Spring • Summer • Fall
Program Overview
The 35 mm Directing and Cinematography Program in Prague is a unique opportunity for the aspiring director or director of photography. This is your chance to carry out the vision for your story in a city with a cinematic history that dates back to the late 1800s when a film was made for the first time in Bohemia. The Czech film industry survived political struggles and economic crises, eventually making an impact on cinema with the Czech New Wave in the 1960s.
The Tisch School offers this program in collaboration with Europe’s oldest and most prestigious film school, the Film and Television School of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU). FAMU is an independent academy which focuses on audio and visual media. Some of their alumni include Jiri Menzel (Closely Watched Trains), Milos Forman (The People vs. Larry Flynt and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and Agnieszkha Holland (Washington Square). The FAMU faculty are active members of the filmmaking community. They include established cinematographers, directors, editors, scholars, and writers.
The program in the capital of the Czech Republic provides you with a practical and theoretical approach to 35 mm filmmaking. It is an opportunity for you to complete a 35 mm film with nonsynchronous sound that may later be submitted to various film festivals. Most of the props and costumes for your film are available through Barrandov Studios, one of the largest and oldest film studios in Europe.
Note: The Prague academic year program varies slightly from the summer program. In spring and fall students participate as director and director of photography, and work on two separate interior and exterior individual projects. For summer, students must indicate their preference for either director or director of photography when they apply, or be open to both depending on which position is available (not all students direct in the summer). Students only shoot outdoors during the summer (it’s light out until nearly midnight in Prague in the summer!).
Prerequisites: Sight and Sound: Film plus Sight and Sound: Studio or Sight and Sound: Documentary; equivalent experience may be substituted; 16 mm cinematographic experience is necessary.
Tisch Film & Television majors must have two Sight & Sound courses in any combination.
Your spring or fall semester abroad consists of the following core curriculum, completing a full-time, 18-unit semester:
Intermediate Production: 35 mm Cinematography
IFMTV-UT 1202 • 4 units
Instructors: Michal Gahut, Marek Jicha, and staff
Focusing on the techniques and aesthetics of 35 mm cinematography, students are trained for hands-on camera operating, exterior and studio lighting design, exponometry, and color correction, as well as mise-en-scène and the fundamentals of cinematic language. This course is coordinated with Directing Traditions for the production of individual, 35 mm narrative film projects and includes lectures, workshops, consultations, and on-the-set supervision.
Directing Traditions: Theories and Workshops
IFMTV-UT 1201 • 2 units
Instructors: Pavel Marek, Marek Bouda, and staff
Students receive hands-on training in 35 mm filmmaking both as director and as director of photography on two separate (interior and exterior) individual projects. Using Intermediate Production as a conduit, this course includes workshops and theoretical seminars in screenwriting, directing, and editing and a weekly series of master classes. Rushes are screened with intensive faculty critique sessions, and students finish with a final off-line group edit. Each student completes a 35 mm film with nonsynchronous sound that may be submitted to various film festivals.
The Language, Arts, and Culture of the Czech Republic
IOART-UT 1028 • 4 units
Instructors: Otto Urban, Jan Wiener
Prague boasts a rich cultural legacy as one of Europe’s most interesting and beautiful cities. This course makes full use of the city, as students learn the language and the rich literary, art, and cultural histories of the Czech Republic and also participate in excursions.
Screenwriting and Analysis
IDWPG-UT 1058 • 4 units
Instructor: Pavel Jech
This course primarily prepares students for the production of their short narrative films. It explores feature-length and short films from a dramaturgical perspective to demonstrate diverse narrative techniques, dramatic structures, and genre forms as well as examines the craft of screenwriting. Aside from weekly lectures on script analysis, students prepare regular assignments. The course culminates with a production-ready short screenplay and final test in feature film analysis.
A Historical Analysis of European Cinema
IFMTV-UT 1042 • 3 units
Instructor: Michal Bregant
Through a series of lectures and screenings, students in this course explore the history and development of Czech and Slovak cinema, within the context of European cinema. The course emphasizes the Czech New Wave, one of the most influential movements of post-World War II-era filmmaking.
Acting Workshop
ITHEA-UT 1906 • 1 unit
Instructor: Dasha Blahova
Students explore the use of games, monologues, and scene work in order to develop knowledge of the basic acting skills. Students are encouraged toward self-exploration and creative expression from the perspective of an actor, director, and/or cinematographer.
