Complete Filmmaking Masterclass: Learn how to make a film

Identify core story elements—conflict, objectives, throughlines, stakes, obstacles, action, and character—to craft a compelling screenplay.

Define your film's subject in one or two lines and develop compelling characters with a strong dramatic need, clear point of view, attitude, and transformation.

The three act structure divides stories into act 1, act 2, and act 3, guiding filmmaking through seven plot points—from inciting incident to the final climax or resolution.

Explore act 1: introduce characters and world, set tone and theme, present inciting incident and plot point 1, and lock in the protagonists' objective and high stakes.

Explore act 2, the confrontation or build stage, where the hero faces obstacles, raises stakes, and encounters pinch points, the midpoint, and plot points driving subplots toward the main culmination.

Act 3 delivers resolution by tying up subplots, revealing the hero’s transformed character, and presenting the final culmination and new status quo after overcoming obstacles.

Craft dialogue that moves the story forward by revealing what characters want, what they believe, and how context and obstacles shape intention and action in a screenplay.

learn screenplay formatting with Celtx by building scenes, writing action and dialogue, and tagging locations, props, and characters, then generate print-ready scripts with typeset pdf.

Explore cinematography as the art of photography and visual storytelling, shaping lighting, framing, camera motion, depth of field, and aspect ratio to strengthen the story.

Explore how eye level, high angle, low angle, and Dutch angle shots shape a scene by signaling power, vulnerability, context, and emotional tension.

Explore shot sizes from establishing to extreme close up, including extreme long shot and full shot. Learn how framing, distance, and editing convey setting, relationships, emotion, and narrative meaning.

Explore shot selection through four criteria—function, importance, emotion, and theme—illustrating how long or extreme long shots convey strength, and close shots reveal emotion, as Koreeda's maborosi demonstrates.

Explore how moving camera shots like pan, tilt, tracking, dolly, crane, steadicam, pov, and zoom enhance dynamics, reveal space, and convey character psychology in film.

Explore cinematic lighting beyond the 3-point setup to shape mood and character psychology, using natural, artificial, and ambient light to guide the eye.

Master the 3 point lighting by using key, fill, and back light, adjusting distance, angle, and intensity to control shadows and mood on the subject.

Examine side, hard, soft, high key, low key, natural, practical, motivated, and bounced lighting to shape mood and cinematic atmosphere in filmmaking.

The production designer creates the film's visual world by brainstorming with the director, prototyping ideas, scouting locations, sourcing materials, and guiding the art department through pre-production and production.

Explore how production design builds authentic worlds that influence actors' performances. See how lookbooks, color palettes, and historically accurate sets shape mood and storytelling.

Directing masterclass shows why directors should take acting lessons to better communicate with actors, mentor performances, understand preparation, and convey believable vulnerability on screen.

Learn performance blocking and camera staging, collaborate with cinematographer and production designer, and use stopping rehearsal and stand-ins to optimize lighting, focus, and on-set efficiency.

Direct actors to achieve best performances by understanding their goals, obstacles, and stakes, maintaining on-set tone, answering questions, and using improvisation in a collaborative filmmaking process.

Editors shape tone and credibility by crafting the final cut with the director, managing shotlists, best takes, live sound, and final cuts while coordinating with VFX, sound design, and music.

Learn the basics of editing in Adobe Premiere Pro, including creating a project, organizing media into bins, assembling sequences, trimming clips, adding transitions, effects, text, audio, and exporting.

Distinguish color correction from color grading to master the workflow: unify footage, fix exposure and white balance, match skin tones, and apply an overall visual tone to convey emotion.

Learn the Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve workflow by exporting the sequence and EDL from Premiere Pro, grading in DaVinci Resolve, and sending back an XML to reassemble in Premiere.

Let music guide emotion and rhythm in film, shaping audience perception alongside visuals. Composers work with directors to create original film scores and soundtrack songs for each scene.

Collaborate with composers to score specific scenes, conveying emotion, beats per minute, and point of view, with silence or temp music to keep them on the same page.