5 Often Overlooked Components of Filmmaking

Katie Gorden
3 min readSep 20, 2021

Filmmaking ranks high up among some of the most interesting career paths today. It gives one the chance to entertain and earn a living. However, there is more to filmmaking than the average person can expect. You have to consider various factors and elements to ensure each film makes a good impression on your audience.

If you are new or still lacking insight into filmmaking, here are some of the commonly overlooked components:

1. The Lighting Quality

While many people use lighting in films, they often fail to note the importance of managing it correctly. There are various types of lighting involved in the average filmmaking process. These can include the chiaroscuro, silhouette, and various other lighting forms.

Filmmakers sometimes fail to realize the customizing the light is vital in the film production process. For instance, the type of lighting used for a particular scene helps boost the mood and feel it gives to the audience.

Plus, the quality of lighting used also has a considerable impression on the viewers of the film. Poor quality lighting is likely to indicate other sections of the movie are of low standards.

2. The Importance of Originality

The other important quality of filmmaking would be to produce original content. It’s an issue filmmakers face today, especially when using public platforms such as YouTube. However, it also faces filmmakers that plan to release any footage out there today.

Filmmakers often forget the importance of ensuring each content is unique and each product is safe under copyright laws. Originality also touches on the concept of producing high-quality content that offers value to viewers.

People don’t realize the importance of curating new ideas and their impact on a specific audience.

3. Color Management

The use of color is a powerful resource in the production of any film today. It has a considerable impact when communicating with the audience about the feel and message of a particular music scene. It’s the same principle that a good artist has to be competent with the color palette.

The greatest movie producers and cinematographers have long known about this perspective. The ability to manage colors correctly will have a positive impact on the quality of any film. The convenient thing for most filmmakers is that most tools today, such as smartphones, have excellent color resources.

However, it’s still appalling the high rate of films out there, which have inconsistent or unusual coloring. Such issues can easily compromise the viewership rating of any film, regardless of the content quality. Tools such as a good demo reel should be essential for this process.

4. Sound Calibration

Working on the sound quality is also crucial in the results and impression a particular film makes on an audience. Failing to work on proper calibration is one of the most significant challenges filmmakers face today.

Various factors to get good quality sound come into play, including background noise, microphone quality, and others. However, not many modern filmmakers are aware of the importance of setting these components up correctly.

They only focus on using the traditional microphones that come attached with film production kits. However, sound calibration requires various other procedures, including mastering and scene optimization. Doing this helps boost the overall quality of each film one produces.

5. Importance of Having Values

Aside from focusing on the technical and equipment aspect of filmmaking, film value is also a part of this process. There are various values that a good filmmaker should have, especially when they are a novice, in order to create a high-quality film with great production value.

Some of these values include patience, smart work, innovation, research, positivity, among many others. Too many filmmaking courses out there fail to focus on these aspects of producing films. It’s an issue evident in the millions of movies people release on social media or YouTube.

A good film takes time to prepare, and a good example would be the big-budget movies in Hollywood. Some films, such as the James Bond Franchise, sometimes take up to three years before becoming a finished product.

It’s good that you have realized filmmaking touches on various procedures and concepts. Being informed about the most overlooked filmmaking aspects can have a massive impact on your results. Realize that becoming a good filmmaker is a journey. So, you would be well informed and equipped to cut down your journey to becoming a master in filmmaking.

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Katie Gorden

Katie earned a BA in English from WWU and loves to write. She also adores hiking in redwood forests, photography, and campfires.