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A Creative Approach to Narrative Filmmaking

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Applications, Weblinks, and Books

The last few years have seen a veritable explosion in mobile device apps for the filmmaker. Some are great and many are garbage. Drawing from our own experience, and those of our students and filmmaking friends, we have listed the apps that seem to be the most commonly used and trusted. Most of these are for the iPhone or iPad, but we’ve indicated a few that are for the Android platform. Clearly, many more apps are being developed every year, a few useful and others useless, but below is a list of the most worthwhile filmmaking apps as of May 2024.

Script and Storyboard Apps
  • Scripts Pro (iOS)
    Simple scriptwriting app for portable writing that integrates with Final Draft and Celtx.
  • Celtx Screenplay (Android)
    A powerful screenplay formatting program for films and TV
  • Fade In Mobile (iOS & Android)
    Another popular screenwriting program
  • Final Draft Go (iOS & iPad)
    Considered by many the industry standard of screenwriting program
  • StoryBoard Quick Direct (iOS)
    Create storyboards from location photos on your smartphone and overlay characters, animations, and screen directions.
Production Planning and Design
  • Shot Designer (Android & iOS)
    Incredibly useful preproduction tool. Allows you to create overhead diagrams for location layout, camera setups, character blocking, camera moves, and lighting designs. And you can incorporate storyboards.
  • Lighting Designer (iOS)
    Create overhead lighting diagrams with character blocking and lighting unit functions.
  • Magic Hour (iOS)
    Tells you when AM and PM “magic hour” will occur at your location and how long it will last.
  • Sunseeker (Android & iOS)
    A comprehensive solar tracking and compass iPhone app that shows the sun’s hourly direction, sunrise and sunset times, sun shadow, and golden hour for any time of the day in over 40,000 cities
  • Shot Lister and ShotList (iOS & iPad)
    Two useful apps for creating, organizing, and managing shot lists and shooting schedules. You can also include storyboards and photos with Shot List. Take your pick.
On Set Tools 1: Utility
  • FiLMiC Pro (iPhone & Android)
    Transforms your iPhone into a viable film production camera by adding many functions found on camcorders and DSLRs like manual focus, aperture, and white balancing, and variable ISO and shutter speed settings.
  • Blackmagic Camera (iOS)
    Gives you access to all the controls needed to turn your iPhone’s camera into a virtual cinema camera, including frame rate, shutter angle, white balance, ISO, and Apple ProRes 4K recording.
  • Moment Pro Camera app (iOS)
    Another smartphone app that unlocks controls to let you maximize your iPhone’s camera cinematic potential, including a “de-squeezing” function for previewing your shots when using anamorphic attachments.
  • AJA DataCalc (Android & iPad)
    Calculates data rates and storage needs for nearly every video format, audio format, resolution, and compression protocol in use.
On Set Tools 2: Camera and Lens Related
  • pCAM Pro Film+Digital (iOS)
    There are many DoF calculators available, but David Eubanks’ pCam was one of the first thoroughly useful filmmaking apps.  This app does more than simply calculate DoF for numerous popular camera formats, it will also calculate field of view parameters and exposures based on multiple variables including light intensity, filters, FPS, ISO, shutter angles, and so on.
  • Digital DoF and DOF Calculator (iOS & Android, respectively)
    These are more basic DoF calculators than the two mentioned above and are highly useful on the set to determine the precise near and far limits of focus for any given lens, focus distance, and sensor format.
  • Pocket AC (Android)
    Includes many tools, tables, and functions for A.C.s including: DOF calculators, a data rate and storage calculator, exposure tools, field of view previews, insert slates, shutter angle exposure calculators, and information on numerous cameras and lenses on.
On Set Tools 3: Director’s Viewfinders, etc.
  • CineScope (iOS)
    Changes your iPhone’s video aspect ratio to 1.85:1, 16:9, 1.33:1, or even to a custom aspect ratio. Very useful for location scouting, shot planning, and informal rehearsal shoots. This app was developed by D.P. Rachel Morrison.
  • Artemis Pro (iOS & iPad)
    Allows you to visualize (and communicate) your shot composition by displaying overlays that correspond to the field of view of various focal length lenses.
  • Cadrage Director’s Viewfinder (iOS)
    Allows you to line up your shots with precise framing previews of any professional camera/lens combination and make sure everybody is on the same page during preproduction and on set.
On Set Tools 4: Slate and Logging
  • MovieSlate (iPad); Clapboard (Android)
    There are a number of film slate/clapperboard apps on the market that allow you to do timecode slating and even logging on your smartphone or iPad. These two are the most commonly used ones. We’re not sure they should replace a physical slate but . . . they’re out there.
  • ShotBOT (iPad)
    Although this app is aimed at visual effects supervisors, it also functions as a comprehensive camera report that lets you track every conceivable variable.
  • Drylab Set Report 3 (iOS & iPad)
    The digital version of paper camera logs. With this app you can includes a wide range of information for every shot, including the usual scene and take numbers, lens, aperture, filter, timing, and notes, but you can also include stuff like focus distance, shot GPS coordinates, angle and orientation readings, and so on.
On Set Tools 5: Lighting Related
  • Set a Light 3D (Mac & Windows)
    Easily generate photorealistic 3D renderings of lighting setups that accurately match what you can do on set, letting you save a lot of time by virtually pre-lighting your shots.
  • Lee Diffusion Comparator (iPad)
    The official LEE filters diffusion comparator that lets you directly compare different diffusions lighting a model (also available at their official website).
  • Gel Swatch Library (iOS & iPad)
    This app lets you browse, search, and compare more than 1,600 gel color filters made by the most popular manufacturers.
  • White Balance Kelvin Meter (Android and iOS)
    Color temperature measurement in real time that lets you dial in the color temperature of your lights (like RGB LEDs) to match other natural or artificial light sources.
  • Green Screener (iOS, iPad & Android)
    Helps you determine if your green screen lighting is even throughout by creating bands where exposure is inconsistent.
  • Sidus Link (iOS & Android)
    This app provides filmmakers with remote control over CCT, gel, color, and effect modes when used with compatible COB lights, LED panels, and LED tubes.
Editing
  • CapCut – Video Editor (iOS, iPad & Android)
    CapCut offers easy-to-use video editing functions, including keyframe animation, smooth slow-motion, chroma-key, and stabilization.
  • LumaFusion (iPad & Android)
    A video editor inspired by, and specifically designed and engineered for a touch interface, featuring professional editing with magnetic timeline, insert/overwrite, link/unlink clips, and multicam support.
  • iMovie (iOS & iPad)
    A simple and effective app for editing video and audio on the fly. The tried and true original.

