15 Things That Stanley Kubrick Can Teach You About Filmmaking

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It’s my belief that you can learn over a hundred things from watching a single Stanley Kubrick film. Kirk Douglas called him a “talented shit”, referring to Kubrick’s exasperating perfectionist streak; he was famous for doing take, after take, after take until he got exactly what he was looking for. He was a firm, sometimes […]

10 Films That Can Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Sound Design

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Soundtracks are created by mixing together noise and speech (as well as music). Good filmmakers will devote a lot of their energy to the soundtrack of their film in post-production, making such that it sounds rich and interesting, and also making sure that key moments are audible. Bad sound design can make a film seem […]

10 Films That Can Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Film Editing

Editing is a selection process. Sometimes hundreds of hours of footage are captured, and we only end up seeing around two hours of it. It’s also a language that has rules. When done badly it can cause boredom or, even worse, confusion. The importance of editing cannot be underestimated. According to acclaimed film writers David […]

10 Things “Star Wars” Can Teach You About Filmmaking

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Star Wars’ artistic and technical innovations made a profound impact on Hollywood. After its release audiences moved away from gritty, violent thrillers like French Connection and The Godfather and moved towards fun summer blockbusters like Superman and Ghostbusters. Yet, despite breaking box office records, its artistic achievements are repeatedly scoffed at. The New Yorker’s film […]

10 Films That Can Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Production Design

Production designers, or art directors, are responsible for the look of a film. They often have a simple question to answer; will the narrative’s setting work better by being created in a studio, or by being filmed out on location? It’s important to remember that everything that you see on screen in a film has […]

10 Films That Can Teach You Everything You Need To Know About Cinematography

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The word cinematography literally means ‘to record movements’. A director relies on their cinematographer to manipulate the mood and implication of a shot. For example; you might not think that there’d be many ways to film a person walking down a corridor – but what if that corridor had seedy red lighting? What if the […]