Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
to
to
Exclude
Only includes titles with the selected topics
to
In minutes
to
1-50 of 274
- For the genuinely romantic depictions of sex on screen, actors and directors can face a myriad of challenges. Film sets are often packed, demanding, and tiring. It's only in the last few years that a specified role to guide and coach actors for love scenes has become mainstream. Intimacy coordinator Ita O'Brien shows how she coaches actors and uses props to make them feel comfortable performing sex scenes in films.
- Bringing characters like Spider-Man and Captain Marvel to life on screen requires some real-life superheroes off-screen. Specialized teams and experts carefully plan and carry out the stunts, costumes, and special effects that make iconic films like the Avengers the impressive spectacle audiences love. From actual bus crashes in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) to detailed makeup and training in "Black Panther" (2018), here's what Marvel movies look like behind the scenes.
- The fight scenes in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" put a fresh spin on classic kung fu movies. Insider spoke with stunt coordinator Timothy Eulich and fight choreographers Andy and Brian Le about how the movie's most impressive action sequences came together.
- Former criminal gang members, undercover police detectives and innocent victims describe to Insider how various organized crime activities work in real life.
- Insider traces the evolution of dinosaur effects in the "Jurassic" movies, from the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the paddock scene from "Jurassic Park" to the feathered dinosaurs and Giganotosaurus introduced in "Jurassic World: Dominion."
- Diandra Leslie-Pelecky takes a closer look at the physics of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. Here she reacts to 11 memorable scenes from the popular movie series and rates them based on their accuracy.
- Veteran private investigator Andy Kay rates 10 private detective scenes in movies and television shows for realism. Kay has been working as a private investigator for over 25 years. He investigates infidelity, cybercrime, missing pets, and everything in between. Kay discusses the accuracy of detective scenes in films such as "Knives Out" (2019) with Daniel Craig, "Chinatown" (1974), and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" (1994). He comments on the prowess of the iconic detectives in "Sherlock Holmes" (2009) featuring Robert Downey Jr., "Searching" (2018), "Vertigo" (1958), and "Veronica Mars" (2014) featuring Kristin Bell. He also discusses television show detectives, such as Benedict Cumberbatch in "Sherlock" (2010), Tom Selleck in "Magnum, P.I." (1980) and Matthew McConaughey in "True Detective" (2014).
- Garry Adelman, chief historian of the American Battlefield Trust, rates nine American Civil War battles in movies, commenting on Civil War-era artillery and rifles, explaining the use of dynamite and other explosives, breaks down the military strategy seen in the battle scenes and finally, he separates fact from fiction regarding Civil War-era surgeries.
- Nicholas Irving, author, and former soldier, rates 11 sniper scenes for realism in movies. Irving rates the realism of classic war movies such as "Clear and Present Danger" (1994), "Enemy at the Gates" (2001) and "Saving Private Ryan" (1998). He breaks down long-range-sniping scenes featuring Will Smith in "Gemini Man" (2019) and Mark Wahlberg in "Shooter" (2007). He also looks at modern-day war movies set in Iraq and Afghanistan, such as "American Sniper" (2014), "Jarhead" (2005), "Lone Survivor" (2013), and "The Hurt Locker" (2009). Irving rates the realism of the weapons used, along with body position, stealth, and environment.
- Former CIA intelligence officer Andrew Bustamante rates all the "Mission: Impossible" movies, starring Tom Cruise, for realism. Bustamante looks at field-operation scenes in "Mission: Impossible" (1996), and "Mission: Impossible 2" (2000). He breaks down spy gadgets and disguises in "Mission: Impossible III" (2006), and "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" (2011). He compares Cruise's physical skills to real-life CIA training in "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" (2015), "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" (2018), and "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" (2023).
- Professional dominatrix and certified sexologist Damiana Chi rates nine dominatrix scenes in movies and TV, such as "Euphoria," for realism. Chi breaks down the accuracy of ethics and safety procedures of BDSM scenes in "Euphoria" (2019), "Transparent" (2016), and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013). She looks at the plausibility of BDSM sessions in "Bonding" (2019), "Pose" (2018), and "Billions" (2018). She also breaks down the realism of protocols that happen outside of BDSM sessions in "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" (2007), "Love and Leashes" (2022), and "Fifty Shades of Grey" (2015).
