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8 Somewhat Unusual New Year's Screenwriting Resolutions for 2018

It's hours before 2018. Where is YOUR screenplay?

I don't know about you guys, but I definitely made good on my New Year's resolution from last year which, of course, was to not resolve to do anything because life is hard enough as it is. However, after experiencing the dumpster fire that was 2017, I figured my current state of complete cynicism and unflinching wide-eyed hope for the future will act as the perfect fuel to write screenplays in the new year.
So, here are my 8 New Year's resolutions for 2018, which are, predictably, somewhat unusual.

What Does a Camera Operator Really Do? Watch the Legends Tell It Like It Is

'Three camera operators tell their stories, one frame at a time.'

Ever heard of a "famous" camera operator? Not really, right? That's because they're consistently overshadowed by a distinct chain of command. In the process of crafting a shot, you've got your director with a vision, your DP setting up the course for that vision, and then you've got the guy who physically translates that vision to the camera. How that guy decides to get there however, is arguably one of the most important decisions made on set.

Evolution Of An Action Sequence - Step by Step

I wanted to go in depth on how I shot a 3 min action sequence/gun fight in my short film BROKEN. I had no experience shooting any type of action whatsoever. Being nervous about shooting this complex gun fight, I rehearsed…a lot.
When you have a small (or no) budget and you are attempting an ambitious action sequence, rehearsal is your best friend.

BUYING A RED WEAPON 8K WORTH IT?

Here is the question. I currently own a Toronto based Real Estate Photography/Video Production business, and it's going quite well. I've been able to hire a few people, make a very comfortable living, and everything is perfect.
The truth is, I'd love to start transitioning into more narrative work, being in Toronto there is plenty of gigs out here, but I don't have any contacts and that seems to be the only way to get work (not necessary true I know but let's be honest it's all about who you know). I decided to start my own business instead of going to film school so I only know 1-2 other filmmakers.

How to make a $1,000 Feature Film with Mark Duplass

Make a feature film for $1000? Sounds crazy right? Well if you don’t know Mark Duplass you should get to know him. Mark and his brother Jay Duplass are most widely know for making the indie film hits “The Puffy Chair” and “Safety Not Guaranteed.” Mark Duplass has gone on to be a very successful writer, producer and director.
Mark Duplass had a packed house for his amazing SXSW Keynote Speech 2015. He was spitting out Indie Film GOLD though out his talk.

http://www.indiefilmhustle.com/1000feature

How to Write a Screenplay...FAST!

How to Write a Screenplay with FAST with Jeff Bollow
Have you ever wanted to learn how to write a screenplay fast? I know I do. This is why I invited on the show award-winning producer/director, best-selling author, film festival organizer and public speaker, Jeff Bollow.

Watch: The Most Breathtaking Cinematography of 2017

From Deakins and Storaro to relative newcomers, the work of these DPs defined a gorgeous year in cinema.

The cinematography that captured our imaginations this year is a balance of the sweeping and the intimate, the urgent and the languid. In the year when many have predicted that Roger Deakins may finally win an Oscar, we naturally had to include his masterwork Blade Runner 2049, but our list also includes everything from highly stylized period pieces to documentaries to understated narratives that feel like documentaries.
To compile our list, we asked No Film School writers to submit a single film that stood out visually above all others for them this year.  Excerpts from each were then cut into a supercut by video essayist Nelson Carvajal of Free Cinema Now. See his gorgeous video, and read our thinking behind each inclusion, below.

Watch: The Most Breathtaking Cinematography of 2017

From Deakins and Storaro to relative newcomers, the work of these DPs defined a gorgeous year in cinema.

The cinematography that captured our imaginations this year is a balance of the sweeping and the intimate, the urgent and the languid. In the year when many have predicted that Roger Deakins may finally win an Oscar, we naturally had to include his masterwork Blade Runner 2049, but our list also includes everything from highly stylized period pieces to documentaries to understated narratives that feel like documentaries.
To compile our list, we asked No Film School writers to submit a single film that stood out visually above all others for them this year.  Excerpts from each were then cut into a supercut by video essayist Nelson Carvajal of Free Cinema Now. See his gorgeous video, and read our thinking behind each inclusion, below.

