One of the great pleasures of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer is seeing a new director inject his own flourishes into an already visually distinctive series. The Star Wars visual catalog has a few staples that have stayed consistent throughout the series: think transitional wipes and pilot POV shots. Unfortunately, the prequels saw George Lucas expand the toolset with a lot of uninspired tricks: slow zooms on wide shots, Barbara Walters glow, and a stubborn use of a locked-down...

“Do what makes you happy.” — My Grandma

by John Lasseter

Two top independent film distribution executives share the most important issues that factor into their decision as to whether or not they pick up a film.

You've probably heard of Blender, but do you know about Natron? Our how-to will help you get started using this open source compositing tool.

The long read: Skip Lievsay is one of the most talented men in Hollywood. He has created audioscapes for Martin Scorsese and is the only sound man the Coen brothers go to. But the key to this work is more than clever effects, it is understanding the human mind

Skip Lievsay, an unassuming-looking guy in his mid-60s with highly trained ears, stood before the stacks of speakers and giant movie screen in his office, fussing quietly. Lievsay is one of the preeminent sound designers working in film today, and whatever he does – whether it’s fussing or making jokes or padding down the hall of his New York offices to murmur instructions to employees – he does it quietly, as if his personal volume dial operates...

Viewing 3D content without glasses or goggles has proved to be one of the toughest things for interface designers to achieve — it never really looks right -until this.....

Ethics, Aesthetics, and the Future in Alfonso Cuarón's "Children of Men"

In his 1919 manual for screenwriters, Ten Million Photoplay Plots, Wycliff Aber Hill provided this taxonomy of possible types of dramatic "situations," first running them down in outline form, then describing each more completely and offering possible variations. Hill, who published more than one aid to struggling "scenarists," positioned himself as an authority on the types of stories that would work well on screen.

The 2001 gothic horror film was set in Spain, in 1939, and the picture, which del Toro allegedly considers his most personal film ever, is an exceptionally crafty and compelling portrayal of that specific dark period of European and world history.

It was no easy task to bring the surface of Mars to Earth for Ridley Scott's popular film. Here's how the VFX team accomplished that feat.

Cautionary Tales Have Rarely Taken Such an Amazing Artistic Form

Trip to New York filmed with Xiaomi Yi!

How do you film a conversation? Most likely, you’re going to block the actors, set up the camera, and do shot/reverse shot. But where do you put the camera? What lens do you use? And how do you cut back and forth? Today, I consider the Coen brothers — Joel & Ethan — and see how these choices lend a particular feel to their version of shot/reverse shot.

Documentary explores the uncertain fate of migratory songbirds in the face of development and climate change

Updated: June 2012 Shipping themes in many forms have long been popular movie subjects, encompassing many genres including swashbuckling pirates, fantasy, historical epics and war.

For the past ten years, I’ve been editing professionally. Yet one question always stumps me: “How do you know when to cut?” And I can only answer that it’s very instinctual. On some level, I’m just thinking and feeling my way through the edit. So today, I’d like to describe that process: how does an editor think and feel?

What's the greatest movie of all time? What makes a movie great? These are some big questions. Let's break down the elements of a "great" movie.

What makes dialogue work? Let's explore the power of dialogue in film and take a look at the offensively named "Dead Parent Test."

The actor Matt Damon has declared himself unconcerned about the prospect of being replaced in the action franchise with which he’s become synonymous. Speaking in South Korea ahead of the premiere of the fifth Jason Bourne film, Damon declared himself “totally fine” with someone new taking over the role. “I’m definitely going to be replaced some day by some new young Jason Bourne,” he said. “That happens to everybody and they reboot these things, and that’s totally fine.”

Netflix is ready to make more "Making a Murderer." The streaming service on Tuesday said it has started production on new episodes of its docuseries about convicted killer Steven Avery that will act as a follow up to Season 1. The new season, the company said, will revisit the case and be "an in-depth look at the high-stakes post-conviction process" and explore the "emotional toll" on all involved. "Making a Murderer" debuted in December and quickly gripped holiday binge-watchers.

Harrison Ford could have been killed when he was crushed by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship while filming the most recent Star Wars film, a court has heard. Ford was reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in June 2014 when he was knocked to the ground and crushed beneath the heavy door of the Millennium Falcon while filming at Pinewood Studios in London. The company responsible, Foodles Production, pleaded guilty to two breaches under health and safety legislation.

What if you could influence someone else's breakup? By Daniels.

Lewis Bond

Will a movie adaptation ever capture the writer’s depth of detail and feeling? By Ayun Halliday.