Hot Film & Theater How-Tos
How To: Storyboard, make a shot list, line your script, and schedule a film production
Measure twice cut once applies to filmmaking as well as construction or any other complex process really, and that's why preproduction is they key to actually finishing your film on time and budget. This video will help you with several preproduction tasks, including storyboarding, making a shot list, lining / timing your script, and scheduling the actual production of the film.
How to Do film preproduction: budgeting, script breakdowns, and casting calls
Pre-production is a much less complex process for an indie film than a big-budget one that needs stars and permits and such, but it's still vital to shooting a good film in a timely fashion. This video will walk you through Ryan from Film Riot's entire pre-production process, including script breakdowns, free casting calls, budgeting, getting a crew and locations.
How To: Light and key a greenscreen with either Final Cut Pro or After Effects
The greenscreen has allowed filmmakers to take us to worlds they never could have otherwise, but they can ruin a movie when used poorly. Watch this video for a guide to picking a screen, lighting it, and getting a good key for it using Final Cut Pro or After Effects.
How To: Shoot someone's head off, use a jib and dolly together, and make a light ring
Three awesome film special effects, one video. Ryan at Film Riot sure knows how to make one-stop shopping filmmaking tutorials. This video will show you how to shoot someone's head off, use a jib and dolly together to get more dynamic shots, and also how to make a great cheap light ring.
How To: Build and shoot a ray gun and shrink an object for a film with effects
The shrink ray as always been one of the oddest and least-useful sci-fi guns, but alien invaders seem to love them and so we'll keep seeing them. If you want to use a shrink ray in a film you're working on, watch this video. It will teach you how to first make a generic ray / laser gun, and then how to make an object shrink in After Effects.
How To: Replace the sky and make a UFO with special effects for a film
Alien invaders are a constant threat, so it is important that filmmakers continue their long tradition of making educational films like Independence Day to ensure that we know what to do when the invasion comes. If you want to make aliens films yourself, watch this video for tips on using compositing to replace the sky and make an awesome UFO / flying saucer.
How To: Motion track, make a prop sniper scope, and dunk someone in a toilet for film
If you like to learn filmmaking techniques from internet videos fast, then you've found the holy grail right here. This video will teach you how to do four different effects, including text motion tracked to your shots, motion tracking, make a prop sniper scope, and how to dunk someone's head in a toilet. Bonus points if you can use them all in the same film.
How To: Run over an actor's head or bury them alive with special effects for film
Running over someone's head or burying them alive so that they can rise from the grave are dangerous, and not worth using in filmmaking generally speaking. But yay, there are special effects! Watch this video for a guide to running over someone's head with a car or burying them alive for your film using After Effects and some fun props.
How To: Do professional zombie makeup for film or costume and blow someone's head off
The fine folks at Film Riot usually teach you how to do two awesome film tricks per episode, and this one is no different. It will teach you how to do really scary professional zombie makeup first and follow that with how to blow someone's head off with a shotgun. Using effects, of course.
How To: Do professional quality Voldemort from Harry Potter makeup
Voldemort, the seemingly unstoppable antagonist of the Harry Potter series played so compellingly by Ralph Fiennes in the films, is one of the best villains in the history of fantasy. If you want to scare the bejezzus out of some children this Halloween or pay homage to Harry Potter in a film, watch this video to learn how to recreate the Voldemort look without makeup and prosthetics.
How To: Build your suit of DIY Master Chief armor from Halo
Master Chief, the star of the Halo franchise before it's most recent iterations, is one of the most recognizable and beloved protagonists in gaming history, and that's without players ever actually seeing his body through his inconic and intimidating armor. If you want to dress up as Master Chief for a Halloween costume, film, or other purpose, watch this video to learn how to make your own DIY Master Chief armor for cheap.
How To: Make a fake cardboard iPod prop for a film, costume, or prank
Real iPods are as quite common, but still so expensive that there are times, especially for films and pranks, where you may want to do something to one that will break it and necessitate buying another. You can't afford that can you? This video will teach you how to make a prop iPod out of common DIY materials.
