Pro­duc­ing

Pro­duc­ing films is a huge­ly chal­leng­ing but nec­es­sary under­tak­ing. The world is already over­flow­ing with audio­vi­su­al mate­r­i­al, and it is tempt­ing for artists to repro­duce what they have already seen. Through work­ing with oth­ers, pro­duc­ing stu­dents cre­ate an envi­ron­ment of col­lab­o­ra­tion and dis­cov­ery, as well as struc­tures that allow for vision­ary cin­e­ma to come to life.

At the DFFB, we edu­cate and train coura­geous pro­duc­ers who under­take this jour­ney with grace and self-aware­ness. They exam­ine cur­rent mod­els of pro­duc­tion, and research and cre­ate new ones. They devel­op their capac­i­ty to dis­cern and sep­a­rate the essen­tial from the non-essen­tial. They take full respon­si­bil­i­ty for their projects and pro­duce with an eye on the big pic­ture.

But a pro­duc­er who tru­ly wish­es to suc­ceed must also be will­ing to fail. The DFFB wish­es for its stu­dents to under­stand fail­ure as a nec­es­sary and inevitable part of learn­ing – this is a core val­ue of the acad­e­my.

Dur­ing the first aca­d­e­m­ic year of the basic stud­ies pro­gramme, pro­duc­ing stu­dents learn togeth­er with stu­dents of the oth­er spe­cial­i­sa­tions, and acquaint them­selves with all phas­es and dis­ci­plines of the film­mak­ing process. Dur­ing the sec­ond aca­d­e­m­ic year of this pro­gramme, they are ready to assume their duties as pro­duc­ers on var­i­ous short film projects – from over­see­ing the sto­ry devel­op­ment to the finalised film, and beyond.

Pro­duc­ing stu­dents work con­tin­u­ous­ly and col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly on the devel­op­ment of project ideas. The aim of this approach is to devel­op meth­ods for brain­storm­ing ideas and sto­ry­lines, and to fur­ther stu­dents’ capac­i­ties to analyse nar­ra­tive struc­tures. They also learn how to cast films, break down a script, access dailies and rough cuts, and nav­i­gate all phas­es of post-pro­duc­tion and dis­tri­b­u­tion. Pro­duc­ing stu­dents attend film mar­kets with their projects. For exam­ple, they attend the Berli­nale as part of a men­tor­ship pro­gramme along­side an expe­ri­enced pro­duc­er.

Pro­duc­ing stu­dents are expect­ed to also work as pro­duc­tion man­agers, and to plan, organ­ise, and man­age short film projects. They should be able to move between the roles of pro­duc­er and pro­duc­tion man­ag­er with ease.

In the main stud­ies pro­gramme, pro­duc­ing stu­dents will be able to deep­en and expand their skills through class­es on dra­matur­gy, genre films, nego­ti­a­tion, con­tract draft­ing, and sales. They over­see their own film projects, which can include doc­u­men­tary films and tele­vi­sion series, as pro­duc­ers and/​or pro­duc­tion man­agers.

In coop­er­a­tion with expe­ri­enced pro­duc­ers and pro­duc­tion man­agers, pro­duc­ing stu­dents will pre­pare projects that are ready to be financed. They have the pos­si­bil­i­ty to explore and exam­ine a wide range of financ­ing and dis­tri­b­u­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties as well as var­i­ous finan­cial options for a film’s release and for recoup­ing costs. At the end of their main stud­ies, the ground­work has been estab­lished for start­ing their own pro­duc­tion com­pa­nies, and the stu­dents now have a bet­ter under­stand­ing of their unique char­ac­ter­is­tics and tal­ents as pro­duc­ers.

The VGF-DFFB Inter­na­tion­al Pro­duc­ers’ Pro­gramme offers sem­i­nars, work­shops, and vis­its to major inter­na­tion­al mar­kets to pro­duc­ing stu­dents through­out their stud­ies. Stu­dents of the main stud­ies pro­gramme can gain prac­ti­cal work expe­ri­ence through intern­ships, or explore posi­tions with­in the DFFB Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val in the areas of curat­ing, mar­ket­ing, and dis­tri­b­u­tion. In the final year of study, stu­dents are also sup­port­ed through a men­tor­ing pro­gramme to pre­pare them to leave the DFFB and enter the film indus­try.