CTPR 285
COURSE OBJECTIVE:
This class is about developing this super-skill in a practical manner. It is an introduction to a useful
method of “thinking outside the box.” We will have lectures on various filmmaking practices, discuss them, and see what creative work can stem directly from those practices. Students will generate cinematic experiments out of fundamental foci. We will ask you to also consider genre in your work. You will be choosing a genre whether you realize it or not, so better to be deliberate. Genre is like a package of expectations the audience brings to a piece of cinema, and using it helps us to know what kind of emotional journey we are trying to produce for our viewers. Creating an emotional experience for others is at the core of the professional filmmaker’s work,, and employing genre to help you, is a beneficial tactic.
01
Self Portrait
Conceptualized, filmed and edited in an hour, students will shoot and then screen a 1 minute long “instant project” during the first day of class, to introduce themselves. They will have the option of showing a small object that represents them, or is very meaningful to them, as a prompt for them to talk about. However, they may choose any means of using the 1 minute to express themselves including abstract or nontraditional means.
02
Q and Me
Focus: Location
Individual Project
Students will choose a genre and explore making a film that takes place in a single location (student may use their dorm room as a location but it cannot represent a dorm room, they would have to dress it as something different). The single location plays a significant part in or is a “character” in their story. Students will encourage students to explore location and space as a character in their story.
03
Our Last Summer
Focus: Performer
Individual Project
Assignment: Students will identify a performer that they will base this project on. Assessing the qualities and skill set of
the performer, the students will then create a 1-2 minute piece of cinema that creates an emotional moment, within their selected genre for the project.
06
Loop
Focus: Loop
Pairs
Students will create a looping effect. Students must form pairs and ideate, shoot, and edit in 1 hour.
07
Tarschlusspanik
Focus: Special Effects
Group Project
08
Signs of Love
Group Project