I took French in high school, which was more than a few months back. So I’ve forgotten a lot of it (um, ok, all of it.) But when I go to France and spend a week having to get around, I find a huge amount of my early learning comes back. Which is why I’m a big fan of immersion learning—your brain remembers and internalizes a lot more than you think it does.
One easy way to get better at video is to immerse yourself in great film and TV. I’ve got a list of a hundred or so of my favorites in the Do it Yourself Video Grad School section of the book (page 247, in case you’re frantically thumbing through right now.)
Another great way to internalize video lessons? Read downloadable scripts from great films and TV shows. Paper-lovers can find plenty of film and TV scripts at the local book store and your neighborhood library. Everyone else can find downloadable scripts all over the net.
Alex Ferrari’s site Indie Film Hustle has a great list of downloadable (and legal-ish) screenplays– it’s a great site for lots of other info as well (like this great interview with, um, me.) Less legitimate, but still useful are sites that post downloadable scripts mostly with the consent of the writers. The best of these: Drew’s Script-o-Rama.
You’ll find great screenplays by their authors at these two awesome screenwriting sites put up by well-known screenwriters. Great tips on writing for film too, if you’re interested:
If you have questions about your video, drop me the URL and question here. If its a teachable moment (let’s try to make it more specific than “Is this good?”), I’ll answer on the site in a future post!
Get a free preview of the new video course!
Sample two lessons from our new video course free right now. No signup or credit card required!
Steve Stockman is a writer/ producer/ director in Los Angeles. How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck, available in 9 languages, is the best selling video how-to book in the world. You can find the updated edition from Workman Publishing wherever you get books, ebooks or audiobooks. 
who are some great home vloggers to immerse yourself in?
YouTube is full of them– but here’s one of my favorites.
Thanks, Jim. Correction corrected!
You dropped the word "find" … You'll find some great ones…
Very good book.
I was happy to see that I own and love most of the movies in your Do it Yourself Video Grad School list. After reading your book, I think I'll go and watch them all again, looking for some of the techniques you mentioned.