Be a Master of Film. Direct and DP a 35MM sync sound film in the Czech Republic.
Carry out the vision for your story in a city whose cinematic history stretches back to the early days of the art form itself. From the late 1800s, when the first Czech films were made in the region of Bohemia, through the political struggles of the 1960s that spawned the Czech New Wave, the film heritage of this country will give you a rich tapestry of material to draw from.
"You gotta be ready to work. It's a work program. You're there to make a movie, you're there to learn film. It's very much a 9:00 to 9:00 kind of schedule. On the weekends you're planning your movie. So it's pretty grueling, but it's the most enriching kind of program that's here."
— Miko Reyes, 35mm Visual Storytelling
at FAMU - Prague, fall 2016
The Tisch School of the Arts and NYU Prague offer this program in collaboration with FAMU (Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts), one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious film schools. FAMU is an independent academy which focuses on audio and visual media within a cinematic framework. FAMU alumni include Jiri Menzel (Closely Watched Trains), Milos Forman (Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Agnieszkha Holland (Europa Europa).
The FAMU faculty are active members of the Czech filmmaking community (including established cinematographers, directors, editors, scholars, and writers). Under their guidance, you will have the opportunity to study filmmaking from an entirely different tradition and culture. Additionally, the program partners with Barrandov Studios, one of the oldest and largest working film production studios in Europe (Mission Impossible, Casino Royale, The Hypnotist). From props and costumes to film scanning and production services, Barrandov Studios will provide another valuable resource in your filmmaking in the Czech Republic.
The 35mm Production Program offers the aspiring director the opportunity to study the traditions, technology, theory and practice of 35mm sync-sound film production techniques and storytelling. Students will direct one short 35mm film project and work as the director of photography on another. While shooting in Prague on 35mm film is one of the unique experiences of this program, it should be understood that this is primarily a writing/directing/production class/program with a cinematography component. Students will have the opportunity to learn working with 16mm and 35mm Arriflex film cameras, support equipment and post production services at Barrandov Studios (film scanning and supervised color correction sessions while all original 16mm and 35mm negatives are scanned).
The allotment for this program consists of: camera package, film rolls and post-production services, as well as actors, production manager, camera assistants, location, props and costumes. Please note, itemized film budgeting is not a part of this curriculum.
Students on this program will round out their curricula experience with a History and Criticism course at NYU Prague, entitled Central European Film.
It is recommended that students bring their own laptops with the editing software Adobe Premiere installed.
Your semester abroad consists of three core production courses delivered by FAMU and one additional companion courses delivered by NYU Prague, completing an 18-unit, full-time semester.
Focusing on the techniques and aesthetics of 35mm production, students are trained for hands-on camera operating, exterior and studio lighting design, exponometry, and color correction, as well as mise-en-scène and the fundamentals of cinematic language. Through this course students will engage in 16mm exercises and 35mm exercises. This course is coordinated with Directing Traditions for the production of individual, 35mm narrative film projects and includes lectures, workshops, consultations, and on-the-set supervision.
Students receive hands-on training in 16mm and 35mm filmmaking both as director and as director of photography on two separate individual projects. Using Intermediate Production as a conduit, this course includes workshops and theoretical seminars in screenwriting, directing, and editing and a weekly series of master classes. Rushes are screened with intensive faculty critique sessions, and students finish with a final off-line group edit. Each student completes a 35mm film with synchronous sound that may be submitted to various film festivals.
This course primarily prepares students for the production of their short narrative films. It explores feature-length and short films from a dramaturgical perspective to demonstrate diverse narrative techniques, dramatic structures, and genre forms as well as examines the craft of screenwriting. Aside from weekly lectures on script analysis, students prepare regular assignments. The course culminates with a production-ready short screenplay and final test in feature film analysis.
This interdisciplinary seminar is designed to discuss and question the identity of specific nations in European space, which has always been a fascinating crossroad of ideas and ideologies as well as the birthplace of wars and totalitarian systems. The course will cover masterpieces of Russian, Hungarian, German, Polish and Czech cinematography, focusing on several crucial periods of history, in particular WWII and its aftermath, showing moral dilemmas of individuals and nations under the Nazi regime as well as revealing the bitter truth of the Stalinist years. Students will be exposed to brilliant and often controversial works of film art focusing on moral dilemmas of individuals under the stressful times of history. Participants of this course will thus map the European space through the means of film trying to analyze the individual approach to historical events while getting a general picture of Europe in its crucial periods of history - and last but not least learn to appreciate European film art.
Student Arrival: Sunday, January 26, 2020 (not earlier)
Student Departure: Friday, May 22, 2020
Fall 2020
Program dates will be announced soon.
Please note: For curricular reasons, the Tisch FAMU program calendar differs from the general NYU Prague calendar.
Arrival and departure dates are subject to change.
Admissions
Prerequisites:
Film/TV majors: Sight & Sound Filmmaking and one more Sight & Sound of your choice, Production Safety & Set Protocol (FMTV-UT 101) For Tisch Film majors in the cinematography concentration: It is suggested that you participate in Prague after taking Camera I.
NYU and Visiting students: Fundamentals of Digital Filmmaking (OART-UT 560) and Fundamentals of Digital Filmmaking II (OART-UT 561) or college level experience in film production. Production Safety & Set Protocol (FMTV-UT 101) or equivalent.
