DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Why you should study bad movies to improve your filmmaking

Apr 26, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic 4 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Studying works from other artists is an important part of learning and improvement. It makes sense to study those better than yourself, right? But does it make sense to you to study bad art in order to make your own art better? Darious Britt talks about this topic in his video.

Although he aims it mostly at storytelling in filmmaking, some of these points can apply to photography as well. So, let’s see how studying bad art can make you improve.

1. Easier to spot issues

When you watch bad movies, it’s much easier to spot any mistakes and inconsistencies. With good movies, everything seems to “flow.” When you break down bad ones, you can spot many more mistakes in less time.

2. Studying bad movies helps you break down good ones

When you break down bad movies, you will have more points of reference for breaking down good ones. When you know how to spot bad stuff, you will be quicker to spot them in good movies too. But also, you will learn to notice what’s particularly good, too.

3. Lessons stick longer

When you break down enough bad movies, you’ll have some memorable examples of what not to do.

4. Easier to spot cliché dialogs

Just like other undesirable elements, cliché dialogs are easier to spot in bad movies. This will help you notice them in your own work.

5. Helps you spot issues in fellow filmmakers’ work

When you study bad movies, you’ll notice what’s wrong in your or your fellow moviemakers’ work. But what’s also important, you’ll also know how to articulate it and clearly point out what exactly is wrong.

6. Fun to watch

Bad movies can be very entertaining to watch (even if you don’t break them down, trust me). And if you have fun while also learning something, what else can you wish for?

7. Reinforces screenwriting and storytelling guidelines

Watching bad movies can remind you (or convince you) why screenwriting and storytelling guidelines are important.

8. Studying bad movies saves you from costly mistakes

Moviemaking is an expansive craft, and making mistakes can cost you a lot of money. By studying bad movies, you can learn what not to do by learning from other people’s mistakes.

As I said, I believe some of these points can be applied to photography as well. What comes to mind first is bad Photoshop work, and you can find tons of examples of the most common mistakes and what not to do.

Of course, all this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t break down good movies/photos and learn from them. But it does mean that you shouldn’t underestimate bad stuff and everything you can learn from it. After all, how will you know what’s bad if you’ve only seen good art?

What do you think? Do you agree with these points? And do you tend to learn from bad movies and photos as much as from the good ones?

[Why Filmmakers Should Study Bad Movies | D4Darious]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAdvice From J.J. Abrams: “It’s More Important You Learn What to Make Movies About Than How to Make Movies” Become a Better Filmmaker by Watching Bad Movies Study reveals that firing all the news photographers was a bad idea Researchers Use Slow Motion to Study Hummingbird Flight; Will Improve Drone Stability

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: filmmaking, inspiration, movie making, Photography

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« DJI and Hasselblad’s “new” aerial photography platform is a flying 100MP medium format camera
A pilot shot this Milky Way timelapse on a flight between Switzerland and Brazil »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy