Make sure your dialogue is easy to understand. It’s one thing to have a character with a weird accent or feature to make him interesting; it’s another to make him incomprehensible. Unless he’s supposed to be that way (like Farmer Fran in The Waterboy, for example), either change the dialogue or the actor’s delivery so audiences don’t get frustrated.

Don’t underestimate the power of monologues and narration. Though you may find them dull, they have done wonderful things in movies like The Shawshank Redemption and Of Mice and Men.

Make the dialogue interesting. If it’s slow, be sure it has a stirring point (such as Tommy Lee Jones’s lines in No Country for Old Men). Nobody wants to watch a movie where a girl sits around talking about eating toast all day. Unless your characters are detectives, make them stumble upon revelations the way real people do–not directly question their family and friends. Beat around the bush to create drama, but not to the point where it gets tiresome.

Let your characters lie–particularly if they are liars! Average people lie–mostly little lies–every day. If your character is really depressed in a scene, he may lie about it to a parent, saying he feels fine or even great. This will provide a very realistic element to your film.

Here are just a few tips to follow when guiding your actors through their dialogue.

Maintain consistency. If your movie takes place in Ireland and your actors have their Irish accents down perfectly, great! Just keep in mind that these accents will have to be maintained throughout the entire film. If Mr. O’Brien is going on about his potatoes in one scene and then suddenly drops the accent when he sees an alien on his farm, it’s going to be very distracting for your viewers.

Cut all unneeded dialogue. If it doesn’t serve a purpose in the film, it doesn’t need to be in it–period. The four main purposes of dialogue are to move the plot along, to explain character, to provide relevant past history or to show feelings you can’t show otherwise. Be sure that your dialogue does at least one of these things before filming the scene.

The same goes for words that are being used when you don’t need them. Unless you have a really poetic way of saying, “I like you” or “I’m so mad!” just go with the character’s actions to convey these words instead. The effect will be much more powerful, whereas using overused words will just make it appear lackluster.

Edit dialogue so that it will flow smoothly. If your actor can’t get a breath in while delivering an epic sentence, it’s probably best to cut the sentence down a bit.

Walk a mile in your lead’s shoes. Or rather, make your audience walk in them. If your character is a serial rapist in jail, your audience may not have much empathy for him; engage the audience by showing things from his point of view, such as in flashbacks of a difficult life or in a current abusive situation while in prison.

Give the camera a human quality. In short, let it stand for the audience’s eyes. Instead of focusing on only the important elements in the room, let it naturally glance around as if the audience is actually in the scene, too. Make them feel as if they are uncovering the surprise elements on their own without your help.

Capitalize on what you can’t see. This can be particularly helpful in scary movies, where things the audience isn’t able to see can be just as scary, if not scarier, remaining unknown rather than in every scene. Focus on sound, character reaction, and other elements when using this technique to really draw the audience in and have them on the edge of their seats.

Use a simple storyline. Though complicated tales can be interesting, they often lose the viewer’s interest early on. The idea isn’t to make the audience work to understand the movie; it’s to make them enjoy the movie by providing an escape from reality.

Give your characters plenty of scene time. This might sound obvious, but instead of focusing on a dynamic film wrapped around a couple of characters, why not focus on the characters themselves? Give them dramatic, unique personalities with layered backgrounds and lives, and let them play out these extraordinary lives in lots of clever dialog and interaction.

Interact with your audience. While you certainly can’t create a quiz for them to fill out while they watch your movie (or can you? People voted for Shrek Idol, after all…), you can put yourself in the viewer’s shoes. What would cause your audience to scream, cry, get angry? It’s just as if you were writing a novel–if you cry, your audience will cry. Keep that in mind when you create your movie as an entire experience.

Keep them begging for more. Hold back key details as long as you can. Now, this can go both ways: don’t make your audience angry by not letting them know what the heck is going on. Instead, keep teasing them so they won’t figure the whole thing out until the end, a technique used in films like Mystic River and The Sixth Sense.

Provide variations in proximity. Alfred Hitchcock liked to use close-ups as well as pan out far away from his actors to create different feelings during a movie. Use these every time you want to either create a very emotional scene or a feeling of detachment.

Depending on your style, you may wish to create a text storyboard or a visual one, which would include drawings or pictures to represent each scene.

To begin your storyboard, get a cork board, magnetized board, or other bulletin board. It should be large enough to fully display 10 index cards in a straight row. You’ll also need plenty of tacks for the cards.

You may have two or three rows on your board, depending on how many acts are in your film. Each row should represent a full act. Take a card and write your first scene on it, using a memorable title (or the slug line corresponding to the scene from the screenplay). That will be your first card on your storyboard. Hang it in the first row, or act.

Repeat this process for each scene until each scene has its own card. Your storyboard is ready to use!

Now, to actually use the storyboard: Go over each scene with your team. Make sure each scene flows into the next, and identify any gaps in the plot, missing scenes, or anything else that looks like it might cause trouble.

Once you’ve identified these problem spots, move your cards around, add new ones, or subtract cards that don’t make sense anymore. Do whatever is necessary to polish your story until it’s perfect.

After you’ve done this, you can write out the story (or draw the scenes if you prefer) and you’re ready to go.

Filmmakers, like their other fellow artists, are also required to keep a mound of paperwork. Unfortunately, it’s often a lot more than the poet or concert pianist must keep.
Thankfully, there are resources out there that provide not only the know-how of such things, but also absolutely free copies of them to use.

