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• www.learner.org/exhibits/cinema " Cinema, How are Hollywood films Made" is presented by the Annenberg/CPB Project, and is actually a short course in how films are made. The interactive lessons allow you to write your own dialogue for a scene from "When Harry Met Sally" or put yourself in a producer's shoes by managing the production of a film with a $40,000,000 budget. It also lists and illustrates terms for filming and editing. The Cinema program is connected to their excellent series American Cinema .

• www.filmmaking.net was founded in 1994 and is one of the oldest filmm aking resources on the Internet. The site provides references and a community for new and independent filmmakers around the world. The site contains informative articles, interviews, and news of events.

• www.filmmaking.com bills itself as the "Filmmaking Portal" and founder Saloman Gill says it was created "with the exclusive purpose to serve my colleagues, especially those struggling to see their dreams realized on the big screen." It is chock full of information, ranging from what's involved in making a film, where to start, preparing for the shoot, equipment, editing and post production, how to get it seen, careers and training, and how to become a director. There are literally hundreds of articles, interviews, and "how-to" projects. The site also contains lots of information about current commercial films.

• www.studentfilms.com is an online resource for film students and aspiring filmmakers everywhere. For a small annual fee, you can showcase your short films on the site and receive valuable feedback from your peers. The site's discussion forums are perfect for advice on shooting that perfect film, getting into film school, finding a composer, and much more. Studentfilms.com has a database of over 400 films with new movies added weekly. I am

• www.ifilm.com IFILM is one of the leading video-entertainment destinations on the Web, offering channels of movies, short films, TV clips, video-game trailers, music videos, action sports and its celebrated Viral Videos collection. IFILM.com delivers more than 30 million streams per month, making it one of the top ten streaming media sites in the world.

• www.cyberfilmschool.com is associated with the Northwest Film School in Washington State. This site offers many excellent articles including, "Are Screenplays Literature?" and "The Importance of Three Act Storytelling."

• www.student-films.co.uk is a British site that was developed for student filmmakers to promote and view their films for free. According to the site, "getting your films seen by a wider audience in a secure way allows promotion of your creative talents and individual assets that can be accessed from anywhere in the world at any time."

• www.isffhollywood.org is the site of the International Student Film Festival Hollywood. This organization offers student filmmakers the opportunity to "gain the recognition of film industry leaders, creating career development opportunities in their home countries as well as in the United States by providing a venue for independent films by student filmmakers from around the world. The festival is open to students only. Students should be registered in junior high school, high school, college, university or private film schools. High school students will only compete with other high school students. Students of all ages and academic backgrounds are encouraged to join the event. However non-student independent films will not be accepted. Once the winners in all categories have been chosen, ISFFH will assist student filmmakers and their schools for distribution rights on any film presented at the festival. The actual festival is held in Hollywood in November.

• www.studentfilmmakers.com contains information about a Summer Shorts contest, Film and Video Forums, Post Production Forums, lists of workshops, Film Festival postings, news, and film and video classifieds. The Festival posting contains tons of student festivals from India and Bulgaria to New Jersey and Brooklyn.

• www.triggerstreet.com . Trigger Street Productions was formed in 1997 by Kevin Spacey to develop and produce entertainment in a variety of mediums. Realizing that the path to his own success would have been much rockier without the support and encouragement of many outstanding mentors, Spacey has sought out a way to inspire, nurture, and help bring exposure to new and undiscovered talent. TriggerStreet.com was founded in January 2002 as "the Web-based filmmaker and screenwriter's community of record -an interactive mechanism for the purpose of discovering and showcasing new and unique talent." Its mission is to encourage "the creative process of filmmaking and screenwriting by providing hands on, peer-to-peer, objective criticism and letting the material be judged on its own merit. " Once you register for this beautifully designed site, you have access to screenplays, audio pitches, short films, and peer reviews.

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The best resources available to students are the movies themselves. Just as novelists read classic novels, artists study the great masters' works, and musicians listen to other composers, filmmakers watch lots of films. We urge you to watch films with a critical eye and expand your horizons by watching films that might not have had the largest box office gross the previous weekend.

