Busy Barcelona

Amateur film is the low-budget hobbyist art of film practiced for passion and enjoyment and not for business purposes.

The international organization for amateur film makers is UNICA (Union International du Cinema Non Professionel); in the United States the American Motion Picture Society (AMPS), in Canada the Society of Canadian Cine Amateurs (SCCA), in the UK it is the Film & Video Institute. These organizations arrange annual festivals and conventions.

Amateur films were usually shot on 16 mm film or on 8 mm film until the advent of cheap video cameras or digital equipment. The advent of digital video and computer based editing programs greatly expanded the technical quality achievable by the amateur and low-budget filmmaker. Amateur video has become the choice for the low-budget filmmaker.

Double Dutch

Digital Video Effects, commonly called DVEs, are visual effects that provide comprehensive video image manipulation, in the same form as optical printer effects in film. DVE effects differ from switcher effects (often referred to as "analog effects") such as wipes or dissolves, in that they deal primarily with resizing, distortion or movement of the primary visual image.