On my Youtube channel, I’ve made many videos on how to watch movies. Those videos are compiled here into what is now a FREE ONLINE COURSE on movie-watching and film criticism.
In other words, this is essentially a video textbook, except it’s fun.
Everybody in the world needs this kind of course. Just as you learn grammar in school so that you can write, so you need to learn film grammar so that you can watch, think about, and critique every single video you ever see.
Think about how much time you spend watching videos. Movies, TV shows, video games, Youtube videos, and of course, commercials. Supposedly, the average person will spend 78,000 hours watching videos!
Why haven’t you ever studied how they are put together? Or how they make meaning? Why do few if any schools require this kind of course?
If you watch these carefully, you will become a smarter person, able to think about what you’re watching and how it’s re-programming your brain.
Pause these videos, rewatch them, think about them. You can send me an email asking me any question you want, within reason.
THIS PROJECT IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. More videos will be added.
The First Three Lessons in “Intro to Film”
- The Cut
- The Focal Point or Dominant
- Sound
The Basic Shots in Movies
- Close Shots
- The Two-Shot
- Extreme Close Shots
- Long and Extreme-Long Shots
- Low Camera Angles
- High Camera Angles
- Birds-Eye-View Shots
- Tilted Shots
- Reaction Shots
- Closed Forms
- Open Forms
Movements and Edits
Creating Characters
- The Voiceover Narrator
- Character Positioning, Part 1 (Turns)
- Three shots in JFK
- Character Types in Die Hard
- Creating an Ensemble Cast, with The Breakfast Club
Cinematography
Big Ideas about Movies
- The Auteur Theory — Who’s Responsible for the Artwork of Film?
- Film Styles: From Realism to Surrealism — A Brief Introduction
- Do All War Movies Promote War?
The Basic Edits and Transitions
- The Cut
- Fades, Wipes, and Dissolves
- Creating Tension with the 180-Degree Flip
The Basics of Analyzing Scenes
- The “Red Pill” scene in The Matrix
- The opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark
- The opening sequence of Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope
- The opening of The Dark Knight
- An exposition scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark
- A dialogue-to-action-sequence in Iron Man 3