Film & Television Direction Course

Training/Coaching/Tuition by Digital Academy Mumbai View Contact

Starting from: INR 2,02,247 Per Course (Plus 12.36% Tax) Request Info

Though over a hundred years old, Cinema is still an evolving art form. Metamorphosing constantly as it does, both in content and in style, Cinema has managed to become the most powerful and vibrant art form within the short span of its existence. Cinema today shapes our ideas of ethnic identity, our ideas of culture, our ideas of the future as well as of the past, but most importantly it shapes ideas about our selves and is perhaps the best means of self-discovery.

The Director is without a doubt not only a person who tells the story, but also one who fully understands why the story must be told and the manner in which it should be presented.
A Director may or may not write the screenplay but certainly visualizes it, controlling the film's artistic and dramatic aspects while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of the vision.

The Film Direction course at Digital Academy - The Film School prepares the student in diverse aspects over a relatively short period of time. Classes are held thrice a week, and students are required to watch at least three major films outside classroom hours every week and write their own screenplay.

The emphasis here is on independent study and learning through the writing of and 'original' screenplay and the making of a film. The teacher is thus like a guide-by-the-side rather than a sage-on-the-stage. As part of the learning process, students also need to read recommended texts on Cinema, watch and analyze as many films as they can, from around the world and attend relevant cultural events in the city.

Instruction Module:

Understanding Film Language

The course assigns a huge importance to understanding film grammar with key emphasis on visual storytelling.This is achieved through a shot by shot analysis of films, where the students learn about the basic principles of Cinema and the uniqueness of the cinematic medium. They learn about narrative structure, management of time and space, dividing stories into sequences and scenes, shot-break down, continuity, mise-en-scene, transitions and narrative flow.

Major films from across the world are shown in order to open up the mind to the vast possibilities inherent in cinema. Students also learn about the history of Cinema, which gives them a deeper appreciation of movies. Irrespective of the kind of films a student wants to make in his/her professional life it is considered necessary that s/he first get exposed to all kinds of world cinema.

Screenplay Analysis

Considering the fact that the screenplay is the greatest challenge in filmmaking, our course emphasizes the central importance of screenplay. Films are analyzed in class, in terms of screenplay structure and its basic concepts are clearly laid out, encouraging students to draw from their personal experience so that their stories carry a greater degree of social and psychological authenticity. They learn about the three-act structure and also alternative narrative structures. They learn how to articulate the premise and identify the central conflict in a story. In the specific context of Indian mainstream cinema, students also learn how to use songs and dances effectively in a film so that they grow organically out of the plot.

Cinematography

If celluloid is the paper on which the Director writes, then the camera is his/her pen. No education in film direction is complete without the ability to transpose conceptual ideas into visuals. In fact the language of cinema is primarily a visual language and cannot be learnt without a fair knowledge of cinematography. Starting off with a study of film composition, lighting patterns and different types of camera movements that powerfully bring out the story, students get hands-on experience with DV Cams, Digital cameras i.e Red, D55 and more as well as exposure to Film cameras.

Editing

Editing is the final process in the film making workflow. Most Directors discover that their films almost always get rewritten on the editing table. Editing is not just about understanding continuity or creating a ''seamless" narrative, it begins with a larger understanding of the texture and tenor of reality that a film is proposing to create. Every shot, every cut, and every transition is governed by this tenor and texture of reality. When Directors learn how to edit, they learn the secret recipe of creating reality, by manipulating time and space.

At Digital Academy-The Film School, students learn how to use the principles of editing to be able to make excellent films.

Mise-en-Scene

The French term 'Mise-en-Scene' came from French theatre where it literally means all the elements "put-in-a-scene". Transposing that idea for Cinema, mise-en-scene is a set of all the creative decisions that go into the making of a shot. It therefore includes lensing, lighting, frame composition, camera movement, actor placement, action props, passive props, foreground action and background action. Mise-en-Scene is the ability to use all the above dynamic variables in order to create 'meaning' which is pertinent to the theme and philosophy of the narrative.

At Digital Academy-The Film School, students are taught the art of 'Shot making' with the aim of achieving the right dramatic emphasis, the optimum use of space and the correct handling of screen time.

Production Design

Production design involves the selection of locations, erection of sets, designing of interior and exterior spaces and choosing all the physical elements that go into creating :the look of the film". Students are taught to communicate accurately about their ideas so as to build a bridge between concept and execution. Films are analysed in class in order to understand the production design behind some key films in Hollywood as well as in India in recent years.

