan’s Labyrinth has some stunning visual effects and set designs that really have you buying into the world you’re presented with. There’s a lot of emotional depth to the story too, which helps us invest in the narrative.
Casting
Actors can make or break a film, and the right casting is essential to make sure that the characters will click in the right way with the audience.
Al Pacino’s performance of Michael Corleone transforming from quiet and innocent to a ruthless mafia boss is outstanding, as is Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone. They each bring a unique take to the characters, but both have such depth to them. There’s a lot of chemistry between the cast here, which is also important and adds to the building tension.
The casting of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was really important to the film too. Cheng Pei-Pei is a wuxia actor from China, and she’s often considered to be the first female action hero, nicknamed ‘queen of swords’. Casting her in CTHD pays homage to the wuxia genre, gives the film more authenticity, and serves as a sort of bridge between classic and contemporary wuxia films.
Rewatchability
When we love films, then quite often we can watch them over and over. This usually means that we discover new things each time we watch, and that could be nuances in the plot, rich characters, great visuals, or even just new enjoyment!
Groundhog Day (1993) sees Bill Murray’s protagonist living the same day over and over again. This means that when you rewatch the film, you spot things in the day that you wouldn’t necessarily have noticed first time around. In any case, it’s a fun rewatch.
Groundhog Day (1993) sees Bill Murray’s protagonist living the same day over and over again. This means that when you rewatch the film, you spot things in the day that you wouldn’t necessarily have noticed first time around. In any case, it’s a fun rewatch.
Little Groundhog Day joke for you there—see if you’re paying attention.
Another great example of a film that’s rewatchable is Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away (2001). There’s so much detail in this gorgeous animation that you really can discover new things each time you watch it.
Recommendations
If we like something, we tend to recommend it to our family and friends or our social media followers. If lots of people are recommending something, that can be a useful indicator of its quality. Word-of-mouth recommendations quite often reflect the impact something has had on viewers, although this can be bad as well as good! The opinions of critics contribute to this too: a rave review or scathing takedown can contribute to whether a film is successful and whether it’s considered ‘good’.
Parasite (2019) was one of those films that everyone was talking about! It explores themes of class and poverty with a darkly comic tone. It received widespread critical acclaim, and its success netted it a number of awards, including the first-ever non-English Best Picture Academy Award.
Unpredictability
It can ruin a film if you can immediately see where the plot is going to go. A ‘good’ film most often means we’re kept guessing, with a few twists and turns along the way. That doesn’t mean there always has to be a twist at the end, although audiences are delighted at films that have a completely unexpected (but still satisfying) ending.
Look away now if you’ve somehow managed to avoid hearing the ending to The Sixth Sense (1999) and for some reason still haven’t seen it in 25 years (25 years?!) but are meaning to get around to it… have you gone? Okay. The big reveal that Bruce Willis’s character is dead all along suddenly recontextualises the entire film. It was one of the big surprises in films around that time and largely stayed under wraps, with people not wanting to spoil it for others. M. Night Shyamalan, the director, has made twist endings his thing, with varying degrees of success.
The Ending
The Sixth Sense could also have come under this heading, but a satisfactory ending doesn’t have to shock or be a twist: it can just be satisfying. At the end of any film, we should feel that everything has been resolved and feel a certain sense of closure. Sometimes, a satisfying ending can be one that’s left ambiguous if that was the tone of the whole film. Take Inception (2010), for example.
Love it or hate it, it’s sparked endless debates and discussions, particularly about the last scene where we cut away before seeing what happens to the spinning top. This could be a frustrating ending to some, but there’s no doubt that it fits with the rest of the movie’s ambiguity. It’s hard to know whether lots of people talking about a film makes it ‘good’, but it certainly contributes to more people seeing it.
Film Festivals and Award Ceremonies
We've mentioned the Academy Awards a couple of times, so it’s worth noting that award ceremonies and film festivals can contribute to recognising and promoting ‘good’ films. Events like Cannes and Sundance help filmmakers showcase their work to global audiences. The idea is that films that have some originality, innovation, or artistic merit will get more attention than they might have done otherwise. Winning the Palme d’Or (Cannes’ highest award) is one of the most prestigious achievements in the film world. Parasite won this in 2019, which may have gone some way to boosting its popularity.
Conclusion: What Makes a Good Film?
Realistically, none of these things in isolation will make a ‘good’ film, and the idea of good or bad is still, mostly, subjective. However, in combination, elements can work together to create something that’s engaging and memorable for the audience… let’s call that 'good'.
Cultural impact means the film will resonate a little deeper, sometimes even promoting real changes. Technical innovation can certainly make something captivating, even when it misses the mark on other points. If we can suspend disbelief, then we believe in the world presented. Good casting means the characters are believable and come to life so we enjoy watching them. And an unpredictable plot with a satisfying ending is what we hope to get when we sit down to watch just about any type of film or series. If a film really hits the mark, it’s likely to have a little sprinkling of magic from each of the points we’ve looked at.
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About This Page
This page was written by Marie Gardiner. Marie is a writer, author, and photographer. It was edited by Andrew Blackman. Andrew is a freelance writer and editor, and is a copy editor for Envato Tuts+.
This content originally appeared on Envato Tuts+ Tutorials and was authored by Marie Gardiner
Marie Gardiner | Sciencx (2024-05-24T14:49:55+00:00) What Makes a Good Film?. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2024/05/24/what-makes-a-good-film/
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