Special effects have come along way since the spectacular illusions of Georges Melies. Young filmmakers learn about the three major types of special effects: mechanical or practical effects, optical effects, and computer-generated imagery.

George Méliès realized in the early days of cinema that, "Films have the ability to capture dreams." From classic movies like A Trip to the Moon, The Lost World, and Metropolis, to more modern marvels...

When you hear the phrase "Special Effects," you may have images pop into your mind. The Hulk smashing a city, a lightsaber fight, or maybe an alien world. But effects can be much more subtle and have been around really since the...

Is Citizen Kane the BEST MOVIE EVER MADE? Is that even an answerable question? Michael Aranda will try to help us through both of these questions as we take a look at our first film in Crash Course Film Criticism, Citizen Kane.

James Cameron rocketed onto the action film scene with 1984's "The Terminator" and followed that up with a highly anticipated sequel to the 1979 film, "Alien." His film, "Aliens," would go on to not only be a financial success, but a...

Have you ever wondered how film animators create a convincing new world for every movie. With this video, you can watch them work and learn their tricks from drawing to computer editing.

This video focuses on Georges Melies, a stage magician, a Master of Illusion. He found a way to perform actual magic with editing, to fool an audience and pull off illusions he'd never been able to do onstage. [10:21]

This video focuses on World Cinema from Asia including Japanese films from anime to horror and period dramas to Kaiju films are still popular around the globe. It explains films from mainland China's epics and Hong Cong's martial arts...

This video [8:15] focuses on pitching an idea and the pre-production of a film. A pitch is telling your story to a filmmaker or actor and pre-production is the shooting.

In this video Laura Turner explains how to write a movie review including being open to the film, beginning with positive points, and noting all of the elements of the film. [2:54]