Filmmaking students have the opportunity to broaden their scope of knowledge and focus their interests in our comprehensive Two-Year Filmmaking Conservatory Program. Students enrolled in the Two-Year Conservatory Program will complete the One-Year Filmmaking Program during which each student completes a series of short films (click here for Year One description) and, following a short break, will continue for a second year where they will concentrate on Feature Filmmaking.
Comprehensive classes and hands-on workshops will address the following topics:
• Feature Screenplay
• Feature Script Development
• Feature Film Directing
• Advanced Line Producing Workshop |
• Stage Work/On-Camera Scene Workshop
• Advanced Post Production
• Applied Film Studies
• New Media
• The Business of Filmmaking
• Production Design
• Advanced Cinematography |
Each student will write, develop, pre-produce, and package a feature length script. Material created for the feature projects will be used throughout the year in classes including production workshop, line
producing, advanced post production, and directing classes.
Each student will complete one of the following feature options as a second year Thesis project:
I. Direct and edit a trailer or short based on the feature project of up to 30 minutes in length, and fill essential crew positions on short form films directed by fellow students.
II. Direct and edit a feature length film in a paid fifth semester of study at the end of Year Two, |
and fill essential crew positions on short form films directed by fellow students
III. Collaborate as Director of Photography on three feature trailer films of fellow students or one feature length film.
In addition to the Thesis Project above each student will complete the following short projects:
I. Students will broaden their skills and add to their reels by directing a television seed episode, music video, or commercial.
II. As part of the New Media class, each students will create his or her own web project |
| FEATURE SCREENWRITING |
FEATURE SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT |
| The goal of this workshop is to fully immerse each student in an intensive and focused course of study, providing a solid structure for writing and meeting deadlines. Students will learn the craft of writing by gaining an understanding of story, structure, character, conflict and dialogue. With strict adherence to the rituals of writing and learning, students will complete a first draft of a feature length screenplay of 90 to 120 pages. |
This class is designed as a creative and academic safe-haven for students to develop, re-write, and polish their scripts from the Pre-Semester Workshop. In order for a student to successfully pass this class, each project must be “script–locked” by the end of the semester, and ready for Pre- Production in Semester Four.
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| FEATURE FILM DIRECTING |
ADVANCED LINE PRODUCING WORKSHOP |
| This class is an advanced exploration of the art of directing. The special requirments of directing multiple character and plot lines, as well as sustaining a point of view over the course of a ninety minute film are examined. Students will hone their skills and prepare a number of scenes from their feature films for in-class presentation.They will workshop the scenes (both inside and outside of class) with professional actors from the local community. Instruction and in-class criticism will focus on the process of the director in working with actors. |
In this class students will analyze budgets and schedules of feature films in order to gain an understanding of these two key elements in preparing a project for production. In later sessions students will prepare a budget and a schedule for their own feature projects to be used in the production package. |
STAGE WORK
ON-CAMERA SCENE WORKSHOP |
ADVANCED POST PRODUCTION |
| In this hands-on workshop, students will gain the valuable experience of shooting in a sound stage. Working with dollies, cranes, flats, standing sets, green screens, and the many other positive elements inherent to filmmaking on a closed stage, students will be exposed to a professional filming environment. Students will shoot several in-class group projects including a music video, and are encouraged to make use of all of the tools at their disposal. |
In a series of lectures, field trips, and hands-on demonstrations, students will study the constantly evolving world of high end digital Post-Production and finishing to film. Many aspects of Post- Production including telecine, datacine, Efilm, negative cutting, conforming, optical printing, color timing, answer printing, sound editing, sound track mastering, effects compositing, ADR, foley, looping, and theatrical printing will be explored. |
| APPLIED FILM STUDIES |
NEW MEDIA |
| Through screenings and discussions of historic and modern cinema, students identify techniques they may use in their own feature films. They learn how filmmakers have approached the challenge of telling stories with moving images from silent films to the digital age. |
In the ever-changing world of the motion picture industry, it is essential for a filmmaker to keep abreast of evolutions in new media technology. New media trends are nearly impossible to predict. The climate changes so quickly that often times, revolutionary new ideas face obsolescence within months of their inception. This class will immerse students in this maelstrom of technological developments. Each student will complete a a short new media project for posting on the internet.
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| THE BUSINESS OF FILMMAKING |
PRODUCTION DESIGN |
| As burgeoning film professionals, conservatory will learn the importance of balancing their artistic inclinations with a thorough understanding of the business of filmmaking and the industry as a whole. Topics such as option agreements, financing, sound licensing, film festivals, representation, distribution and marketing will be covered. |
Production design plays an important role in the success of any production, as it provides the audience with the visual clues that establish and enhance the production content. The production designer works to create a design style or concept that will visually interpret and communicate a story, script or environment appropriate to the production content and action. This workshop is intended to help students prepare for the design requirments of their feature film projects. Topics covered in this hands-on workshop will include set design and construction, makeup design, costume design, and basic aesthetics.
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| ADVANCED CINEMATOGRAPHY |
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| As an in depth analysis of painting and sculpting with light, cinematographic control of the aesthetic, and the emotional possibilities repercussions of all aspects of mise-en-scene, this hands-on study of the art and craft of motion picture photography provides the student with multiple approaches towards a more intelligent and artistic way of shooting. Students who wish to crew as Director of Photography on any Year Two thesis films are strongly encouraged to take this elective. Students who choose to pursue a focus in Cinematography are required to take this elective. |
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Students who choose to direct and edit a feature length film will do so in an additional semester held after the end of Year Two. This is reserved entirely for Production and Post Production of the feature projects. Students who choose to direct a feature film as their thesis will be required to pay for a fifth semester. |
For more information about the Two-Year Conservatory Program, contact Michael Young (myoung@nyfa.edu) or David Klein (david@nyfa.edu) |
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