This section contains links to useful websites related to various aspects of filmmaking.

The Web offers an enormously wide range of resources for the filmmaker. The usefulness of individual websites ranges from absolutely indispensable to completely disposable fluff. Here I have listed some of the more useful websites for a working filmmaker. Many of these websites also provide links to additional useful websites, so try them out. Also, as anyone who visits the web regularly knows, it is a rather unstable organism—websites come and websites go. I have tried my best to list the most reliable resources out there, but I cannot guarantee that all of these links will still be up and running when you try to visit. Best of luck.

General Film Information

(this is a great source for sample film agreements, budgets and many useful web links as well)

Funding, Preproduction, Casting, Crew
Scripts
Guilds, Unions, and Organizations
Safety, Insurance, and Legal
Cinematography
Sound and Music
Production Tools and Technical Reference
Post-Production
Festivals and Distribution
Production Jobs and Interships
Filmmaker Websites (Directors of the V&V streaming short films)

Note: I have intentionally left off the dates of publication for these books because many of them are technical in their content and are therefore regularly updated and re-published in new editions. To get the most current information and perspective, you should always seek the most recent edition available.

General Film Study

Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film by Richard M. Barsam and Dave Monahan; W.W. Norton and Co.

The Film Experience by Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White; Palgrave Macmillan.

Film Style and Technology: History and Analysis by Barry Salt; Starword.

Screenwriting and Screenplays

The Shooting Script Series; New Market Press. (especially Pieces of April, by Peter Hedges; The Squid and the Whale, by Noah Baumbach; Sideways, by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor; Erin Brockovich by Susannah Grant)

Rushmore by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson; Faber and Faber.

The Holdovers by David Hemingson; Independently published (2024), Available on Amazon.com

Developing Story Ideas by Michael Rabiger; Focal Press.

