In Preparation of a movie

Sessions without a date

• 1ScreeningThe viewer: The makerSession 13 materials

  What are the differences between someone who loves cinema, as the member of an audience, and someone who decides to make a movie?

  • Notes on the CinematographerBresson, Robert. 1975. Gallimard
  • Be Kind RewindMichel Gondry, 2008 [excerpts]
  • Cinema ParadisoGiusepe Tornatore, 1988 [excerpts]

  In class

  • ScreeningBe Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry, 2008) [excerpts]; Cinema Paradiso (Giusepe Tornatore, 1988) [excerpts]
• 2ScreeningNotation, wanderings: writing and walking as a research.Session 24 materials

  For a moviemaker, walking around is a good way to find scenes, locations, dialogues and characters. But if walking is a great method to inspire, notation is an important resource to capture an idea. In Chekhov's Seagull, for example, Trigorin - the well-known writer - is always carrying a notebook. In the end of Act II, while talking with Nina, he sees the dead seagull and writes down an idea for a short story.

  • The Preparation of the NovelBarthes, Roland. 2010. Columbia University Press [excerpts] pg: 90 - 93 and 245 - 257
  • The Flaneur. In: The Arcades ProjectBenjamin, Walter
  • Suite VénitienneCalle, Sophie. 2015. Siglio Press
  • Lisbon StoryWim Wenders, 1994

  In class

  • ScreeningLisbon Story (Wim Wenders, 1994)
• 3ScreeningThe idea for the movie.Session 32 materials

  Eureka! The idea captures you. Once you have an idea, you feel authorized to start. There are many ways to start: a screenplay, research, rehearsals, an ambience. What matters is to find an efficient way to develop the idea, giving it a body.

  • PoeticsAristotle
  • Who's Camus AnywayMitsuo Yangimachi, 2005

  In class

  • ScreeningWho's Camus Anyway (Mitsuo Yangimachi, 2005)
• 4ExerciseThe first images: pictures, videos, drawings and storyboard.Session 41 material

  There are many ways to develop an imaginary for a movie. We will analyse different strategies, such as the drawings made by Kurosawa before the start of shooting or the graphics that Alain Resnais developed for Last Year at Marienbad. We will also do some exercises to create the first images for our movies, discussing the process in class.

  • Something Like an AutobiographyKurosawa, Akira. 1981. Berkeley University Press.

  In class

  • ExerciseWe will also do some exercises to create the first images for our movies, discussing the process in class.
• 5ExerciseThe projectSession 5

  The project is the plan or the strategy to accomplish the idea for the movie. It is a document that should answer as many questions as possible about how to execute the idea. If written, it also can be a relevant material to apply for grants or to find collaborators.

  How to write a project? Each student will write a project for their movies, inspired by the examples that will be shown in class.

  In class

  • ExerciseEach student will write a project for their movies, inspired by the examples that will be shown in class.
• 6ScreeningCrisisSession 61 material

  You don't have the equipment. You don't have money. You don't have a crew. You don't have a screenplay. You don't know how to start. You are not sure about your idea.

  The crisis is a well known component in the process of making a movie. We will discuss different scenarios of crisis, how to overcome or accept it, as well as investigate cinemas that are created from it or are structured by a permanent state of crisis.

  • 8½Federico Fellini, 1963

  In class

  • Screening8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
• 7ScreeningThe locations, the actors.Session 71 material

  Wong Kar Wai says that first of all he finds the locations. Hong Sang Soo likes to get drunk with his actors before casting them for a movie. Auditions to find actors. Walkings to find locations. Between the actor and the character, between the location and the scenario: the alchemy between the fiction and the real conditions.

  • Opening NightJohn Cassavetes, 1977 [excerpts]

  In class

  • ScreeningOpening Night (John Cassavetes, 1977) [excerpts]
• 8ScreeningRehearsalsSession 82 materials

  Lev Kuleshov and the ideal space to rehearse a movie. Reharsing with the crew. Rehearsing with actors. Digital era: rehearsing and shooting at the same time.

  • The Rehearsal Method. In: Kuleshov on FilmKuleshov, Lev. 1974. University of California Press.
  • Salaam CinemaMohsen Makhmalbaf, 1995

  In class

  • ScreeningSalaam Cinema (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1995)
• 9ScreeningThe crewSession 92 materials

  Cinema is a collective effort. We will discuss how to deal with a group of people, taking in consideration the structured roles that each one needs to perform in order to shoot a movie, and also the politics of friendship that needs to be established for a smooth shooting routine.

  • Rebel without a CrewRodriguez, Robert. University Press of Mississipi.
  • The MonstersPedro Diógenes, Guto Parente, Luiz Pretti and Ricardo Pretti, 2011

  In class

  • ScreeningThe Monsters (Pedro Diógenes, Guto Parente, Luiz Pretti and Ricardo Pretti, 2011)
• 10PresentationScreeningBefore shootingSession 101 material

  Godard often worked composing the day's script in a car on the way to the set, borrowing lines from a newspaper, the radio, or a book at hand, and even whispering lines into the earpieces of his actors. This "open method" is also true for filmmakers like Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who keeps the process open until the last minute before shooting. Others, like Francis Ford Coppola, prefer to have everything planned (even the smallest details). Each student will present for the class their plans for a first day of shooting.

  • La nuit américaineFrançois Truffaut, 1973

  In class

  • PresentationEach student will present for the class their plans for a first day of shooting.
  • ScreeningLa nuit américaine (François Truffaut, 1973)