Sound

Although cinema is primarily a visual medium, sound is an extremely important element in the art of cinematic storytelling. In the hands of a good Director, sound design is an intrinsic part of his or her narrativistic design. In Digital Academy-The Film School, students are taught the importance of sound design. They are shown how different audio elements are manipulated in order to achieve the desired effect of telling the story more powerfully. Sync-sound and its advantages and disadvantages vis-à-vis dubbed sound in the Indian context are carefully discussed.

Handling Actors

To be able to direct actors, one ought to be proficient in the medium since actors bring out the Director's vision on screen. This course helps students learn how to effectively communicate with their actors. It teaches the finer nuances of teamwork and how to narrate a script to the actor pertaining to his/her character and helps them enhance their performance. The Director being the captain of the ship, it remains his forte largely how to take optimum performances from his team.

Animation and Special Effects in Films

Digital Academy also teaches students about the technology involved in special effects and animation. This is because Directors need to be technically conversant with the technology and the processes involved in creating special effects and animation. Without a proper grounding in this know-how, Directors would find themselves technically inadequate at the time of shooting or production of such films that require special effects and animation. Our aim is to give the direction students enough knowledge so that they can incorporate the specific workflows related to special effects and animation into their scripting, planning, and execution.

Film Production: Pre Production to Post Production

Students learn about the importance of planning during pre-production in terms of casting, storyboard, location hunting, budgeting and scheduling. Students also learn about the entire production process of filmmaking from concept to screen including the logistics of recces, cast and crew building, set making, shooting, editing, sound post and the digital intermediate process.

Projects.

Analytic Dramatic Continuity Exercises
P1) Two Characters, Two Zones, Single Space Exercise
The students are taught how to place cameras in separate zones of the same space and how to place actors within those zones to enable grammatically correct intercutting. In other words, this exercise teaches the students, how to retain physical continuity by following the rule of 1800 axis and how to retain relational continuity by correctly making eye line matches.

P2) Three Characters, Three Zones, Single Space Exercise
The next project is simply an extension of P1 but with the added complexity of three characters instead of two. This additional character creates a third spatial zone and further complicates the issue of eye line matching.

P3) Four Characters, Multiple Zones, Basic Mise-en-Scene Exercise
Students are taught how to use the 3600 space using multiple space zones without causing spatial or temporal disorientation. The rules of changing magnifications as well as changing angles are also taught in this exercise.

P4) Two Characters in movement in a Single Space
Students learn how to create perfect continuity with two moving characters in a single space - moving through multiple zones. The problems of relational continuity are further complicated here.

P5) Three moving characters, moving camera in a single space and multiple zones
Students learn here the nitty gritty of managing character movement along with camera movement. The importance of repeat action shooting and retention of continuity in the 3600 arc of space is taught here along with the practice of using floor plans and story boards to create a dramatically appropriate shot breakdown.

P6) Four Moving Characters
This exercise is similar to exercise in P5 except that it uses four characters instead of three. The creative complexities and shot breakdown challenges are consequently increased.

P7) Mise-en-Scene with Two Characters
In this exercise students are taught how to use all the dynamic variables viz lensing, lighting, character movement, camera movement, and props in order to create "Cinematic Meaning".

P8) Mise-en-Scene with Three Characters
This exercise adds another character to the same creative challenge as the earlier mise-en-scene exercise.

P9) Mise-en-Scene with Four Characters
This is an extension of the earlier mise-en-scene exercises with four characters. The emphasis here is to make clear, the distinction between coverage of action and shot designing to create meaning. Finally, it is the ability to visually communicate multilayered meanings that distinguish a filmmaker from a recorder of events.

P10) The Final Project
Each student makes a film upto 10 minutes. The emphasis is on learning the management of time and space across multiple events, the creation of scenes and sequences and the ability to devise the correct narrative structure. The students are encouraged to write their own original screenplays. The final project films are edited in the Digital Academy editing studios and the entire sound post-production is also done in Digital Academy audio workstations.

The students can take the completed films as their showreel along with the earlier practical projects.

The Digital Academy Student Benefit

• Compact and condensed course

• No previous filmmaking experience or knowledge required except a passion for the medium.

• Exposure to an outdoor shoot involving different light conditions

• Intensive workshops by top-of-the-line film professionals

• Writing, shooting and editing a short film to make the student's own show-reel.