Dependent Films is one such resource. In just one location, it lists just about everything you need to keep up with your paper pile, including the following:

Script Formatting: Don’t pay hundreds of dollars for fancy programs when you can get iScript, Scriptmaker and other programs for free.

Storyboard Tools: From widescreen to standard format to other variations, they’re all here for your convenience.

Logs, Equipment, and Other Forms: Call sheets, contact sheets, location scouting and release forms, editing logs, production reports, budget proposals… all of these forms and more can be downloaded and used for your own production.

Miscellaneous Forms: Sample materials, such as performer releases, compensation contracts, and script agreements, will come in handy if you’re not yet familiar with these. They will also help you look more professional and develop your skills. Film journal, budget, equipment list and other sheets will also help you keep organized.

Be sure to bookmark Dependent Films–you’ll definitely come back to it as you work on your filmmaking career.

That said, you can still film on a great location for cheap–even for free. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you set out on finding your perfect location.

Use every resource you’ve got. Remember family, friends, coworkers and general acquaintances. Chances are someone has that old attic, barn or pond you need for a scene.

Be sure to get a permit if you need one. If you’re in an anonymous location–in the woods or in your own home–you likely won’t need one; however, you will probably need permission to film any street sign, home other than your own, corner store, etc.

Respect the location. Clean up after using it, and don’t leave anything behind.

Know the area. This will help you in knowing how to use the land as well as make a better film, rather than spending your time acquainting yourself with the location.

Ask your state film commission for help. They may help you out for free.

Go glamorous. Just because you don’t have big bucks doesn’t mean that you can’t have a fine location for your glitzy romantic comedy. Be creative and find a nice place near you, or invest in some thrift store finds and create your own location.

See about getting film insurance. That way, if someone gets injured on the set you know you’ll be protected from getting sued.

As we’ve seen in so many horror movies, camera quality is usually not a big issue, so you don’t need to spend your budget there. In fact, if your footage is grainy or even not shot so well, it can sometimes add to a feature in this genre.

You should also skip paying for expensive venues. Horror and sci-fi movies can take place basically anywhere. You could probably get permission to shoot your film at certain places at school, or even your workplace. Try the houses of friends and family as well. Houses with barns, ponds or other bodies of water, or fields or other large running, forest areas are all good choices.

As we’ve discussed before, don’t spend your money on casting, either. A token payment is fine for struggling actors who agree to help out, but try to get friends and family to star in the film for free first. You could even make it a fun family project–or simply make it a favor you’re willing to pay back soon.

Speaking of actors, make your alien, killer, or other bad guy a human. This will save you a ton of money on costumes and special effects. Aliens can look like humans, and human killers can be just as terrifying as monsters. If nothing else, you could even have half of a face rip off (think Terminator) in a scene and replace it with some cheap but effective 3-D effects gel and paint. You could even obscure your villain’s entire face with a creepy costume (as in I Know What You Did Last Summer or The Watcher).

With all of these tips, you should have plenty of money left over to create some really scary effects such as blood, wounds, and general gory glory.

Here are some more tips for keeping your script simple during writing or editing.Limit your scenes. Whether you liked it or not, Twilight was a very successful movie–at least among the teen girl demographic. The entire movie, however, took place in only a few scenes. The Shawshank Redemption, an award-winning film, takes place in a prison for nearly the entire film. The more scenes you use, the more money you are likely to need.

Skip fancy costumes. It’s one thing to have period dresses or a cop uniform; it’s quite another to require lots of monster makeup, fur, scales or antennas. Then there’s the problem of looking real when you have to budget these items down and buy cheap costumes or makeup. Instead, keep an element of mystery in your film by not allowing the monsters to be fully seen; films such as Signs and Cloverfield proved that you can scare an audience just as well with what they can’t see. Help scare them with their own imaginations through the tension you create in your directing.

Keep high-tech equipment to a minimum. Sci-fi scenes can be ruined with rocket ships or medical equipment that look like they were made with tinfoil. If you can’t come by something real–or a decent enough copy–cheaply, you might want to cut it out entirely, show only a part of it, or simply have characters mention it in dialogue. If your scientist is conducting an experiment, you could even simply show his back as he does his work.

There are plenty of tips and tricks you can use to sidestep high-budget effects and intricate scenes without skimming on plot. Here are some things you can do when creating or adapting your script.

Don’t blow anything up. You certainly don’t want to risk not doing it right and then simply not having the blown-up item for the rest of your film! Instead, use CGI effects if you can create them on your own; if not, simply have characters refer to something being blown up in dialogue. This sounds very cheap (which is the point!) but you can create great effects with trembling characters who describe scenes in detail.

Skip the car chases. You can use character dialogue for this, too. You obviously can’t be breaking speed limits on the road, and you likely don’t have extra cars to tear up, either. Simply have your character talk about the chase, or if you have access to a junkyard, assemble a “car wreck” for the post-chase scene.

Keep the special effects to a minimum. Using signs as an example again, we know a successful movie can be made without a lot of space travel, elaborate costumes, or big effects. In fact, if newer movies such as Knowing or Push relied more on plot and direction rather than effects alone, they would likely garner more critical praise. Draw out tension with your audience through your directing and you won’t need such high-budget effects.