Filmmaking (specialization)
Learning is based around short films & entire course is very practical oriented with each student getting ample hands-on experience. The 35 mm DSLR has opened-up exciting frontiers in filmmaking. The amazing power of the DSLR to capture high-quality HD video has caught the fancy of filmmakers all across the world. With the advent of digital age, the affordable DSLRs brought professional filmmaking within the reach of the common man. These small but powerful cameras fuelled the imagination of thousands of creative minds, passionate about filmmaking. Even well known filmmakers have begun using the DSLR to make TV commercials and feature films.
While there is a huge interest in independent filmmaking in India, there are hardly any creatively driven and technologically sound courses for DSLR filmmaking in India. For all those passionate about Independent filmmaking, Moonlight Films and Theatre Studio brings one of the most unique and exciting DSLR filmmaking courses. Keeping with the spirit of Independent filmmaking, Moonlight’s filmmaking course prepares the students to become complete filmmakers, who will be able to create professionally made films with highest production quality even on a limited budget. Professional filmmakers, cinematographers, sound designers, editors, etc, who are all working professionals in the film industry will guide and empower the students to create high-quality, broadcast standard films from their DSLR cameras with the effective use of knowledge and improvisation.
All students learn all the important film-making skills, and must practise them in a working unit. There is no film career, which is not greatly enriched by an active practical knowledge of the other specialisations.
Students will be required to make a short film as a group project, so being a good team player is a must for this course.
They are taught to look at film history, and a great range of contemporary and classic work, in varying critical contexts, but most importantly as the outcome of practical strategies that they can use for framing, criticising and developing their own take on screen storytelling.
They develop their own work, and then get the opportunity to test it out freely with colleagues, teachers and professional practitioners in workshops designed to connect ideas and outcomes and in which their work is criticised without applying any further restriction than their own growing judgement and consciousness of effect and context.
In the film exercises students shoot their own scripts, directed in their own way. The content of all films is fully discussed and criticised, but ultimately the students have complete freedom of expression. This is an opportunity to exercise their creative abilities, for them to see their ideas brought to life, with professional actors, on film, and under production conditions appropriate to the developing skills of the crew, culminating in the 35mm studio film of the standard industry production.
The film exercises are programmed by the college, and are tightly scheduled, requiring the students to learn to work under time discipline. Crews are compact, and consequently there is always need for assistants from the lower terms. This creates a constant sense of excitement, a constant presence of film-making, which becomes the atmosphere and life of the School, a tremendous motivating force.
Students are continually learning from each other and from the immense range of practical and aesthetic problems the different films offer. This process continues all day, often through the evening, and flows between the sets and locations, the viewing theatres, editing suites, the coffee bar and back again, all term.
Students get a chance to shoot their own short film with the most latest Canon 5d Mark 1V professional DSLR.
Selected Students will be getting a chance to be an Assistant Director Intern for our upcoming movie production, Marksheet, and will be thoroughly involved in the pre production and post production phase.
Course content
History of Film and Film Genres
Understanding Fiction-based Filmmaking and Documentary Filmmaking
(I) Pre-Production
- a) Script Writing
- b) Storyboarding
- c) Casting, Location Scouting, Scheduling etc
(II) Production
- a) Direction.
- b) Working with Actors.
- c) Working with DoP
- d) Production Design.
- e) Camera and Cinematography
- f) Lights.
- g) Sound Recording.
- h) Difference in Production techniques for different genres
- i) Documentary Filmmaking
(III) Post Production
- a) Editing.
- b) Special Effects.
- c) Sound Design
- d) Music.
(IV) Screening of final project