yearbook 2004/05 - The European Film College

the creator to the reality in front of
the camera (whatever that camera
might be) and from there, through
the lens, onto the imaging media:
CCD and tape, negative film, reversal
film, digital image or Polaroid
photo:
Where are the “dangers”? What
can go wrong and destroy the
“beautiful concept”? Unfortunately
no one has the whole secret.
I have parts of this secret and we
will try to unveil it together.
How real is the reality
This will be a journey into the
world of cinematographers. What
do they need to know and do in
order to control the reality and
bring it on to the screen. What
does it take to make three painted
walls in a studio look like an Italian
palace. How much physics,
chemistry, history of painting and
psychology do you need to know
in order to create inexistent realities.
The course deals with strategies,
approaches, solving problems
imposed by the requirements of
the script, There would be a special
emphasis on lighting both
theoretically and practically. At
the end of the course the students
will do the lighting for a “live-totape”
video production of a music
show.
Animation
Designed on a workshop structure,
the course aims at producing
a short (max. 90 seconds) animation
movie as a model to learn
what animation is all about; as
projects will take shape, students
will deal with specific problems
ranging from building sets or puppets
to lighting and filming.
- time and space in frame by frame
mode
- survey and techniques available
- timing and spacing - a must for
metering the movement
- “pencil test”: a tool for controlling
the illusion,
assignments
- pitching the projects
- production
Allan Kartin:
Editing and Audio-
Visual Techniques
Danish. Qualified as an electrician
and started work in the radio and
TV department of the royal Danish
Post and Telegraph. 1968:
qualified as an electronics engineer
from the Technical Institute
of Copenhagen. 1972: joined
Scandinavian Airlines to work
with navigational and communication
equipment in aeroplanes.
1974: joined a Trans-Pacific expedition
as the radio operator, diver
and navigator aboard a replica of
a 2000-year old Chinese junk.
1976: studied information technology
at the Danish Institute of
Technology. 1978-1993: senior
technical consultant, itineran
troubleshooter and instructor at
Radiometer International Ltd.
Produced and edited the com-
pany’s instruction and promotion
videos. 1993-95: taught editing
and media technology at the EFC,
subsequently working as a guest
teacher and technical consultant
before rejoining the staff full-time
in 1999. 1995: was given a grant
by Nordisk Film to develop the
“gyrocam”, a gyrostabilised camera
system designed for steady filming
from unstable vehicles, and
founded a company specialising in
aerial filming. He has credits as an
aerial photographer on a number
of feature films, including Lars
von Trier’s The Kingdom. Allan
is a licensed pilot, diver and ship’s
master.
Courses: Basic AVID editing
This course enables you to do
basic nonlinear editing on the
AVID-Express.
We will briefly go through the
necessary field to enable you to
work alone on the Avid systems.
You have to practise outside class
hours.
WHO´s WHO
- Basic nonlinear editing
- Cuts and dissolves
- Titles and credits
- Logging and digitising
- Output to master tape
Litsa Boudalika:
Film and
TV Documentary
Greek/Belgian. Born in Greece,
Litsa moved in her teens to Belgium
and subsequently to Italy,
where she studied Cinema and TV
Directing at the Centro Sperimentale
de Cinematografia in Rome.
In 1986: following her graduation,
she returned to Brussels and later
moved to Paris, where she began
work, first as an assistant on feature
films and commercials, later
as a film director and producer of
short and medium-length TV documentaries.
Litsa has made films
for a variety of European channels,
including RTBF, BRT (Belgium),
France 2, France 3, Arte, Image+
(France), ET-1 (Greece), NPA
(the Netherlands), SVT (Sweden),
TSR, TSI (Switzerland), Channel
2 (Israel) and others. In 1995 she
trained as a producer with EAVE
under the MEDIA Programme of
the European Union, and has subsequently
specialised as a trainer in
media herself, last year attending
the Department of Education at
Universit’e Paris 2. Before joining
the EFC, she worked as an international
trainer in the audiovisual
world.
Courses: “As far as I can see”
The course approaches the documentary
as a genre based on observation.
“Seeing” is what the
students are encouraged to do in
their practical exercises as well.
Can one see and make a story out
of that observation? If yes, what
is the film language to use for it?
The “observational” being also a
specific documentary genre, ex-
amples from that style of films are
also extensively analysed. The
course implies reading, writing
and working on several short exercises,
individually and collectively.
Portraits, Landscapes and Still
Lifes in Documentary After a
short introduction to the origins
of the genre, the course explores
the documentary by using a metaphor
from the world of painting.
It analyses examples of (film- or
video-) portraits. Is the division
into landscapes and still lifes still
applicable? Through examples of
films, study and some practice, the
students also start to be familiar
with the today¹s landscape of documentary
(variety of topics, formats,
marketplaces). The course
implies active participation from
each student (reading, viewing,
commenting writing and working
in small groups). It includes
collective short exercises on paper
and in video as an introduction to
the process of writing and making
a documentary.
Documentary “Seen on TV”
The course defines the documentary
genre inside its larger media
environment (mainly European).
Television of the past days is evolving
towards new forms of transmission
and programming such as
regional or thematic channels, web
TV’s ... In this TV landscape of
contant motion, what is the living
space for the documentary? What
“new” forms do we witness and
what ancient models, if any, do we
still adhere to? Key-roles in making
documentary are described
and analysed through existing
examples: from the decision maker’s
expectations to the audience’s
- large or tiny - point of view. In
this way, the editorial and budget
aspects - either for national or international
co-productions - appear
as the key-points of documentary
production or creation.
From Seeds to Screen
Here we are concerned with the
whole process of directing a documentary,
either an original or a
commissioned project.
1. From the idea (or concept)