Introduction to the Dolly Zoom, including some of the concepts and principles that govern the visual effect as well as some practical tips on how to achieve the effect yourself. Film examples used in this course are "Vertigo", "Jaws" and "Goodfellas"

Learn the basics of three point lighting and some of the tools for shooting Film Noir so you can start analyses the look of films shot in this unique style.

Survey the effect of color temperature and its psychological effects from the incessant heat of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" to the icy chill of the Coen Brothers' "Fargo". Then we look at the science of color temperature from it's beginnings with Max Planck to how color temperature is measured with new alternative sources of lighting before looking at some practical and artistic uses of white balance.

Jump into the world of Film Noir and look at how the technology and economic factors gave birth to a genre that still deeply influences the way filmmakers work today. Take a look at 4 Film Noirs spanning the beginning and end of the classic film noir era: "The Stranger on the Third Floor", "Double Indemnity", "The Big Combo" and "Touch of Evil".

Trace the history of modern day film editing - starting with electronic engineers developing solutions for capturing and editing television through to the first computerized editing systems.

We pick up the story from the electronic engineers of television in part 1, to computer scientists, mathematicians and programmers as we explore the advancements made to editing from the Digital Revolution.

Screenwriting isn't easy. Great story telling requires craft and insight - but it all starts with getting the proper formatting. Trace the roots of how the screenplay evolved from the earliest moving pictures, through the golden age of Hollywood and into the post-studio era.

John Hess traces the evolution of the screen shape from the silent film days through the widescreen explosion of the 50s, to the aspect ratio of modern digital cameras.

Aspect Ratio is one of many choices you make when deciding how to shoot your film. John Hess explains some basic tips on how to visualize your desired ratio and some helpful composition techniques.

Explore the 5 crucial elements of capturing a great chromakey for your production.

Go inside the history of the travelling mattes (now called chromakey) and learn the history of visual trickery used by filmmakers from the earliest filmmakers through to the modern day.

See how After Effects can be used to displace time to create bizarre and other-worldly slit scan effects.

Explore the mysterious and forgotten technique of Slit Scan for special effects and how Douglas Trumbull applied the photographic technique to Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey". Then we'll do our best to recreate the effect using LEGOs

Color is a subtle tool that can transport us from our ordinary lives to extraordinary worlds of cinema. Peel back the layers of history and look at how color was first understood and implemented in the world of film.

Color is a natural everyday experience - but how do you use color to advance your film? We'll start by looking at how filmmakers in the late 90s began exploring creative uses of color. Then we'll take a quick overview of how your digital camera captures color and some basic color theory. We'll finish by designing, shooting and grading a Lolita inspired shot for maximum color impact.

See how the changes in technology have changed our own social attitudes towards how to watch movies.

Let's go deep in the human mind and dissect our fascination with fright - exploring 8 theories on way we are attracted to the dark.

For some, Popcorn and the Movies just go together. But it hasn't always been that way. We look at the science and mechanics that make popcorn pop and trace the history of this ancient snack that ultimately rescued the film industry.

Take a look at the history of censorship of Hollywood from pressures from progressive groups in films infancy, through the scandal rocked silent film era, the threat of boycotts in the Great Depression and turn from censorship to classification and ratings in the 1960s.

Cinema began as a novelty - projecting dancing shadows on a screen of simple every day scenes. But through the contributions of talented artists, a new cinematic language of editing emerged. Trace the development of editing from The Lumiere Brothers through Georges Méliès, Edwin S. Porter, and D.W Griffith.

Building on the works of D.W. Griffith and the development of "continuity editing" in early film history, Soviet silent filmmakers would pioneer new innovative ideas about editing that moved film from an extension of theater into a mature and powerful artistic medium.

Some people consider them the best part of the movie going experience - the Movie Trailer. Take a look at the evolution of the "coming attractions" from simple silent film splices, through the template style of the Golden Age of Hollywood, through Auteurs and finally into the Blockbuster era.

Dissect the history of horror, from it's roots deep in Gothic literature, through B-movie status and director's proving grounds to ultimate respectability as an important filmmaking genre.

The inclusion of sound at the movies was one of the most dramatic changes in all of film history. Dive into the early experiments of Edison trying to incorporate sound from film's inception, through the experiments in the early 1920s, the Jazz Singer and the industry sound overhaul, and finally the multi-channel surround and modern movie sound technologies.

Take a closer look at the science of sound and the basics of how microphones convert sound energy into electrical signals. We will also run through the different kinds of mics used in video and film production.

We now turn our attention to the audio signal chain as John P. Hess defines the different components needed when recording on set for digital video.

It's time to open up the digital audio workstation and look at the basics of common tools used in post production audio from Equalizers, Compressors, Noise Reduction, and Delay effects.

Sometimes it's just not possible to get clean dialogue on set - that's when ADR comes into play. In this lesson we'll look at the history of ADR or looping and tackle the process of doing ADR or a short film.

Very little of what you hear in the movies is real - in this lesson we take a look at the art of Foley, how to classify it, the history of the man who started it all and take a crack at doing our own Foley work.

It's A Wonderful Life has become a holiday tradition bolstered by near constant plays on television as the film fell into the public domain in 1975. But in the 90s, a studio would regain control over the film and put copyright to the test.

Explore the history of the frame rate - the engine that gives motion to the motion picture from the earliest versions in silent pictures to the frame rates of broadcast television.

Auteur - it's a favorite term of cinephiles around the world. But what exactly is Auteur Theory? In this Filmmaker IQ course we peel back pages of time and explore the origins of Auteur Theory from the economically tumultuous adolescence of French Cinema to the culture war waged in the columns of competing American movie critics.

Trace the origins of acting technique by following the roots of theater going back all the way to the Ancient Greeks, through the Italian Renaissance and finally to the psychological approaches of the 20th Century under the term "Method"

The success of a film or video is often judged on the size of the audience - but how do we measure that audience? - It's not always as simple as counting tickets. In this lesson we look at the techniques and methods studios and distributors use to calculate who has seen their products and try to make sense of all those Box Office Numbers and Ratings.