From some recent postings I thought it would be a neat idea to make a list of some filmmaking cliches that students usually use in their films - so that they can avoid them.

I've seen alot of student films (really? how strange? ) and these are some that just came to my head.

Here goes. Feel free to add to it.

1. A film about a homeless person
2. A film about someone who commits suicide
3. A pulp fiction / resevoir dogs-esque film or any gangster film
4. Using the Scorsese "Goodfellas" zoom in pull back camera effect
5. Using the overhead Platoon shot - although it is hilarious in the Daily Show

Ok...that's five now it's your turn.

Enjoy the new films today posted today. I think the site has almost reached it's 1000th film...but not all of them are online still because of films not being renewed. But I think the site is up to film #962 submitted. Pretty crazy.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Suicide and the Tarantino rip-offs and Goodfellas shot are all very common. You might want also add shorts about drug use/depression and failed relationship.

I personally have only seen one film about a homeless person, which I made. It's pretty far from what you'd conventionally expect, though.

Well the homeless person cliche was batted into me when I was in film school. It was a huge student film cliche then - maybe not as much anymore.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

Guns (they're usually there because they could be.)

Students playing serious adult roles.

Students playing the "zany goof ball college graduate."

And, yes, I'm guilty of all of those things

Hitman movies.

I've seen five or six student films about hitmen.

Also, that ending where the main character wakes up and its just a dream. What a frickin cop out.

Drug use/drug deals, dramatic smoking scene, quick/random editing cuts (yes, I did use that one in a recent film of mine, Stakeout on Cranberry but only to mock the the common use of it in studentfilms), deep depression (i think there's actually a movie on the site titled "Depression").

The tormented artist idea... Ugh.....
Not to mention "eyebrow acting", unnecessary pauses between lines of dialogue, and the extreme close-up on an eye.

What I hate most is seeing a film about a filmmaker. Nobody cares about your dumb life! I hate reading books about writers, and I hate listening to songs about music.

I can understand (and I do appreciate) some parodies of the industry from within the industry, but serious efforts from idiot writers who try to craft complex, troubled, artistically haunted characters and form stories around their own boring lives make me sick. Show me mutant firefighters! Show me assassin strippers! I hate writers, and I hate their dumb lives. I should know; I am one, and I have one.

God, that was some tangent. Sorry. How about the all-too-frequent use of obscene, vulgar, and/or profane language - that's cliched, I guess.

Dam Dirty Apes!

I nearly said that about profanity. I agree. it often seems like the student films want to seem "tougher" or more realistic, and they resort to a stream of cursing.

There are lists upon lists of film cliches. For the original poster, I would start googleing.

when student filmmakers use (steal) a big blockbuster score (Armageddon, Saving private ryan, LOTR, etc) and use it in their film. That just kills me. It makes me want to turn off their film and go rent the film the score was originally used in.

I'm sure there are lists - I just wanted to have our own.

-Chris
Studentfilms.com

1. Overbaked action without a plot.
A lot of times we see student films that have tons of unnecessary martial arts/gunfights/etc. that is weakly backed by the story. You get the notion they made the movie just to film the action and make themselves look "cool." They have a term for these: they're called Kung Fu movies, and another one begins production every two hours in Japan or China or whatever. Where do you think Spike TV gets their material?

2. The main "hero" never fails.
Every good writer knows that in a three-act story (used in almost every hollywood movie we see in theaters) at the end of Act Two the hero should be at his lowest point. Maybe he is imprisoned and helpless, and needs someone else to come to his aid. Too often I'm seeing student films where the main character kicks @ss through the whole story. Other than being bad writing, it's like playing San Andreas for the first time and typing in all the cheat codes. Entertaining for a while (2 minutes) but ultimately boooringgg.

The whip around the actor and keep circling move.

There's a whole list of them here.

http://www.moviecliches.com/

quote:

The whip around the actor and keep circling move.

What does that mean? Is it a reference to a circling camera?

quote:

Originally posted by Harris:

quote:

The whip around the actor and keep circling move.

What does that mean? Is it a reference to a circling camera?

Yeah. Where the camera just keeps circling around the actor. A continuous circle.

I would actually like to have the ability to continuously circle the camera around my actor. Is that really a cliche? Particularly of student films? I find a moving camera really helps keep the energy up in dialogue shots (or anything for that matter)... maybe not continuously circling, but I like a little circling.

I always liked that, and then I discovered that a ton of people despise it.

I too always liked it. I once did it in a commercial where a couple got married and for the kiss I circled around them. Thought it was cliche for students though. If done well you can pull it off.

I think the circle shot is very cliche for any movie in general. Considering Jerry Bruckheimer puts it in every movie he produces. It's a cool shot, but overused.

I remember Shane Carruth, director of Primer, say he used a circle shot just because it was a cliche in action movies.