What makes a film successful

In order to make my short film successful I needed to find out in general what it is that makes a film become successful, so I did a bit of research on how big films become a huge hit and makes the audience go to watch it on cinemas or even buy them on DVD's. I found out that the storyline is one of the most important things to making the film a hit. If you do not have a good storyline then the target audience will not go to watch it. A good storyline is at the heart of every successful film. The script must definately appeal to the target audience. Successful films are known to tug at the heartstrings of the audience because they are fairly easy to relate to. Even if you have a big star to perfom for example Will Smith, the audience would not like to sit through 120minutes watching him in a boring film because the storyline was very poor. Granted, there are so many movies that have such a huge buzz going into their opening weekend that people will go and see the movie. But when word gets out that people did not enjoy the movie the second week’s take will be drastically less.

Having stars that are good actors are also the key to making a film successful. This is because popular actors have huge following and they are known to give quality performances. Angelina Jolie took a small movie that wasn’t getting that much press, last summer’s “Wanted”, and turned it into one of the biggest movies of the summer.

Marketing Plan is a critical part of a successful film Making a film, no matter how good or how famous its actors and director are, would not attract much attention if it won’t create some buzz. That is why it is essential to Advertise and other marketing campaigns such as a movie trailer, posters, inviting movie critics to the film’s premiere and other forms of promotions are of utmost importance.

The budget is also a very essential thing to make a film successful. Film production costs a lot of money, making it an important aspect of what makes a movie successful. Having a budget that would adequately cover expensive talent fees and at the same time enable directors to come up with creative ways of making a movie. Release Date is also crusial. I have noticed that a lot of the big budget films are in the summer. This is because there are more people able to see them at any given time throughout the day. School is not in session and people even work less. Plus it is great to be super hot all day and then walk into an air-conditioned movie theater for just a couple of hours. Movies also have to be aware of what other movies are being released and when.

During my research I came across this article which is really useful for making a short film. The article is by Warren EIG. Here is the link to the article. http://www.thefilmlot.com/articles/ARTsuccessfulshort.php

All this research I have to done is going to help me a lot when I come to make my short film. The first thing I have to be thinking about is manking sure that I have a solid blueprint or script to begin with. I have learnt that if I spend the time perfecting the final draft then the production will go more smoothly. I also learnt that having a specific target audience for your films are extremely important. Your film must be relevant to your target market. This means your target market must be clearly defined. It's not uncommon for big film to have to refocus and revisit their targeting, especially if it was not clearly identified in the beginning stages of producing it. To achieve a good a successful film it is important that you know your target market inside and out. This requires conducting a market analysis. This market analysis must be as in-depth as possible providing you will all the data you need to reach your target effectively. By knowing your target audience you will be more confident in the steps to take to connect with that audience.