No genre has influenced the public's perception of criminals more than Gangster Movies. For more than 80 years, the best gangster movies have fascinated and allured the minds of millions; from Prohibition-era pre-code crime to 21st Century gang life. Our list of the 30 best gangster movies of all time includes films that span the globe and were produced in different time periods, with very different budgets.Whether sensational like De Palma’s Scarface or grounded like Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, audiences have grown to see gangsters in new ways. But their binding similarity is that they are each responsible for shaping…
Are you having trouble transitioning from one scene to the next? Maybe you feel like there’s something missing in the cut. Or maybe the cut is just far too abrupt and distracting. Sound bridges are an incredible editing technique that can be found in nearly every film you’ve seen. What is a sound bridge in film and how is it used? In this article, we’ll take a look at various ways filmmakers use sound bridges to tell their stories and move them along in an engaging way. Continue reading What is a Sound Bridge in Film — Scene Transition Techniques
Motion pictures have enticed and inspired artists, audiences, and critics for more than a century. Today, we’re going to explore the history of film by looking at the major movements that have defined cinema worldwide. We’re also going to explore the technical craft of filmmaking from the persistence of vision to colorization to synchronous sound. By the end, you’ll know all the broad strokes in the history of film.Note: this article doesn’t cover every piece of film history. Some minor movements and technical breakthroughs have been left out – check out the StudioBinder blog for more content.Continue reading The History…
What is world-building? And, more importantly, why does it matter? World-building is an integral element of storytelling that often goes overlooked and underappreciated. Good world-building might be felt rather than explicitly noticed, and a lack of world-building can leave a book, film, or video game feeling shallow. We’ll get started with a world-building definition, then explore when and why world-building is so important, and we’ll close things out by taking a look at some great world-building examples. Continue reading What is World Building — Definition, Examples & Techniques
Ever since The Great Train Robbery introduced filmgoers to the joys of a glorious gunfight in 1903, shootouts have become a staple of cinematic spectacles. Throughout movie history, filmmakers have tried to one-up each other by creating the most titillating exchange of gunfire possible. Over a century since its inception, the shootout continues to be a favorite attraction of audiences. They can be gory and horrific or stylized and fun; they can be slow and quiet or chaotic and bombastic. Let’s look at some of the best to ever grace the silver screen.Continue reading Best Movie Shootouts of All Time…
If you are a filmmaker or even just a movie buff, odds are you’ve heard the term “narrative film”. Although it is a rather vague term thrown around quite often, it can make a lot of people wonder “What is a narrative film?” In this article, we’ll clarify the key characteristics to narratives and what makes it distinct from other types of film in cinema. We’ll also take a look at the history of narrative cinema and how its origins opened the doors for the films we know and love today. Continue reading What is Narrative Film — Overview &…
There is a saying: the best film editing is the editing that nobody notices. Though there are exceptions, this is pretty widely accepted as truth for the most part. So if good editing purposely avoids standing out, how are the nominees and winners of the Best Film Editing Oscar picked out and decided?The editing style of a particular film is at the behest of the story being told and the style of the director telling it. Large-scale films that are grand in scope and full of flashy, complex sequences are sure to impress, which is why war films tend to…
Film has the unique ability to transport us to another place and time completely, if only for a few hours. But the way films do this can vary. Scale, spectacle, and grandiose VFX can allow us to escape into other worlds. But naturalist movies transport us by blurring the lines between film and reality. It attempts to make the brush strokes behind the creation of a film invisible so that we may experience the film as authentically as we experience reality. In this article, we’ll define naturalism and examine its role in cinema.Continue reading Naturalist Movies — Characteristics of Naturalism in…
The list of directors Rodrigo Prieto has worked with reads like a list of the greatest directors currently working: Martin Scorsese, Pedro Almodóvar, Ang Lee, Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, and Alejandro Iñárritu, to name a few. The acclaimed director of photography started in the independent film scene in Mexico, and first gained international attention in 2000 with his work on Iñárritu’s Amores Perros. How has Prieto now become one of the most coveted cinematographers of the past twenty years? The answer lies in his inimitable detail-oriented style and collaborative approach.Continue reading Rodrigo Prieto Style – DP for Scorsese, Iñárritu, Ang…
Martin Scorsese is widely considered one of the finest filmmakers of his or any generation. Of his long list of masterpieces, his enduring classic Taxi Driver remains one of the most beloved. One scene in particular has permeated the zeitgeist in a way few scenes manage to do: the iconic and oft-quoted “You talking to me?” scene. Watch our Taxi Driver analysis, where we took aim at the directorial decisions that led to the scene becoming so iconic. And in this post, we’ll be digging into the details of how the "You talking to me" scene was made from the…
