What is the biggest secret professionals use when planning a film, commercial or other video project?

March 30, 2006 in planning by Josh

Choose a "model" for your project. That means choosing a commercial, TV show, or a scene from a movie, that has a style that would work well for your project. Then study it, and use the same elements and style in your project.

Try to use the same camera angles, same shot composition, similar music, similar editing style- and your project will come out much better, because you’re building on what’s come before rather than reinventing the wheel.

Remember: "Borrow from one source, it’s stealing. Borrow from two, it’s research" (thanks to Ross Jones for that quote).

This is what all great filmmakers, artists, musicians and athletes do- emulate other greats. Remember, "Plagiarism is the most sincere form of flattery".

Also, watch this tiplet:

Planning Your Project

More planning links:

	Releases for Use in Film and Video
	Program Proposals and Treatments
	Capturing and Holding Viewer Attention
	The Production Sequence
	The Script: The Key Element In Productions
	Scriptwriting Guidelines
	Scriptwriters Network
	Free Scripts to Read Online
	Screenwriter’s Utopia