  A student who graduates in 'Direction' from the Digital Academy should be in a privileged position to break into the Film or Television industry, initially as an Assistant Director and eventually work as a full-fledged Director.

Note:- Curriculum subject to change

Faculty

We have professionals teaching our course – some of whom are mentioned below.
Any one or more of the experienced faculty can be assigned to a course batch.

Mr. Sidharth Sinha

Graduated from the FTII as a Direction student. His final Diploma Film “Udedhbun” won the Silver Bear award in the Short Film Category at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in Berlin in 2008, a prestige that has in the past been conferred on Indian Luminaries like V.Shantaram, Satayajit Ray, Mrinal Sen. The Film just won the Award for the best short film in the National Awards 2009. It gained a lot more recognition in festivals in both Indian and abroad. He was invited as a jury member to various international film festivals.
He is also appointed as a member in selection committee for Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) 2009. Currently he is planning to direct his first feature film.

Mr. Ranjan Das

Mr. Ranjan Das has done his Diploma in Film Editing from FTII, Pune.After passing of FTII he has been involved as a Director, Writer, Editor and Consultant in Cinema, Television, corporate and Ad Films in Mumbai, Kolkata and Jakarta, Indonesia. He has written various Screenplays and stories for Hindi serials like Rihayee (Sony), Crime Petrol (Sony), Sidhhant (Star One) and a couple of episodes of Karamchand (Sony). He has Edited more than 200 documentary films for National and local Doordarshan Kendras. He has also been amongst the panel of scriptwriters of Black Magic MOTION Pictures. He has taught as a Guest lecturer at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. Currently he is working on Feature Film projects.

Mr. Karan Bali

Karan Bali is a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, with specialization in Film Direction and has been working in Mumbai since 1993. He has directed various corporate films and documentaries that have been aired on Indian Television besides being the Chief Assistant Director for two feature films – Everybody Says I’m Fine (2001) and Matrubhoomi (2003). He has also directed the short film Tasty Titbits (1999), screened at various festivals aborad and is the Co-Founder and Content-in-Charge, a serious and analytical portal on cinema of the sub-continent.

Career

It is now common knowledge that the audio-visual medium is the fastest growing medium of communication in the world. Films are made not only in the fiction format but also as documentaries, training films, corporate films, advertisements and video art. The world of films is like a mushroom cloud that keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Every film must have a Director. It stands to reason therefore that higher the number of films, higher will be the demand for Directors. A film Director is an artist-technician who is also an expert manager, logistics person, coordinator and chief executive officer - all rolled into one. A Director is like a master puppeteer who holds all the strings and makes illusions look like reality. It is a difficult job that requires tremendous creative energy, enthusiasm along with loads of patience and humility. A career in Film Direction is one of extreme creative satisfaction, apart from side benefits of fame and money. But only those who are ready to go through the grind and put in hard labour as well as application can succeed.

Most students of Digital Academy join the industry initially as Assistant Directors and work their way up towards the Directors post. But there is no hard and fast rule about this and if the student has the capability they might well straightaway become a Director as soon as they pass out from Digital Academy- The Film School.

Fees:

Fees for Indian Citizens Inclusive 12.36% service tax.

INR: Rs 2,02,247/-
10,000/-On admission
38,000/- Before batch starts
38,000/-Within 1 month (PDC)
38,000/-Within 2 months (PDC)
38,000/-Within 3 months (PDC)
40247/-Within 4 months (PDC)

Scholarship Fee Plan for Indian Citizens Inclusive 12.36% service tax

INR: Rs 1,68,539/-
10,000/-On admission
32,000/- Before batch starts
32,000/-Within 1 month (PDC)
32,000/-Within 2 months (PDC)
32,000/-Within 3 months (PDC)
30,539/-Within 4 months (PDC)

Fees for International Students Inclusive 12.36% service tax

USD: 3370
Full Fees to be paid on Admission

Digital Academy

Digital Academy was the result of a simple thought; to introduce the art and craft of cinema to passionate minds.

We firmly believe in going the extra mile for all our students and hence placements are an integral part of our program. Our well-placed network has enabled us to set our students in ace film and television production houses. And it is pure pride that we wear seeing their success.

At Digital Academy we compete with ourselves to set new standards. And because we believe we can, we always achieve, for a goal is only unattainable when you give up trying. So if you have a dream, come to us and we will make it real.