A cinema is built of pictures, words, sounds and their rhythm. The rhythm is the continuum, length and scale of individual pictures and the music. All edited with great care, quality and good taste, they form an entity for the audience to identify with, an illusion so convincing that it substitutes reality for a while.
A cinema also has characters and their respective lives, so that drama is in their passing, possibilities not realized and lives not lived, or their encounter, passionate , violent, indifferent... The essence of drama being self-deception, fear and misinterpretation. The human feelings and emotions thus need to be translated to pictures, words and acting so, that the wanted atmosphere is born. In cinema and especially in close-ups the acting should be very subdued and nuanced so as not to be overpowering and extravagant. Nuances give the viewer a chance to reflect and identify, but big and noisy gestures and overpowering figures easily alienate - in drama at least, comedy is another thing!
Iconography of certain time or place is a good point to start. Anyway that is the main thing, starting. If you start, take the first step, other steps shall follow. But without the first there won't be the second nor the third... Iconography comes from many sources and in many ways: magazines, net sites, street, fashion, and also from our own environment, our consciousness and memories. It is all like a great dump of things where you can pick and choose as you need and want. Defining what you need to get your story work is the first thing. The basic story has to be functional before you start to gather the pics and other stuff to it. It is like the framework of a ship, the story, whatever kind it is. A story is not a chronological counting of events, no, that is a chronicle. A story is a form given to things that happen, the best possible form all things considered. It correlates the contents and in this respect cinema offers a wide range of possibilities, almost unlimited combinations.''Don't get greedy, keep in the minimal. At some point the core is compact and you can advance to the optimal by adding, not cutting off: The balance is easier to maintain when you add... Of course that is just a subjective experience or opinion, so you can do as you like, find your own way!
