Max's Film School
A list of films that teach the essentials of filmmaking.
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32 titles
- -INTRO TO FILM
-film as document
-film as new spectacle - DirectorGeorges MélièsStarsGeorges MélièsVictor AndréBleuette BernonA group of astronomers go on an expedition to the Moon.-INTRO TO FILM
-special effects
-silent film
-2d story driven - DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.-INTRO TO FILM
-silent film
-breaking 4th wall - DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.-INTRO TO FILM
-silent surrealist cinema
-juxtaposition - DirectorJim HensonStarsJim HensonEnid CafritzDennis PagetA surreal stream of consciousness montage about time and related bizarreness.-INTRO TO FILM
-editing/juxtaposition
-pace
-color
-comedy
-surrealist - DirectorOrson WellesStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenDorothy ComingoreFollowing the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'-INTRO TO FILM
-innovations in cinematography
-lighting, mise en scene - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.-INTRO TO FILM
-suspense
-mise en scene
-music
-editing
-cinematography - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.-INTRO TO FILM
-sci fi - practical effects
-cinematography 101
-editing
-music 101
-how to create a film villain
-film philosophy
-film reception - DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsMargarita TerekhovaFilipp YankovskiyIgnat DaniltsevA dying man in his forties remembers his past. His childhood, his mother, the war, personal moments and things that tell of the recent history of all the Russian nation.-INTRO TO FILM
-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101
-NARRATIVE 101
-LOCATION AS CHARACTER - DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.-INTRO TO FILM
-editing
-music
-creating suspense - DirectorMike NicholsStarsElizabeth TaylorRichard BurtonGeorge SegalA bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.WRITING 101
- DirectorMelvin Van PeeblesStarsMelvin Van PeeblesHubert ScalesJohn DullaghanAfter saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.-HISTORY 101
-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101
-pre-blaxploitation
-editing
-film culture/language
-cinematography
-film industry/producing - DirectorStanley DonenGene KellyStarsGene KellyDonald O'ConnorDebbie ReynoldsA silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.-HISTORY 101
-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101
-musical
-incorporation of film language into narrative - DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101
-writing, storyline
-male gaze - DirectorTerrence MalickStarsMartin SheenSissy SpacekWarren OatesAn impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town, and her older greaser boyfriend, embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota Badlands.-LOCATION AS CHARACTER
-NARRATIVE 101
-road movie - DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMartin SheenMarlon BrandoRobert DuvallA U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101
-LOCATION AS CHARACTER
-movie brats - DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.-NARRATIVE 101
-surrealist cinema
-suspense 101
-film philosophy - DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.-NARRATIVE 101
-documentary structure
-cinematography 101 - DirectorChantal AkermanStarsAurore ClémentHelmut GriemMagali NoëlAnna, a detached and diffident director, arrives in Germany to show her latest film; she checks into a hotel, invites a stranger to her bed, and abruptly tells him to leave. He asks her to a birthday lunch with his mother and daughter; she goes. Afterward, in Cologne, she meets an old friend, a Polish Jew and war refugee. In Brussels, she spends the night at a hotel with her mother, whom she rarely sees. On the train, a stranger tells his story. Last, it's home to Paris, where her lover Daniel picks her up and they go to a hotel. Throughout, people make personal revelations to her, and Anna listens with little affect. Although it was 30 years ago, the war seems ever present.-NARRATIVE 101
-LOCATION AS CHARACTER
-pace - DirectorWerner HerzogStarsTimothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner HerzogA devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.-MEDIUM/SHORT/STORYTELLING 101
-documentary structure
-crafting a protagonist
-poetic imagery
-multiple narrative lines - DirectorLynne RamsayStarsLynne Ramsay Jr.Martin AndersonJames RamsayIt's the Christmas season. With her mom's help, Lynne, a girl of perhaps eight, dresses up; her younger brother Steven plays with a toy car. The children leave with their dad, who's affectionate with them. They walk down a railroad track where an unkempt woman waits with two children, about the same age as Lynne and Steven. The children go with them. They're all headed to a holiday party at a pub. Lynne notices that the girl acts all too familiar with her dad. What's going on?-MEDIUM/SHORT/STORYTELLING 101
-poetic narrative short
-cinematography 101
-editing - DirectorAndrew CoatsLou Hamou-LhadjStarsGreg DykstraNick PiteraSteve PurcellA weathered Sheriff returns to the remains of an accident he has spent a lifetime trying to forget. With each step forward, the memories come flooding back. Faced with his mistake once again, he must find the strength to carry on.-MEDIUM/SHORT/STORYTELLING 101
-animation short
-core essence of conventional storytelling (pixar style) - DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinMack SwainTom MurrayA prospector goes to the Klondike during the 1890s gold rush in hopes of making his fortune, and is smitten with a girl he sees in a dance hall.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
-silent cinema comedy
-cinematography
-visual tricks - DirectorMichelangelo AntonioniStarsMonica VittiRichard HarrisCarlo ChionettiIn an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
- DirectorJohn CassavetesStarsGena RowlandsPeter FalkFred DraperAlthough wife and mother Mabel is loved by her husband Nick, her mental illness places a strain on the marriage.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroRay LiottaJoe PesciThe story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
-EDITING 101 - DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
-CINEMATOGRAPHY 101 - DirectorSean Patrick O'BrienStarsJoe LorenzoKristian SteelMac BrownRolly is a depressed clown whose need to please a jaded and desensitized society drives him to play Russian roulette on stage. As Rolly makes his comeback, the audience that left him years ago gets one last chance to embrace his entertainment.-NOW THAT YOU KNOW...
-student film
-documentary/narrative
-how to create a compelling narrative structure
-how to end a film - DirectorF.W. MurnauStarsMax SchreckAlexander GranachGustav von WangenheimVampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsJack NicholsonKaren BlackBilly Green BushA dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.
- DirectorJoshua BonnettaJ.P. SniadeckiAn immersive experience of the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border.