Film & Video · Intermediate

Cinematography

Why a shot looks the way it does, and how the decisions behind it get made on set.

Lessons
32 lessons
Total runtime
40 hours of video
Modules
7 modules
Optional lessons
17 optional
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About this course

Cinematography is the part of filmmaking that is easiest to admire and hardest to explain. Everyone can tell that a shot looks good; far fewer can say which of the twenty decisions behind it did the work. This course is about learning to name those decisions, which is the step that turns watching films into studying them.

It assumes you already own a camera and have shot something with it. That is what makes this intermediate rather than beginner — there is no lesson here on what an aperture is, and the material moves quickly to why a cinematographer would choose one over another for a specific scene.

Most of the path is In Depth Cine, which takes a single idea per video and traces it through real films rather than demonstrating it on a coffee cup. StudioBinder's camera movement series sits in the middle because movement is the hardest element to study from stills, and their shot-by-shot breakdowns are the clearest available.

About five hours of required video, and about forty in the pool as a whole. The optional lessons at the end are the full In Depth Cine libraries — over twenty hours — which stop being a course and start being a reference you dip into for whatever you are shooting next. Two lessons argue opposite sides of whether to use a gimbal; both are marked optional and both are worth watching together.

What you'll be able to do

  • Name every standard shot size and say why a scene would call for one
  • Explain a director of photography's job and where it stops
  • Choose a camera movement for a reason rather than because you own the gear
  • Read a lit scene and work out roughly how it was done
  • Plan coverage for a scene before the shoot rather than during it

Curriculum

32 lessons · 40 hours

The Role

2 lessons · 25m

  1. 01CompletedDirector vs Cinematographer: Who Does What?In Depth CineVideoWhere one job ends and the other begins. Worth establishing first, because most cinematography advice is really advice about collaborating with a director.13m
  2. 02CompletedEvery Camera Department Job ExplainedIn Depth CineVideoWho is on a real set and what they each do. Useful even if you shoot alone — these roles describe the tasks you are quietly doing all at once.12m

The Language of Shots

4 lessons · 2h 20m

  1. 03CompletedEvery Film Shot Size ExplainedIn Depth CineVideoThe vocabulary everything else is built on. Once you can name shot sizes you start noticing when a film changes one, which is where meaning usually lives.13m
  2. 04Completed5 Techniques for Framing Cinematic ShotsIn Depth CineVideoComposition beyond the rule of thirds. These are the choices that make a shot feel deliberate rather than merely in focus.12m
  3. 05CompletedThe Easy Trick for Cinematic Close-UpsIn Depth CineVideoOne specific, immediately usable technique. Good to try on your next shoot before moving on to the theory-heavier lessons.11m
  4. 06CompletedThe Ultimate Guide to Camera MovementStudioBinderPlaylistSeven videos covering every movement and what each one does to an audience. Movement is the element you cannot study from a still frame, which is why it gets a series rather than a single lesson.1h 44m

The Camera

4 lessons · 53m

  1. 07Completed3 Basic Camera Settings Every Cinematographer Should KnowIn Depth CineVideoNot a beginner explainer — this is about the intent behind the settings rather than what the dials do.11m
  2. 08CompletedWhat Is Depth of Field?In Depth CineVideoThe most overused tool in amateur work. This covers when shallow focus helps a story and when it is just showing off a lens.15m
  3. 09CompletedWhy Camera Tests Are ImportantIn Depth CineVideoThe professional habit that separates a planned shoot from a hopeful one. Cheap to do, and it removes most of the surprises.13m
  4. 10Completed5 of the Biggest Technical Mistakes Beginners MakeIn Depth CineVideoA diagnostic list. If your footage looks subtly wrong and you cannot say why, the reason is probably in here.14m

