The Strengths and Weaknesses of Student Films

In order to gain more knowledge about Student Films before I design my own, I watched a variety of student films in order to learn about some of the common strengths and weaknesses they might share. After watching a variety of these films, I chose two films and analysed them in detail in order to see where the strengths and weaknesses are apparent.

Some of the strengths
One of the strengths of student films is that the ideas from the students are original and most of the time will be different to generic films showcased in mainstream cinemas. As the students will originate from a certain area, their films may tackle events that people in that area could relate to, meaning that a niche audience can easily be targeted. Since the ideas are so original, they will be more intriguing and unique. Finally, the student films gives the students a chance for their work to be viewed by various scouts and directors, meaning they can end up being recognised due to their films.

Some of the weaknesses
A common weakness that student film will share is the lack of funding, which will mean props will be limited and special effects will not be very effective. In the film opening “Peephole”, I noticed that the camera quality was not as high as that of Hollywood filming equipment and the filming was occasionally jolty. This can be due to the awkward filming conditions (e.g. an uneven ground, strong winds etc) which student films cannot accompany for whereas the professional film institutions can film in studious where these drawbacks will not be an issue. In “Peephole”, the audio quality was impaired due to the wind, meaning that the dialogue was sometimes difficult to hear. Also, the actors will be limited due to the lack of contacts the student film makers will have. Also, there is a limited amount of soundtracks which can be used due to the fact that most of the soundtracks are copyrighted and therefore students will not be able to use well known tracks without the permission of the artists. Due to the lack of the points mentioned above, student films cannot bet made to a high enough quality in order to be anything special.

What I plan to do
When I begin to create my film opening, I plan to take into account the strengths and weaknesses mentioned above. I plan to use only my original ideas to make my film as unique and diverse as possible. I will also try to use very little props as possible or the cheapest I can find to conserve funds. I will try to plan on what days I will film ahead of schedule so that I can take weather conditions into account. Also, I will try to hold auditions for character roles so that I can make sure that I have correctly cast each role.

This is the student film I analysed