As a girl who loves and watches cinema as if it’s my religion, I’ve had a lot of opinions of what makes a good film as a whole. Although I don’t plan on going into the film industry, I believe if you look at the basic aspects of popular films, you can easily pinpoint the different key elements within a movie to make it a successful film. To prove this point, here is what I like to call, “A Zwinks Guide to Cinematic Perfection” which includes a three key ingredient list of must haves in a movie to make it a quality, and therefore successful, film.
Also, to keep readers with good taste satisfied (or you may be able to let out the longest groan of your life), I will use the entire Twilight Saga as an example, not only because of the genius behind it, but because of its grossing $3.4 billion worldwide.
1. ̶L̶o̶v̶e̶ Lust Conquers All
Give me a shredded six-pack or give me death. Obviously, everyone knows that having a strong cast will bring in revenue. But what better than making the cast both talented, and sexy? Being able to put a current heartthrob in the lead role can boost your audience’s interest in watching the plot, which ultimately boosts the quality of the film itself. In Twilight, we not only get Robert Pattinson as a strong hunk-of-a-lead, but Taylor Lautner as the other male lead. Having attractive leads in films make not only the characters more desirable, but the film as well.
2. Turn that PG into 13
Quality films, in my opinion, have to have some sort of controversy to them. A plot point or scene that really gets the crowd going. However, you don’t have to always go to the extremes to get this. By adding a cuss word or two, a sex scene, or something just risqué enough to push the film into the PG13 rating, the film automatically has more quality added to it. If vulgar words are not something appropriate to the film, catchy lines that you can later turn into memorable moments and marketing labels work great in films. For example, the famous “You better hold on tight spider-monkey” line of Twilight along with several well-known lines have made profit from the uncomfortable, yet some may say perfectly, written lines.
“My monkey man” -Bella Swan in Twilight
15 Of The Most Ridiculous Things Ever Said In The Twilight Saga (hollywood.com)
3. Death.
Lastly, a quality film can have any plotline it would like, but in film there is a key element I look for every time. The death of either a loved, or strongly hated character. Go ahead, think of your favorite film or series. Does someone die in it? If your answer is yes, most likely your favorite movie is of good quality. The death aspect of a plotline in a movie is what draws the audience closer to not only the storyline, but the characters as well. It’s a part of life that only humans mourn, and therefore, no matter the circumstance, a movie should include within the plot. In the last Twilight movie, Breaking-Dawn Part 2, we watch a scene where the majority of our beloved characters die in a vision. Not only did it throw the audience off but brought compassion towards certain characters and a quality boost to the movie.
Of course, everyone has their own definition of what a quality movie is to them, and many may disagree with my usage of the Twilight Saga as my example for one. But whether it’s the teenage angst of Robert Pattinson’s vampire in Twilight or something a little more serious like Leonardo Decaprio’s death in Titanic, the aspects that I listed can be seen across numerous films and various genres.