Creating the Anamorphic look on DSLR

After seeing Nicolas Winding Refn's "The Neon Demon" - I really wanted to shoot a short film with the aesthetics of anamorphic lenses. However, my camera is Canon 650D and I have no idea, whatsoever, how I would get an anamorphic look with this camera.

19 Iconic Filmmakers & the Focal Lengths & Lenses They Love to Use

Through what lens do your favorite filmmakers view the world?

Not only do lenses change the aesthetics of a scene, but they also change our emotional response to the hero's journey, our attitudes toward what befalls them, and give us an inside look at what the director sees through his own eyes. In this video, wolfcrow's Sareesh Sudhakaran shares the preferred focal lengths and lenses of 19 of our most beloved filmmakers, including Kubrick, Scorsese, Ozu, Spielberg, and Kurosawa.

Here's a Lesson from Pixar on How to Choose Your Lenses

In filmmaking, perspective is everything.

If you have a question about how to tell stories, whether through screenwriting or cinematography, Pixar is always a great place to start. Luckily for us, Pixar has teamed up with Khan Academy to produce a bunch of great filmmaking lessons and tutorials for their teaching series "Pixar in a Box," and in this video, DP Patrick Lin and camera lead Adam Habib, both of who worked on Inside Out, explain how to approach and create a crucial concept in storytelling: perspective.

A Primer on Focal Length: Why Lenses Are One of the Most Powerful Tools at Our Disposal

Of the many complex aesthetic decisions that cinematographers make, lens choice is one of the simplest, most powerful, and most misunderstood.

There are several different factors that determine the aesthetic of any given lens, but today we're just going to be focusing on the basics. Focal length is one of the more straight-forward aspects of lens design. In the simplest sense, focal length is the physical distance between the imaging plane (ie. the sensor) and the optical center of the lens. Focal length values - which are expressed in millimeters - are basic measurements of how wide or zoomed-in a particular lens is. Easy enough, right? Where things start to get more complicated, however, is with all of the different aesthetic implications that the focal length of a lens has on the the final image.

The Power of Focal Length: How to Use Lenses for Storytelling

Learn how focal length can change the way your images communicate to your audience.

With so many lenses out there to choose from, it can be difficult to decide on which ones to use in your film. Price, brand, and important features can often be the key factors that determine in which lenses you go with, but focal length might be the most important of them all. In this video, Boima Anderson of Aputure demystifies focal length for the uninitiated, explaining how different ones affect images, how to ultimately select one for your shot, and how they can communicate different things to your audience.
At the beginning of your filmmaking career, presumably when your gear collection is the smallest, your options when it comes to focal length might be pretty limited. You may only have a 24mm, a 50mm, or a 55-200mm zoom to work with and that's okay. 24mm and the good ol' nifty fifty are some of the most popular focal lengths in filmmaking and are used for a myriad of different kinds of shots.
However, if you do get yourself a nice chunk of change to spend on some lenses, it'd be really wise to understand what different focal lengths do and how they change the way your audience reads cinematic moments, particularly how they affect shot size and depth of field.    
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFMAV7MxHu4&feature=youtu.be 

Is Reccession over or not

6 Secrets of 'The Godfather' Production from Coppola and the Cast

Francis Ford Coppola and the stars of The Godfather: Parts I &II came together to celebrate the film's 45th anniversary.

The Tribeca Film Festival closed its program this year with a tribute to one of the greatest films of all time. The Godfather: Parts I & II were screened to a full house at Radio City Music Hall, followed by a rare cast reunion. Taylor Hackford, filmmaker and former president of the DGA, moderated the conversation with Francis Ford Coppola and cast members Diane Keaton, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Talia Shire, and Robert De Niro. 

