Golden rules of filmmaking?

[Firestorm]

I'm doing a presentation on a hobby for my speech class and I wanted to give some useful information on it; however, I'm definately nowhere near the most knowledgable person on the subject, so I thought I'd get your opinions.

I need somewhere from 2-5 points for a 5 minute presentation that will have a powerpoint component.

Now, there's some rules that apply to home video making and some that don't, and I wanted at least some of the presentation to be something my audience could apply practically.

What I can think of to demonstrate:

- Rule of thirds (definate)
- What is it called? How pro filmmakers use a narrow FOV, and how stuff behind it is blurry, and how you back up and zoom in to accomplish the same thing with most home cameras (& using tripods)

other possibilities:

- Various differences between professional movie footage and (film vs DV, framerate, color saturation)
- Scene changes - keeping attention off the fact that there's a camera/cameraman in the scene - having scene changes often - having still shots in between panning/zooming shots
- Rules for moviemaking (not building a movie around SFX, focusing on characters, planning everything in advance, etc.)
- 3x as much stock footage as movie length



Anyway, you all know what the most important rules are, which ones are most important for the average Joe to know, and how best to explain/demonstrate them. So basically, what are the golden rules of good filmmaking?

Also, any suggestions for stuff for me to read so I can explain it as well as I can would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[crossfire]

the rule of thirds is when you split your (whatever you see on the screen, AKA the image) into 3 parts horizontally and vertically and the inner part is is supposed ot be where most of the action should take place. The second thing you were talkinga bout is depth and profesional cameras focus alot on a certain depth and everythign else is very blurred. NTSC framerate is 24.98 while various cameras capture anywhere from 24 to 30 fps. to keep attanetion off the fact that there is a cameraman the motions of the camera needs to be very naturl, and fluid (shakeyness, etc. has to be avoided). rules for amateur movie making are (make sure you record GOOD sound, (wind screen and external mic are essential)) adjust white balance and focus manually, try not to use the the built in effects on the camera, and use a tripod almost always.
for good movies (non SFX advice) make sure that the climax is acute and distinguishable, take the time to develop characters properly, never rush and try not to assume that the audience knows something.

[Grant]

GOLDEN RULE: You crew and yourself have fun

[SgtPadrino]

Don't make crappy movies.

[Grant]

SgtPadrino!! there are no crappy movies! All show technique, style and thought!

[ALove]

Rules of composition

[iCEbLuEORbitZ]

grant, i'm going to have to disagree with you.... i've seen some worthless cr** in school!

[maj_barnes]

Crappy videos make good teaching tools on what not to do.

[iCEbLuEORbitZ]

haha, true, very true.

[Epsilon]

If there were no crappy movies, how would the good ones stand out?

[nigel101]

check my website out there how tos on blood, lighting, funding etc.

If you got the skill you could do the predator effect that be cool.

www.ngmfilms.com

[crossfire]

ya thats true, all movies have their worth either to their makers or their viewers.

[Grant]

all films are great, there is just different degrees of greatness.

[crossfire]

very well said Grant, some of the most important stuff is just common sense that people ignore mostly out of laziness or inability

[Firestorm]

Rules of composition

Whoa that's nice, never saw it there. Thanks for the comments everyone.

[maj_barnes]

GOLDEN RULE: You crew and yourself have fun

That's the one I always follow.

[FabianJansen]

GOLDEN RULE: You crew and yourself have fun

That's the one I always follow.

w00p! Same same! Most important thing...

[nigel101]

can i put this on my website? Firestorm