How To: Make yourself look like a sexy Volturi vampire
This is perfect for when you want to show your love for the Volturi vampire clan or the Twilight series! Do your makeup in a spooky, gothic style and make yourself look like a sparkly Volturi vampire. Don't forget the accessories!
How To: Light your movie with inexpensive lighting alternatives
If you're trying to film on a budget, this tutorial is perfect for you. Instead of spending money on expensive professional lighting equipment, you can use these inexpensive alternatives (like using tin foil as a reflector or a shower curtain as a diffuser).
How To: Avoid common mistakes when working with a green screen
Some film makers fall into a few pitfalls when working with a green screen. This video lists a few common problems, such as having your talent wear costumes in similar color keys or using uneven lighting, and how to avoid them completely.
How To: Build a cyclorama wall out of concrete and drywall
A cyclorama wall will have a seamless connection between the all the various pieces of the wall, including where it meets the floor. This tutorial shows you how to build your own cyclorama wall using concrete, drywall and white paint.
How To: Incorporate Google SketchUp into your indie movie planning
Google SketchUp is a free 3-D drafting program that can be quite useful for film makers. Use Google SketchUp to create models of your sets so you can pick the absolute best angles when shooting the scenes for your next film.
How To: Make your own replica of the wands from the Harry Potter movies
Make a wand that looks like it just came straight from Olivander's shop - or, at least, directly off the set of the Harry Potter movies! This tutorial shows you how to make your own light up Harry Potter style wand.
How To: Set up your ambient lighting to look like a movie theater
Movie theater light can sometimes be difficult to replicate, since it is always dark and you have to reproduce the effect of the flickering lights coming from the screen. Here's a great lighting trick you can use to replicate the effect of movie theater lights.
How To: Make a camera mount on your car for under ten dollars
Not only does this camera mount take less than five minutes to make, you can do it for less than ten dollars. Mount a camera to your car for greater versatility in how and what you film for your next project!
How To: Make a functional alien egg and a ceiling mounted radial dolly
This one is a twofer! The first part of the tutorial shows you how to make a fully functional alien egg out of papier mache and carpet foam. The second tutorial shows you how to make a ceiling mounted radial dolly.
How To: Build a DIY reverse flow coffin fog chiller for Halloween or a film
Spooky fog-emitting items like coffins and cauldrons are iconic parts of many haunted houses, but are terribly expensive to buy premade. If you're got some DIY know-how, watch this video for a guide to building a coffin fog chiller for your fog machine yourself for a Halloween display, horror film effect, or just because you like foggy coffins. This thing is a BEAST, it will cover your whole lawn if fog by itself.
How To: Make DIY fog fluid for a fog machine
If you are an avid party-thrower, moviemaker, or are involved in some other activity that involved you frequently using fog machines, you're probably sick of paying for the fluid to make them work. No more! Watch this video for a guide to making your own cheap DIY fog machine juice / fluid at home.
HowTo: Make a DSLR Helmet Cam
Modernhuman of WonderHowTo's Canon EOS 7D World posts a simple HowTo for making your own DSLR Helmet Cam for approximately $150 in parts:
How To: Freak out your family this Thanksgiving with a chest burst SFX
Have a tendency to eat so much at Thanksgiving dinner that you worry you might burst? Using the same SFX for the chest-bursting alien in the movie Alien, you can create that exact, stomach popping effect! Freak out your family this holiday season!
How To: Direct actors to their best performances as a director
Directing an actor in such a way that they can deliver the best performance possible is the most important work of the stage and screen director. If you're just getting started and need some tips, watch this video for some basic rules to follow on coaching actors.
How To: Get a 35mm film look with a depth of field adapter
Shoot digital footage to rival film by incorporating a 35mm DoF adapter into your camcorder rig! For detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get started shooting footage to rival anything shot on a video-capable DSLR, watch this video guide.
How To: Write a professional television script
Whether you're writing your first television script for a pitch or you're a novice writer who's writing scrips on a daily basis for an ongoing television show, creating a professional and interesting television script is no walk in the park.