Getting Better as a Director: Using Objectives

This is a guest post by DP and filmmaker Randolph Sellars.
One of the fundamental tools for an actor is their "objective." This is a specific way of working with character "motivation." Discovering a character’s objective begins with asking the question "what does this character really want or need during a particular scene?" This is not to be confused with what the character says in the dialogue. We are looking for the "subtext" or unspoken desires of a character that can be channeled into specific behavior.

How to Direct an Actor by USC School of Cinematic Arts - Nina Foch

Have you been confused and frustrated when directing actors? I think every director and actor has been frustrated with each other at one or more points in there career but don’t worry Nina Foch is here to help. I’ll get to who she is in a moment.

Watch: How to Identify a Great Performance (In Any Language)

Highlighting screen performances from around the globe, this video emphasizes the Bollywood perspective.

Film is an international language that everyone shares. Earlier this year, the international market even came to the rescue of a disappointing summer box office season in Hollywood. And while there are ups and downs to this for filmmakers, one thing that everyone can agree on, around the world and in any language, is what makes a great screen performance.
This video essay brings the unique perspective of Vinit Masram, a Mumbai-based filmmaker, who examines classic Hollywood and Bollywood films. Below are three of his top criteria for identifying a great performance. 

Watch: How to Identify a Great Performance (In Any Language)

Highlighting screen performances from around the globe, this video emphasizes the Bollywood perspective.

Film is an international language that everyone shares. Earlier this year, the international market even came to the rescue of a disappointing summer box office season in Hollywood. And while there are ups and downs to this for filmmakers, one thing that everyone can agree on, around the world and in any language, is what makes a great screen performance.
This video essay brings the unique perspective of Vinit Masram, a Mumbai-based filmmaker, who examines classic Hollywood and Bollywood films. Below are three of his top criteria for identifying a great performance. 

This Infographic Gives You 30 Ways to Brainstorm Film Ideas

Can't seem to spark any new film ideas? This infographic will help.

Isn't life good when your brain seems to be a wellspring of creativity and good ideas? Yeah—and then the tap runs dry and your brain shrivels up into what is basically a crunched up piece of paper with shitty ideas and life, you begin to realize, has no meaning. To avoid this kind of nihilism, it'd benefit us all to learn a few ways to combat this creatively arid season, and StudioBinder has just the resource to help you.
It's a nifty infographic that gives you 30 ways to come up with new and exciting film ideas when your own efforts are leaving you wanting, nay, needing more. However, instead of giving you mere story prompts, it shows you how and where to look to find potential stories. Some examples include taking note of cheap/free locations to which you have access, browsing Wiki articles, and making mood boards.

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Cutting & Coloring: How do YOU flow?

Everyone knows that pacing is important, but color grading and correction is also a vital and essential part to every production. So... how do YOU flow? I've been coloring still images professionally for some time now and have recently begun coloring video. The tools may not be the same between the two mediums, but the techniques and experience definitely carry over. I already have great experience in the editing room, preferring Adobe Premiere over FCP and AVID MC.
Here's my workflow. This discussion is intended to help people find one that works for them. So share yours!

5 Things We All Wished We Knew About Editing When We First Started

Some of the things you stress over as a beginner editor are not the things you stress over as a pro.

If you're new to the whole film editing thing, you're most likely learning all you can about how to navigate your NLE, from how to establish an efficient workflow to which export settings you should use. While all of that stuff is important, there are some other, less straightforward lessons that you'll pick up the further you go in your career, and to give you a better idea of what they are, editor Justin Odisho lists five of them in the video below.

REVIEW: Canon C200 Offers a Major Step Up in Image Quality

The improvement of the latest in Canon's C-line is considerable.

This fall, Canon launched its brand new C200, filling many filmmakers with excitement. The platform offers several features we were actively hoping would come to the "affordable" end of the cinema line, including internal RAW, 4K, and especially improvements to the autofocus functionality.
The Cinema line has been especially popular with documentary filmmakers, so we here at No Film School decided to split the review up into two parts, this one more focused on the technical aspects of the camera and its image quality, and the other being a field test from Liz Nord to discuss the real-life experience of shooting with the camera for a short doc project. Look for that in a few weeks.

