The old saying goes, you can do things, fast, good, and cheap. Choose two! The odd man out for most indie filmmakers is either “fast” or “good”. Let’s pretend you want a good film.

Films don’t look cheap because they were filmed with cheap equipment. They look cheap when you have a crew that doesn’t know what they’re doing, or is not putting in the time required for a quality film, or you’re not working within the constraints of what you have. Take your time to learn as much as you can beforehand, because the more planning, the better your film will look.

The script

If your story is uninteresting, or dialogue seems unnatural, you started making a movie before you were ready. People expect a quality production to have a good story. Keep iterating over it, removing the unnecessary (especially anything that costs money), and improving what you have. …