Visuals

In film visuals are considered to be the most important aspect as we are highly dependent on sight. Almost all movies follow a specific set of rules on how to be visually appealing for the viewers.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics are when you when you purposely design a scene a certain way in order to convey a message or to imply something. For example something or someone of more importance is going to be in the centre of the shot whereas something or someone with less importance is going to be closer to the edge of the screen.

Space and Composition

Space & Composition is the usage of your background or characters to create something satisfying such as symmetry. For example two objects in the background that are exactly the same and a person standing in the middle of the screen would be symmetrical compared to other scenes in the movie.

Acting

This is probably the most important role in visual media as nothing about how we perceive movies in modern media would be the same. The job of an actor is to give an accurate representation of the character that they are playing the role of, this can be done by exaggerating lines and movements and having an actor that has a similar personality to their character.

For the ending scene of the first episode of Space Force the two main characters are sitting on a porch enjoying a drink. But when their satellite is destroyed by a Chinese space station the character looking through a telescope goes from calm to angry in a way that feels natural.

Technical Aspects

Some technical aspects that may need to be taken into consideration are the location of the camera, what angle it's at and how lighting rigs are set up. These are all very important aspects of visual film making because something as simple as the angle of a shot will drastically change the way that the audience is going to look at it.

Sound

Although this section is about visual aspects sound can go hand-in-hand with visuals. In media, sound is heavily underappreciated and is usually overlooked even when it's good. In a scene where audio is used as importantly as the visuals the sound will mean something in the grater scheme of things such as matching music or sounds that stand out from everything else.

An excellent example of sound being incorporated with the visual aspect of a film is a scene from Shawn Of The Dead where the main characters beat up a zombie in rhythm with the song Don't Stop Me Now.

Editing

Editing is the art of putting video clips together and manipulating them to get a desired effect. Things can be put in or left out, depending on how important they are, and they can have different things added in for cosmetic reasons. The editing process can conform to a script or the editors can do anything, within reason, that they may deem necessary and pitch the idea to the film director(s).

Narrative

The narrative is at the core of any form of story telling media, without any narrative the film will loose the attention of the audience and obviously we can't have that. A good narrative will often have what is known as the 3 Act Structure, this includes a beginning, middle and end.

Representation

Although not as important as narrative the representation of characters in stories is very important in its own right. Certain characters are expected to have traits that relate to the kind of person that they are meant to be, this is known as a stereotype. Some people do tend to brake stereotypes and this can please audiences but it must be done correctly to make sure that the character still feels relatable.

The TV show The Expanse is a master when it comes to character representation. All of the characters in this scene fit well into their respective roles with the eager body guard, the compassionate but brute old woman and the well trained marine that one character refers to as a 'Martian Tank'.