Can a Color Blind Filmmaker Become a Colorist?

Can Enchroma's full spectrum color glasses help the color blind work as colorists?

Enchroma glasses have been in the news this year for the exciting fact that they claim to offer increased color spectrum visibility to people with mild forms of color blindness. We decided to put them to the test to see if an editor we know, Ryan Charles, who himself suffers from color blindness, would be able to more effectively color grade projects after using the glasses.
Of course, we know that a final color grade should likely be left to someone with full spectrum color vision, but many editors like to balance a shot here or there when the native balance being off might affect the perception of an editing choice. We also assumed many color blind filmmakers (such as Christopher Nolan, among many others) would be curious about the glasses.

Watch: Essential Tools All DPs Should Keep in Their Ditty Bag

These are the items cinematographers will almost always want to have with them on set.

Being a DP is demanding, but the job is made so much harder if you don't come to set with all of the tools you're going to need. This is why it's crucial to bring along a ditty bag that is full of essential items, but unless you've had some experience working on film sets you may not know exactly what those items are.

A 2-Minute Lesson on How to Properly Clean Your Camera Lenses

Learn how to give your camera lenses the TLC they need.

Along with knowing how to properly use a camera lens, knowing how to clean and care for one should be somewhere near the top of every filmmaker's list of skills. And we can all thank our lucky stars that this isn't a difficult thing to get right, so take a couple of minutes to watch this video by David Bergman of Adorama TV in which he shows you several ways to safely and effectively clean up fingerprints, dust, and other nasty stuff that is bound to accumulate on your glass.

Yep, Here's Another Ode to the Best Shots in All of Cinematic History

These are some of the greatest camera moves ever recorded on film.

It has been about six months, but CineFix is back with the latest installment of their Best Shots of All Time series. While previous videos showed us the very best in shot size, shot types, and establishing shots and cutaways, Part 4 explores the wonders of camera movement. From pans and tilts to rolls and pushes, we get to see how some of history's greatest auteurs cleverly moved the camera to communicate in new and exciting ways with their audiences.

Watch: How Wong Kar-Wai Paints with Cinematic Color

Acclaimed Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai uses his frame like an artist's canvas.

In Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love, two lonely neighbors in a Hong Kong apartment complex forge a relationship built on the ashes of their respective marriages. Lush red seeps through every frame, imbuing the few words spoken in the film with tempestuous desire. As is Wong's signature, saturated color floats deep emotion and psychology to the surface. 

How to Film in a War Zone

Two directors share practical tips for preparing to film on the front lines of international conflict.

Filming in war zones has been a badge of honor among photojournalists and documentarians for as long as it’s been possible, but it’s also dangerous and potentially even deadly, as the documentary community was reminded of in recent years with the tragic loss of Sundance-winning Restrepo director Tim Hetherington who was killed while covering the Libyan civil war.
And yet, intrepid storytellers keep on entering these situations. So how does one prepare for such a production, both practically and emotionally? My two guests today can help answer these questions from recent personal experiences. Nathan Fitch embedded with the US Military in Afghanistan for his film Island Soldier, and Daniel McCabe filmed amidst various factions of the Congolese civil war for six years for his documentary This is Congo.

eFtv DOCUMENTRY: I BET teaSER

Can You Tell Which Video Was Shot with a $50K RED Weapon and an iPhone 7 Plus?

Now that's impressive.

There's no question that the RED Weapon is a better camera than the one housed in the iPhone 7 Plus, but the results from this video are definitely intriguing. Filmmaker Parker Walbeck mounted the smartphone atop his $50,000 professional cinema camera, both attached

How to Maintain Focus on a Moving Subject When You're Shooting Solo

If hiring a focus puller is out of the question, here are some techniques you can use to keep focus on a moving subject all by yourself.

