Filmmaking Courses
Self-paced video courses taught by working cinematographers, directors and editors, many of them ASC members. Each course has short video lessons you can take at your own pace.
Create a free account to open any course. Full lessons are included with the StudentFilmmakers Academy membership.
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Composition & Framing for Film and TV with Christopher Baffa, ASC
A self-paced masterclass in cinematic composition. Christopher Baffa, ASC (Glee, American Horror Story, Krypton, The Mysterious Benedict Society) walks through his own frames to show how balance, negative space, depth…
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The Director's Guide to Lenses with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in choosing lenses as a director. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) explains how wide, standard and long lenses shape coverage…
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Post-Production and Dramatic Video Editing with Bart Weiss
A self-paced masterclass in editing dramatic scenes. Filmmaker and educator Bart Weiss traces the language of editing from The Great Train Robbery to TikTok, then shows how to edit for emotion, performance and story…
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Must-Have Smartphone Filmmaking Accessories with Bart Weiss
A self-paced masterclass in smartphone filmmaking gear with award-winning filmmaker, editor and educator Bart Weiss, founder and director of the Dallas Video Fest.
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Inside the Film Industry with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass on where the film business is heading. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) talks candidly about AI, streaming pay, casting for…
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Mastering Storytelling in Horror Filmmaking with Neal Bell
A self-paced masterclass in the politics in horror, and the politics of horror. Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Neal Bell, author of How to Write a Horror Movie, shows how films from Psycho and Invasion of the…
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Behind the Scenes: Lighting, Color and Collaboration with Steven Poster, ASC
A self-paced masterclass with Steven Poster, ASC (Donnie Darko, Someone to Watch Over Me, Stuart Little 2), who takes you inside a 20-day, low-budget horror comedy and a career built on preparation, color science and…
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From DP to Director with Patrick Cady, ASC, DGA and Michael Goi, ASC
A self-paced masterclass with two cinematographers who became directors: Patrick Cady, ASC, DGA (Bosch, Rectify, Girlfight) and Michael Goi, ASC (American Horror Story, Glee, Mary).
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Basics of Color Correction in Post-Production with Bart Weiss
A self-paced, hands-on introduction to color work in DaVinci Resolve. Award-winning filmmaker, editor and educator Bart Weiss walks through the Color page, the scopes, primary and secondary grades, power windows…
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Pre-Production Mastery with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in the business side of pre-production. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) explains the paperwork, union clearances, LLCs, deal…
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Relationships in Filmmaking with Jaron Presant, ASC
A self-paced masterclass on the relationships behind every good film. Cinematographer Jaron Presant, ASC, uses his feature Don't Make Me Go as a case study to show how he builds a shared vision with directors…
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Pro Camera Techniques on Any Budget with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in making your camera work look professional on any budget. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) walks through stills from his own…
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Scheduling for Film Shoots with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in scheduling a film shoot. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) shows how he builds a schedule around actors, locations and…
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Documentary Video Editing with Bart Weiss
A self-paced masterclass with filmmaker, editor and educator Bart Weiss, founder of the Dallas Video Fest, who walks through documentary editing from logging dailies to the assembly, rough cut, fine cut and picture…
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Horror Cinematography with Christopher Baffa, ASC
A self-paced masterclass with Christopher Baffa, ASC (the American Horror Story pilot, Nip/Tuck, Glee), who traces horror lighting from German Expressionism to The Exorcist, shows how he and Ryan Murphy revealed a…
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Cinematography for Your First Film with Ian Kerr, CSC
A self-paced masterclass on the cinematography of your first film. Emmy Award-winning cinematographer Ian Kerr, CSC, shares how to plan your look in prep, choose locations, use night scenes on a budget, attract a…
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Directors Tell the Story with Bethany Rooney and Patrick Cady, ASC
A self-paced course on directing actors and leading a crew. Veteran episodic television director Bethany Rooney, co-author of Directors Tell the Story, and cinematographer and director Patrick Cady, ASC talk through…
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Unleash the Power of Action Sequence Photography with Paul Hughen, ASC, DGA
A self-paced masterclass in shooting action. Second unit director of photography Paul Hughen, ASC, DGA (Avengers: Endgame, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi) explains how the action unit plans, rehearses, matches and…
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Crafting Tension on Screen with Shane Stanley
A self-paced course on building suspense and tension in thrillers. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Night Train, Six Days in Evergreen) explains how tension starts in the script and grows through…
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Live Set Presence & Managing the Multi-Camera Crew with Gary Baum, ASC
A self-paced masterclass in running a multi-camera television set. Four-time Emmy® Award-winning cinematographer Gary Baum, ASC (Happy's Place, the Frasier revival, Will & Grace) explains how four cameras, a large crew…
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Building a Film Career with Patrick Cady, ASC & Tom Bernardo
A self-paced masterclass on breaking in and building a career in film and television. Emmy-nominated cinematographer and director Patrick Cady, ASC (Girlfight, Insecure, Bosch) and writer-producer Tom Bernardo (Bosch…
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Director's Prep with Patrick Cady, ASC
A self-paced masterclass in how a television director prepares an episode. Emmy-nominated cinematographer and director Patrick Cady, ASC and location manager and co-producer Paul Schreiber walk through script notes, the…
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On Set with the DP with Patrick Cady, ASC and Paul Elliott
A self-paced masterclass on the director and cinematographer relationship in episodic television.
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Shot Listing for Directors with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in building a director's shot list. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) walks through a real shot list from wide masters to…
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Cinematography Mastery: Ask Me Anything with Mark Irwin, ASC, CSC
A self-paced masterclass built from a live Ask Me Anything with cinematographer Mark Irwin, ASC, CSC (The Fly, Videodrome, Scream, Dumb and Dumber, RoboCop 2).
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Working with Actors: A Director–Actor Playbook with Patrick Cady, ASC
A self-paced masterclass in working with actors. Cinematographer-turned-director Patrick Cady, ASC (Bosch, Girlfight, Insecure) and actor and coach DaJuan Johnson (Bosch, NCIS: Origins) share how a director earns trust…
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How to Create Look Books with Nancy Schreiber, ASC
A self-paced masterclass with Nancy Schreiber, ASC (Mapplethorpe, P-Valley, November), who shows how she pulls images, builds simple look books around the emotional beats of a story, and turns them into the look of a…
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Managing the Set: Leadership on Set with Patrick Cady, ASC
A self-paced masterclass in leading a film or TV set. Emmy-nominated cinematographer and director Patrick Cady, ASC (Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, NCIS: Origins) shares how preparation, calm and clear emotional language help…
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Casting & Crewing Secrets with Shane Stanley
A self-paced masterclass in casting and crewing an independent film. Emmy® Award-winning producer and director Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang, Double Threat, Night Train) explains how to cast actors with real value…
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Prepping the Vision with Patrick Cady, ASC & Tom Bernardo
A self-paced masterclass in prepping a director's vision. Emmy-nominated cinematographer and director Patrick Cady, ASC (Insecure, Rectify, Bosch: Legacy) and writer and producer Tom Bernardo (Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, The…
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Transitioning from DP to Director with Michael Goi, ASC, ISC
A self-paced audio masterclass with Michael Goi, ASC, ISC (American Horror Story, Glee, Megan Is Missing), who shares how he moved from cinematography to directing and how he works: a shot list on day one, a crew that…
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Directing & Producing for Television: How the Partnership Works
A self-paced masterclass in one of television's most important partnerships. Director Patrick Cady, ASC and producer Jamie Boscardin Martin (Bosch, Bosch: Legacy, Ballard) show how a producer builds a schedule around…
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