Light and Colour

8 lessons · 2h 27m

  1. 11CompletedThe Myth of Natural Light in MoviesIn Depth CineVideoScenes that look unlit are almost never unlit. Understanding how that illusion is built is the beginning of lighting anything yourself.16m
  2. 12CompletedHow a Filmmaker's Palette Shapes ToneIn Depth CineVideoColour decisions made on set, in wardrobe and in production design — long before anything reaches a grading suite.14m
  3. 13CompletedLighting for Film — The Complete Beginner's GuideOptionalLuc UngVideoKey, fill and back light built up one lamp at a time, with the frame shown after each addition. Lighting is the single largest difference between amateur and professional footage, and this module is the most valuable optional material on the page.27m
  4. 14CompletedUltimate Guide to Cinematic LightingOptionalStudioBinderVideoLighting subjects and whole locations, illustrated with clips from films you have seen. Pairs well with the lesson above by showing the same principles at feature scale.23m
  5. 15CompletedThe Easy Way to Not Suck at LightingOptionalLuc ForsythVideoFrom a documentary shooter, so the emphasis is on doing this quickly with very little kit. The most useful version if you work alone.31m
  6. 16CompletedThe Lighting Techniques That Make Films Look ExpensiveOptionalJon KentVideoNegative fill, practicals and haze — the specific tricks that separate a cheap-looking image from an expensive one, none of which cost much.20m
  7. 17CompletedColor Theory in FilmOptionalStudioBinderVideoFive minutes on colour as a storytelling decision rather than a look. A compact companion to the palette lesson above.5m
  8. 18CompletedUsing Colour to Tell a Story in FilmOptionalIn Depth CineVideoThe same idea from this course's main teacher, worked through specific films. Take it before the Color Grading course if that is where you are heading.11m

On Set

8 lessons · 2h 34m

  1. 19CompletedHow to Shoot a Scene in 5 StepsIn Depth CineVideoThe practical assembly of everything above into a repeatable process. This is the lesson to rewatch immediately before a shoot.15m
  2. 20CompletedThe Pros and Cons of Shooting HandheldIn Depth CineVideoWhen the instability is the point and when it is just shake. Handheld is a choice with meaning, not a fallback for having no tripod.13m
  3. 21Completed3 Techniques for Shooting HandheldIn Depth CineVideoThe physical craft of holding a camera well. Mostly about your body rather than your gear.14m
  4. 22Completed5 Reasons Not to Shoot With a GimbalOptionalIn Depth CineVideoOptional, and best watched back to back with the next lesson — the two argue opposite sides on purpose.13m
  5. 23Completed5 Reasons You Should Shoot With a GimbalOptionalIn Depth CineVideoThe other side of the argument. Watching a creator argue against their own previous video is a good model for how these decisions actually get made.14m
  6. 24CompletedUltimate Guide to Camera MovementOptionalStudioBinderVideoEvery movement named and demonstrated, with what each one communicates. A single-video summary of the playlist in the earlier module, useful as revision.29m
  7. 25CompletedFilm Production Explained — Each Step of the ProcessOptionalStudioBinderVideoWhere the camera department sits in the wider production. Worth it for context if you have only ever shot alone and are about to join a crew.26m
  8. 26CompletedFilmmaking Advice for 30 Minutes StraightOptionalNate's Film TutorialsVideoRapid, practical and unstructured — the accumulated small lessons of someone who shoots constantly. Better after the structured material than before it.30m

Going Deeper

3 lessons · 26h 9m

  1. 27CompletedBasicsOptionalIn Depth CinePlaylistThe complete Basics library, 36 videos. Everything in the modules above was drawn from here — this is the unabridged version.7h 20m
  2. 28CompletedConceptsOptionalIn Depth CinePlaylistSeventy-one videos on individual ideas, each traced through real films. Fifteen hours, and closer to a reference shelf than a course.15h 9m
  3. 29CompletedThe Ultimate GuideOptionalStudioBinderPlaylistStudioBinder's long-form guides across the wider craft — directing, screenwriting and production alongside camera work.3h 40m

The Wider Craft

3 lessons · 4h 55m

  1. 30CompletedHow to Master the Art of FilmmakingOptionalDan MaceVideoNearly three hours on filmmaking as a whole rather than cinematography specifically — story, edit and performance included. A useful widening of the lens once the camera work makes sense.2h 49m
  2. 31CompletedFilmmaking 101 — Scriptwriting, Camera, Lighting and PostOptionalNextWaveDVVideoA complete production covered end to end in an hour and a half. The clearest single picture of where everything in this course fits.1h 38m
  3. 32CompletedThe Best Cinematography I've Ever SeenOptionalThomas FlightVideoVideo-essay analysis rather than instruction. Learning to look at a film closely is its own skill, and this is a good demonstration of what that looks like.28m

Credits

Every lesson in this course was made by one of these channels. Tubeversity sequenced them; it did not make them. If a course is useful to you, the people below are the ones who earned it.