What is one of the most essential qualities of a great image? Sure, good composition, color, and lighting are high on the list, but focus and exposure have to be somewhere at the top. This is why filmmakers who can afford it hire a focus puller to ensure that every image is crisp and clear, but what about those who can't afford it? In this video, Parker Walbeck offers some great advice on how to maintain focus when shooting a moving subject alone, so you can avoid the dreaded fuzzy picture, the costly reshoot, and the hours of frustration.
The four ways of maintaining focus that Walbeck talks about in the video are certainly novice concepts, but if you're a beginner, they are definitely things you'll want to be aware of.

REVIEW: Panasonic Varicam LT is a Viable Alternative to RED and Alexa

The Varicam LT is Panasonic's latest in indie-friendly 4K cameras with beautiful images and a lightweight body.

Varicam was once one of the leaders in digital cinema, and Panasonic has been back on a roll over the last few years. The Varicam LT is a $14,500 camera, so by no means is it something most of us can afford to own. But it’s competing with cameras like the Alexa Mini ($34K) and the RED Weapon ($40K), and in some respects is competing even with a full-fledged Alexa, so it's adding a valuable option to the rental market.

With its exploding popularity in the TV space—Master of None and the upcoming David Simon production The Deuce are both shooting some flavor of Varicam—we wanted to take a look at the most affordable Varicam option, the LT.

Note: We borrowed the Varicam from Panasonic for a week for the purposes of this review.

REVIEW: Canon C200 Offers a Major Step Up in Image Quality

The improvement of the latest in Canon's C-line is considerable.

This fall, Canon launched its brand new C200, filling many filmmakers with excitement. The platform offers several features we were actively hoping would come to the "affordable" end of the cinema line, including internal RAW, 4K, and especially improvements to the autofocus functionality.
The Cinema line has been especially popular with documentary filmmakers, so we here at No Film School decided to split the review up into two parts, this one more focused on the technical aspects of the camera and its image quality, and the other being a field test from Liz Nord to discuss the real-life experience of shooting with the camera for a short doc project. Look for that in a few weeks.

With the new C200, fine detail in the images is well preserved, even in 1080p mode.

Inside the Year's Most Controversial Doc With the Filmmaker Who Risked it All

In addition to stirring up debate on the nature of power and privacy, The New Radical questions what a documentary film should be. 

“Certain subjects make people very uncomfortable,” filmmaker Adam Bhala Lough sats. “They would rather not deal with it, or if they're going to deal with it, they want you to spell out these easy answers for them. I don't have any easy answers, and I don't think they exist.”
Lough's new film follows controversial figures Cody Wilson, the creator of an unserialized 3D-printed gun, and Amir Taaki, a possible founder of Bitcoin (whose inventors have yet to be publicly identified), as they articulate ideologies that lead to legal battles with the U.S. Government and Taaki taking off to fight ISIS.

Watch: Important Things You Need to Know about Editing B-Roll

If you want to know a little more about b-roll and how to use it in your films and videos, you'll want to check this video out.

Ah, b-roll. It may seem like a bunch of random shots that the second unit is responsible for capturing, but all of that supplementary footage is incredibly important to the overall look and feel of a film. In fact, we talk about it a lot in these parts, especially in terms of how to shoot it, but there is another side of filmmaking that we don't often talk about when it comes to b-roll: post-production. In this video, editor Justin Odisho shows you how to edit and cut away to b-roll footage like a pro. Check it out below:

Watch: Little Editing Tricks That Can Make a Big Difference in Your Video

Is your video lacking something? You don't always need to make big, dramatic changes to your edit. Sometimes, all it takes is a little adjustment.

It's crazy to think about how much an editor needs to know how to do, because guess what, it's not all about cutting clips and adding music. It's about animating text, adjusting audio levels, and making all of those images look as good as you possibly can, which, of course, requires a pretty well-rounded understanding of your editing tools.

'QUEST': How a Director Shepherded His 10-Year Production Into Theatrical Release

One very good thing about films that I have discovered is that the older it gets, the more relevant it turns out. Films in most cases is a long term kind of business but if you learn to be patient about it then you are surely ready to cling to the clif of greatness. Look at what Jonathan Olshefki had to say about his film in an interview conducted by Nofilmschool . Stay possitive.

