Live action. It’s a term you’ve heard about one movie or another. But it’s not always clear what live action actually is. Is it the opposite of an animated movie? Or does it combine animated components with live film like on-location filming? What even is a live film? If your head is swimming with all...Read More

Storytelling is so much more than we think it is. Just ask any sound editor out there in the film industry. You might think, “Ok, this movie has an awesome soundtrack!” But what about the sounds and sound effects that are more subtle than that? Think dialogue, footsteps, the sound of crunching leaves. All of...Read More

When you think of the film industry, you immediately think, “Lights, camera, action!” But that might be all you think about, right? So how does a film get distributed to a major studio, film festivals, and eventually a theatrical release? The answer to all these questions and more is film distributors. Film distributors are the...Read More

You know those movies you watch just for the sake of how they look? The color palette is just right? And the visual storytelling as told through color theory just makes it a visual feast to take in? Yeah, those. (I can hear your ahh’s from here!) These movies alone teach us that the power...Read More

When you think of the film industry, you likely conjure up the image of Hollywood. You know – bright lights, big sets, more money than you could ever imagine. But not all movies are produced through the studio system. In fact, a number of beloved movies were made independent of the big wigs in corporate...Read More

If I asked you what documentary changed your life, you’d probably have a hard time picking just one. You might even have a hard time picking only two. That’s because documentaries have the ability to change lives and perspectives. The film industry is often lumped into the stereotype of big, fake Hollywood. But documentary filmmaking...Read More

If you’re an aspiring film director, you can likely point to a single moment that changed your life. Maybe you loved going to the video store as a kid. You picked out movies like it was already your career. And you watched them over and over to get an understanding of the film industry. It...Read More

Films have the power to make you feel something. But how much does the lighting have to do with that? Turns out, quite a bit. Lighting can highly affect the mood of a film, just like it can affect photography. It can help the audience understand what they are supposed to be feeling. And it...Read More

Films have the power to transport us to a different world altogether. They can construct entirely new universes for us to explore. And the very technique that allows them to do that is VFX. So what is VFX? VFX refers to visual effects. It is sometimes shortened as visual FX as well. These effects are...Read More

The Phases of Film Production Film production involves a huge amount of people power, as well as creativity and time. For a film to make it all the way to the eyes of viewers, it must go through several stages. From development to distribution, there are a few phases that shape films and make movie-going...Read More