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Making films isn’t just an art. It takes years of practice to cultivate a consistent craft and keen eye for filmmaking. It’s what separates great cinematography from cliché movie making. You’ve probably heard the term a million times, but what is cinematography?
MAIN OPTION
The aim of this course is to provide students with a solid foundation and functional knowledge of cinematography through predominantly practical tasks and in-depth discussions of their own work with the course leader and each other. Through a “hands-on” approach students will learn and apply fundamental techniques of lighting, and the basic methods for moving the camera and why. This course aims to help students understand the role of the “Director of Photography” and how they can add emotion and visual style to the look of a scene through light and in-camera techniques. We will be looking at auteur directors such as Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino & Martin Scorsese, among many others and we will be trying to recreate their signature style to best understand how they shape their visions into a film. We will be analysing the shot choices for different films and how a cinematographer can invoke emotion by these choices. Each week we will be creating a short “vlog” in addition to the weekly assignments, with the aim being to chart progress and utilise techniques learned. This course will be fairly demanding in terms of time and application, but rewarding in that you will see a progression in your skills very quickly and be able to use these skills for many aspects of your life, both socially and professionally. We will also incorporate practical demonstrations and assignments into the classes as well as looking at techniques involved in different mediums; including animation.
ANIMATION OPTION
If any students would like to explore making a short animated film (30 seconds – 1 minute max.) then the assignments structure across the course will be slightly different. Each week the students using this technique will have to complete each stage of the animation film pipeline, from script to finished film; with 3.5 weeks devoted to the animation itself, whilst still paying attention to the feedback and cinematography rules we learn throughout the course. Please carefully check the “assignments” section in each session for more details.
COMPETITION OPPORTUNITY
There is also the opportunity for students who would like to further their ambitions for a career in film or to pursue it as a serious hobby, to submit to the Cinemira
film festival here in Budapest (at which some former Milestone students have attended, submitted films and even won awards) and to get some extra help and/or feedback from myself and the students on the course, in order to push them to make their best work with the idea being to submit to this and other youth film festivals across Europe.
FEEDBACK
Students are also encouraged to share their work as well as their WIP (work in progress) films as well as talk with each other, ask and answer questions and start discussions as well as give each other feedback through the Forum function on Canvas. This will also form the basis for some of the lectures and feedback in the sessions and the amount of feedback both in class and on the forum will be considered and be reflected in the students’ grades.
Module leader: Crisp David
