Filmic techniques

• sound: when sound effect or music
• time: weather can link two scenes temporally, e.g. rain in both scenes
• attention: don't stay away from a character too long
• noire: rain, dark
• lighting: warm / cold
• action: quiet and stillness after big sound and action
• action: making the mundane horrific, e.g. open the door, please
• action: maintain suspects
• actor: actor cooking time - some do it right the first time
• camera: eye height or not, low angle
• camera: choosing a shot of a sequence so that it is the shot from the angle of someone who didn't know it was going to happen as opposed to the shot from the angle of someone that did know what was going to happen - non-anticipatory camera shot
• frame: right weighted and left weighted
• frame: how geometric elements work in frame, e.g. doors, things that make lines and colours
• story: all options seem futile
• story: characters opposites to create tension of possibilities
• story: characters have secrets
• story: what is the wraparound story, the backstory
• story: come up with the twist first and let the rest come after

{Tanya Pretorius' Bookmarks: Movies, Filmic techniques}