Lighting Links

Lighting is painting for video. Lighting direction, color and temperature, interaction, reflection, diffusion are ways a cinematographer can create just the right look for a scene. Lighting also ensures that enough light is available to get the right exposure with your camera.

"Easy light setup to improve your films" shows you how to set up three-point lighting with natural light, aluminum foil, and some household lights.

"Learn the Basics of Bouncing Light" demonstrates several ways to use a single light source to achieve different effects.

I will add more videos and articles as I find them.

Shot Lists

The "Shot List" (or "shotlist") is a list of all the shots needed to film a scene. The director, Director of Photography, and perhaps others, will comb through the screenplay to determine the best way to shoot each scene. Then they will write up a detailed list of each shot with scene numbers, shot types, equipment needs, and other information. Here are a few links to tutorials for creating shot lists and one link to some nice storyboarding templates.

Simple Tutorial on How to Create a Shot List

Filmmaking Tutorial - How To Create A Shotlist From A Screenplay

The Best Shot List Template a nice Excel template.

Storyboarding Templates. A good, short article with many nice storyboarding templates.

14 Minutes to Learn the Basics of Compostion

Thanks to the great filmmaking site No Film School for this article and link to a great video introducing the basic elements of cinematic composition.



What Is Composition from Press Play Video Blog on Vimeo.

How to Avoid Making a Poor First Impression of Your Script

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the film educational, outreach, preservation, and research organization that brings us the Oscars. New screenwriters can win fellowships of up to $35,000 for original feature-length screenplays. Of course, these must be formatted according to the industry's standards. Visit their resource page for:

• Fifteen helpful "foibles" to avoid so as to not make a poor first impression
• A very helpful sample script

Christopher Nolan Shares, Tips, Tricks, and No-Budget Filmmaking Advice

No Film School, a great filmmaking website recommended in an earlier post, posted a great 30 minute interview with director Christopher Nolan in which he shares many tips and tricks for filming low to no budget films. He embraced the limits of no-budget filmmaking and learned valuable lessons that served him well when filming his blockbusters like the Batman Dark Knight trilogy and Inception.

Pixar's 22 Tips on Storytelling

Here are 22 tips on storytelling that were tweeted by Emma Coats, director and Pixar storyboard artist. These were put into a list and posted by Ryan Koo on the excellent web site, No Film School.

1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

You might also want to check out No Film School's article on Pixar's story development process.

Ken Burns On Story

"The story is king." A film well shot and expertly edited that fails to tell a good story will not be watched. In this short documentary Ken Burns shares his thoughts on the craft of storytelling in film.

Ken Burns: On Story from Redglass Pictures on Vimeo.