Go Behind the Scenes
The Department of Design for Stage and Film offers art courses and classes in technical aspects of theatre emphasizing the process of design. In the classroom students are encouraged to explore, in depth, the text, character, music, history and the psychological elements of their work and are challenged to apply their creativity in new and imaginative ways.
This is the perfect opportunity to explore the world of theatre and film design, and we welcome students at the undergraduate or graduate level with or without prior experience in the field. All courses are taught by working professional designers who are also dedicated teachers. Students work closely with lighting, costume designers and directors facilitating a creative environment. New York City, the richest artistic environment in the world, provides the ideal location in which to study as these courses all use the city as their laboratory. Members of the professional design community are introduced as guest speakers, and field trips to shops, film locations, and museums may be arranged.
Summer 2009 Selected Course Offerings:
An Introduction to Design for Film
This course offers an introduction to designing a script for film production. Students learn and experience first-hand the steps from receiving a script to translating it into a visual package ready for production. By the end of the course students understand the life and work of a production designer and be ready to decide if this is something they might want to pursue further as a career. Guest speakers and field trips are usually arranged.
Drawing for Theater and Film
In this course, students receive an introduction to the basic principles and practices of drawing as a way of communicating with directors and other collaborators. The course will address spatial thinking, encompassing perspective and proportion. There will be equal emphasis on drawing environments from real life, using New York City spaces as subject matter as well as inventing scenes and views. Working from texts, students complete projects that include a set design rendering for theater, and storyboards and art direction sketches for film and television.
Additional Courses:
