HU Credits:
2
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
Communication & Journalism
Semester:
1st Semester
Teaching Languages:
Hebrew
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Professor Aner Preminger
Coordinator Office Hours:
Monday 15:00-16:30 Monday 15:00-16:00, by appointement
Teaching Staff:
Prof Aner Preminger
Course/Module description:
The course is based on training and practicing the basic rules of films directing: Script analysis; directing actors; directing the camera; using the sound track; props; and art as basic directing tools. The students practice short films exercises between classes and review them during class. One starts from directing a single shot, then a scene and finally a whole film.
Course/Module aims:
To understand films from the filmmaker's point of view. To understand the filmmaker's choices and dilemmas in the process of creation.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Film analysis from the filmmaker's perspective. Understanding of the different elements and tools that are used by the filmmaker: cinematography, lighting, editing, props, art design, locations, mis-en-scene, motion, time, space, sound.
Attendance requirements(%):
100
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
The approach of the course is of total filmmaking.
I.e. integrating all the elements of making a film: production, writing, actor's directing, camera's directing, art, sound and editing. All these, from the director's point of view and from the perspective that directing a film is giving a screenplay an interpretation.
Course/Module Content:
Scene exercises:
First option for the student's choice a fiction excercise:
1. 1 shot exercise. 2-4 minutes long. The shot is supposed to be a moving shot. No script. The story of the exercise should be original and based on the camera movement.
2. Scene exercise – this exercise is a 4 steps exercise. All 4 exercises are based on a given scene. Each student chooses 3-4 minutes scene from an existing film. The scene should have exactly 2 characters. It should include a dialogue and its conflict should be clear to the student. This scene will be shot in 4 different exercises under different constrains:
2.A – 1 static shot. The only movement is the actor's blocking. The directorial choices are: mise-en-scene; optimal camera angle & lens and actors' work.
2.B – 1 shot. The camera is fixed in space, but all movements around a fixed point: pan, tilt, zoom are allowed and are supposed to be used.
2. C – 1 Shot. All Camera movements are allowed. i.e. the dolly or tracking is added to the possibilities in 2.B.
2.D – multiple shots scene. The scene is shot with the concept of editing in mind.
Notes:
1. In exercise 2 (A-D) in all 4 variations the script is the same as far as the dialogue is concerned. The actors are also the same in all 4 variations.
The locations must be different for each variation, as well as some of the arts and props. The interpretation of the scene can (but not must) be different in each variation and can (but not must) be different of the original scene. One of the aims of this exercise is to find out the relationship between camera movements, editing possibilities, blocking and location, art and props usage, and the correlation between all those and the scene interpretation.
2. In exercise 1 the script should be original and inspired by the camera movement, whereas, in exercise 2 the script is given and the director chooses it and give it an interpretation.
In exercise 1 the visual creates the story. The emphasis is on the gaze.
In exercise 2 the story leads the visual choices. The emphasis is on the interpretation of the story and on the different ways to tell it in order to control one's interpretation. Working on existing scene is important for making sure that the class focuses on directing and not on writing.
2nd option for the student's choice - a documentery excercise:
Documentary project
The students are paired in couples and each one is doing a 10 minutes documentary portrait of his/her partner.
Intermediate assignments:
1. A research in which the two partners exchange roles: interviewer, researcher, writer, director – interviewed, film's subject. Each student bring into class 5 minutes of filmed interview of the film's subject as well as a one page description of the interviewed as it is supposed to be in the final film.
2. 1-2 pages of a shooting plane, locations, actions, interviews which will project best the portrait's subject. The sound should be planed as sync interviews, non-sync interviews, other voices, other sounds.
3. Assembly of the filmed footage.
4. Rough cut.
5. The final film – 10 minutes portrait.
Required Reading:
Filmography:
Perlov's diary
The 17th victime
Additional Reading Material:
Bibliography
Bazin, A., 1971, What is cinema?, essays selected and translated by Hugh Gray,
Vol. I & II, University of California Press, Berkeley,
Los Angeles, London.
Chion, M., 1994, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen. Trans. Claudia Gorbman. New York: Columbia University Press.
Chion, M., 1999, The Voice in Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press. Clurman, H., 1974, On Directing, Collier Books, Ney-York.
Clurman, H., 1983, The Fervent Years – The group Theatre & the 30's,
Da Capo Press, Inc, New-York.
Cole, T., & Chinoy., H. K., Editors, 1981, Directors on Directing, The Bobbs-Mrrill Company, Inc., Indianapolis.
Hauser, F., & Reich, R., 2003, Note on Directing, RCR Creative Press, New-York.
Mamet, D., 1991, On Directing Film, Penguin books, New York.
Nizhny, V., 1979, Lessons with Eisenstein, Translated by Ivor Montagu & Jay Leyda, Da Capo Press, Inc, New-York.
Truffaut, F., 1967, Hitchcock/Truffaut, Simon & Schuster, New York.
Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 20 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 70 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 10 %
Assignment's quality
Additional information:
N/A
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