filmmaking studio 1
undergraduate Course

This course is an opportunity for the serious beginner to learn the fundamentals of filmmaking. Students respond to conceptual and aesthetic challenges posed broadly as problems of time, movement, space, place, and point of view that students solve in both short exercises and concentrated study. Weekly assignments, discussions, exercises, lectures, virtual field trips and critiques further students’ understanding of filmmaking. Consideration is given to the historical and emergent potentials of filmmaking as students become familiar with diverse modes of cinematic expression and better equipped to discover and realize their own creative voices. A range of examples are discussed and understood as responses to technical limits and possibilities as well as to social, cultural, economic, and political contexts. By the end of the course, students will have gained experience that prepares them for more ambitious personal film projects at the next level of the production course sequence.

Required software/hardware: Students should have access to a video capture device, such as a DSLR, mirrorless camera, camcorder or smartphone and non-linear editing software (NLE) like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Premiere Rush, HitFilm 3 Express, iMovie, DaVinci Resolve 12, Lightworks, AVID Free DV, Shotcut or Sony Vegas.

Image credit: Dee Harper