Jonathan Olshefski thought his film was done five years ago, but then life happened.

How to shoot a City scene in mirror?

Need to do a shot in which camera is exactly parallel to mirror. How to hide the camera?
http://nofilmschool.com/boards/questions/removing-camera-mirror-scene

Can Documentary Films Ever Be Viable for Financiers?

Here are some lessons learned in our bold attempt is to create profitable documentary films.

A year ago, my business partner Maria Springer and I wanted to do something revolutionary: we wanted to turn non-fiction filmmaking into a profitable business that can compete against any other business without subsidies. Of course, when you are attempting to create something that hasn't been done before, there should be reasons why one doesn't exist already.
Despite the odds, we remained bullish that the time was right for profitable documentaries to be born: with Netflix spending $6 billion on content this year and up to $8 billion on content next year, one could argue that there is a gold rush now taking place as Netflix, Amazon, Youtube Red, Apple, Hulu, VICE, HBO, and traditional TV networks all compete for similar, high-quality content.

Naija Talk: Men and women who cheat the most?

Watch: Why It's Important to Let Your Edit 'Breathe'

There are many facets to editing, but here's one that you'll definitely want to master.

Editing is so much more than cutting. I mean, yeah, that's literally what you're doing—you're cutting digital video clips into smaller sizes in order to tell a story—but there's a whole lot more than that, or rather, a whole lot more to that than you may realize.
In this video, Sven Pape of This Guy Edits discusses "the single most important thing that you can do to make your editing better," and no, it's not using the "best" NLE available, buying a superpowered computer, or doing a bunch of fancy editing tricks. It's something subtle, delicate, and easily missed by beginners: pauses.

Watch: 25 Creative Transitions from 'Stranger Things 2'

"Stranger Things 2" does so much right, including its clever transitions.

Stranger Things is one of the most-watched Netflix shows in their original programming line-up, and it's not difficult to see why. The incredible acting (especially that of the young cast), dynamic storytelling, and beautifully moody visuals all contribute to creating its hugely popular 80s-themed sci-fi horror universe, but there's one facet of the show's filmmaking that some may not have noticed but totally should: its scene transitions.

Watch: These Are the Ten Tools Every Filmmaker Should Buy

These items are pretty much mandatory if you want to make a film.

If we had a dollar for every time someone asked us “What camera should I buy?,” we could have bought an Alexa by now. After that, the most frequent question we get asked around here is “What else should I buy?” In his latest wolfcrow video, Sareesh Sudhakaran attempts to answer just that. Now, the title of his video is somewhat misleading, because, in truth, you will likely rent many of these items before you dive into a real investment, but these items are certainly essential on any serious film set.
Take a look at Sudhakaran’s list and reasoning, and read on for our take, below:

5 Business School Lessons That Will Help You Make Films Faster

Whether we like it or not, filmmaking is a business.

I cannot believe how quickly the past year has flown by. Just over a year ago, my business partner Maria Springer and I graduated from the University of Oxford with our MBAs, and we've already made and broadcast a feature film, EUROTRUMP, about the "Dutch Donald Trump" Geert Wilders, which is playing this week at DOC NYC. But we think it can be done even faster.
At Oxford, we agreed that the staid, old, complex film industry—especially with documentaries—needed further disruption, beyond what Netflix and Amazon were already doing. So, armed with the LEAN principles we were taught in our technology and operations course at Oxford, which essentially have to do with creating more value for less money, we set out to make films at record speeds on record low budgets. We started a company called OBSERVATORY and, as we learned in business school, it gets faster to make a film every time you do it. You will learn tricks left and right.

What Really is an Independent Film?

Is George Lucas an independent filmmaker? He did make all his films outside the studio system and paid for them all out of his pocket. Is the $8000 horror feature created to with the sole purpose to be sold an independent film? Is the five million dollar film starring a major movie star that worked for scale an independent film?
We are all indie filmmakers but are we making independent films? Take a listen.
https://www.indiefilmhustle.com/what-is-independent-film/

Dear Filmmakers, Study More than Film

So, you eat, sleep, and breath cinema, huh? 

