Bad movies are easy to spot. Mediocre movies are a bit harder. To me, the difference between a good movie and a mediocre one is how well it uses the language of cinema to tell its story. Like any language, movies have vocabulary and grammar—consisting of shots, cuts, sound, action, and dialogue—and how well a filmmaker wields those tools makes a big difference in the quality of the movie.

In Movie Practice—my DIY approach to film school—I'm exploring how to improve my visual storytelling through the use of Set-Ups and Punchlines. An offshoot of the idea behind Checkov's Gun, set-ups and punchlines are used to plant information early on that may seem inconsequential, but then later there's a payoff that brings that information full circle.

However, the principle of set-ups and punchlines can be applied to the entire visual storytelling process. Setting up a character's backstory, giving the audience spatial awareness of a room, planting an emotional flag that you'll come back to later—set-ups and punchlines are happening all the time in every movie. And treating every shot as a new opportunity to convey meaning is exactly the kind of approach that makes the difference between a good movie and a mediocre one.

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WATCH MY SHORT FILM, "SENSE"
   • A man begins to suspect he's being wa...  

Movies Referenced:
No Country for Old Men (2007)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
The Blob (1958)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Sniper Special Ops (2016)
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)
Night of the Lepus (1972)
The Graduate (1967)
Hitchcock on Editing and the Kuleshov Effect (1964)
The Godfather (1972)
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Casablanca (1942)
Suicide Squad (2016)
Lady Snowblood (1973)
Day for Night (1973)
The Fabelmans (2022)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Get Out (2017)
Jaws (1975)
Aliens (1986)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
The Room (2003)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Sense (my short film)

Chapters:
00:00 What Makes a Movie Mediocre?
01:17 Setups & Punchlines
02:55 No Country for Old Men
04:43 Chekhov's Gun
07:09 Testing It Out
08:23 Conclusions
#videoessay #cinema #movies #filmmaking