Cin­e­matog­ra­phy

In a dark room — frame, for­mat, focal length, per­spec­tive, posi­tion, move­ment, tem­po, rhythm, colour, con­trast, and light; emo­tion, atmos­phere, char­ac­ters, and sto­ry — Cin­e­matog­ra­phy.

Togeth­er, in their first aca­d­e­m­ic year at the DFFB, all stu­dents learn the the­o­ret­i­cal and prac­ti­cal basics of film­mak­ing. The focus is on com­mu­ni­ca­tion and col­lab­o­ra­tion, and stu­dents dis­cov­er how to offer one anoth­er pro­duc­tive feed­back and crit­i­cism on their projects. Films are made togeth­er and for one anoth­er. Side by side, stu­dents learn new process­es, devel­op their visions, try dif­fer­ent approach­es, take risks, and dare to fail.

In the sec­ond aca­d­e­m­ic year, cin­e­matog­ra­phy stu­dents receive a thor­ough edu­ca­tion in the tech­ni­cal and cre­ative aspects of their craft. The DFFB believes that it is essen­tial for stu­dents of this spe­cial­i­sa­tion to com­plete­ly mas­ter fun­da­men­tal cin­e­matog­ra­phy tech­niques in order to ful­ly express their artis­tic visions. For exam­ple, stu­dents learn tech­niques per­tain­ing to cam­era move­ments and light­ing set-ups, and devel­op an under­stand­ing of space when film­ing.

Learn­ing takes place with the newest dig­i­tal equip­ment, but spe­cial empha­sis is placed on work­ing with clas­si­cal ana­logue 16 mm and 35 mm film tech­nol­o­gy.

Cin­e­matog­ra­phy stu­dents must also demon­strate respect for sto­ry struc­ture, hard work, and col­lab­o­ra­tion. The goal is for stu­dents to devel­op an approach to their craft that is both clear and indi­vid­ual, and that abides to the fun­da­men­tal ele­ments of film­mak­ing.

Cin­e­mat­ic worlds and atmos­pheres are devel­oped, dis­cussed, and brought to life. The dif­fi­cult but excit­ing and cre­ative process of work­ing with light begins and is con­tin­u­ous­ly devel­oped. Stu­dents learn how to read scripts and break them down into a cin­e­mat­ic lan­guage that serves the sto­ry. They also learn how to work as team play­ers and how to col­lab­o­rate and com­mu­ni­cate with actors and direc­tors. They devel­op con­fi­dence in their own skills on set, as well as in the skills of oth­ers.

In the main stud­ies pro­gramme, there are a vari­ety of prac­ti­cal and the­o­ret­i­cal class­es (see syl­labus), which are taught by renowned cin­e­matog­ra­phers and direc­tors. All of these class­es offer stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to expand their skills and fur­ther devel­op their cre­ative visions.

 

Michael Bertl