How To: Pitch a television show through networking
With the economy as terrible as it is these days, obtaining any sort of job, from receptionist to screen writer, requires thorough networking.
How To: Create an entertaining television show with a Pitch Bible
Creating a successful new television show isn't as easy as brainstorming a great idea and calling up a producer to tell him all about it, hoping for the go-head. Creating a show, as well as submitting it to agents and producers, is a complex job that requires a lot of paperwork.
How To: Make a Gaara Gourd from Naruto
Are you into Gaara? If so, why not make one of his gourds? Materials you will need:
How To: Make 300 Spartan greaves or leg guards
The first part of the video shows examples of completed Spartan leg guards. The materials needed for this project include boxes of cardboard, two liters of soda pop, gold paint, masking tape, scissors and wire. you must first print out the template shown by the narrator and use it to cut out the leggings to the appropriate size. Now use the two liters to fold the cardboard around the two liters to give the legs their shape. Once the cardboard has shape use the wire to hold to the paper in it'...
How To: Make a Tommy Gun out of cardboard
This video begins by showing the necessary tools needed to make a prop tommy gun out of a cardboard base. The first step is to trace a simple handle shape on the cardboard and repeat eight more times until you have eight exact copies of the handle. Then using an image of a tommy gun make an outline on the gun to cut in another piece of cardboard. You must cut and make eight more copies of the entire gun body to have the appropriate thickness for realism. The handle must be glued to the gun bo...
How To: Create a memorable birth video
In this video, we learn how to create a memorable birth video. You will first need to buy a video camera or use a digital camera that takes movies as well. Make sure it has a microphone so you capture all the action. Make sure you have a large memory card to capture everything as well. Also, purchase a triPod that will allow you to take photos of the family and you will get steady pictures. Make the movie into different acts, but make sure to be with your wife during the process. Take lots of...
How To: Start drawing storyboards for film, animation & stories in Springboard for PC
Springboard from Six Mile Creek Systems is a program for creative writers and artists using Windows PCs, to help storyboard their ideas into visual means. Nowadays, storyboards are what people want to see, because it's less time in their hands (reading takes forever!). So, if you have Springboard, this video gives you a quick stepping stone to using it to sketch and animate your storyboards— for films, videos, animations or any other media.
How To: Widen the eye, mouth, and nose holes on a plastic mask with a woodburning pen
Plastic masks are usually the cheapest that you can get, but their tiny eye and mouth holes impede your use of your organs and can cut you as well. Watch this video to learn how to use a woodburning pen to widen the holes in such as way that they wont' come out sharp and jagged, and will make you Guy Fawkes or other mask much more wearable.
How To: Stabalize your point and shoot HD camera using a Joby Gorillapod SLR tripod
Using a hand held point and shoot camera that uses HD video capture can be tough to use due to the natural shake of your hands. In this video you'll get a chance to see the uses of the Joby Gorillapod SLR flexible tripod in stabalizing your shots for your HD point and shoot camera!
How To: Create a spring loaded hidden arm blade from Assassin's Creed for your movie
Sure you can go and make something cheap and unauthentic with a cardboard blade, or, you can REALLY live your dream of being Ezio, or Altair, by checking out this awesome video from IndyMogul on how to make a spring loaded hidden arm blade that will ALL of your friends squealing in jealousy!
How To: Create your own ring light for lighting and more
Ring Lights can create a specific lighting that brings out warmer hues from your actors/models, as well as giving you a cool effect for the eyes. If you're not looking to spend a fortune on buying an already made one, you can make one with items from around the house on the cheap, if you have to buy everything you need, you're looking to spend around $100 which is much cheaper than buying one brand new! Check out this video for a full tutorial on how to build your very own Ring Light!
How To: Balance your Flycam or other camera stabilization sleds easily
If you've recently picked up a new flycam or camera stabilization sled, then you're probably getting ready to use it right now! Just need to make sure it's properly balanced. In this video you will get a tutorial on how to balance a flycam or most types of camera stabilization sleds!