The seventh episode in the a film history playlist takes a close look at the rise and fall of German cinema of the post-World War I period. The narrator uses The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and its expressionistic use of mise-en-scene to...

Before Bollywood movies, Sanskrit theater ruled the stage in ancient India. Learn about rasas, bhavas, and categories of plays through the seventh video in the Crash Course Theater series that explores the first type of theater to appear...

School children are not the only ones who have rules to follow! During the neoclassical period, the French established five main rules for plays. A video on theater history outlines those guidelines, as well as other elements of theater...

Believe it or not, German theater did not become established until years after theater in other European countries. A video describes the history of German theater starting in the late seventeenth century. After a discussion, viewers...

Who doesn't love a play where most of the characters die? Such deaths are a defining characteristic of many of Shakespeare's tragedies, the topic of an informational video on the Bard and his works. Along with outlining the plot elements...

Life doesn't make sense, so theater shouldn't make sense either. A video about the theater of the absurd, the 45th installment of the Crash Course Drama and Theater series, discusses the unique movement in theater history. An overview of...

Hollywood is the place to go if you want to make movies—right? Not necessarily. A fascinating video about the history of 20th century Asian cinema discusses the reflections of Japanese culture in the works of directors Yasujiro Ozu,...

Some of the boldest films in history have been documentaries or experimental films. Explore non-narrative cinema and its avant-garde techniques with a short video about a creative faction in film history. Additionally, the video...

In the Middle Ages, theater left the church of moved outside to a secular stage. An interesting video describes the transition from pulpit to public venue, discussing common plot lines and other aspects of medieval drama. Animated...

English-speaking viewers don't need to read the subtitles to understand Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood For Love. The colors, the music, and the framing of the shots so beautifully express the emotions of the characters that dialogue, in any...

Who would've guessed that a boy from the sleepy town Stratford-upon-Avon would grow up to become one of the greatest playwrights of all time? Scholars only know a few details about Shakespeare's early life, but that information is the...

Kabuki and Bunraku may sound like new age exercise routines, but they're actually types of Japanese theater. An informational video describes the history of theater in Japan during the nineteenth century. The resource includes a...

Some jobs in film production are more obvious than others. The director directs, the cinematographer films, and the special effects people create those tricky effects. But who designs the mise-en-scene, who structures the set, and who...

The job of the editor is surely one of the most demanding in film production. Viewers of an episode from a film production playlist are introduced to the editor's many responsibilities, the history of editing, and the various types...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences awarded its 2017 Best Picture award to Moonlight, which was written and directed by Barry Jenkins. The tender exploration of expectations for black men, contrasted with the reality of...

Light up your film history instruction with an examination of the contributions of the Lumière brothers. Their cinématograph, as well as the devices of other inventors, are the focus of the third episode from a playlist on film history.

New ventures and new technologies require new ways of referring to things. In stepped Edwin S. Porter, whose films Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery used parallel action and cross-cutting to develop his...

Explore the rich history of African, Middle Eastern, and South American cinema with a video summary of the most prominent filmmakers from these regions in the 20th and 21st centuries. It discusses Egyptian filmmakers Asmaa El-Bakry and...

The focus of a playlist on the history of film shifts from the development of early film technology to techniques used by filmmakers like Georges Melies. Melies, a former magician, used dazzling illusions and tricky editing to create...

An episode of a film history playlist looks at camera technology and the roles of the various operators. The narrator presents an overview of different types of film camera lenses, apertures, shutter speed, frame rates, ISO, and codex....

Conservatory approach or liberal arts film approach? Or self-taught? That is the question prospective filmmakers must decide when considering a film school. A helpful video ponders whether it's better to study a single craft within the...

The 2014 film Selma is the focus of a film criticism video.  The narrator examines how director Ava DuVernay brought to the screen the story of the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and how she uses...