Before The Walt Disney Company owned a bunch of companies, and before other film studios and companies were being bought by other big companies, there was the classic Hollywood studio system. What is the studio system? While it would be easy to simplify it as the time when movie studios owned the theaters that would play their movies, there is a bit more to the Hollywood studio era. Continue reading What is the Studio System — Hollywood’s Studio Era Explained
He’s got his lab coat on at all times, his hair is a mess, he’s not paying attention to anything or anyone but his work, and he might possibly have murderous tendencies. He is the mad scientist, a character trope that has shown up in fiction so much that he’s become ubiquitous to pop culture overall. So what is a mad scientist, where did this stock character come from, and what are some examples?Continue reading What is a Mad Scientist — Definition, Characteristics & Examples
It’s an art style that had roots in the late 19th century but came into full force in the 20th century. Rejecting objective impressions for a subjective look at the world around them, expressionism art was much more than a traditional art movement or even a group of expressionism artists. This was a rejection of more life-like artworks and partially a reaction to the new industrial and urban world taking over. Artists in the field of expressionism painting emphasized feeling above all. But what is expressionism art, who were the main players, and what does it have to do with…
Storyboarding is something that can be done in all types of visual mediums, whether it’s a movie, show, or commercial. They make it easy to visualize what you want to see on-screen, which can save you a lot of time with staging, editing, and shooting. And while storyboards aren’t mandatory when making a movie, they can be if that movie is animated. So what is an animation storyboard and what makes it so different from storyboards used for live-action works? We’ll dig into that, along with tips and tricks on how to storyboard an animation.Continue reading Animation Storyboard — Tips,…
Have you ever watched a movie where someone says they will absolutely not do a thing, but the very next shot is them doing the thing? How about a scene where someone is about to get murdered, but the very next shot is someone making dinner? If you answered yes, you may have encountered a smash cut in the wild. But what is a smash cut, where did it come from, why is it used, and how can you take advantage of it?Continue reading What is a Smash Cut — An Editor’s Guide with Examples & Tips
When you browse for movie scripts online, you can get all kinds of results. And in these instances, what you look up online may not be exactly what you’re looking for. In some cases, what a screenwriter ends up finding is a script and not a traditional screenplay. This is how we get into the situation of screenplay vs script, where the two are similar, but not exactly the same. In this article, we are going to cover both “screenplay” and “script,” while comparing and contrasting the two. In this way you won’t have to keep asking “Is screenplay and…
Most movies can be characterized as being one genre or the other. If the plot involves a love triangle, that’s most likely romance. If the plot is about a space marine, it’s most likely science-fiction. If the plot involves a group of kids running away from a monster, that’s probably horror. The things that make up the conventions of a genre, also known as genre conventions. What are genre conventions, you ask? You’ll soon be getting an answer via definition, along with plenty of examples.Continue reading Genre Conventions — The Building Blocks of Genre Storytelling
You’ve seen them: the crazy scientist, the damsel in distress, a noble and chaste hero, the villain who keeps his identity secret, the old guy who trains the hero. These are who you call stock characters, and they have been in fiction for an extremely long time. In fact, they keep showing up in fiction, either exactly as they are or with a new twist. So what is a stock character, where did the concept come from, and what are they used for? Plus, what are some of the most notable stock character types used? Let's get into it.Continue reading…
The world of acting is a varied one, with plenty of opportunities for someone to show up on a screen somewhere. That can include major roles, bit parts, cameos, extras, or walk-ons. What is a walk-on role, you ask? It might get bundled in with extras, but it’s not exactly the same thing. We’ll go over what a walk-on role is, some examples, and how you might go about getting one.Continue reading What is a Walk-on Role — Background Support Roles Explained
You’re pretty familiar with Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. He lives in Gotham City, he stops crazy villains, and he spends a lot of his time with bats. But did you also know his parents are dead!? That’s what we call backstory, something most characters in fiction have with them whenever we start their story. So even if you start the story understanding where the character is at presently, there may be more to them that is not made immediately apparent. But what is a backstory, how would you define backstory, and what types of backstory styles are there?Continue reading What…
