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All New Producing Lessons

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All New Producing Lessons

The all-new producing series lifts the curtain on the business of filmmaking. From raising money and starting a company to paying people and working with unions, students learn from seasoned Hollywood producers how to produce a marketable product.

How to Form a Company

In this lesson, learn the types of corporate structures, how single purpose vehicles protect the parent company, how to protect your assets, and create an LLC. (19:17)

  • Learn the importance of creating a company
  • How a shell company can protect personal assets
  • The types of companies
  • How to create an LLC
  • How shell companies work in the studios
  • How indie filmmakers can take advantage of corporate tax benefits

 

Raising Money

Learn how money is raised and the various financial instruments including development funding, equity and debt financing, credit cards, bank loans, pre-sales, gap financing, tax incentives, and crowd funding. (45:50)

  • How to work with investors
  • Securing development funding
  • Types of equity funding
  • Funding a movie on credit cards
  • Debt financing
  • Securing a bank loan
  • Pre-sales from foreign distributors
  • Gap financing
  • Using tax incentives to secure funding
  • Crowd funding techniques

 

Tax Incentives

Learn how to take advantage of tax incentives, the difference between rebates and credits, how to convert credits into money, what to expect during the auditing process, and how to collect your money. (24:37)

  • How tax incentives attract production
  • Tax rebates
  • Tax credits
  • Controversy surrounding tax credits
  • How to collect money from incentives

 

Manging the Budget

Learn how to set up and manage dedicated bank accounts, protect investor funds through escrow and completion bonds, and allocate budgets effectively across pre-production, filming, and post-production. (23:16)

  • How to set-up a bank account
  • Managing production accounts
  • Working with escrow accounts
  • Working with bond companies
  • The flow of money through a  production

 

Common Expenses

Learn how to manage common production expenses, including per diem, mileage reimbursement, petty cash, loan outs. (21:49)

  • Working with crew members, rented gear, and kit fees
  • Meal penalties and union guidelines
  • Managing per diem when on location
  • Mileage reimbursement
  • Handing and tracking petty cash

 

Working with Vendors

Learn to find qualified vendors in your shooting area, manage relationships with vendors, the financial workflow from purchase orders to invoices, and tips to making sure you get the resources you need on set. (17:49)

  • How to find qualified vendors
  • Vendor relationships
  • How to request a quote
  • Purchase orders and invoices
  • Insurance requirements
  • Lost and damaged equipment
  • Managing rented equipment

 

Contracts and Attorneys

This lesson teaches filmmakers the essential legal and contractual foundations of production, covering entertainment attorneys’ roles, key agreements like deal memos and location releases, business structuring, hiring compliance, and risk management to protect their projects and careers. (17:54)

  • Working with entertainment attorneys
  • Importance of contracts and agreements
  • Deal memos for cast and crew
  • Starting paperwork
  • Required legal forms
  • Payroll and payment forms

 

Managing the Production Office

Learn how to scout, negotiate, prepare, and manage a production office when shooting on location. From finding the perfect location to meeting the needs of everyone involved, this lesson covers the essentials to ensure a smooth shoot. (14:44)

  • What to look for when scouting potential office space
  • Common challenges when renting for a production
  • How to configure the space
  • How to close the office down

 

Hiring People

Learn the process of hiring both above the line and below the line people, hiring union vs non-union and the implications, understand who hires crew, and how to manage problematic workers. (19:11)

  • Above-the-line vs below-the-line hires
  • Hiring union vs non-union
  • Who hires the crew
  • Managing problematic people
  • How to fire someone

 

Paying People

From independent contractors to employees, learn how to calculate day rates, structure payments to crew members, manage workers’ compensation, handle tax deductions, loan outs, pay or pay clauses, and more. (27:59)

  • How to negotiate rates
  • Who handles workers pay
  • Pay or pay clauses
  • How to calculate day rates
  • Calculating overtime rates
  • Hiring employees vs independent contractors
  • Workers compensation
  • Hiring crew as loan out

 

Unions and Guilds

Learn how the unions function, the benefits for members, the key unions: IATSE, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, and WGA, the differences in hiring union and non-union crew, how productions flip, and how to shoot in a “Right-to-Work” state. (37:15)

  • Defining a union or guild
  • What are union membership benefits?
  • SAG-AFTRA
  • Directors Guild of America
  • Writers Guild of America
  • Producers Guild of America
  • IATSE
  • Union vs non-union hires
  • How flipping a show works
  • Shooting in Right to Work states

