My 7 tips for a movie (based on the most common mistakes):

1. Turn off the mumbling - it wasn't in The Sims, and it was never in this game, even on first viewing. I hate it when I'm in AMM as well.

2. Use a spellchecker on your subtitles. There's no excuse for bad spelling these days. It's as easy as doing 2+2 with a calculator.

3. Introduce characters early in the film so we know who is supposed to be talking. Use close-ups to make certain of which voice/subtitle belongs to which character.

4. When doing VO, put some effort into the lines - if someone else has done them and they don't sound better than reading out of a dictionary, then a director should send them back.

5. When doing VO, don't talk directly into the mic. Needless popping can be avoided.

6. Use music sparingly - it has more emotional impact that way. Avoid drowning out the dialogue with music.

7. Story comes first - then you can add the eye (or sound) candy later.

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jazzx:

My 7 tips for a movie (based on the most common mistakes):

1. Turn off the mumbling - it wasn't in The Sims, and it was never in this game, even on first viewing. I hate it when I'm in AMM as well.

2. Use a spellchecker on your subtitles. There's no excuse for bad spelling these days. It's as easy as doing 2+2 with a calculator.

3. Introduce characters early in the film so we know who is supposed to be talking. Use close-ups to make certain of which voice/subtitle belongs to which character.

4. When doing VO, put some effort into the lines - if someone else has done them and they don't sound better than reading out of a dictionary, then a director should send them back.

5. When doing VO, don't talk directly into the mic. Needless popping can be avoided.

6. Use music sparingly - it has more emotional impact that way. Avoid drowning out the dialogue with music.

7. Story comes first - then you can add the eye (or sound) candy later.

 

Great tips right here! If I could edit the post, I would add these

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ShyShy:

jazzx:

My 7 tips for a movie (based on the most common mistakes):

1. Turn off the mumbling - it wasn't in The Sims, and it was never in this game, even on first viewing. I hate it when I'm in AMM as well.

2. Use a spellchecker on your subtitles. There's no excuse for bad spelling these days. It's as easy as doing 2+2 with a calculator.

3. Introduce characters early in the film so we know who is supposed to be talking. Use close-ups to make certain of which voice/subtitle belongs to which character.

4. When doing VO, put some effort into the lines - if someone else has done them and they don't sound better than reading out of a dictionary, then a director should send them back.

5. When doing VO, don't talk directly into the mic. Needless popping can be avoided.

6. Use music sparingly - it has more emotional impact that way. Avoid drowning out the dialogue with music.

7. Story comes first - then you can add the eye (or sound) candy later.

 

Great tips right here! If I could edit the post, I would add these

Hehe - I look forward to your next film then!

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Here merry Christmas, I used some of your tips: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/149970

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ShyShy:

Here merry Christmas, I used some of your tips: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/149970

Throw it in my open review thread and it will be watched.

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kk

back to tips

anyone else got some helpful tips?

 

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ShyShy:

kk

back to tips

anyone else got some helpful tips?

 

One that is quite simple, but really helpful:

You can right click scenes in Advanced Movie Maker to duplicate them.

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hahah what the hell i never knew that!!!!

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Well ShyShy, if the movie's anything like that teaser, it'll be brilliant .

Thanks Undead God!

=]

 

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Thanks man. I've been hoping to get into the Movies a bit more than the other stuff I've been using since my break about 2 YEARS AGO!!!!! Don't worry, I'm not completely insane yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to get my creative juices flowing, with these 7 (or more, looking back at previous posts) with the tips backing me. Thanks man, hope to make some stuff soon.

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mollyrulz9999:

Thanks man. I've been hoping to get into the Movies a bit more than the other stuff I've been using since my break about 2 YEARS AGO!!!!! Don't worry, I'm not completely insane yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to get my creative juices flowing, with these 7 (or more, looking back at previous posts) with the tips backing me. Thanks man, hope to make some stuff soon.

 

your Welcome

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A.) tips from everyone -- and might I add an emphatic agreement to the "story comes first" school of thought. Remember, if you don't have a story, you don't have a movie.

B.) eobaggs -- thanks for the link to celtx. This is an invaluable scriptwriting tool. I heartily recommend one and all to scroll back to eo's post so they can check it out.

