SEMESTER BREAKDOWN
Week 1: Sundance Film Festival
Semester Cinema begins with a week-long visit to the always-exciting Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah as part of our Independent Filmmaking class. Students stay at the modest but very conveniently located Chateau Apres Ski Dorm, just a minute walk from the Park City Library festival venue and two minutes from the Sundance shuttle that connects to each theater, where you will enjoy a daily routine of screenings and special events. You’ll keep a diary that discusses the films you’ve seen and the experiences you’ve had, and write a narrative account of your time at Sundance.
Weeks 2-8: Classes, Workshops, and Pre-production
Students and key faculty/mentors travel from Sundance to our filming location for seven weeks of immersive classes, film department workshops, screenings, discussions with visiting artists, casting, student filmmaking, cultural activities, and hands-on pre-production.
Our diverse and skilled pool of crafts-people who teach these courses include the film's director, director of photography, producers, screenwriters, production designer, art director, costume designer, line producer, assistant director, documentary filmmaker and editor. We also invite visiting artists, recent alumni, and faculty from our partner colleges to lead master classes and screenings.
Core Courses
1) Student Short Filmmaking, where students collaborate intensively with their peers to write, direct and produce short films over the course of two weeks.
2) Screenwriting & Directing, where we deliberate, debate and polish our script, review casting options and discuss directorial strategies.
3) Cinema Studies, where we screen and discuss three weekly films relevant to our own productions and host visiting artists to screen and discuss their work.
4) Cultural Studies, where we contextualize ad dig deep into the real life history, culture and social dynamics of our planned narrative and documentary projects.
Craft Workshops
In addition to our core courses, students choose one craft workshop that meets 3 times a week for three hours each. Here, you will learn theory and practice - all that you need to know to be successful and fully engaged in one of our six departments during production:
Coursework includes camera operation, lighting setups, sound recording and mixing, theories of cinematography, coverage, and shot listing.
Instructors: the director of photography, the first assistant camera, the gaffer, the key grip
Camera, Lights & Sound
Coursework includes script breakdowns for costuming, historical research, sourcing, sewing, inventory management, and on-set costuming adjustments for talent comfort and continuity.
Instructors: the costume designer, the assistant costume designer
Costumes
Coursework includes theories of editing, footage intake, reading and interpreting editing logs, cutting dailies, and timeline management.
Instructors: the editor
Post Production
Coursework includes budget management, assistant directing, creating shooting schedules, PA responsibilities, and talent and extra wrangling.
Instructors: the line producer, the production coordinator, the first assistant director
Producing & Production Management
Coursework includes script breakdowns for production design, historical research, prop sourcing, set dressing, set construction and painting, and inventory management.
Instructors: the production designer, the art director
Production Design & Art Direction
Coursework includes ethics of documentary, basic camera operation, basic boom operation, documentary structure and organization, and still photography.
Instructor: the documentary director
Documentary & Behind-the-Scenes
NOTE: Students who wish to switch from their initial choice are permitted to do so within the first couple weeks of class. Similarly, students who wish to rotate into a second position during production are given due consideration and support, where possible.
Weeks 9-14: Film Production
Following our seven weeks of class time, students will work with our expanded group of mentor/professionals to launch final pre-production and production of our planned film. We’ll shoot for six five-day weeks.
Students work each day in their departments under the supervision of their department heads. Our emphasis continues to be on your development as a vital part of an essential team - undertaking an ambitious project. We’re making a real movie!
Students especially interested in film directing will also be invited to rotate into the Director’s Circle where you will consult and discover, alongside the director, specific opportunities and challenges presented by the scene being prepared and shot.
Many students say they come away with a profound sense of accomplishment, having taken ownership of a substantial part of something larger than any of us - the production of an ambitious feature film that combines the talents of nearly 80 cast and crew members.
Academic Credit
Semester Cinema students earn up to 18 college credits as follows:
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1 credit for The Sundance Experience
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2 credits for Student Short Filmmaking
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3 credits for Screenwriting and Directing
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2 credits for Cinema Studies
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2 credits for Cultural Studies
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2 credits for your hands-on craft workshop
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6 credits for our six-week production period
These academic credits are fully transferable back to your home college, with allocations based on each institution's policies and preferences - in film/theater/arts, humanities and social sciences.