3-Week Filmmaking Workshop

As in all NYFA film workshops, students create a series of their own short films, which they screen and get critique from their instructor and peers. They each direct their own films, and crew on the short films of their peers, rotating amongst key crew positions and gaining crucial experience in various on-set production roles. By the end of NYFA’s program, students have a body of work, actual set experience, as well as a certificate of completion. Many graduates of the course choose to continue their film studies in more advanced programs.

NYFA also offers the possibility to learn filmmaking from anywhere through a variety of online filmmaking workshops.

To learn more, see NYFA’s Course Catalog or request information.

Directing
At the core of the Four Week Program, this Area of Study introduces students to all major aspects of filmmaking. Students will learn concepts to help achieve maximum psychological impact by studying the director’s decisions in camera placement, blocking, staging, and visual image design. Students will be challenged to think comprehensively about their film projects in terms of the economic realities of low-budget student production. Using their own film projects as prototypes, students will learn to break down their film scripts in terms of story and emotional beats, shot selection and composition, and budgeting and scheduling. This Area of Study will be the forum for preparing, screening, and critiquing three short films.

Screenwriting
This Area of Study introduces the established tools and language used in writing a film project. Students will take a story from the initial idea to script with an emphasis on the fundamentals of visual storytelling. The intersection of story structure, theme, character, tension, and conflict is examined through detailed scene analysis. The in-class discussion provides students with constructive analysis and support. Students are encouraged to tell their stories visually, rather than relying on dialogue.

Cinematography
Students undergo intensive training in the use of HD digital video cameras and their accessories. Through hands-on workshops and film tests, they will also learn fundamental lighting techniques. As they progress through the workshop, they learn how to support the mood of the story with lighting choices and  experiment with expressive lighting styles. 

Editing
This Area of Study presents students with multiple aesthetic approaches to editing film and video. Students will learn how to apply concepts such as temporal continuity and spatial continuity, as well as less traditional discontinuous editing techniques to their work. The Area of Study will also discuss the psychological and emotional effects of editing on the overall story. Additionally, students will learn to operate digital editing software which they will use to edit their own films. Classes are supplemented with individual consultations at the computer. 

Production Workshop
Filming a neutral dialogue scene with the class as assigned crew and instructor supervision, this scene should be complete with subtext, backstory, conflict, objectives, beats, actions, and be contained within one location. In these workshops, students act for each other to learn how to be in front of the camera.