- As tensions with China build and the US military sends more troops to the Asia-Pacific region, soldiers with the skills to fight and survive in the jungle are increasingly vital. The US Army trains soldiers for jungle warfare at the 25th Infantry Division's Lightning Academy on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Insider's chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent 12 days inside the Army's Jungle Operations Training Course, where a cross section of soldiers of various ranks and experience levels learn to fight, move, and survive in the jungle. Eighty students begin the course on day one, but only 51 will make it to graduation. The rest are dropped from the course by failing one of five critical tests. On day nine, students begin a three-day culminating exercise that incorporates the skills and lessons taught in the course, such as rope systems, rappelling, survival skills, small-unit tactics, and land navigation. Students who graduate from the course receive the Army's coveted jungle tab.
- Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut and a former director of space operations at SpaceX, reacts to 10 memorable scenes from famous space movies, rating each scenario based on its accuracy. Find out what black holes, microgravity, nitrogen jetpacks, vacuum chambers, sound waves, polycarbonate visors, centrifugal forces, the Coriolis effect, and lunar soil tell us about the accuracy of iconic space movies.
- Retired US Army drill sergeant Lamont Christian rates US military boot-camp scenes in movies and TV shows for realism. Christian breaks down the early stages of boot camp in "Full Metal Jacket" (1987) and "Cherry" (2021). He looks at weapons and physical training in "Forrest Gump" (1994), "Jarhead" (2005). "Hacksaw Ridge" (2016), and "Band of Brothers" (2001). He explains the plausibility of boot-camp scenarios in "Captain America: The First Avenger" (2011), "Private Valentine: Blonde and Dangerous" (2008) aka Major Movie Star, and "Tribes" (1970). Christian also looks at the drill sergeants and drill instructors in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) and "Stripes" (1981). His favorite movie about drill instructors is "The D.I." (1957) starring Jack Webb.
- Retired ATF agent Jay Dobyns discusses the years he worked as an undercover investigator who infiltrated the Hells Angels, an outlaw motorcycle gang, from 2001 to 2003 as part of Operation Black Biscuit. He speaks with Insider about his experience with gang and its inner workings.
- Bomb disposal expert Lloyd Davies rates the realism of bomb-disposal scenes in popular movies and TV shows. Davies addresses land mines in the TV show "SEAL Team" (2018) and other improvised explosive devices in "The Hurt Locker" (2008), "Die Hard with a Vengeance" (1995), and "Bodyguard" (2018). He breaks down the "red wire, blue wire" movie device from "Juggernaut" (1974) and "Blown Away" (1994). Would nuclear devices have countdown timers as seen in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" (2018)? Does sarin gas release the way it's shown in "The Rock" (1996)? And would a bathtub protect you from an explosion such as in "Lethal Weapon 2" (1989)?
- Maria Sivakova has been a foot model for eight years. Her feet and legs have been featured in ads for Calvin Klein, Coach, Prada, and Bliss. Her feet have earned her as much as $8,000 for a single job, which means foot care is vital to stay employed. She gets a pedicure every two weeks and avoids uncomfortable shoes like heels. Insider talked to Sivakova about what it's like to be hired as a foot model.
- The Director of Photography of Amazon's hit comedy "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" breaks down the innovative opening shot from the show's second season. We watch Midge as she answers phones and swivels around the basement of the fictional, yet swanky department store, B. Altman.
- Each move in a Hollywood fight scene can call for a different, specially rigged prop, custom-made to meet the purposes of safety and drama. We visited the prop truck of Josh Bramer, the prop master behind "Euphoria," "Everything Everywhere All At Once," Blonde," and "Don't Worry Darling," and the country's biggest prop house, ISS, to find out how stunt props are designed to sell fight scenes while keeping everyone safe on movie sets.
- Sergeant 1st Class Steven Mason is a jungle-warfare instructor for the 25th Infantry "Tropic Lightning" Division in Hawaii. Here, he reacts to 10 memorable scenes from jungle-warfare movies and rates them based on their accuracy.
