The art of making moving pictures to tell a story is quite different from all the other arts. In fact, it is an amalgam of visual and aural sensations. Film making involves many people; and in its making, a lot of different skills in different fields are required. Big budget film require a big and popular cast of actors, high tech equipment, a large crew of highly skilled technical people, travel to many locations, a lot of special effects and in conjunction with that, editing proficiency. The film, or movie, is then distributed to movie houses. It is shown to an audience, oftentimes the reach is worldwide. The appeal of movies knows no boundaries regarding age, gender, race, or color. Being a filmmaker lets you tell your stories to a wide range of people than if you were a writer, a painter, or a musician.
There are different film types, or genres, within this medium. Some of the directors, producers, or actors are easily identified by the genre that they work with and prefer. The main ones are:

• Action films
• Horror films
• Adventure films
• Comedy films
• Drama films
• Westerns
• Musicals
• Epics and Historical films
• Science fiction films
• Crime as well as Gangster films
• War and anti-war films

Included in the process of film making are scriptwriting, casting, location shooting, directing, acting, editing, sound recording, sound designing, and a lot of other technical procedures before the completion of the product. Although in times past a big budget was required to finish a film, the trend nowadays is to work within a lower budget and concentrate on the artistry. Films such as these are called “indies,” and the makers are called independent filmmakers. These indies make a shortcut on cast and crew so that instead of 20 or so actors, they can make do with even just 4. Scripts are also specially made in a stripped down manner, so that most if not all scenes happen during daytime, and other such techniques.

The digital age and the development of the digital camera, as well as desktop movie editing and software, have further democratized the field. Nowadays, anybody can make a movie. This has sadly brought about the existence of badly done and badly conceptualized films. To learn to make good movies, one still has to learn certain techniques despite the low budget. There are courses one can take, either in brick and mortar schools or online. A cursory search will unearth a treasure of tips and tricks.

In the basics, you will learn that there are 5 important steps to follow when making a film. These 5 steps are present, albeit to a greater or lesser extent, no matter what method of film making you apply. These are development, pre-production, production, post production, sales and distribution. All stages need all manner of different skills. A film school, or any other training ground for that matter, will teach you what to do in each stage. Hiring an expert in each stage of a big budget film will still require a rudimentary knowledge of the job. This is why the study of film, formally or otherwise, would be a great help.

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