Filmmaking e-Guides
Download printable filmmaking e-guides
Volume 1: Basic Camerawork
This book, designed for self-guided study, enables students to develop their skills through filming scenes in several different ways.
Exercises cover common situations such as:
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Walks
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Conversations
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Phone calls
Students are also asked to experiment with filming techniques including:
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Static vs moving cameras
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Close-ups
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Focus
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Reveals
“Spot on. The exercises are set up in a very logical, progressive way.”
James Martin
University of North Texas
“Excellent – great for schools and colleges alike. The tone of the writing is perfect – neither patronising or too authoritative.”
Jezz Wright
Blockhouse TV
Volume 2: Staging
Exercises cover common situations such as:
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Doorways
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Action scenes
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Dramatic conversations
Students are also asked to experiment with filming techniques including:
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Different size sets
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Using extras
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Showing the passage of time
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Deep staging
Download workbook of exercises
“If someone goes through the book and does the exercises, they’re going to come out a better filmmaker, no question”
Hugh Hancock
Guerilla Showrunner
“A really good primer for any film student, especially all crammed into 40 pages.”
Andrew Segal
Carshalton College
Volume 3: Sound and Lighting
Exercises cover techniques such as:
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Ambient noise
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Working with music
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Shadows and silhouettes
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Night-time filming
Download workbook of exercises
“A very fine job on sound and lighting.”
Ricky Grove
Machinimator, sound designer and actor
Volume 4: Editing
Exercises cover techniques such as:
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Split cuts
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Establishing shots
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Cutting on action
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Montage
“Anybody making not just machinima, but any sort of live action or animated films, will benefit from this informative series of books.”
Kate Lee
Chat Noir Studios
The Filmmaker guide to previsualisation
Previsualisation is a powerful pre-production technique that has the potential to reduce production and post-production costs and also help you make better movies. Some proponents of previsualisation claim that this technique can reduce shooting time by up to 50% and cut post-production time by up to 25%.
Using Filmmaker to create storyboards
Explains the basic process for creating a storyboard using Filmmaker and the key concepts of animatics and storyboards
Identifies two different approaches to animatics and how to choose which is right for you, then explains how to generate your animatic with Filmmaker, and convert it into a storyboard.