Alright, I'll try to make as little sense as possible just to confuse everyone. I want to know how to tell if something's bad because of a bad style or because there's no true talent in it. With so many elements to go into a short, there are a lot of elements that can rub someone the wrong way. Now where do you say, "this is a mistake," or, "I just don't like how you did that." I can watch a few random movies and say, that's wrong, that's bad, thatis what's bringing your movie down; but, the simple retort could always be "that's just my style." Basically, can anyone even ever call a movie bad? If someone's got a bad style than I guess that bad style rubs off onto everything that person makes. And if it is bad style, is that reflective of his talent? Grr, I dunno if any of that made sense, but if any of it did, comment, I'll try to clarify later.

elliott.

i have this friend, he makes what i would say to be bad short films. almost every person who has seen any of his movies agree that they are of poor quality, even though they do not have any technical errors (such as bad sound or bad cuts) for the most part. however, he says that it is his "style" and no one but him understands what makes his movies great.

personally, i think when you are making your movies for yourself, and not for an audience, and people that see a short uniformily agree that they think it sucks, then it sucks. no way around it.

"Roger Roger"

I agree
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Well, Its seems your friends are what I would call, the definition of "Student film makers".
This label can mean many things. At its core, it means that you are a student of film, and film making, studying the methods and history of such, so you might pursue it yourself. I wear this label proudly.
But over time, I have discovered another definition for "student film maker", or rather "Student film".
I have seen soooo many bad shorts. Things that were bizzare, and fractured in their style, and edit, yet afterward, I would here people say things like, "That was a perfect student film." I have even seen that said of such shorts here, in the review section. I finally figured out what that meant. Many people associate, bad, fractured, style over content, shorts with student film makers. Apparently, many of the students used the mantra, "Its art, and no one gets it but me." So, in classic "The emperor has no clothes" style, most of the masses, fearing they will appear devoid of artistic sensitivity say, "That was a perfect student film."
As a result, I have realized, that by this train of thought, I dont make student films, I make films that strive to be something more. Isnt that the point of film school? To help you become better then you were.
In reality, there is nothing wrong with making those kind of films. I will defend the right, until my death, to call it art. I do believe some art is highly mis understood. The difference lies in whether or not, you wish to do this for a living. Make those kind of films, and I can guarantee you, you will not "make it" in Hollywood as a Director. (and dont bring Daren Arnofsky, or David Lynch into this. He(Daren)still tells a structured story, just coupled with stylish visuals that help further it. And David... He owns Hollywood, he can do whatever he wants. For those who think "Requiem for a Dream" is ground breaking, and original in its editing style, go watch "All that Jazz." Everything has been done before.) Hollywood has seen a million "student films". They want to see something that looks like what they do, or what they would like to do. Bad taste, bad style, its all up to interputation. Want a job doing this? That just wont fly.
R. Michael McWhorter

And you shall know us by the trail of dead.