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Film with no pop

Been reviewing production companies to help with a demo reel and while I have no film experience, I do know what looks great and what looks flat and stilted. I'm curious why some film of basically the same scenes/settings has that great Big Screen "feel" to it and other film looks like a home video? If it's just a hardware problem - camera, lenses, filters, etc. - or bad editing or some kind of ego problem on the part of the cinematographer to not be able to tell their work needs to improve?
 
it's everything combined that it takes to make a film

set design, acting, lens, light, use of color, camera movement, sound, color grading, artistic composition, etc
 
Budget and skills.

Some people think making a good video only requires pointing the camera and shoot.
Other put in more effort, skills and talent.

But it has to fit the budget as well.
Sometimes there is just no money, time and no location available to make it feel like big screen.
 
Not so sure about the budget thing. I've seen some people do some pretty amazing stuff with cheap cameras, and then people with full RED rigs totally blow.

I think there's something to that camera placement suggestion GuerrillaAngel made, though. The camera angles often feel "wrong" in the bad ones. A close-up where it shouldn't be, or a long-range shot that should be close. I watched a recent very good one where the camera is always moving, even a tiny amount very slowly. It is always going in or out , left, right or up or down. That camera movement makes it much more interesting, I think.

I think lighting is 90% of filmmaking and sound is the other 90%.
 
Not so sure about the budget thing. I've seen some people do some pretty amazing stuff with cheap cameras, and then people with full RED rigs totally blow.
That is where skills and talent make a difference.

I think there's something to that camera placement suggestion GuerrillaAngel made, though. The camera angles often feel "wrong" in the bad ones. A close-up where it shouldn't be, or a long-range shot that should be close.
That is skill as well: knowing and applying the language of film in a way that when needed the edit is natural and 'invisible'.

I watched a recent very good one where the camera is always moving, even a tiny amount very slowly. It is always going in or out , left, right or up or down. That camera movement makes it much more interesting, I think.
....

When it comes to cameramovement, it often requires budget, because you need gear.
Someone, somewhere needed money to get it.

Big budget + 0 skill/talent = probably crappy
0 budget + a lot of skill/talent = potentially good movie

It obviously takes skill and talent to make a great movie, but the budget creates the freedom to bring the vision to life.

And yes: lighting and sound are important.
Actually a movie is nothing but a play of light (= the visuals) and sound to depict action and convey emotion.
 
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