News & Culture

Why Character Is the Engine of Every Great Script

You can build the most intricate plot in the world. Elaborate twists, high-concept stakes, jaw-dropping set pieces. You'll still lose your audience by page 20 if there's no character they care about. Character isn't decoration on top of your story. Character is the story. Every great screenplay, from Get Out to Parasite to Spirited Away, works because a specific person with specific desires and contradictions makes choices we can't look away from.

Alumni Spotlight: Sy’Rai Smith Turns Family Legacy Into Her Own Sound

Sy'Rai Smith didn't come to The Los Angeles Film School to follow in anyone's footsteps — but her grandmother made sure she got here anyway. "The reason why I went to school to begin with is because of my grandmother," Sy'Rai says in our new video interview. Sonja Norwood, a veteran talent manager who has taught in LAFS's Entertainment Business program since 2018, kept coming home raving about the school. "She always came back and was like, 'It's so great, I think you should go there.'" Sy'Rai enrolled - and stayed. She's now a double LAFS alumni, graduating summa cum laude with degrees in Entertainment Business.

From Bedroom Beats to Professional Tracks: How Music Production Has Changed

Blog, Articles

There was a time when making a record meant booking studio time, hiring engineers, and spending money you might not have on equipment you'd never own. That time is over. Today, some of the most compelling music in the world gets made in spare bedrooms, apartment closets, and converted garages — by independent artists with laptops, studio monitors, and a vision. If you're serious about building a career in music production, understanding that shift is your foundation.

What Streaming Has Changed About Writing for Film and TV

Blog, Articles

The rulebook for screenwriters didn't get thrown out when streaming arrived. It got rewritten — faster, looser, and with a lot more pages. If you're studying writing for film and TV right now, you're entering an industry that looks radically different from the one that produced Breaking Bad, let alone Seinfeld. The shift touches what audiences expect, what formats are viable, and what skills separate a working writer from a great one. Understanding how streaming changed the game isn't optional background knowledge. It's the foundation of your craft.

The Film Student’s Guide to Visual Storytelling

Blog, Articles

Every film is a visual argument. Before a single line of dialogue lands, the audience is already reading the frame - the lighting in a room, where the camera sits, how a character moves through space. Visual storytelling is what turns footage into meaning. It's also the skill set that separates filmmakers who understand the medium from those still pointing a camera at things and hoping. This guide covers the core tools - lighting, composition, camera movement, color, framing, and editing - and how to start using them on purpose.

What Is Cannes Lions?

Blog, Articles

Most people know about the legendary festival in Cannes where movie stars and directors flock to win the Palme d'Or. But there's a second, equally massive festival in the exact same city, happening in the exact same building. Cannes Lions belongs to the people shaping modern culture through brands, media, entertainment, design, and creative technology.

Title Sequence Design: The 90 Seconds That Tell You Everything

Blog, Articles

The house lights go down. The screen goes dark. And before a single actor shows up, before the plot moves an inch — the film has already told you exactly what it is. That's the title sequence. Ninety seconds. No dialogue. No story. Just type, motion, color, and intent. And somehow, it communicates an entire emotional universe. It's also, almost always, the work of a graphic designer.

We Went to Cine Gear. Here’s What Actually Happened.

Blog, Articles, Event Recaps

Thirty years in, and Cine Gear Expo still earns it. That’s not nothing. Most industry events peak around year four and spend the next two decades coasting on their own reputation. Cine Gear kept building. This year, members of The Los Angeles Film School production team made the trip to Universal Studios in Burbank for the 30th Anniversary — and walked away with gear calluses, a signed book, and a few conversations worth having.

Advertising, PR, and Branded Content: What’s Actually Different and Why It Matters for Media Creators

Blog, Articles

"Marketing," "advertising," and "PR" get used interchangeably all the time, even by people who work in the industry. But they're actually distinct disciplines with different goals, different mechanics, and different skill sets. These concepts form part of the professional vocabulary used throughout the media industry. Here's a clear-eyed breakdown.

From LAFS to Hollywood: How Joshua Bramer Became the Prop Master Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once, Euphoria, Don’t Worry Darling, and More

Blog, Alumni News & Interviews

Long before he became an in-demand Hollywood property master working on acclaimed productions like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Euphoria, Freakier Friday, and Blonde, he was a kid in Michigan, completely fascinated by movies like Hook and Jurassic Park, watching behind-the-scenes bonus content behind his favorite films, which he hoped would reveal how movie worlds were created. Today, Joshua Bramer helps create those worlds himself—designing and sourcing the props that bring characters, stories, and entire universes to life onscreen.

Why Character Is the Engine of Every Great Script

Alumni Spotlight: Sy’Rai Smith Turns Family Legacy Into Her Own Sound

From Bedroom Beats to Professional Tracks: How Music Production Has Changed

What Streaming Has Changed About Writing for Film and TV

The Film Student’s Guide to Visual Storytelling

What Is Cannes Lions?

Title Sequence Design: The 90 Seconds That Tell You Everything

We Went to Cine Gear. Here’s What Actually Happened.

Advertising, PR, and Branded Content: What’s Actually Different and Why It Matters for Media Creators

From LAFS to Hollywood: How Joshua Bramer Became the Prop Master Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once, Euphoria, Don’t Worry Darling, and More

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