Here are links to several lists of films. Enjoy the experience.

The Academy Awards

Since their inception in the late '20s, the Academy Awards have created controversy. Many of the films that have won the Oscar for Best Picture don't even appear on most of the Greatest Film lists that follow. Here are the Best Picture Oscars from the past 77 years. This is a good place to start if you want to see how films have developed over the years. http://www.oscars.org

The American Film Institute

In 1998, The American Film Institute polled 1500 artists and leaders from the film industry to select the 100 greatest American films of all time. The results were announced on a TV special. You may not agree with the list-and you may not have heard of many of these films, but they are also a good place to start if you want to learn about film. http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx

Roger Ebert

Here's film critic Roger Ebert's list of Great Movies . His Website, www.rogerebert.com contains his reviews for each of his 235 personal favorites. Unlike the AFI list, Ebert includes many foreign films. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?
category=greatmovies_intro

Empire Magazine

Launched in 1989, Empire , Britain's biggest selling movie magazine, calls itself the "one stop shop for all things movie relate " Empire is packed with big name interviews, current film features, movie retrospectives and a comprehensive news section to keep you one step ahead in any pub debate about film. Empire boasts the most respected, comprehensive review that helps you divine the cinematic wheat from chaff. Empire magazine's 2003 poll of the Top 100 films includes many recent films. http://www.empireonline.co.uk

The British Film Institute

At the beginning of 1999, one thousand experts in the film industry in the U.K. were selected by The British Film Institute to pick their top feature films from their country during the 20 th century. These experts included directors, producers, actors, writers, technicians, academics, distributors, executives, distributors, and critics. Over 820 films were chosen and narrowed down to their list of the Greatest 100. The films span from 1935 to 1998. Although no silent films were selected, and only one documentary is on the list, these 100 give the rest of the world a good indication that British filmmaking has been an important part of cinematic history. http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/bfi100/index.html

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly published a hardcover guide in 1999, celebrating films that "can't be forgotten," and that "help us understand and define who we are." The final list was whittled down from a preliminary collection of 500 nominated choices, excluding short films, documentaries, or any movies from the previous five years. http://www.filmsite.org/ew100.html

Leonard Maltin

Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide 2000 contained the author's 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century -an excellent starting point for film viewing. As a leading film historian and critic Maltin admits, "these are not the only great films of the century, or the only ones worth seeing." http://www.filmsite.org/maltin.html

The Village Voice

At the end of 1999, the Village Voice polled its movie critics. Their top 100 list looks much different from some of the others, but is worth a look. http://www.villagevoice.com/specials/take/one
/full_list.php3?category=10

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• Austin Film Festival
http://www.austinfilmfestival.com

• Bare Bones International Film Festival http://www.barebonesfilmfestival.com

• The Berkeley Video and Film Festival http://www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org

• DeadCenter Film Festival
www.deadcenterfilm.up.to

• International Student Media Festival
http://www.ismf.net/

• Moondance International Film Festival
http://www.moondancefilmfestival.com

• Nashville Independent Film Festival http://www.nashvillefilmfestival.org/

• SOFA
http://www.sofanet.org

• Texas Film Festival
http://www.txfilmfest.org

• Westport Youth Film Festival
http://www.westportyouthfilmfest.org

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Video Editing Software

Adobe Premiere Pro: http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/main.html

Apple Final Cut Pro:
www.apple.com/finalcutpro

Apple iMovie:
www.apple.com/imovie

MS Movie Maker: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/
moviemaker/default.mspx

Pinnacle Studio:
www.pinnaclesys.com

DVD Production Software

Adobe Encore DVD: http://www.adobe.com/products/encore/main.html

Apple DVD Studio Pro: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/dvdstudiopro/

Apple iDVD:
www.apple.com/idvd

Sonic Solutions (Roxio) Easy Media Creator: http://www.sonic.com/products/Consumer/Creator/
quicklook.aspx

Sonic Solutions (Roxio) MyDVD Studio: http://www.sonic.com/products/Consumer/
MyDVD/default.aspx