Hot Film & Theater How-Tos
How To: Create a telekinesis effect
Indy Mogul shows you how to create telekinesis special fx for your films with just some simple video editing software.
How To: Create a limb tear effect
Erick Beck from Indy Mogul shows you how to create limb tear special fx for your horror movies for cheap ($35 or less).
How To: Turn yourself into a werewolf for under $50
Turn yourself into a werewolf for under $50. The guys at Indy Mogul will show you how to create werewolf prosthetic makeup for your films.
How To: Build a spaceship
Erik from Indy Mogul teaches you how to build a miniature space ship for your films for under $20. Also covered, are using green screen to create background effects for your UFO film.
How To: Build a snorricam for a cool camera effect
If you've seen Requiem for a Dream, you've seen the snorricam effect - the camera is worn around the actor's waist and as the actor moves it creates a wild camera effect. The guys at Indy Mogul show you how to build your own snorricam.
How To: Build your own light kit for $25
No light no movie. Indy Mogul teaches you how to create your own basic lighting kit for $25. Also covered are lighting basics, including three-point lighting.
How To: Make a super hero costume
Indy Mogul rises to a challenge from The Stack and teaches you how to sew your own super hero costume for under $50.
How To: Build a movie production studio for under $250
Alan K. from Indy Mogul shows you how to create a your own film production setup including a camera, tripod, and recording media for under $250. Of course this assumes you already have a computer for editing.
How To: Recreate the effects from The Exorcist
The guys at Indy Mogul teach you how to recreate some of the special FX from The Exorcist for under $40. Included are the possession makeup, the spinning head, and the green, projectile vomit.
How To: Create a falling effect
Steve Nelson from Indy Mogul shows you how to create cool falling or jumping from a building effect. Use a combination of camera angeles, green screen, and editing to create this cool action effect for your films.
How To: Make ballistics gel
Do you need that special human touch to your special fx? Indy Mogul's Mike Johnson shows you how to make ballistics gels to create flesh and gore effects for your films.
How To: Create realistic movie fog
Do you want thicker, more realistic fog from your fog machine? Indy Mogul teaches you how to make realistic, creepy fog special fx for your films for under $30
How To: Make a boom pole for $15
Sometimes a shotgun mic isn't enough. The guys at Indy Mogul show you how to build your own boom pole to help capture better sound for your films.
How To: Build samurai armor
Indy Mogul shows you how to create samurai armor for your films for under $50.
How To: Create aging makeup
Do you want to make your actors look older? The guys at Indy Mogul show you how to make aging makeup for under $30.
How To: Create a movie cyborg
Planning on shooting a low budget sci fi flick? The guys at Indy Mogul teach you how to make a cyborg arm and eye patch using a PVC coupler, coin tray, thin orange tubing, blue flash controllers, silver bubble wrap, duct tape, a rolodex, and costume jewelry.
How To: Shoot on a green screen
Looking to create great special FX for you films using a green screen. Steve from Indy Mogul teaches you how to shoot using a blue screen or a green screen and also how to add in your own digital backgrounds.
How To: Make a puppet
Erik Beck from Indy Mogul shows you how to make a Jim Henson-style puppet for about $25.
How To: Build a jet pack for your movie
Erik Beck of Indy Mogul shows you how to make a non-working jet pack for under $30. He'll also show you how to create a flying effect for the jet pack in post-production using a green screen.
How To: Write a screenplay
In this video series, our expert screen writer Tony Ramirez will show you how to write a screenplay. You will get easy to follow, step-by-step instructions on how to create the cover page, what type of font to use and how to number your pages.
How To: Make fake blood and scary props
In this Halloween props video series, learn how to make fake blood and other Halloween props from Halloween expert Matt Cail. Matt will show you how to make fake blood for Halloween, using corn syrup and food coloring. He will teach you how to make Halloween props such as fake arms, and how to stuff the arms to give a realistic effect.
