First Time for Film
Part of the Film curriculum at CET is a lighting exercise conducted inside FAMU Studio. This is a three-day intensive workshop where students film different scenes and work with different lighting scenarios. It sounds rather daunting but it is actually a lot of fun. In our workshop we tended to get rather creative and silly with our scenes, utilizing a whole array of fun and interesting props. It is also a great way for the students to experience the richness and depth professional lighting can ad to a scene.
What is really special about the lighting exercise is that it is often the first time any of us ever really use a film camera. That’s right, in this program we shoot on actual 16mm film, grain, silver halides, gelatin and all. FAMU is old school and digital video devices are not tolerated.
For us beings of the twenty first century, the concept of shooting on film is rather daunting and nonsensical. After all, painters at art school do not start painting on caves because that is how it was once done. It is natural to be nervous and apprehensive, especially when considering all you have to be insecure about when using film.
Once you start to handle the camera, all the limitations become apparent. You cannot play back what you shot so you have no idea if it was good. You will find that it is incredibly easy to accidently overexpose your filmstock. A roll of film goes by very quickly so you are limited in the number of takes. Once it is processed the quality is not all that much better than what you get shooting on a DSLR.
Why bother using film then? Every person interested in making movies should be a filmmaker at least once. Working within the limitations of film makes you a better filmmaker. Not having a playback function forces you to trust yourself and build confidence. Only having to work with two-four rolls of film will force you to plan every scene meticulously because you know you will only get one or two takes. If you were filming digitally, where memory is cheap, you may be more lackadaisical with your directing style. With film you have to know exactly what you want. The equipment and the film itself is far more delicate, this forces you to take up good habits for taking care of equipment.
FAMU provides a unique opportunity to shoot on film that should not be squandered or taken for granted. By the end of the program after we have made our seven-minute film, we will look back think about how much harder it was simply by the nature of using film. How inefficient and limiting it is compared to digital. We will be proud that we have at least one movie under the belt that cannot be reduced to a series of zeros and ones. When we inevitably abandon film and move back to digital, the skills we picked up while learning to shoot on film will ultimately make us far better filmmakers in the long run.
Film Students visit the Czech Version of Hollywood Hills!
Posted by Kim Strozewski, Director of Prague Programs
Each semester the film students have a lighting exercise designed to prepare them for their film productions. They spend a few days lighting different scenarios in a studio: candle light, morning light, and daylight. Then when the lighting exercise is done, the film students have an excursion to Barrandov studios, where they can see their film being traveled and see the results of the lighting exercise. Below (or here or above) are photos of the students in front of the studio, way up in the Czech version of Hollywood hills!
Students at Barrandov Studio
Scenes from the Set, take 11
posted by Kim Strozewski, Director of Prague Programs
Last but not least our final photos from the Set. Film students will work rain or shine, sleet or snow on Easter Monday to get the perfect framing. The makers of the film “Tuba” (working title) had to make do with unseasonable cold weather as well as the whipping by the “pomlazka” from local children, a traditional activity of Easter Monday. Here is a description about the tradition:
In the morning, boys walk from door to door to spank the girls on the legs with their whip. It is to say, that the whipping is rather symbolic. The symbolism is easily traced from the Czech name of the Easter whip – pomlazka, which comes from the world pomladit or “make younger” in English.
It is believed that the freshness, youth and strength of the twigs is passed to the women on this day. Every woman thus wants to be whipped in order to keep her health and beauty during the whole next year. Unvisited females can even feel offended. It is therefore almost a duty for all boyfriends and husbands to whip their loved ones with Easter whip!
The boys accompany the whipping with a special Easter carol, usually asking for an egg or two. The girls “reward” them with an Easter egg or tie a ribbon on their whip. The more eggs or ribbons boys have, the better.
For older boys or for men the treat, instead of eggs, is a shot of a harder alcohol, mostly home-made brandy. And of course, the point is to visit possibly all girls in the town! So around noon, groups of happy men can be seen in the streets singing Easter carols and chasing girls.
In the afternoon, girls can get revenge by pouring a bucket of cold water on any male.
Students screen their films on May 10th and have an evaluation from the FAMU faculty. Stay tuned for more photos of graduation, the final photography student exhibition on May 12th and photos from the final New Media projects!
Scenes from the Set, take 10
posted by Kim Strozewski, Director of Prague Programs
Kelly Anderson (Kenyon), David Mullins (American) and Rachel Smith (American) used the same space as one of the other projects, but for a completely different story about man dealing with his impending divorce. They also had many challenging exterior shots that were action-filled! Unfortunately, the weather also became a dramatic element as they had to schedule many of these shots around a spring rain storm.
CET Academic Programs