Article - Developing Movie Ideas: Part 1

Coming up with ideas for a movie can be challenging but following the guidelines below will simply the process. You want to make a movie and you don’t have great equipment, a budget, or an agent. That’s fine because you’re not going to need them. Why put money into something that might not be finished? You’re a beginner and your effort should be placed into making a solid first attempt out of very few resources.

List of Interests

Are you funny? Artistic? Maybe you just like gangster movies. You will produce a higher quality movie if you are enthusiast about the subject.  Your interests are a great starting point to forming solid ideas. Write down a list of things that interest you, do not just keep it in your head.  Another reason to write everything down: you will not remember most of your ideas, and writing makes it easy to recall and later evaluate.

List of Ideas


Think of all the events that could happen for each interest and write them down. Many things could happen to a character on a fishing trip, such as falling off the boat or catching a mythical fish. Or you could focus on your friends because you share an hilarious dynamic.  Do not discount any ideas, however insignificant they seem--jot down everything.

Events for Ideas

Take your list of interests and cross out the weakest ones. If your idea involves a lot of people, changes in costumes, or a specific weather condition (i.e. snow, rain) it is not a good idea for your first movie(s).  Cross off remaining ideas with the least amount of events. Special note: do not use animals. You may love your pet, but would he sit still and do exactly what you wanted for a movie? In my experience, an animal is going to do what it wants.

Determining Weak Ideas

Observe the entries that are not crossed off.  Anything that made that cut is a good idea, but not necessarily a good movie idea.  Before we move on, if you did not cross off many (or any) of your ideas, go back and add some other interests but this time let your imagination run even wilder. Repeat again and again until you have only a few standout subjects. 

Genre

Determining a genre can be tricky so you do not have to define a genre. Your first movies are testing grounds and you do not want to limit yourself because at some point the movie steps outside of what should be in a musical, for example. Genre definitions are loose at best, and it may stress you out trying to decide on one.  A great example is Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness which has horror, action, and comedy rolled into one film.  What genre would this movie be under? I would lean toward comedy, but that could be argued.

Theme

Do not make anything too serious, regardless of what your ideas may inherently imply. Simple ideas offer the greatest opportunity for success. You may be thinking, “Why not? It’s my movie and I can do whatever I want!” Serious themes are difficult with amateurs and nearly impossible to present in a believable way. As much as you may want to create your Shakespearean masterpiece, Macbeth: The College Years, audience interest is lost if the dramatic performances are stilted and unrealistic.

Shy away from themes such as:

Themes to stick with that are enjoyed by a wide range of people:

Story

My recommendation is a simple & lighthearted story, which will be expanded upon in the next article, Chapter 2: Creating the Story. I highly advise sticking with comedy because at this stage in the game people expect it to be funny. Remember that a comedy is any type of humorous story.  And who doesn't enjoy a good ninja love story?

One simple way to make the movie funny is corny, over the top action that lightens the mood. Here’s an example: you have a helicopter taking off in a scene in your action movie but you don’t have Robert Rodriguez’s special effects studio and George Lucas is on vacation. Add some humor into the scene by using a toy helicopter instead. Have a hand come in the shot and start twirling the blades and use a dollar bill to recreate the sound of a takeoff.

These types of clever ideas will be remembered by your audience. Comedy is a difficult genre because it relies so heavily on timing, delivery, and attitude. My point isn’t to become the next Seinfeld, just have fun and incorporate funny situations or people. Another reason to stick in a comedic realm is that you can combine short skits for a sketch show. If you incorporate clever scenarios chances are people will want to see more of your work. On the flip side, doing the same thing every time for every situation, i.e. having a character say the same catchphrase over and over, will lose its humor and hinder your intended effect.

You don't need to write anything down for this part, but do keep the above comments in mind for the next phase.

Group Review

Are you going to think of many great ideas on your own? Probably not. You will need people to help write the movie; everyone can offer opinions. Keep in mind the finished movie will have everyone's input, so get fellow enthusiasts together and discuss ideas further. More than likely it will end up that the individuals who help you write the story also plan the movie, star, and make up the crew.

Begin by explaining your ideas to everyone.  This is a good test--if it makes sense to them and doesn't meet with much resistance, you might be done.  However, if people are scratching their heads, it's time to rethink.  Open it up to discussion and write down anything valid you hear.

Plot Consensus

After tabulating everyone's thoughts and opinions, you should now come up with an agreed upon idea.  If you cannot, go back to "Lists of Interests" (top of page) and try the entire process as a group instead of individually.  I recommended that you do it by yourself first because now you can quickly show others.  Consensus is important because if people don't like the idea, they will either not participate at all or worse yet, quit during production. Compromising is key for this phase of the process.

You now have a starting idea which you will develop into a story.  This will be easy because you've already done the critical thinking and now it's time to simply refine these ideas. Don't throw out your other story ideas, because you'll find that these might be your next movies so keep everything organized for next time.

Please check back next month for Part 2: Creating the Story.