How To: Make molds for hair pieces
In this how-to video series, learn how to make a hair piece mold from expert Sean Graham. Sean will teach you what equipment and materials you need for making molds for hair pieces and he will demonstrate how to mark the hair line shape for a hair piece, hair to create the hair style for a hair piece, how to create fasteners for hair pieces, and how to match hair piece color to natural hair color.
How To: Focus on ideas for film making
Director, M dot Strange, explains how formulating ideas is the most important part of film making, no technical skills.
How To: Understand pre-production
This video will help you understand the pre-production process for movies, animations, film shorts, etc.
How To: Stabilize a handheld camera with an at-home steadycam
Here are 2 designs for making hand held camera shooting a little nicer. By getting your hands off the camera and moving them apart more, you get a much stabler picture. This is a DIY steadycam.
How To: Build a teleprompter
For making videos at home, a teleprompter would greatly reduce the amount of memorizing lines, cutting and editing. Put together this easy teleprompter and start your own show today.
How To: Make convincing fake bruises
Ever wonder how actors get bruises that look so real? Learn how to make these bruises and start your own visual effects for movies. Perfect for beginners or advanced make up artists, create real looking bruises for your next Halloween costume. Make convincing fake bruises.
How To: Make a helmet camera
How to make a simple tripod on your camera so that you can take video hands free. Then mount the camera on your head for a weird handy cam like shooting experience. Make a helmet camera.
How To: Fake cry
This is a very quick tutorial on fake crying. Make your eyes well with tears by concentrating your vision above a point of interest and not blinking. It's a super easy way to the real tears effect.
How To: Make shadow puppets
Learn how to make monster shadow puppets with paper and polycarbonate. Paper puppets are cheaper and faster to make, but there is a professionalism about polycarbonate shadow puppets that can't be matched. Go and create a show.
How To: Use text in your video project
Here are some general tips for using text in your project, including why you should keep things simple and how to contrast text from video. You need to avoid fonts with really thin lines and for the most part, you should try to keep everything simple.
How To: Make a cheap green screen
You can learn how to make a cheap green screen in your home for chroma key effect. You will need a wall, a green poster frieze paper, masking tape, and blu-tac. You can use Abobe Premiere to chroma key effects on to the green screen backdrop.
How To: Create single frame animation
You can learn how to create single frame animation by shooting many photos with a digital camera and lining them up properly for editing. The video should run at 30 frames per second and you have to manually control the camera's settings.
How To: Direct a cartoon
Walter Lantz describes how to direct a cartoon like Woody Woodpecker. To start with, the director must help develop the story idea. Also, he makes a guide for the animators to follow when a new character is created.
How To: Add voice-over to videos
Want to make your own documentary? Voice-over is a big part of any documentary. Learn how to record voice-overs in this Israel Hyman's video tutorial. Even if you're not making a documentary, you may find other times you need a voice-over, and this video will give you the tools to do it.
How To: Capture Fireworks on Video
This tutorial by Israel offers some great tips and tricks on how to capture fireworks on video. Two of the key things to remember are to turn off your auto-focus and manually set the gain.
How To: Sew cute Puppets
Gigi works with Margaret and Melissa to sew Blinkey, a green fuzzy hand puppet. Sew cute Puppets.
How To: Improve your lighting for videos
In this video, Steve Garfield shows you how lighting can improve your homemade video. Putting more light in a room increases the brightness of the video (obviously), but different light sources have different brightness effects. Improve your lighting for videos.
How To: Apply "The Rule of Thirds" when shooting videos
Israel Hyman is a weekend videographer headquartered in Mesa, Arizona. Here he demonstrates “The Rule of Thirds” to help you make your own home videos look better. The Rule of Thirds is a principle of cinematography that can make all your imagery look better, whether you’re working with videos, still photos, or whatever.
How To: Use "Depth of Field" to make your video look better
Israel Hyman is a weekend videographer headquartered in Mesa, Arizona. In this video, he demonstrates how to use “Depth of Field” to make your digital video look better. Yes, learn how to achieve "dreamy" and film-like quality on your video!