Okay, so you're an expert on Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Steven Spielberg. You like Ozu and Kurosawa, know the dance from Bande à part, and can spell Eadweard Muybridge without googling it. You, my friend, know your shit about cinema. But still, despite the hundreds of film books and screenplays you've read and thousands of films you've seen, there may be so much more information you're failing to feed your brain. Andrew Saladino of The Royal Ocean Film Society suggests that while having an encyclopedic knowledge of and insatiable interest in cinema is great, expanding your education beyond it might actually be the best thing you could do as a filmmaker.

Documentary Interview Techniques.

Some things becomes so glaring that the only thing that comes to mind is asking questions. As its often said, those who ask questions don't go amidst.
I just wanted to get a gauge on what my fellow NFS community of filmmakers felt about shooting interviews? Specifically, when would you shoot a standard interview - subject looks off camera to the interviewer - or when would you shoot something a little different - the subject looks into the lens a la Errol Morris? Thoughts? Experiences? Theories? Thanks everyone.

Star Wars Films: The Ultimate Visual Effects Breakdown

Star Wars Films: The Ultimate Visual Effects Breakdown
Oh the Star Wars films! After having a religious moment when watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I had to put this post together for all the indie film hustlers into visual effects.
I was so impressed by the practical and visual effects of Star Wars: The Force Awakens that I wanted to share with you how George Lucas and the gang made the magic come alive in the first six Star Wars films.

How do fan films make money?

A young filmmaker who haven seldom worried about how to make money making a film, decided to drop an open letter in other to get solutions to his continual problem. In his curiosity look at how he has decided to express his question. We seek answers... Your experience counts...

5 Ways to Be Your Own Best Script Doctor

Director Ela Thier shares some tips on how to beef up that final draft.

[Editor’s Note: No Film School asked Ela Thier to share this advice upon the upcoming digital release of her film ‘Tomorrow Ever After’.]
I've been teaching screenwriting and filmmaking since 2006 under the alias of "The Independent Film School" and have trained a couple thousand writers, actors, and filmmakers. I've written over twenty features myself, and four of those ended up on the big screen. Like many writers, I began to produce and direct my own works by necessity, and most recently I released my new film, Tomorrow Ever After. 

Is it Time To Shelve Your Film? Ask Yourself These 9 Questions

Here's how you know when to say when.

As much as we hate to admit it, there are certain times it is necessary to "murder your darlings" or, as it is more politely known in industry terms,  "trim the fat from your development slate." These two statements mean the same thing: you've wasted time, money, and energy creating a project, and now isn't the time for it to come to fruition. It's important to stick with projects you believe in through the inevitable tough times, but we've also seen plenty of folks become obsessed with projects that are doomed to fail, at least in their present state. The good news is, leaving a project for a while can also mean that you can return to it with renewed vitality and fresh ideas later.
If you think you might be in that place with a current project, here are nine questions to ask yourself to help make a decision.

How to Bypass 5 Common Composition Rules of Filmmaking

From neutral framing to the Rule of Thirds, filmmaking is full of compositional rules. Here's how to break 'em all.

Don't we all like to think of ourselves as creative cowboys and cowgirls. (Cowpeople? Nah, that's dumb.) We push the limits, take advantage of our freedom, and most of all, don't give two shits 'bout following the rules of no damn body. Here's the thing though, rules are pretty good. In filmmaking, rules like the Rule of Thirds and the 180-Degree Rule are achievable and repeatable standards that not only help to regulate the language of film but also help us to communicate as clearly as possible with our audiences.

5 Keys to High-Quality Filmmaking (Regardless of What Camera You Use)

What's one of the first things beginners do when they decide to become filmmakers? They buy a camera. They go bananas trying to find "the best" one out there. They read up on the newest releases, peruse at list after list of "Top 10 DSLRs for Indie Filmmakers," and watch hours of test footage on YouTube to see which ones offer that highly sought-after "film look."