 

Working with SAG-AFTRA

Learn how SAG functions, the ramifications of the SAG-AFTRA merger, how signatories work, how the Taft-Hartley act admits new members into SAG-AFTRA, and the benefits and drawbacks of Financial Core.  Be prepared when working with SAG-AFTRA actors on your production. (24:01)

  • What is SAG-AFTRA?
  • How to become a signatory
  • What happens when a production hires SAG-AFTRA actors
  • Taft-Hartley and union membership
  • Financial Core

 

Insurance

Learn how to insure your production against liabilities and costs incurred from accidents, the types of insurance you’ll need, where you can buy production insurance, the costs of insuring a production, cast insurance, film and video tape insurance, equipment insurance, and E&O insurance. (22:09)

  • The importance of insurance
  • Certificates of Insurances
  • General liability insurance
  • Cast insurance
  • Media insurance
  • Equipment insurance
  • Workers’ compensation insurance
  • Errors and emissions insurance

 

All New Development Lessons

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Announcing all-new development lessons taught by Academy Award and Emmy-winning producers. Students learn how to develop a project once the screenplay has been written. From how the studios work to managing the finances of a production, this series is packed with videos, downloadable files, test questions, and projects.

The Studio System

In this lesson, explore the studio system, learn who the players are, who the mini-majors are, the ever-evolving role of the studios as new corporate conglomerates, the types of movies they are making, and how you can be part of it. (37:49)

  • What is a studio and how it works
  • What are mini-majors?
  • Studio vs independent movies
  • Working with studio executives
  • Tentpoles and blockbusters

 

Making a Studio Movie

Learn how to get your project through the studio approval system, what studio executives are looking for, and how studios work with directors and producers. (40:00)

  • The development process
  • How to pitch a project to a network or studio
  • What happens once a script is optioned
  • Relationship between studios and directors

 

Making a Business Plan

Learn, step-by-step, how to build a business plan that will appease even the savviest investors. Hollywood producers take you through the process so you can go into the fundraising process confident in the movie you’re selling. (31:12)

  • What is a business plan
  • How to prep a script and budget first
  • How to structure a business plan for investors
  • How to determine comparable numbers
  • How to determine the market

 

Packaging a Movie

Learn how to choose the right actors for your movie, work with distributors in the development process, determine the value of your creative talent, how to attract top-tier talent, and ultimately make your movie attractive to distributors and audiences. (29:37)

  • What is film packaging?
  • How to approach, attract, and attach actors
  • How to attach a director
  • How agency packaging works
  • How to shop a package

 

Agents and Managers

Learn the difference between an agent and a manager, the roles each fulfills, how to get one, the costs involved, and how to use their services to promote your career.  (24:02)

  • The role of an agent
  • Agency fees
  • The role of a manager
  • How to get representation
  • How to work with an artist’s agent or manager

 

All New Safety Training Series

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All New Film Production Safety Training

The FilmSkills Safety Training Program integrates OSHA standards with on-set safety requirements to meet California IATSE guidelines. This 15-module online course, led by Safety Pass instructors, offers engaging videos, illustrated companion guides, downloadable reference charts, and a testing tool to ensure comprehension.

The FilmSkills Safety Training Lessons include

  • The Attitude of Safety
  • Basic On Set Safety
  • Studio Facilities Safety
  • On Location Safety
  • Vehicles and Roadway Safety
  • Shooting Moving Vehicles
  • Lifts, Trucks, and Tools
  • Equipment Use and Safety
  • Electrical Safety I & II
  • Lighting Equipment Safety
  • Grip and Rigging Safety
  • Pyrotechnics and Special Effects
  • Weapon Safety
  • Environmental Safety
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Announcing Cinematography: 2nd Edition

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Cinematography - 2nd Edition

The definitive academic textbook designed to guide students through the art, craft, and technique of modern cinematography.

Introducing the second edition of Cinematography, the go-to academic resource for teaching the art, craft, and technique of modern cinematography. This comprehensive and beautifully illustrated textbook is designed to seamlessly integrate into your curriculum, providing students with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

Authored by Emmy-winning cinematographer Jason Tomaric, Cinematography – 2nd Edition masterfully connects theory with real-world application. The easy-to-read format ensures that students can effortlessly grasp complex concepts, whether you assign it independently or as a companion to the FilmSkills Academic online curriculum.

