What makes a great movie?

Story
   The first step on the road to making any movie is to write the script. Despite having far fewer words and pages than a novel, a screenplay can take just as much time and effort to produce. Rewriting many drafts and cutting superfluous elements are features of this kind of writing. The goal is to produce a concise script full of the story elements that will make sense on the big screen.  
Direction
   The job of the director is to visualize the screenplay and communicate his vision to the cast of actors and the technical crew. They need to be able to mediate between different creative interests, motivate everybody to do their best work, and complete the film within the budget. Often, the success of a movie rests on the shoulders of the director.
Acting
   Before any acting begins the casting director must find the best actors and actresses for each role. In major blockbuster movies this will usually be the most popular performers available to play the main characters. Lesser known actors often audition for the supporting roles. Of course, famous actors lead glamorous lifestyles, but working in difficult locations, wearing very heavy make up, difficult costumes and technically difficult scenes means that it's not always fun.
Music
   The score of the movie is its background music that forms part of the soundtrack (which includes dialogue and sound effects). The score is usually written by one composer who works closely with the director and producer. Scores can include a wide variety of music including western classical, jazz, rock or pop.

Production Design
   The Production Designer is responsible for the overall style, look and feel of the movie. They are also known sometimes as the Art Directors and work closely with the main Director and the cinematographer.
Costume
   The role of the costume designer is to design and create the various costumes that help bring the different characters to life and enhance their personality. They work closely with the Production Designer to make sure their work complements the set design, lighting and, of course, the story. They must pay close attention to the colors and textures they use and design costumes that don't interfere with the performance of the actors.  
Cinematography
   Cinematographers are faced with many technical challenges that have constantly changed throughout the history of cinema. Just like a traditional photographer they must try to capture the the essence of a scene in an artistic way, but with the added layer of difficulty of varied movement.
Special Effects
   Since the very beginning of film making, producers have sought ever more sophisticated ways to make their movies look more realistic and push the boundaries of what it is possible to show on screen. With the latest CGI (computer generated imagery) techniques it would seem that it is now possible to portray whatever is in the imagination of the creators.
Editing
   Film editing is part of the post-production phase of a movie. The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combines them into sequences which create a finished motion picture. Film editing is described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to cinema, separating film-making from other art forms.
The Evolution of films
   If novels were the most popular form of storytelling in the 19th century then it was certainly overtaken by cinema in the 20th. The history of cinema has been driven by and influenced by technological advances. With each new advance the actual level of storytelling has been diminished, giving way to the new technological novelty on display. But once the novelty has worn off the artistry has returned and once again, character development and the plotting of the story become the most important part of making a film once again.
   The very first movies didn't have interesting plots, as the first audiences were in awe, simply by the people moving around on the screen. But it didn't take long for silent movies to become a sophisticated medium for telling stories and some truly great movies were produced.
   With the arrival of 'talkies' in the late 1920's much of the quality was again lost as audiences were simply happy to hear their favourite movie stars speaking for the first time. Soon however, writers and directors learned how to use dialogue effectively for progressing and improving the plot and develop the characters for feature length movies. It wasn't long before the best directors were producing great stories once again.
   This pattern was to be repeated again with the arrival of colour, and then later again, with the arrival of CGI (Computer Generated Images), and yet again with the first 3D films.
   Cinema's little sibling, Television, has also grown dramatically in popularity but as an art form it has remained in the shadow of its big brother - so far. But this could all change. As Hollywood continually looks to play it safe, preferring to produce movie sequels or prequels to try and guarantee box office success, TV has been producing immensely popular, new and innovative drama for some years now and may yet overtake cinema as the most important form of visual storytelling. Or maybe, just maybe, interactive gaming will evolve and become more important than both.