Contemporary Art & Film What do we do?

The arty bit In Term 1 we look at film as an art form of sequential images, including: Who does it and with what objectives. This then includes feature film makers, music video makers and video artists and the different contexts in which they work. The composing of images and image sequences – with film examples. The relationship between film and other image based art forms, including contemporary art. Editing techniques.

We look at lots of pictures, like this:

… and this …

This is the film maker Martin Scorsese’s favourite artist. (You knew that there would be some painting if I was teaching!)

The technical bit In Term 2 Chris Woollard will teach you how to load, set up and use a film camera and you will make a short film. You will do practical scene-lighting and framing exercises, both in the studio and outside. This is studio and location based and is taught at Avery Hill campus (there is a ‘school bus’). It’s exciting, complicated (involving teamwork) and expensive (there is a small charge for film use – currently £40).

Coursework There are 3 short pieces of coursework for Term 1: an essay, an illustration (easy) and a group presentation (fun). In Term 2 you make a short piece of film. There is an exam in May with one compulsory question on scene lighting and equipment for a specific film, and one shorter question on each term’s work. (We prepare you carefully for this with 2 revision sessions.) If none of this has put you off (and it shouldn’t because it’s all exciting stuff), we’ll see you next term. Alison References for images are in the original lectures.