Our Short Film Workshop is a hands-on class designed to introduce students to the art and craft of digital filmmaking. The workshop is an excellent exploration into the language of cinema and the tools of filmmaking, and can be taken either in-person or remotely. Being a project-based workshop, each student writes, produces, directs and edits their own short film, while crewing on classmates’ productions. Students can create a short fiction, documentary or music video project.
The course is taught through a hybrid model, which allows students maximum flexibility to take whichever parts of the course they need to remotely, but provides access to the hands-on style of teaching that is so valuable to developing filmmaking skills. Every week students meet in-person for one full days of instruction and hands-on exercises. In addition, students gain access to custom videos and workbooks that will cover the basics of writing, producing, directing, cinematography and editing. And for those taking the class 100% remotely, all in-person sessions will be live-streamed online, with the video recording available for all students.
In-person students have access to the professional filmmaking equipment at the school, including Canon cinema cameras, industry-standard lighting, grip and sound equipment and a state-of-the-art sound stage. Students edit their films using Adobe Premiere Pro. At the end of each workshop, students screen their films in front of their peers, friends and family.
This workshop is offered in either a full-time 5-Week or part-time 3-Month schedule. See below for details.
The school really laid the foundation for me as a filmmaker. As I continue to progress in my career, I’m extremely thankful for the SFSDF program and the skills it taught me.
Curriculum
- Week 1 – Digital Cinematography Fundamentals / Composition / Intro to Storytelling
- Week 2 – Pitching Ideas / Essentials of Directing / Lighting for Motion Pictures
- Week 3 – Script or Doc Proposals Due / Casting / Location Sound / Camera & Lighting
- Week 4 – Script Draft 2 & Doc Proposals Due / Producing 101 / Shoot Logistics / Tech
- Week 5 – Movie Production
- Week 6 – Movie Production
- Week 7 – Movie Production
- Week 8 – Adobe Premiere Pro Basics / Principles of Digital Editing
- Week 9 – Fiction & Doc Editing / Using the Adobe Premiere Pro Tool Bar / Editing Lab
- Week 10 – Rough Cuts Due & Critiqued Due
- Week 11 – Audio Post-production & Music / Creating Titles
- Week 12 – Fine Cuts Reviewed & Critiqued / Output to QT & iDVD / Movie Premiere!