What do you guys think is the most OVERLY used plot in a student film? I want to actually find the one that is so obvious and overused and try and make it halfway intresting... get away from how it is normally used.

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Mike Jones
Green Sky Productions

I am really friggin' tired of student films with main plots involving such things as crime and murder. In fact, it would be great if there wasn't any student film from this point on with a gun in it, because I know you guys can do better than that!

Yeah, I second you Dan...

Why is there some much violence in this world?
Can't we all just get along? LMAO!!!!

Why don't we all make some anti-war PSA's with Bush and Bin Laden chillin' in the woods, roastin' some marshmellow's...makin' smores....

*sings* WHERE IS THE LOVE??? *sings*

Dizzamn, I am bored...

Actually, some of the violent movies on here kick lots of arse!

PEACE

PLAY ON PLAYA

Shut up. Movies with guns kick ass (As long as done appropriately) most of the best films on this site have guns and they kick ass.

The most stupid plots consist of ripping off the plot from other movies;
FALLEN - NARC anyone? Insomnia?
KNOCK OVER - Stupid?
THE HEIST - RESERVOIR DOGS?

-TacoWagonProductions

"she said she loved me then i put it in her butt" -RebirthofCool

also movies about suicide suck too. I hate those.

-TacoWagonProductions

"she said she loved me then i put it in her butt" -RebirthofCool

damn, dont playa hate kyle...
lol

if you dont like those movies on studentfilms...then what, in YOUR opinion, is the BEST film on this site?

IM OUT

PLAY ON PLAYA

http://forums.studentfilms.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=2086066451&f=2416029451&m=9156032234

-TacoWagonProductions

i hate student-films that revolve around the mafia, its so overused its sickening. Same thing with drugs and suicide.

I also cant stand student-film war movies because no matter how hard they try, it never looks like a war is taking place.

I hate the emo movie that keeps getting made about some guy depressed because he broke up with a girl. Then the whole movie is him trying to come to terms with the break up through lengthy self reflection. Bleh.

But the most overused student film? Two people sitting in a location discussing stuff using overly-clever dialogue ala Pulp Fiction or Clerks. The filmaker/writer thinks he or she is creating new insight into the human condition by having the characters discuss some academic or pop culture topic but without Tarantino or Smith's skill of creating believable dialogue the effect is not unlike a mundane session of debate team practice. Also factor in the fact that when Tarantino or Smith includes such conversations in a film they tend to use the dialogue to flesh out the characters or embelish the conflict which is already inherint in the film. By making a short which is only the conversation there is no conflict and thus no actual story. It's just two people talking, often without the benefit of a writer skillful enough to make two people talking interesting.

Action Ranger, you are a genius. I agree 200%.

So what if people use the plot over and over.. if they make it good,, it is good enough for me,, like how you said about fallen is like narc.. some ways it is,, but they still did a good job making it,, its kinda hard to find good movies made by teens and directed by them too. If they can make it good,, then make it all you want,, but if it sucks,,, no comment

The object of war is not to die for your country,,, but to make the other bastards die for theirs.

A secret virus is unleashed on the public turning them all into zombies

Matrix rip offs

Army films where you have two badly dressed kids running around shooting at one another.

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"I'm federal agent Jack Bauer, and today is the longest day of my life."

At the New York Film Academy, I encountered a lot of student films about suicide. Things like that that are so overdone yet are meant to spark deep emotion eventually don't even mean anything anymore.

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I agree with the begining of the post. Random movies that use guns make me sick. Come to think about it, all my favorite movies dont use guns at all (except pulp fiction).

I recently acquired an airsoft pistol. I was begining to write a short with cops, drugs, etc. Something similar to "fallen", until i realized some of my fav movies dont have violence like that. I decided to put the gun away for a few years and not write something like that until i became more expierecend and actually knew how to put a good crime drama on film.

I hate the films on this site that kids my age make their first films with 17 year old running around w/ fake guns and poor dialog. Write what you know, then later in life tackle the harder stuff.

But thats just me.

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Alex Conway
Mind-Trip Films

i would say ones based around drug deals.

crazy people.

a lot of film students rely on "craziness" or schizophrenia to justify a character's behaviour, or to provide the twist at the end.

you know, like weird stuff happens in the movie, and then at the end they're in an insane asylum and they've been imagining everything....because they're crazy!

Guns done good are good... guns done bad are bad. This is an opinion and we may never get a truly universal answer. Here's my opinion: guns are great. Here is my attempt at a Science fiction action short:Sanctuary. It is still in production and is (hopefully) going to be made on a budget of less that $50. It is special effects intensive and will take a while. The preveiw is out.

There are a lot of superhero things being made lately, but plot-aside the most common (and easiest) thing that I see in student films is killing the main character at the end. Suicide is common, sure, but there's a lot of other main-character-death going on besides.

The reason is that the story is weak and doesn't have an ending so, you what's a definite ending? Death.

Basically, student films follow trends like anything else - so right now there are a lot of zombies, vampires, and superheroes. Watch the IFC series Film School and see what mediocre nonsense these kids turn out... that's pretty typical.

Agreed, students are becoming there own stereotype. Enough with zombies, vampires, gothic and death.

Yeah, what happened to masterbation plots.