  • Paperback
  • 656 pages
  • 7.5 x 1.48 x 9.25 inches
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-13: 979-8878942713
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New Cinematic Composition Lessons

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All New 10-Lesson Series

Designed for both directors and cinematographers, the Framing and Composition lessons balance the techniques of cinematic composition, technical requirements and limitations of various formats and aspect ratios, and the emotional impact of every shot choice.

The Visual Story

A director’s job not only includes interpreting the story through the actors’ performances, set design, and camera coverage, but also how compositional choices affect the audience’s perception and emotional reactions.

In this lesson, learn how the cinematic components of line, shape, tone, color, movement, and rhythm affect the emotional subtext of the story, and how the director can incorporate these techniques when crafting the composition of each frame. (35:49)

Composing the Shot

The audience only sees what you point the camera at, and as filmmakers, the stories we tell must exist within the boundaries of the frame.  The way we choose to place our subjects in the frame significantly affect the audience’s visual perception of the story and invoke subtle – yet powerful emotions.

In this lesson, learn how to break down the script for story-driven composition, plan concise coverage, common mistakes to avoid, and how to cheat the fame for the sake of the story. (27:03)

Creating Depth on Screen

Learn techniques for creating the illusion of depth on screen by using strategic blocking in depth planes, blocking techniques for actors, camera positions, lens focal length, depth of field, camera movement, and parallax.

From proscenium staging to complex single-camera blocking, working directors and cinematographers guide you through techniques used to create a sense of depth on a two-dimensional screen. (25:44)

Single-and-OTS-Shots

Single and Over the Shoulder Shots

Learn techniques for framing people when shooting a dialogue scene, from the basics of framing actors in single shots and over the shoulder shots to advanced techniques that use camera position, lens choice, and depth of field to enhance the emotional tone of the scene.

Learn how to create subjective and objective experiences through framing choices and how various aspect ratios affect compositional choices. (24:27)

Head Room and Lead Room

Learn the compositional guidelines for head room and lead room for proper composition of people in the frame. Working Hollywood directors and cinematographers teach how to adapt for the acquisition format and exhibition method, how to work under creative requirements on a television show, and how the aspect ratio affects your framing choices. (19:43)

Eye Lines

Learn how to choose the best eyeline, directing techniques for ideal camera placement, how to overcome challenges when working with visual effects, and how to fine tune actor’s eyelines within mere inches to achieve the desired emotional impact. (18:02)

Screen Direction and the Rule of 180

Learn the core fundamentals of screen direction, how to establish the line of action, the rule of 180, exceptions to the rule of 180, instances where the line of action doesn’t apply, how to shoot multiple character with an ever-moving line of action, and how to prepare your shot lists to avoid catastrophic editing problems. (24:54)

Screen Division and the Rule of Thirds

Learn how the compositional techniques of screen division, the Golden Ratio, and Rule of Thirds influence the tone and visual style of the frame, tips to translate story beats into compositional choices, and how to effectively apply these faming concepts when shooting different aspect ratios. (15:25)

Shot types and Camera Movements

In this lesson, learn the intricacies of framing and camera movements, the basic shot types, advanced variations on each shot type, on-set shorthand for communicating shot sizes, and how to interpret emotional beats in each scene into the ideal composition. (27:57)

The Frame

In this lesson, learn how to identify and work with different aspect ratios, the history of aspect ratios in cinematic history, how to convert 4:3, 16:9, and 2.39:1 formats, safe framing guidelines, how various aspect ratios are adjusted for different exhibition and broadcast formats, using anamorphic lenses, and understanding pixel aspect ratios. (24:47)

New Industry Lifestyle Lessons

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All New 8-Lesson Series

Learning the Soft Skills Needed to Succeed

Developed from over 5 years of interviews, the Industry Lifestyle series gives students the inside track on how to succeed in the film industry from the perspective, experiences, and advice of over 50 leading Hollywood filmmakers.