- From Millie Bobby Brown's buzz cut in "Stranger Things" to Ana de Armas' Marilyn Monroe curls in "Blonde" (2022), movies and TV shows have had to transform character via wigs for decades. To find out how a master wigmaker designs full heads of hair for movies and TV shows, Insider visited the New York and Beverly Hills studios of Wigmaker Associates with founder Rob Pickens.
- Guillermo del Toro's Netflix adaptation of "Pinocchio" breathes new life into the over-century-old art form of stop-motion animation. The film achieved a new level of expressiveness in its animated puppets by marrying traditional stop-motion techniques with newer technologies. Insider spoke with "Pinocchio" puppet fabrication supervisor Georgina Hayns and animation supervisor Brian Leif Hansen about the labor of love behind the film. Hayns and Leif Hansen are world-renowned stop-motion artists who brought their expertise to the three-year undertaking that was "Pinocchio." Previously, Hayns supervised character fabrication for "Kubo and the Two Strings" (2016), "The Boxtrolls" (2014), "ParaNorman" (2012), and "Coraline" (2009). Leif Hansen was an animator on "Missing Link" (2019), "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009), and "Frankenweenie" (2012). Both artists worked on Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride" (2005), which was pioneering for its use of geared heads to express nuanced emotion in stop-motion characters, a technique adopted in "Pinocchio." Meanwhile, other stop-motion films like "Coraline" laid the groundwork for the implementation of 3D printing technology in "Pinocchio." Del Toro's team built and expanded upon all of these tools and more to light up the lived-in world of "Pinocchio".
- Columbia University explosives engineer Rodger Cornell rates 10 movie explosion scenes based on how realistic they are, examining such action and adventure movies like "Indiana Jones," "Transformers," "Django Unchained," "X-Men," "The Dark Knight," "Desperado," and more.
- Every Pixar movie has introduced its own technical problems, from creating the first fully computer-animated feature film with "Toy Story" to developing a stronger virtual camera for "WALL-E." Insider takes a look at how the unique worlds, characters, and practical challenges brought up by each Pixar movie pushed the studio to expand animation technology and breaks down the progress the studio has made over the years in different areas of computer technology, including shading, ray tracing, subdivision surfaces, subsurface scattering, translucency effects, cloth and fur simulation, and muscle movement on human characters. Here's how Pixar improved CG animation with every one of its films from 1995's "Toy Story" to 2011's "Cars 2."
- Marine biologist and doctoral student Amani Webber-Schultz rates 10 shark attacks in movies and TV shows, such as "Jaws," for realism.
- The second episode of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" centers on an epic storm in the Sundering Seas. Pulling it off involved a method that has become Hollywood's go-to approach for creating storms at sea: filming the sequence in a giant water tank.
- Ancient military historian Roel Konijnendijk rates 10 battle scenes in movies and television for realism. He discusses the accuracy of ancient-warfare battle scenes, penning enemies, and swords and buckles. He also comments on bolt artillery, bow and arrow precision, and walls of flame. Konijnendijk analyzes chariot tactics, pavises and ditches as well.
- World War II historian John Curatola rates eight battle scenes in movies and television for realism. He discusses the accuracy of World War II battle scenes from "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), starring Tom Hanks; "Dunkirk" (2017), featuring Tom Hardy; and "Band of Brothers" S1E3 (2001), with Damian Lewis. He also comments on the weaponry used in "Fury" (2014), with Brad Pitt; "Patton" (1970); and "Enemy at the Gates" (2001). Curatola analyzes the tactics displayed in "The Forgotten Battle" (2020) and "Defiance" (2008), starring Daniel Craig.
- Yuyama Shinya, a former member of the yakuza in Japan, speaks with Insider about the ways the yakuza makes money, such as extortion and protection rackets. He discusses the initiation ceremonies and rules of membership as well as the ties the yakuza has to other crime groups, such as the triads and Russian organized crime.
- World War I historian Alexander Watson rates six First World War battle scenes from movies and TV shows for realism. He discusses the accuracy of trench warfare in "All Quiet on the Western Front" (2022), featuring Daniel Brühl, and "Wonder Woman" (2017), starring Gal Gadot. He also comments on aerial combat and gas masks in "The Red Baron" (2008) and "The Lost City of Z" (2016), starring Charlie Hunnam. Watson analyzes the guns, artillery, tanks, grenades, and other weapons used in "Sajjan Singh Rangroot" (2018) and "Gallipoli: End of the Road" (2013).
