Effective movies command the audience’s attention, compelling them to sit up in their seats and want to watch. That’s because the best films view story and character with a thematic perspective, just as Robert Towne, in writing Chinatown, committed to an exploration of what crime means, not just a simple detective story.

How can you elevate your project to this level? Ask yourself why the movie exists—that is, what larger question is it trying to answer? Your response will reveal your film’s theme: the big-picture thesis that illuminates something about the human condition and provides a universal take-away for the audience. A theme can be a statement or even a question.

Here are some examples of themes:

Themes sometimes sound trite, but you will find that all great movies have them.

As you consider your theme, make note of the amount of time you’ll have to tell your story. Your class project may be two to five minutes. Theatrical films generally run about two hours. Television series on advertising-supported networks are 44 minutes for a one-hour episode and 22 minutes for a 30-minute episode after the time for commercials is deducted. YouTube’s maximum upload is 11 hours, but users will often click away from a video in a few seconds if it doesn’t capture and hold their interest.

Capturing audience interest from the first frame and holding it until the last is what will make a film entertaining, and the most effective way to accomplish this in such a highly focused medium is by telling the story of specific characters in a well-constructed structure.

“It’s about Someone Who…”

When a woman, who has obsessively dedicated herself to the art of ballet, gets the chance of a lifetime to star in Swan Lake, she has to confront her inner demons . . .

After two teenage kids, being raised by their lesbian moms, discover who their sperm-donor father is, they decide to arrange a meeting . . .

Batman must emerge from a self-imposed exile to confront a masked terrorist bent on taking over Gotham City . . .

All great films start with a character the audience can identify with, then present that character with a challenge or problem; these are the two factors that merit audience interest and can make a film entertaining. A character is the main person the story is about—or the main thing, as in the case of an animated movie like Wall-E (2008). The main character does not have to be likable—in the film Captain Phillips (2013), for example, the main character is gruff and abrasive—but must be someone the audience can relate to or, in other words, must be someone the audience will want to spend some time with.

A one-sentence description of the movie’s story is called a log line. The preceding examples are log lines for, respectively, Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right, and The Dark Knight Rises. Log lines are used as shorthand in the entertainment industry to identify projects, and they closely mimic the way audiences will talk about a film. Ideally, a log line would be very similar to what you would tell a friend if the friend asked you, “What’s that movie about?” In the preceding examples, the log lines describe the main characters and what they will encounter in less than 30 words. Let’s pick them apart to see the four key aspects of a successful log line and film story.

The log line will be used to summarize your project if you enter it into competitions or film festivals, as the SEO (search engine optimization) description if you post it online, and to attract investors if one day you seek financing for it. You will also see log lines as the short descriptions of movies on services like Netflix, iTunes, and Hulu. If you can’t boil your movie down to an efficient log line that accomplishes the four key elements, you probably need to do some more work crafting your story and thinking about your characters before you start writing.