Crafting Short Screenplays that Connect by Claudia Hunter Johnson; Focal Press.

Alternative Scriptwriting by Ken Dancyger and Jeff Rush; Focal Press.

Mastering Screenplay Form and Style by Mick Hurbis-Cherrier, Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Pub. Dec. 2024)

On Screenwriting by Edward Dmytryk; Focal Press.

Previsualization

Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen by Steven D. Katz; Michael Wiese Productions.

Producing

A Killer Life by Christine Vachon with Austin Bunn; Limelight Editions.

The Business of Film: A Practical Introduction by Stephen R Geenwald and Paula Landry; Focal Press.

Contracts for the Film & Television Industry by Mark Litwak; Silman-James Press.

Clearance and Copyright: Everything the Independent Filmmaker Needs to Know by Michael C. Donaldson; Silman-James Press.

Directing

On Filmmaking: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick; Faber and Faber.

Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics by Michael Rabiger and Mick Hurbis-Cherrier: Focal Press.

Film Directing Fundamentals: See Your Film Before Shooting by Nicholas Proferes; Focal Press.

Directing Actors: Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television by Judith Weston; Michael Wiese Productions.

The Film Director’s Intuition: Script Analysis & Rehearsal Techniques by Judith Weston; Michael Wiese Productions.

Directing Feature Films: The Creative Collaboration between Director, Writers, and Actors by Mark W. Travis; Michael Wiese Productions.

Art Direction

What an Art Director Does: An Intro to Motion Picture Art Design by Ward Preston; Silman-James Press.

Production Design and Art Direction (Screencraft Series) by Peter Ettedgui; Focal Press.

The Art Direction Handbook for Film by Michael Rizzo; Focal Press.

Cinematography

The Filmmaker’s Eye by Gustavo Mercado; Focal Press.

The Language of the Lens by Gustavo Mercado; Focal Press.

Cinematography for Directors: A Guide for Creative Collaboration by Jacqueline B. Frost: Michael Wiese Productions.

Lighting for Film and Digital Cinematography by Dave Viera and Maria Viera; Wadsworth Publishing.

Matters of Light & Depth by Ross Lowell; Lowell Light Mfg. Co.

The Filmmaker’s Guide to Digital Imaging by Blain Brown; Focal Press.

Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art by Pauline B. Rogers; Focal Press.

New Cinematographers by Alex Ballinger; Collins Design.

Cinematography (Screencraft Series) by Peter Ettedgui; Focal Press.

Masters of Light: Conversations with Contemporary Cinematographers by Dennis Salvato and Larry Salvato; University of California Press.

Sound

Audio-Vision by Michael Chion; Columbia University Press.

Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound by David Yewdall; Focal Press.

Sound for Film and Television by Tomlinson Holman; Focal Press.

Production Technical Reference

Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook by Harry Box; Focal Press.

Camera Assistant’s Manual by David E. Elkins; Focal Press.

The Professional Cameraman’s Handbook by Sylvia E. Carlson and Verne Carlson; Focal Press.

The Green Screen Handbook by Jeff Foster; Focal Press.

Postproduction

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch; Silman-James Press.

Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice by Ken Dancyger; Focal Press.

On Film Editing by Edward Dmytryk; Focal Press.

Modern Post: Workflows and Techniques for Digital Filmmakers by Scott Arundale and Tashi Trieu; Focal Press

Color Correction Look Book: Creative Grading Techniques for Film and Video by Alexis Van Hurkman; Peachpit Press

Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema by Alexis Van Hurkman; Peachpit Press.

On Filmmakers and Methods

Notes on the Cinematographer by Robert Bresson; Green Integer.

Hitchcock by Helen G. Scott and François Truffaut; Simon & Schuster.

On Directing Film by David Mamet; Penguin.

Making Movies by Sidney Lumet; Vintage.

Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors by Peter Bogdanovich; Ballantine Books.

Moviemakers’ Master Class: Private Lessons from the World’s Foremost Directors by Laurent Tirard; Faber and Faber.

Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch and Jeremy P. Tarcher; Penguin.

Miscellaneous Topics

The Intimacy Coordinator’s Guidebook, Brooke M. Haney (ed.), Routledge Press.

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