Realities of the Film Industry

The entertainment industry does a great job of creating an illusion of how it operates, but how does it really work?  Learn from top Hollywood filmmakers what really goes on behind the scenes, how to prepare for the long hours, how to strike a live/work balance, and deal with rejection. (29:08)

Careers in Filmmaking

Learn the possible career paths as a filmmaker, including moving to Los Angeles to become a part of the Hollywood industry, taking advantages of state and regional tax incentives to work locally, and shooting content for local businesses through your own production company. (32:31)

Working Freelance

Learn the realities of working in a freelance-based industry and how to survive. Learn the differences between working as a full-time employee vs as a freelancer, how to manage taxes and expenses, the benefits of an S-corporation, how to handle unemployment, negotiate day rates, and manage downtime between jobs. (22:29)

The Art of Networking

Like they say, it’s all who you know… and they’re right. In this lesson, learn the art of networking successfully in the film industry to make contacts and open doors, how to get a mentor, the nature of the work family and how it’s unique to life as a filmmaker. (22:04)

Moving to Los Angeles

Deciding to move to LA is a big decision, and in this video, you will learn how to prepare so you can hit the ground running. From the traffic to the cost of living, Los Angele locals share their advice and guidance on how to get to LA and succeed. (20:15)

Making Money as a Filmmaker

Learn the difference between above the line and below the line jobs, how to negotiate your day rate, union membership, working for free, generating extra income through charging a kit fee, how to manage tax deductible expenses, save money for slow times, and diversify your income. (29:45)

Advice From the Pros

Dozens of successful Hollywood filmmakers share their secrets, tips, and advice on how to make it in the most competitive industry in the world. From directors and producers to dialogue editors and grips, gain an honest perspective on life in the film industry, what to expect, and how to succeed.

Film Schools

Learn whether film school is the best option for you. In this lesson, working professionals share their insights on how film school is viewed in the industry, what to expect to learn, how to manage the cost, and which film school to choose for the greatest career advantage. (18:44)

New Expansion Lessons

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All new expansion lessons supplement existing lessons with additional, in-depth analysis. From how to use common on-set forms to advanced technical processes, each lesson teaches students industry best practices.

LOG, LUTs, and Waveform Monitors

The new cinematography technical lessons explain the complex concepts of LOG curves, waveform monitors, and LUTs

  • Working with Waveform Monitors
  • Working with LOG - An Introduction
  • Working with LOG - How LOG Footage is Encoded
  • Working with LOG - How to shoot LOG
  • LUTs and How to Use Them

Cinematography Technique

The cinematography expansion lessons feature industry best practices for common on-set scenarios.

  • How to Prep the Camera for a Walkaway
  • Working with a Follow Focus
  • Factors to Consider with Moving Shots
  • Shooting the Rehearsal
  • Setting Actor's Marks
  • How to Shoot Car Scenes

Contracts and Forms

Each lesson focuses on one form, with concise directions and blank templates students can use on their own productions.

  • How to Use Day-Out-Of-Days
  • How to Create a Call Sheet
  • How to Use a Camera Log
  • How to Use a Daily Production Report
  • How to Use a Crew Deal Memo
  • How to Use a Location Agreement
  • How to Use a Location Release

All New Cinematic Lighting Lessons

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Students learn studio techniques for refining the key light and advanced lighting techniques for cinematic results in narrative movies, documentaries, and commmercials.

Key Light Techniques

Students learn advanced techniques for crafting a key light that makes on-screen talent look their best. In this lesson, students learn how to light different facial structures with a range of techniques for beauty, interview, and stylized cinematic lighting. 

Advanced Lighting Techniques

In this lesson, we combine all the skills we teach into a comprehensive tutorial that reveals advanced lighting techniques using professional grip and rigging gear to create a compelling look. Filmed at Panavision in partnership with Academy Award and Emmy-winning cinematographers, students get a rare insight into techniques used on today’s TV shows and movies.

Using a Light Meter

Despite the popular advanced in exposure tools, the light meter reigns supreme. In this lesson, students learn how to use an incident meter and a spot meter to measure light and select the right aperture.

Filmmakers Toolkit

Being prepared on set means being ready for any challenge that arises, and this preparedness begins with having the right tools. Emmy-winning cinematographer Jason Tomaric shows students his on-set tool kit and what every filmmaker should have to prevent disaster.

New Editing Lessons

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Enhance Your Film Editing Curriculum

Emmy-winning television and film editors take students inside the workflow, art, and technique of narrative film editing. Applicable to every curriculum regardless of the software of hardware you’re using, the FilmSkills Editing series brings the editorial storytelling process to life.

Lesson 1

Hiring an Editor

In this lesson, students learn how to find a qualified editor, how to assess an editor’s demo reel, tips for ensuring their vision and communication style match yours, and how to ultimately get the best person for the job.