C.) What the heck is sisch doing with Schroedinger's Cat? I thought it was dead.....oh, wait -- that's the point, isn't it?

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HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS

Now in pre-production: THE MAN FROM SCHENECTADY

Script 100% Casting 97%

ShyShy:

anyone else got some helpful tips?

The only thing I can suggest is keep your number of characters to a minimum. The game knows what it's doing giving you only three main characters. There are exceptions, but seriously, we can't all be making Interstellar: Odyssey, which has a cast of about a hundred. It's hard enough to develop three main characters. Don't fill your movie with lots of bit parts that are hard to keep track of.

And for Pete's sake, make them look different. If you have two lead men, make one blonde and one dark haired. (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Starsky and Hutch, etc.) Make one fat and the other one skinny. (Tommy Boy, Laurel and Hardy, etc.) It's easier to keep track of who's who. Same with females, big boobs and small boobs, blond and brunette, long hair and short hair.

Despite the StarMaker, most of these characters look pretty much alike. Make it easy for your audience to tell them apart. They're already confused enough by your whacky plot.

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An Action-Packed CyberPunk Epic

Deciding to reopen this, even though its been a while! Post your new tips people!

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My college movie teacher once said: '' Movies and scripts are like children, you can love them too much, even to the point of being oblivious to just how awfull they turn out to be. Don't be affraid to set them aside or(and this might sound realy bad from that analogy , so remember of the context it is in) kill them before they get out of hand.'' What he meant was that you can work on a story, one that you hold dear, and be completely focussed on getting it made, to the point of missing the simple fact that it's not a story to begin with. Like the tip before said, every script you make should be shown to people you respect and trust to be impartial about how it realy is. And you should be mature enaugh to accept their critism and points of view. You will end up with a much better script / story in the end.

If you find a story idea enaugh for a movie, but the subject or situations have been done to death, try a reversal, a switcharoo, an opposite ending. Make the main characters different from the stereotypes that usualy show in movies. Keep asking yourself ''what if...''

BTW That CeltX prog is pure gold, nice find.

well that's my 2 cents....on with getting that werepoodle script done.

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Baby we were Boing to run...

MikDBoing:

My college movie teacher once said: '' Movies and scripts are like children, you can love them too much, even to the point of being oblivious to just how awfull they turn out to be. Don't be affraid to set them aside or(and this might sound realy bad from that analogy , so remember of the context it is in) kill them before they get out of hand.'' What he meant was that you can work on a story, one that you hold dear, and be completely focussed on getting it made, to the point of missing the simple fact that it's not a story to begin with. Like the tip before said, every script you make should be shown to people you respect and trust to be impartial about how it realy is. And you should be mature enaugh to accept their critism and points of view. You will end up with a much better script / story in the end. If you find a story idea enaugh for a movie, but the subject or situations have been done to death, try a reversal, a switcharoo, an opposite ending. Make the main characters different from the stereotypes that usualy show in movies. Keep asking yourself ''what if...'' BTW That CeltX prog is pure gold, nice find. well that's my 2 cents....on with getting that werepoodle script done.

 

Violent but ! Anyone else with some helpful tips!?

 

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Fred your first post is awsome, I really do like your ability to make  cool stuff crap, thats not sarcasim. You could  do so much with that (insert cool vision here)....ahh.....

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It's right here

MikDBoing:

getting that werepoodle script done.

That's...that's....genius....

That's the next movie I'm gonna watch... let me know if you need any help with it!

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ShyShy and Jazzx those are all mostly great tips but I agree with RPO though that if you don't have a story you don't have a movie that its the ability to tell a story that makes a movie work.

A couple of rules I think of is that..

1) subtittles are always better than bad voice overs.

and

2) freecam use is always better than a bad mod.

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http://movies.lionhead.com/studio/R33se

You know what I noticed about this thread...   There were very few suggestions about how to work TheMovies program in order for you to create your stories to make better movies.  I think that goes a long way to explain how this program has become so popular for us 'amateur' movie makers...   Its really very easy to make little stories that get played out on our computer screens, and we can spend our efforts in being creative rather than trying to get one character to slap another because they made a suggestive comment about the sexual nature of their dog...

Remind me that I said this after I have spent 2 days editing a 5 minute movie in AMM....

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"Monk....you Idiot!"