{text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} The Basics of Film {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Kizer Sterbinsky {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Ashford University Richard Bair ENG 225 December 15, 2008 The Basics of Film The Design Characters and the actors who play them Visual design is an important aspect in a film. Understanding how much work and how these aspects work together sets the stage for understanding films. The format used to shoot the film, the lighting of the film, and the costumes and wardrobe of the characters work together to create the visual design of a film. The script is the vision of the writer. The writer gives the director the blueprint for the direction that he or she wants the movie to take by using the script. The script introduces characters, themes, and storylines. When writing characters it is not uncommon for the writer to have an actor in mind. This was the case when Robert Rodat was writing The Patriot. According to a review written by Chris Fujiwara, Rodat wrote the role of Benjamin Martin with Mel Gibson in mind. (Fujiwara, 2000) Mel Gibson eventually became Benjamin Martin, but this is not always the case. Producers, directors, or studio executives also play a part in the casting of a movie and have actors in mind while they read the script. Another important aspect of the casting process is the relationship between the lead actors or actresses. It would appear that a movie full of big name stars would be a great movie. The 2006 crime drama The Departed (Scorsese, 2006) had stars like Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, and Leonardo DiCaprio amongst others and was very successful;however there have been movies that have received the same success. Oceans 13 a 2007 film directed by Steven Soderbergh is a film with a laundry list of huge stars, but a film which did not live up to itshype. This movie is an example of a movie that used the theory the more stars means more money. Although this movie may have...