- This short documentary demonstrates how the animators of "Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse" adapted old-school animation techniques, while inventing new ones to tell their story in a unique way.
- Neil Woods spent 14 years as an undercover police officer infiltrating some of the most dangerous organized crime groups in the UK. He rated undercover scenes in movies for realism, such as Martin Scorsese's "The Departed" and Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." He also rated scenes in movies and shows featuring undercover surveillance work, such as "The Bourne Ultimatum," and characters going undercover in "Argo," "Lethal Weapon," and the US version of "The Office." Woods relayed anecdotes of his time as an undercover policeman and the dangers involved in the role.
- Five New York City location scouts tell us about the spots in the city that appear the most in TV shows and movies, from "Spider-Man" to "Succession." Find out where filmmakers go to shoot scenes involving business or government meetings, why the Brooklyn Navy Yard is a popular spot for filming stunt sequences and crime scenes, why movies and shows all end up at the same place to film prison scenes, and how "Joker" director Todd Phillips chose the right Bronx street for Joaquin Phoenix's iconic staircase dance.
- In 2022, Marvel Studios stretched technology to achieve the desired effects for a number of their films. For "Top Gun: Maverick", Tom Cruise taught to fly, act and fix their makeup. For "The Batman", frequently rode in camera cars driven by stunt drivers. For "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" (2022) and "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022), stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Hemsworth, and Christian Bale were hoisted into the air thanks to wires and tuning forks. For "Bullet Train" (2022), Brad Pitt was placed into a CG-built exploding train, while "Everything Everywhere All at Once" (2022) featured specially created props like Ke Huy Quan's killer fanny pack.
- Three-time global rallycross champion and record-holding stunt driver Tanner Foust rates 10 car-chase scenes in movies for realism. Foust breaks down racing on different surfaces in "No Time to Die" (2021), "Mad Max: Fury Road" (2015) and "Die Another Day" (2002) with Pierce Brosnan. He also looks at the accuracy of car-stunt techniques in "Transporter 3" (2008), "The Dukes of Hazzard" (2005) and "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" (2015), starring Tom Cruise. He looks at whether scenes are real or done with the help of CGI in "Free Guy" (2021), "Smokey and the Bandit" (1977) and "Police Story" (1985) starring Jackie Chan. He also breaks down his own drifting techniques in "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (2006).
- Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst looks at eight pageant scenes from popular TV shows and movies and rates them based on realism. Do pageant entrants use the same beauty tricks and shortcuts as Sandra Bullock in "Miss Congeniality" (2000)? Is judging as transparent as we see in "Parks and Recreation" (2009)? And do contestants fight backstage, as in "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (1999)? Kryst also comments on "Dumplin'" (2018), "Queen America" (2018), "Misbehaviour" (2020), "Beautiful" (2000), and "Tall Girl" (2019).
- Adi Jaffe was a crystal meth dealer in Los Angeles, purchasing his supply from local meth labs and making his way up to dealing with Mexican cartels. Jaffe was arrested five times, with the final arrest resulting in his incarceration. Jaffe speaks with Insider about the practicalities of running crystal meth labs. He discusses the methods behind different methamphetamine recipes, the effects of anti-drug policies on the supply, how the cartels managed to take over the trade with super labs, and P2P meth precursor chemicals supplied from China.
- Mark "Billy" Billingham spent 27 years in the military troop leader, sniper, and jungle warfare instructor. He rates the realism of popular military scenes in movies, from "American Sniper" to "Commando" and "Black Hawk Down."
- Back in February 2020, Insider went to the Quebec Winter Carnival, the oldest winter carnival in Canada, and brings people from all over the world to experience the culture and food of Quebec. After trying all the food at the carnival, here were our top three: the Fan Favorite: Poutine; Hidden Gem: Beaver Tails and Wacky Snack: Maple Taffy.
