Light it decently, plan your shots beforehand, get coverage, make sure you get good sound.

These days you can even take your storyboard pictures (even if it's just stick figures in a box) and cut them into a 'pre-visualisation' of the entire movie to check that it works before you shoot. At least that way it should be clear whether your idea of which shots to get is actually going to work.

Give it all you got, dude. If you aren't into your film 100% or more, it's going to suffer.

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Bruce Campbell - "So you want to get into show biz?"
Me - "Yeah, I'd really like to direct movies."
Bruce Campbell - "Cool. Just don't suck."

It was said before but it's worth repeating. Sound and light. People will not finish a movie with bad sound, it's distracting. People won't go to see it because of good sound though. Lighting is what seperates regular movies from something special Film Noir was practically an entire film style invented around lighting.

Personally I would avoid the trendy stuff (steadycams, shaky cams, odd angles) because realistically that sort of thing pulls people out of the movie because they start thinking (how did they do that?). Of course if the angle really helps sell something in the script, go for it, but don't just include fancy moves because you think that helps make it professional. If your script is award winning you dont want to distract from the story.

I cannot thank you all for the great advice. However, no one has touched upon the question of film editing software to *cough* buy. What is the best hands down? What is the best for a decent price? Should I sure up RAM or anything else on laptop before beginning the editing process? Thanks again.

Well, Hollywood almost exclusively uses Avid, but they shoot on film and Avid handles it better than most. Really, any of Avid, Final Cut and Premiere can do a decent job, and I'm sure other programs can too... there isn't really one 'best' program for the job.

Personally I use Avid Xpress HD, but I used Premiere for years before that, editing projects up to feature-length.

I agree with Mark - there is no "best".

I have used Final Cut Pro for several years and cut several features with it.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

I Know that Final Cut Pro is more MAC-friendly. I am using a PC, so would Premiere work more smoothly for me?

Final Cut is Mac-only. So it's not an option on a PC :).

Incidentally, if you're editing DV, there is a free but crippled version of the Avid software ('Avid Free DV') which you can download. It's enough for basic editing, I don't know quite what you need to be able to do for your movies.

I would rather, ahem, obtain the full version of something so I have all the tools at my disposal. I just got Premiere, should I even look at this basic version of Avid or go forward with what I have? I do want the film sans gimmicks, but should I not have all options at my disposal? Many thanks everyone.