  • When in the process to hire the editor
  • What to look for in a demo reel
  • How editor’s role changes between independent and studio productions
  • Issues when hiring the editor later in the process

Lesson 2

Working with an Editor

Learn techniques for communicating your vision to the editor, the editor’s workflow, and what you can do to get the best results possible in the editing room.

  • When in the process to hire the editor
  • How the editor maintains objectivity
  • Managing different communication styles between the director and editor
  • The director’s role during the edit
  • Choosing selects
  • How the director can let go during the editing process

Lesson 3

Data Management and Workflow

Learn how to develop a system for organizing the footage from set to post, how to develop a workflow that keeps the process smooth and conflict-free, how to conduct post-production meetings, the role of the post-production supervisor, standard techniques for labeling and managing footage, and data handling techniques.

  • How to set-up and manage post-production meetings
  • The role of the post production supervisor
  • How to manage data and back-ups
  • Synchronizing software versions and plug-ins
  • Sharing files with the team
  • How to organize footage
  • Script notes
  • Labeling shots

Lesson 4

The Psychology of Editing

Learn when to cut, how to determine whether you should cut or not, the hierarchy of story-telling importance when editing, what to show or not show, and how to use psychology to craft a scene the invokes powerful emotions – all through how it is edited.

  • How editing mirrors human psychology
  • Knowing when to cut
  • Trusting your intuition
  • Knowing why to cut
  • How a scene becomes greater than the sum of its parts
  • The power of order and how to change the tone of a scene through sequencing
  • What not to show

Lesson 5

The Assembly Cut

Learn how to approach the assembly cut, how to manage music and sound effects, what should or shouldn’t be included, and how to address issues of pacing, story, and character development.

  • What happens during the assembly cut
  • Cutting to the script
  • Working with script notes and selects
  • The director’s role during the assembly cut
  • Adding music and effects
  • How to manage missing digital effects

Lesson 6

The Rough Cut

Learn how to approach the rough cut, determine what moments work, how to re-structure the story, and ultimately create a movie that stands on its own- divorced from the script.

  • What happens during the rough cut
  • How to edit for story instead of the script
  • How to improve an actor’s performance
  • Managing deadlines
  • Creating titles and credits

Lesson 7

The Fine Cut

Learn techniques for perfecting every single frame of your movie before locking the picture edit, how you will know when the movie is done, the implications of locking the picture, and the process of prepping the film for audio.

  • What happens during the fine cut
  • Smoothing continuity
  • How to polish transitions in and out of scenes
  • Locking the picture
  • Knowing when to stop

Lesson 8

How to Shoot and Edit a Dialogue Scene

Learn the correct and incorrect ways of shooting dialogue on set, advanced techniques for manipulating the pacing and emotional intensity of the scene, how to work with changing background ambience, techniques for balancing the visual performance with the dialogue, how to mix the audio, ultimately how to get the best performance through the edit.

  • The correct and incorrect ways of shooting a dialogue scene on set
  • How to remove ambience
  • How to edit a dialogue scene
  • How to control the emotional intensity of a scene in the editing room
  • Working with L cuts and J cuts
  • How to edit and smooth the audio
  • Working with compressors, limiters, and EQ

Lesson 9

How to Shoot and Edit Action

Learn how to edit action for proper flow, continuity, and pacing.  Learn techniques for compressing time, revealing only the essentials to keep the story moving forward, and advanced editing techniques used by master editors.

  • How to shoot scenes on set to maximize options in the editing room
  • How to edit action
  • Differences between editing action and dialogue scenes
  • Techniques for cutting on motion
  • Handling time shifts in the story
  • The art of the montage

Lesson 10

Test Screenings and Feedback

Learn how to prepare for and conduct a test screening, how to choose the right test audience, what questions to ask after the test screening, and how to filter the responses into usable comments that can improve the story.

  • Why test screening matter
  • How to choose a test audience
  • What to look for during the screening
  • How to parse audience feedback
  • Managing feedback from clients, networks, and studios
  • Dealing with criticism
  • How to politically handle conflicting notes from executives, producers, financiers, distributors, and the director

Lesson 11

Online and Offline Editing

Learn how and when to work in an offline environment, how to transition to an online cut, and techniques for ensuring the process goes smoothly.

