Post Graduate Program in Filmmaking

This course covers each aspect of filmmaking from both theoretical and practical standpoints. Students graduate from this course ready to work in various roles in the film and television industries.

Film is perhaps the most collaborative of art forms. While a painter can work alone with an easel and brush, a filmmaker needs actors, camera operators, sound recorders, make-up specialists – a whole team. The ISFM Post-Graduate Program in Filmmaking is designed to give mature students a thorough grounding in all major aspects of filmmaking, allowing them to 1) choose a career path in film that most suits and delights them and 2) know all aspects of how a filmmaking team operates, which is absolutely crucial as a director or producer but extremely helpful no matter what area of filmmaking someone focuses on.

From the day students arrive for their first class at ISFM, they are handed a state-of-the-art laptop fully loaded with editing, sound-mixing, screenwriting, and producing software. This becomes a critical component of the Post-Graduate Program in Filmmaking; students are expected, virtually from the first day, to start writing, producing, shooting and editing projects. Even as students make these projects, they are given a solid, theoretical grounding in all aspects of filmmaking – from how to develop plots, themes and character arcs to why a push-in is effective in some shots and a zoom-in in others.

COURSE DATES

• TBA

DURATION

This course can be studied full-time or part-time.

10 Months Full Time

• 8 months of full-time classes. Monday to Friday 9am – 3pm
• 2 month internship

OR

 14 Months Part Time

• 14 months of part-time classes. Tues/Thurs 7-930pm, Sunday 9am-1pm
• Internship optional after completing classes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Screenwriting

It’s been said that a great film can be made only from a great screenplay, and we at ISFM fully believe this. A screenplay is the heart and soul of a film. In this course, students will learn the concepts of theme, plot, character arc, act structure – all the basic elements of writing a great screenplay — and they’ll learn how to apply them.

Subjects include:

• Theme & Premise
• Fundamentals of Screenwriting
• The 3 Act Structure
• Plot Construction
• The Protagonist & the Antagonist
• Opening scenes and climax
• Scene Design, Dialogue.

Directing

If the producer is the one who decides to raise money and build a ship, then the director is the person he hires to captain that ship. A director is the driving force each day behind what, exactly, gets captured by the camera. In the ISFM Post-Graduate Program in Filmmaking, students will learn how to work with actors, what shots to use (and which ones to avoid), how to tell a story using moving images, the concepts of real time versus film time, how to block a scene, and how to command a set.

Subjects include:

• Role of a Director
• Working with Producers
• Understanding the Theme & Narrative Structure
• Casting & Directing Actors
• Staging a Scene with a single shot
• Analysing Films from a Director’s pov
• Film time & Real time
• Role of an Assistant Director & Set procedures

Producing

The producer is the boss. The person who is the driving force behind the film getting created. He hires everyone, and he has the power to fire anyone. With all this responsibility, he better know everyone’s role, and how well they are fulfilling those roles, from the hair and make-up people, to the cinematographer, to the actors, to the sound mixers, etc., etc. In this course, students will learn all aspects of producing, from developing a script, to raising money, to hiring a director, and to budgeting for the film and running the whole show.

Subjects include:

• Role of a Producer
• Understanding the Script
• Script Breakdown, Scheduling & Budgeting
• Process of Film Making
• Production Formats & Equipment
• Locations & Casting
• Cash Flow
• Interacting with Writer and Director
• Interacting with Actors & Star System

Editing

There’s an old saying in the film industry: a film is made or broke in the editing suite. A great editor knows how to piece together the thousands of images and sounds captured during production to create an emotionally captivating, driving film. In the ISFM course, students will study and learn various styles of editing by watching great films, and then apply those lessons to their own projects.

Subjects include:

• Role of an Editor
• Principles of communication
• Genres & Styles
• Using the digital editing system
• Overview of digital post production
• Analysis various styles by watching films
• Basics of Linear Editing

Sound

A creaking door. The scream of a police siren in the distance. The howling of the wind outside a window. Sound can provoke emotions at a more primal – and thus, more powerful level – than images can. Because of this, it’s an amazingly useful tool to directors and sound mixers who want to use sound to create a tone or provoke a specific emotional response. In the Post-Graduate Program in Filmmaking, students learn how to record sound in the field, how to mix it in post-production, and how to use it to drive home the emotional moment of a film. They’ll also learn the pros and cons of sync sound versus dubbed sound, and why the industry is moving towards the former.

Subjects include:

• Principles and Fundamentals
• Introduction to Digital Audio
• Working with Dialogue
• Equalisation
• Sampling and Looping
• Rubberbanding
• Overlapping Sound
• Sync Sound vs Dubbed sound

Cinematography

Cinematographers are wizards of light and movement. They can take a dull, uninspiring image and with the use of the right lights, the right filters, and the right positioning, turn that image into art. In this class, students will learn the basics of using a camera and camera motion, different types of lighting and three-point lighting, lenses, filters, and the role of a cinematographer on a set.

Subjects include:

• Role of a Cinematographer
• Camcorder demo & Practicals
• Types of Lights & 3 Point Lighting
• Theme & Lighting
• Lensing & Composition
• Camera Movement, Grip & Gear
• Use of Filters and Tonalities
• Cinematography for Television

Acting

Actors are the great muses of modern times. They let an audience experience places and feelings they might never come close to experiencing other than thru the body motion and words of an actor. In the ISFM course, students will learn how to find the emotional context of a scene, and how to convey those emotions to an audience.

Subjects include:

• Principles of Acting
• Vocabulary of film makers for Actors
• Understanding the script and character
• Working with Director
• Working with Producer
• Auditioning

FEE

Rs. 4.37 lakhs + taxes. Payable in four installments. Each student will receive a MacBook pro with Final Cut Studio software for editing and sound and EP Scheduling, Budgeting & Screenwriter for screenwriting and production.

FACULTY

Please contact admissions department for faculty details details.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Click here to download the Short Course Brochure