BasicsOpen menu Basics of Film Lighting What Does a Cinematographer Do What is Cinematography What is Digital Cinematography Cinematography Terms What is Motion Blur Lighting EssentialsOpen menu 3-Point Lighting What is Key Light What is Fill Light What is Backlight What is Practical Lighting When is Golden Hour E-BooksOpen menu FREE Ebook: Camera Lenses Explained… Continue reading How to Shoot Day for Night — Tips & Techniques Explained
So you’re ready to learn about a new script writing format! If you’re familiar with one or the other — stage plays or screenplays — then you’re halfway there to understanding the other. If not, don’t fret, it may just take a little more time to master the basics. We’re going to show you everything… Continue reading How to Write a Play Script Format Explained with Examples
EssentialsOpen menu What is Sound Design Sound Editing vs Sound Mixing What is Voice Over What is Diegetic Sound What is Non-Diegetic Sound What is a Film Score TechniquesOpen menu Ultimate Guide to Sound Recording Filmmaker’s Guide to Sound Effect Techniques What is a Sound Bridge What is The Shepard Tone How to Design a… Continue reading What are Microphone Polar Patterns — And Why They Matter
Basics of CompositionOpen menu What is Composition Rules of Shot Composition Rules of Composition Scale Proportion BalanceOpen menu Asymmetrical Balance Symmetrical Balance Radial Balance Golden Ratio Foreground Elements Texture SpaceOpen menu Positive Space Negative Space Positive & Negative Space Fill the Frame Simplicity Have you ever seen a photograph or a shot in a film… Continue reading What Are Leading Lines — Composition in Photography & Film
Staying organized is one of the most essential components to a smoothly run production. This means having the most important details of your production stored in an easily accessible and organized form. When it comes to cast lists and talent, there can be plenty of important details to make note of from person to person.… Continue reading Cast List Template — FREE PDF Download & Guide
One of the great things about cinema is its ability to transport audiences to far and remote places. These places are often a character themselves within the story of a film. Finding these locations is an incredibly important component of filmmaking that is put on the shoulders of a location scout. What is a location… Continue reading What is a Location Scout — Duties & Job Description Explained
It is easy to look back at the release of James Cameron’s Titanic and see that all things led to it being a record-breaking cultural phenomenon. The film’s massive budget, insane on-set stories, and unprecedented scale gained mainstream buzz before the film was even released. The result was a film that impacted culture and cinema for… Continue reading The Making of Titanic — On the Set of James Cameron’s Epic
So, you want to become a voice actor? Like with any career in the entertainment industry, becoming a professional voice actor can be difficult to attain but deeply rewarding to accomplish. There are many different career paths one can take to begin earning a living as a voice actor. Read on to learn how to… Continue reading How to Become a Voice Actor — 5 Essential Steps
Over the last few years, Hollywood has tried to reinvent its definition of the “strong female protagonist” – but the result has been mixed. Although there has been a greater representation of empowered women in Hollywood films, there has also been a dissolution of nuanced characters. All of this begs the question: how do you… Continue reading Strong Female Characters in Film — With 5 Tips on Writing Them
Musicals can be incredibly difficult to write. Why? Because they require a working knowledge of scriptwriting and librettos. Don’t be intimidated though: musicals aren’t impossible to write. We’re going to show you how to write a musical by breaking down some musical scripts. We’ll analyze how professional musical writers combine song, dance, and dialogue in… Continue reading How to Write a Musical Screenplay — Structure & Format Tips
EssentialOpen menu What is Creative Commons What is Fair Use What is Public Domain ResourcesOpen menu Creative Commons License Pros and Cons How Copyright Free Music Works How to Copyright a Script How to Find Award-Worthy Script Ideas from The Public Domain Best Public Domain Movies What is fair use? If you produce YouTube content… Continue reading What is Fair Use — Definition, Policies, Examples and More
What does high concept mean? The term ‘high concept’ is thrown around in film circles with reckless abandon but the true meaning is often misused or misconstrued. In this post, we will define high concept, debunk many of the misconceptions around the term, and look at some examples. And we’ll let you know how you… Continue reading What is High Concept in Film — Definition and Examples
Whether you are editing YouTube videos, a science fiction film, or a commercial, a glitch effect can add a whole lot of production value to your project. Learning how to create a glitch effect from scratch in Premiere Pro will also help you learn how to get creative with duplicating frames and adjusting their qualities… Continue reading How to Make Glitch Effect Premiere Pro — A Quick & Easy Guide
EssentialsOpen menu What is Sound Design Sound Editing vs Sound Mixing What is Voice Over What is Diegetic Sound What is Non-Diegetic Sound What is a Film Score TechniquesOpen menu Ultimate Guide to Sound Recording Filmmaker’s Guide to Sound Effect Techniques What is a Sound Bridge What is The Shepard Tone How to Design a… Continue reading Free Background Music for Video — 13 Sites You Need to Know
Who is Syd Field? Syd Field was a pioneering figure in Hollywood for screenwriters, producers, and storytellers. His 1979 book Screenplay served as an instructional guide for some of the world’s most prolific scriptwriters. But Field wasn’t just a book-writer, he was a published screenwriter and professor too. We’re going to examine Field’s influence on… Continue reading Who is Syd Field — Biography & Work of a Screenwriting Legend
While many films include archetypal supporting characters, these molds are a little worn out. The audience is getting smarter and more curious. They crave more than the all-too-familiar “mentor” or “sidekick” as a way to convey information or to push the protagonist forward. Watching to see what a supporting character is capable of by themselves… Continue reading What is a Supporting Character — And Why They Matter
You may have heard the term “feature film” or even simply “feature” whenever the topic of movies comes up. But what is a feature film and how does it differ from other types of film? Features make up the larger library of motion pictures that movie-goers are familiar with. While they may differ in genre,… Continue reading What is a Feature Film — Definition & Qualifications Explained
BasicsOpen menu What is Post-Production What is VFX What are Special Effects What is Virtual Production What is CGI What is Matte Painting ProcessOpen menu How to Move the Anchor Point in After Effects How to Mask in Premiere Pro Best After Effects Plugins Best Free After Effects Templates Inception Special Effects How They Shot… Continue reading Inception Hallway Scene — How They Shot It Without CGI
Ask any creative writer what the hardest genre to write is and they’ll probably tell you that it’s comedy. That’s because story structure can only bring you so far in comedy writing – the fact of the matter is that if you aren’t funny, you aren’t funny. So how do you become funny? Do you… Continue reading How to Write Comedy — Tips, Techniques & Script Examples
Plot TropesOpen menu What is a Trope What is a Cliche Flashback MacGuffin Plot Twist Red Herring FREE Movie Scripts: StudioBinder Screenwriting Library Write Your Script for Free What is a character trope? In screenwriting, a trope is a common element of a story. In other words, a trope is something we see a lot.… Continue reading Character Tropes — 15 Common Character Types Explained
