Free Online Courses for Aspiring Filmmakers
This is a guest post by freelance writer Donna Reish.
You don't have to have a bachelor's or graduate degree in film in order to become a successful film maker—but you do need to have talent and knowledge of the industry. Open courseware are online classes that are offered entirely for free. The catch? You can't claim college credit or ask for a professor's assistance. But you do have access to an abundance of educational resources with which you can teach yourself. Resources typically include recorded video lectures, course readings, project outlines and old exams with keys. So no matter if you need to learn the basics or what to freshen up your knowledge, consider taking the open courseware featured below.
Video Production and Creation
These courses are designed to teach students the in and outs of actually putting their vision on screen and putting their filmmaking skills to the test. Students will learn a variety of concepts from basic video capturing and editing to more advanced techniques like creating holographic images and 3-D designs.
- Introduction to Video [MIT]
- Advanced Projects in the Visual Arts: A Personal Narrative [MIT]
- Producing Film For Social Change [Tufts University]
- Special Topics in Cinematic Storytelling [MIT]
- Filmmaker's Master Class with Milos Forman
- Blender 3-D Design [Tufts University]
- Holographic Imaging[MIT]
Industry
A great film maker is also highly aware of his or her target audience and the industry as a whole. With that said, these courses may also prove to be beneficial for an aspiring film maker.
- Media in Cultural Context [MIT]
- Visualizing Cultures [MIT]
Philosophy of Film
These courses should help one understand the history and philosophy behind film in order to truly understand and appreciate this art form. The following courses are designed to educate students on everything from the thematic issues of philosophical importance, how to appreciate aesthetics, and will teach you how to cultivate your goals as an artist.
- Studies in Film [MIT]
- The Film Experience [MIT]
- Pathway to Dreams [connexions]
- Philosophy of Film [MIT]
Donna Reish, a freelancer who blogs about best universities, contributed this guest post. She loves to write education, career, frugal living, finance, health, parenting relating articles. She can be reached via email at: donna.reish13@gmail.com.
[photo by velcr0]
Your Comment
29 Comments
Excellent! Thank you for getting all this info together!
April 29, 2011 at 1:21PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Wow. This is the exact opposite of my college degree. I paid $40,000 for useless information. This is free useful info. Thanks!
April 29, 2011 at 2:38PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
That must've been one horrible college...
April 29, 2011 at 4:37PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Not horrible, but what I do for a living has nothing to do with my degree.
April 29, 2011 at 5:12PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Anyone else read the description for "Filmmaker’s Master Class with Milos Forman"? Granted I doubt Milos wrote the description himself, but I wasn't exactly filled with confidence upon seeing "Jack Nicholas." Did you mean Nicholson? He's only one of the most famous actors in Hollywood history.
April 29, 2011 at 6:26PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Obviously you're not a golfer
April 29, 2011 at 9:35PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CWfPUrmeiU
April 29, 2011 at 9:36PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
So how does this really work? I clicked on "Digital Video: An Introduction [Columbia]" and apparently you have to have an account with them. What is there I can do?
April 30, 2011 at 12:10AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Am I missing something here? Why can't I seem to find any of the videos of lectures?
April 30, 2011 at 8:09AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
I cant access these tutorials.. asking to enter ID and Pass..May i need to be a university student to get these tutorials..please some one clarify this...
May 1, 2011 at 7:06AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
well ... they don´t seem to be free ... if we can´t acess them !!!!
May 1, 2011 at 1:14PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Sorry guys -- it seems the Columbia links require a Columbia ID. The rest of them should be working, though -- am I wrong? I'll remove the Columbia courses since they're not exactly "open."
May 1, 2011 at 1:52PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
can't wait to read some of the free stuff over the summer. thanks!
May 5, 2011 at 3:06PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Koo, muchas gracias por esta valiosa información. Un abrazo de Pedro Camilo.
May 5, 2011 at 7:33PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
im not really sure what to do with the MIT?..theres no lectures, its just shwoin me info abou tthe class,..can u help me please?
May 6, 2011 at 1:39AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
I could also use little explaination how to access them... Just now I only see a description of the course.
May 9, 2011 at 10:44AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Check the left sidebar -- that's usually where the syllabus and materials are.
May 9, 2011 at 12:36PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
Great links! Many thanks for the info!
May 6, 2011 at 12:33PM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
I am greatful for such a help you have provided in such a challenging field.
September 20, 2012 at 12:50AM, Edited September 4, 10:54AM
thanks for the info, i really learn alot
March 28, 2013 at 3:37AM, Edited September 4, 11:21AM
here you can an almost free course from udemy price is 49 dollars but got it for you at only 15 dollars, good luck.
November 7, 2013 at 9:59PM, Edited September 4, 11:21AM
then your doing it wrong. no worries i am doing it wrong too, but now i have resigned myself to do it right.. best of luck
July 10, 2014 at 10:11PM, Edited September 4, 11:56AM
Ryan,
Did you vet this article? Maybe things have changed since it was published, but the MIT OpenCourseWare site explains it clearly in the footer on its site:
"MIT OpenCourseWare makes the materials used in the teaching of almost all of MIT's subjects available on the Web, free of charge. With more than 2,200 courses available, OCW is delivering on the promise of open sharing of knowledge."
So they basically openly publish the syllabus, etc and provide links to Amazon for the textbooks used in the course, but the things linked in the article are not actual courses that someone can take for free.
Cheers!
April 29, 2015 at 9:39AM
Amazing. This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to stuy what they wnt nd what they need. But to my mind online learning seems to be good for kids who don’t have money and don’t live near universities might get an access to much of the world’s knowledge as long as they have a cheap computer and an internet connection. In reality only 5% will study hard, as now it's easier for students to contact essay writers online, like http://aussieessaywriter.com.au/ or cheat their educators, so it means their parents just waste money and kids gain no knowledge.
October 31, 2015 at 5:40PM
Amazing. This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to stuy what they want and what they need. But to my mind online learning seems to be good for kids who don’t have money and don’t live near universities might get an access to much of the world’s knowledge as long as they have a cheap computer and an internet connection. In reality only 5% will study hard, as now it's easier for students to contact essay writers online, like http://aussieessaywriter.com.au/ or cheat their educators, so it means their parents just waste money and kids gain no knowledge.
October 31, 2015 at 5:46PM
It’s very excellent information and more real facts to provided that post.Thank you for sharing this information. pmp certification cost
July 27, 2017 at 5:30AM
informatie post
Visit our HTML tutorial
October 4, 2017 at 7:41AM
Que pena, no se pueden abrir las páginas
November 3, 2017 at 10:54PM
Hello. The courses for studying films are useful courses. I recommend the site - https://www.nyfa.edu/ which helped me know that these are the best courses where you can study films.
October 24, 2018 at 7:47AM