[lisper]

There is a boatload of stuff that you can't really appreciate until you've tried to make a movie yourself. When you've actually gone through the process of setting up a shot and looking at the horrible result you get a much deeper appreciation for what it takes to make something that looks even half-way non-amateurish, let lone smooth and polished. The thing that always drops my jaw is the settings of period pieces, particularly ones that have a lot of vehicles and old buildings in them. I know it's mostly CGI nowadays, but the quality is just ridiculous nowadays. I can't tell what is CGI any more, and I know what to look for.

(The movie I made about 15 years ago that was my substitute for film school: http://graceofgodmovie.com/)

[webmobdev]

I can appreciate what you said - I accidently learned that just keeping the camera still and not moving it around much drastically improves the home videos I shoot.

[lisper]

Yep. Another one I wish more people would act on: always shoot movies in landscape mode. There's a reason widescreen is a thing.