What Makes an Excellent Film

What makes an excellent film?

It took me a little while to come up with an answer to, "What makes an excellent film?" There really is no answer, actually. I believe that an excellent film is within the eyes and emotions of the audience. After researching and discovering what actually won Oscars and Golden Globe awards, it came down to what the people thought, and the popularity of a film. It is extremely hard to predict what will win these awards before the movie is even released to the public.

Before really thinking about the subject, some obvious traits of what I would consider "an excellent film" would be superior acting, beautiful scenery, etc., such as many present categories in the Academy or Golden Globe Awards. Of course I could go on about one of my all-time favorite movies, Titanic, which I paid to see in the theater about seven times in two weeks. It won 11 Oscars out of 14 nominations (Best Picture, Directing, Cinematography, Art Direction, Original Song, Film Editing, Original Dramatic Score, Visual Effects, Sound Effects Editing, Sound, and Costume Design), which was especially uncommon. The only other time that this had happened was in the 1950's, for Ben Hur. These definitely have something to do with what makes an excellent film, but I also believe that the personal connection and emotions that someone has with a film is just as important.

I feel that the emotional connection that people make with a film is, in most cases, an extremely important quality that directors can emphasize on in /their work. Whether it is a realistic movie that is based off of a true story, or a children's Disney movie, anyone can experience a sense of a character's point of view. Depending on the type of film (horror, suspense, comedy, drama, etc.), this emotional connection can vary among different people. In a classic Disney film such as Bambi, children can relate to Bambi. They can easily understand the type of experiences that he goes through such as having friends (Thumper, a joyous rabbit, and Flower, a loving skunk), playing on an icy pond, and even going through an emotional event of losing a loved one (the death of Bambi's mother).

In general, people rarely want to watch films that they know they won't enjoy. This is why there are so many types of films, and different people have different views on what makes an "excellent