  • The difference between online and offline editing
  • How to create and work with proxies
  • How to online a production

Lesson 12

Color Grading

Learn the color grading process, how it differs amongst formats, the balance between technical and artistic grading, how to protect yourself from the “fix-it-in-post” mentality, and how to get the look you want.

  • The difference between color correction and color grading
  • How to use a waveform monitor and vectorscope
  • Working with log, Raw, and Rec709 footage
  • How to work with CODECs
  • Managing limitations in the footage
  • Color matching shots
  • How to color grade skin tones
  • How to work with LUTS
  • Color grading wide and narrow gamut camera footage
  • The “fix-it-in-post” mentality
  • How to establish and create a look

23 All-New Crew Lessons

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There are a lot of craftspeople on a film set, and in this all new 23-part series, leading Hollywood crews from blockbuster TV shows and movies give students an in-depth look at each major below-the-line crew position.

3 Lessons

The Producers

In this three lessons series, students learn how the business managers of a film production work. From the line producer and unit production manager to the production coordinator, students get a detailed, inside look at the duties and responsibilities of the producers.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required for the producers, including:

  • Forming a Production Company
  • Hiring the Crew
  • Raising Money from Investors
  • Tax Incentives
  • Money Management
  • Unions and Guilds
  • Working with SAG/AFTRA
  • Working with Vendors

4 Lessons

The Assistant Director Department

In this four lesson series, the Assistant Director team behind Titanic, Avatar, Stranger Things, and dozens of other Hollywood blockbusters teach students the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of the Assistant Director department, how to effectively manage the set, balancing the relationship between the director and producers, and how to get a job as an AD on a professional set.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required of the assistant directors, including:

  • Breaking Down the Script
  • Scheduling the Production
  • Scheduling the Shooting Day

1 Lesson

The Script Supervisor

Working Hollywood script supervisors teach students the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of the script supervisor, how to interface with the director, the expectations of bridging the set to the editing room, how to effectively prep a production, and the expected deliverables when the production wraps.

To learn more about how the script supervisor manages continuity and the script notes, add the lesson, “Continuity and Script Notes.”

3 Lessons

The Camera Department

In this three lesson series, students learn the roles and responsibilities of the camera department, from the moment to get the call for the job to the time they wrap. Working Hollywood camera crews reveal best practices, expectations, and responsibilities of a professional camera crew.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required for the camera department, including:

  • Introduction to Lenses
  • How to Prep the Camera
  • Building the Camera Package
  • How to Test a Lens
  • Focusing Techniques
  • Lens Focal Length
  • f-Stops and T-Stops
  • The Camera Shutter
  • Frame Rates
  • How to Expose a Shot
  • Depth of Field
  • Neutral Density Filters
  • Polarizers

3 Lessons

The Electric Department

In this three lesson series, professional Hollywood gaffers, best boy electrics, and electricians reveal the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of the electric department, how they interface with other departments on set, and how to make a living in the electric department.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required for the electric department, including:

  • Electrical Safety I
  • Electrical Safety II
  • Reducing Light
  • Tungsten Lighting
  • HMI Lighting
  • LED Lighting
  • Kino-Flo Fluorescent Lighting

4 Lessons

The Grip Department

In this four lesson series, students learn the job responsibilities of the group department and a professional production. Experienced, professional Hollywood grips methodically reveal the expectations of the grip department, how they interact with the electric department, the working hours and wages, and on-set practices to have a successful career in the grip department.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required for the producers, including:

  • Grip and Rigging Safety
  • Stands
  • Clamps
  • Rigging
  • Grip Tools
  • Grip Techniques
  • Reducing Light
  • Shaping Light
  • Reflecting Light

5 Lessons

The Art Department

In this five lesson series, professional Hollywood production designers, art directors, set decorators, and property masters teach students the hierarchy of the art department, how to achieve the desired look within the schedule and budgetary limitations, and how to effectively interact with the rest of the crew.

While these lessons focus on each role, supplement this curriculum with lessons that focus on the skill sets required for the producers, including:

  • Creating the Look
  • Set Design
  • Set Construction
  • Set Dressing
  • Props
  • Tour a Prop House

Need help? Contact us at info@filmskills.com or 323-886-FILM

We provide a real-world education of motion picture and television production through a series of easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive videos, workbooks and resources. By partnering with industry leaders in the creative and technological fields, we strive to teach real, cutting edge techniques to filmmakers around the globe. 

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