Help with various smoke effects

I have been spending my entire senior year of high school creating a sci-fi short film for virtual reality. It is coming along very well but I am struggling to understand Blender’s smoke simulation engine. Thus far I have completed about 3.5 minutes of footage and I estimate that the completed film will be somewhere around 25 minutes. I’m looking for someone to assist me with not only what I’ve completed so far, but with the rest of the project as well. I’ve watched a handful of tutorials but I’m obviously missing something as I just get a black, unmoving blob. The only thing I seem to be able to change is the size of the blob. I definitely need help and appreciate your service.

If you’d like to see some of my work, please click the link in my signature bar to visit my YouTube channel.

Thank you for your help!