No-Nonsense Filmmaking: An Open Textbook That Celebrates Process, Curiosity, and Creativity
A free, open-access filmmaking textbook by Jessica Livingstone & Mischa Livingstone that demystifies film production for all students.
Filmmaking isn’t a linear process, and No-Nonsense Filmmaking isn’t a linear textbook. Created by Jessica and Mischa Livingstone using Pressbooks, this free, open-access resource invites students to explore the craft from any starting point, encouraging curiosity, experimentation, and the confidence to develop their own creative process.
The project began with a simple observation: the handouts the Livingstones had created for their students could become something much larger. As they explain:
“Kristine R. Brancolini, Dean of LMU’s William H. Hannon Library was the first to see the potential of adapting our basic course handouts into an OER. Her vision extended well beyond our classroom, recognizing that what began as simple teaching tools could become freely accessible resources for learners anywhere.”
The Livingstones
That vision became No-Nonsense Filmmaking, a visually distinctive resource that welcomes learners from all backgrounds while demystifying every stage of the filmmaking process.
The book covers the full arc of film production across eight sections:
- Spoilers Ahead — The Creative Process, Content vs. Form, The Medium
- Cinematic Space — The Illusion, The Toolbox
- Camera — Nuts and Bolts, B-FLAT
- Light — Creative Control, Three-Point Lighting
- Sound — Production Sound, Postproduction Sound
- The Shot — Shot Size, Composition, Angle, Movement
- The Edit — A Digital World, Continuity, Screen Direction, Montage
- The Stages of Production — Development, Preproduction, Production, Postproduction, Distribution
The book was peer reviewed and is currently being used across all sections of multiple classes at Loyola Marymount University, with adoption growing through word of mouth. It’s also being used at Portland State University and California State University Dominguez Hills.
“No-Nonsense Filmmaking is the introductory filmmaking textbook I’ve been looking for. Comprehensive yet unintimidating, it combines technical knowledge, aesthetics, best practices, and a practical creative mindset with a tone that welcomes newcomers. It supports every part of the curriculum in my program’s required introductory production course. Jessica and Mischa Livingstone offer not just instruction, but encouragement—helping students build skills, confidence, and creative judgment from day one. This is an essential textbook for introductory filmmaking education.”
Courtney Hermann, Professor of Film, Portland State University, and co-author of Directing the Documentary, 8th Edition
Start from anywhere
Most textbooks assume a linear path: chapter one first, then two, then three, and so on. No-Nonsense Filmmaking was designed to work differently. Because filmmaking itself is non-linear—full of tangents, rabbit holes, and unexpected connections—the book invites students to come at topics from any direction.
This structure was an intentional pedagogical statement and the book reflects how film students actually learn: by following curiosity, looping back, and discovering that everything in the craft is connected.
A pedagogy of questions
The authors describe the book’s core purpose simply: its job is not to provide all the answers. Rather, its job is to help students figure out what to ask.
“Provide a fertile ground for asking questions.”
The Livingstones
In an era where information is everywhere, the art of asking questions is an important skill for students to learn. Think about how you search for something online: the quality of what you find depends on how well you know what you’re looking for. No-Nonsense Filmmaking is written in that spirit. It opens doors rather than closes them, offering starting points and inviting students to dig deeper on their own terms.
This approach is also deeply inclusive. A non-authoritative voice doesn’t position the text (or the instructor) as the final word. It positions the student as an active participant in their own learning, wherever they’re coming from and whatever their prior experience with film.
Process over outcome
At the heart of the book is a conviction that what matters isn’t whether you make a good film. What matters is that you understand and celebrate your own process.
“The goal is to make anyone reading this think ‘oh, my process is okay’ — trying to build confidence in a field where that’s hard to come by. The only thing that is relevant is that you have your process, we don’t care about ‘good.’ Everyone makes bad films. I hope.”
The Livingstones
This philosophy shapes how the book is written, from the warm, approachable tone to the recurring Student Perspectives sections throughout. By foregrounding student work and process alongside professional examples, the authors make space for students to see their own messy, evolving creative journeys as valid and worth celebrating.
Filmmaking can be an intimidating field to enter. No-Nonsense Filmmaking aims to lower that barrier. Not by simplifying the craft, but by normalizing the struggle and uncertainty that every filmmaker, at every level, experiences.
Creative decisions: illustrations & voice
There are several creative decisions throughout that bring a distinct charm and warmth to this text. The book’s original illustrations, which were created by Vanessa Newell, a colleague in LMU’s film department, use animals, aliens, and even fruit as their cast of characters. This choice helps create a genuinely universal visual world, free from the tokenism that can creep in when human representation becomes a checklist rather than a genuine reflection of a community.
What started as doodles spotted in a faculty meeting became a visual language for the whole book—playful, organic, and deliberately un-authoritative. Newell’s illustrations help model the book’s philosophy that learning should feel approachable and alive.
The writing voice follows the same logic. Rather than adopting the commanding tone of a traditional textbook, the authors write the way a knowledgeable peer would speak or the way you’d phrase a search query when you’re genuinely curious about something. That informality is intentional and inclusive. It signals that this text is for everyone, not just those who already feel like they belong in the room.
“The book’s clear, approachable voice helps students grasp theory faster and translate it into stronger creative and technical decisions, with many students using the book as reference well beyond the classroom.”
Eduardo Carmona, Senior Lecturer at Loyola Marymount University and California State University Dominguez Hills
Interested in assigning or adapting this book? There is an adoption form linked directly on the book’s homepage.
A note about funding
No-Nonsense Filmmaking was created through the U.S. Department of Education-funded Open Educational Resources for Social Justice initiative, which supports the creation of openly licensed educational resources that expand access and remove barriers to learning. The project was made possible through the support of Loyola Marymount University’s William H. Hannon Library and Dean Kristine R. Brancolini.
Image Credits: Illustrations featured in this article are from No-Nonsense Filmmaking by Jessica Livingstone and Mischa Livingstone, illustrated by Vanessa Newell. Copyright © 2025. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Used with permission from the authors.