- Some objects, like paper bags, ice cubes, and pool balls, make an unexpected amount of noise. This can be a big problem on set, as any of these unwanted sounds can get in the way of dialogue. To ensure the sound team gets the best sound possible, the prop team will create silent versions of real products. Prop master Scott Reeder replaced loud pool balls with much quieter painted racquetballs for bar scenes in shows like "Friday Night Lights." Meanwhile, Tim Schultz of Prop TRX uses vinyl and fabric to make quieter versions of grocery bags, sandwich bags, and cellophane, as seen on "Entourage," "Mike and Molly," and "The Kominsky Method." Reeder and Schultz showed us how they found quiet alternatives to some of the loudest props out there.
- Retired police captain and Special Deputy US Marshal Rasheen Peppers rates fugitive chases in movies and TV, such as "The Fugitive," for realism. Peppers breaks down the accuracy of various apprehension operations in "The Fugitive" (1993), "21 Bridges" (2019), and "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004), starring Matt Damon. He looks at the realism of surveillance and tracking methods in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014), "Breaking Bad" (2013), and "Catch Me If You Can" (2002), starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He also breaks down the safety procedures during fugitive arrests in "Salt" (2010), "Prison Break" (2005), and "U.S. Marshals" (1998), starring Tommy Lee Jones.
- Pixar broke new ground when it created "Toy Story" in 1995, but from there it still had a long way to go to perfect 3D animated characters. Over the years, Pixar's animators would figure out everything from proper human movement to skin to hair. They figured out how to smooth out skin in "Geri's Game." Then, when "The Incredibles" rolled around, they created new simulations to help control Mr. Incredible's muscle movements and Violet's long hair while also finding more accurate ways to light human skin. Violet's hair would later pave the way for long-haired characters like Colette in "Ratatouille" and the curly-haired heroine Merida of "Brave." Meanwhile, Pixar's shading tools would allow the animators to add even more striking details to their human characters' faces, while innovative new methods of animating crowd scenes came about in "Incredibles 2" and "Toy Story 4."
- There's a long history of actors playing fake twins, doppelgangers, and doubles in movies. Insider traces the evolution of doubling effects in Hollywood, from the split screens of the original "Parent Trap" to the rotoscoping and green-screen composites used on Nicolas Cage in 2002's "Adaptation," all the way up to the advanced face and head replacements of 2019's "Us." They take a look at how technology dating from the early silent-film era has advanced to make movies like "Us," "The Social Network," and more possible, and break down why the Jeremy Irons twins in David Cronenberg's 1988 movie "Dead Ringers" represented a turning point for twin effects. They show how the artists at Monsters Aliens Robots Zombies VFX cloned Paul Rudd for his 2019 Netflix series "Living with Yourself," how Rodeo FX created Jake Gyllenhaal doppelgangers for Denis Villeneuve's 2013 thriller "Enemy," and how NVIZ Studio pulled off its twinning effects on Tom Hardy in 2015's "Legend" and Seth Rogen in 2020's "An American Pickle" and show why late 19th-century optical effects laid the foundation for all this groundbreaking effects work in the 21st century.
- Omar Sharif was involved in gang activity in London. He says his involvement began at 13 years old when he was approach by a gang member. He speaks to Insider about London gangs and how they operate.
- Remi Adeleke, a former Navy SEAL, currently an actor and filmmaker, served in Naval Special Warfare and with SEAL Team 3 from 2002 to 2016. Adeleke breaks down the realism of SEAL Team scenes in movies and TV, from training to special operations, intelligence gathering and data collection, rescue operations, and direct combat. Movies Adeleke rates include "The Rock" (1996), "Tears of the Sun" (2003),"Captain Phillips" (2013), "Act of Valor" (2012), and "Navy SEALs" (1990). He comments on training scenes in "Lone Survivor" (2013) and "GI Jane" (1997). Adeleke also breaks down real-life raids and rescues in "Zero Dark Thirty" (2012), and "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" (2016).
- WWI historian Alexander Watson rates five more First World War battle scenes from movies for realism. He discusses the accuracy of the trench warfare and military strategy portrayed in "1917" (2019) and "Paths of Glory" (1957). He also comments on surprise attacks, cavalry, and helmets in "War Horse" (2011) and "Blizzard of Souls" (2019). Watson analyzes the guns, artillery, ships, destroyers, cannons, and other weapons used in "Admiral" (2008).