TWO YEAR FINE ARTS DEGREE IN FILMMAKING

START DATES FOR NEW YORK CITY & UNIVERSAL STUDIOS:
July 8, 2010 • September 9, 2010 • October 14, 2010 • January 6, 2011 • March 3, 2011

New York Film Academy degree programs are offered at our Los Angeles Campus at Universal Studios. Qualified students have the option of completing course work at the New York Film Academy in New York City in a one-year non-degree program and requesting that their course work be accepted for advanced standing and start in the second year of the degree program at the Los Angeles campus. In order to do so, students must apply and be accepted to the degree program in Los Angeles. Please click here for conditions for the acceptance of credit and number of credits awarded.

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SEMESTER 1: OVERVIEW • COURSES SEMESTER 2: • COURSES YEAR TWO COURSES

Based on an academic year, the curriculum is divided into four semesters. During the first semester students learn the art and technique of visual storytelling. Courses held during the first eight weeks include: Director's Craft, Hands-on Camera and Lighting, Writing, and Editing. Students use this knowledge to write, direct, and edit four short 16mm films.

During weeks nine through twelve students are given instruction on the fundamentals of digital video production and digital editing. Students then write, direct, and edit three digital shorts and/or documentaries. Directly following the three digital projects, students begin preparing for their final Year-One film project.

The second semester is divided into three phases. The first phase is devoted to intensive instruction, demonstration, group sync-sound directing exercises, individual consultations, and preproduction (including casting, rehearsal, and location scouting). During this phase students have one-on-one consultations as they work with scenes from their scripts. In the second or production phase, each student directs his/her own film and crews on his/her classmates' films. The third phase of the program is devoted to post-production. During this phase, students edit, receive instruction, and screen rough-cuts of the films. Students receive instructor feedback and finish their films for a final group screening.

Students spend additional hours each week beyond classtime on the production of their film projects and projects of their classmates. Students should be aware that these hours vary from student to student. During the 5th and 13th weeks and after the end of the 6th month, students work exclusively on film projects while consulting with instructors. Students are responsible for making their own film project schedule, which must be supervised and approved by an instructor. Students also need to collaborate with their fellow students as well as postproduction supervisors to ensure that their projects are completed during the designated times.

The overall goal of the Second Year is to challenge students to grow as artists by exposing them to skills, techniques and approaches to filmmaking that are more specific and complex than those they learned in Year One. Students are required to complete projects of increasing complexity.

In the Second Year, completed projects allow students to mature in terms of artistic ability, compared with the work of the previous year. One way to insure this is to give the students ample time to complete a Thesis Project by allocating most of class time to discussing and critiquing their on-going projects.

Toward the end of the program, students attend classes focusing on the "Entertainment Business," where they meet guest speakers from the film industry. Lecturers discuss strategies for those students interested in exploring filmmaking careers after completion of the program. Students may choose to direct a feature length film, which means they stay at the New York Film Academy for a fifth semester (Thesis Option B). Students who choose this option, complete the production and post-production portion of their Thesis Project during this Optional Semester Five.

Degree program OBJECTIVES

The educational objectives in the Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) in Filmmaking Degree Program are to teach students the art and craft of filmmaking and to instruct students through a strict regimen consisting of lectures, seminars, and total immersion workshops to excel in the creative art of filmmaking.

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YEAR-ONE EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Skills learned as a result of successful completion of this program include:
• The ability to work independently and collaboratively in a high-pressure creative environment
• An in-depth knowledge of 16mm and Digital Video cameras and motion picture production
• A working knowledge of 35mm cameras and 35mm film production
• The ability to write and pre-visualize a screenplay
• In-depth experience working as a director, producer, assistant director, director of photography, assistant camera person, gaffer, and grip on student productions
• Mastery of Final Cut Pro digital editing software
• Knowledge of film history and film studies
• Knowledge of aesthetic film theory and experience with practical application of the same

Year-one requirements
The Associate of Fine Art in Filmmaking Program requires successful completion of the following creative projects in partial fulfillment of the graduation requirement:
• Project 1 - Mise-en-scène Film
• Project 2 - Continuity Film
• Project 3 - Music Film
• Project 4 - 8-Week Final Film
• Project 5 - Digital Chekhovian Film
• Project 6 - Digital Point of View
• Project 7 - Digital Semester One Final Film
• Project 8 - One-Year Final Film

YEAR-TWO EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Skills learned as a result of successful completion of this program include:
• Grow as artists by finding new and effective ways to visually express stories
• Hone group problem solving skills through collaboration on increasingly complex film projects
• Complete shot exercises assigned by instructors, which are designed to challenge their status quo as artists
• Examine Filmmaking from a business perspective
• Direct a Thesis Project

THIRD AND FOURTH SEMESTER REQUIREMENTS
The Associate of Fine Art in Filmmaking Program requires successful completion of the following creative projects in partial fulfillment of the graduation requirement:
• Project 1 – Commercial or Music Video
• Project 2 - Commercial or Music Video
• Project 3 - Script Lock on Thesis Script
• Project 4 - A "Greenlight" Production Schedule, Budget and Storyboard
• Project 5 – Complete Thesis Project (Excluding those students who choose Thesis Option B)

FIFTH SEMESTER (OPTIONAL) EXPECTED LEARNING
OUTCOMES & REQUIREMENTS:
Skills learned as a result of successful completion of this program include:
• Completion of Feature Length Film

Students must successfully complete every course of study with a "Satisfactory" grade or better. In order to graduate and receive the AFA degree, students must also adhere to the Academy's Attendance Policy and Code of Conduct. Additionally, students must fulfill all financial obligations to The New York Film Academy.

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QUICK FACTS:

Start Dates:

For New York City*:
Jul 8, 2010 , Sep 9, 2010 , Oct 14, 2010, Jan 6, 2011 , Mar 3, 2011 , Jul 7, 2011 , Sep 8, 2011 , Oct 13, 2011

For Universal Studios:
Jul 8, 2010 , Sep 9, 2010 , Oct 14, 2010, Jan 6, 2011 , Mar 3, 2011 , Jul 7, 2011 , Sep 8, 2011 , Oct 13, 2011

Program Requirements: High School Diploma, GED
tuition: $15,000**(USD)/Semester
€10,475 (EURO)/Semester
You Graduate With: Diploma/Certificate, DVD Film Reel

* New York Film Academy degree programs are offered at our Los Angeles Campus at Universal Studios. Qualified students have the option of completing course work at the New York Film Academy in New York City in a one-year non-degree program and requesting that their course work be accepted for advanced standing and start in the second year of the degree program at the Los Angeles campus. In order to do so, students must apply and be accepted to the degree program in Los Angeles.

**Additional equipment Fee: $2,000 (€1,397) per semester. Students will also incur additional expenses on their own productions. This varies depending on how much film they shoot and scale of the projects.

Semester one COURSES

Director's Craft 1
This course introduces students to the language and craft of film directing. Director's Craft prepares students for the film exercises and is the venue for screening and critiquing their work throughout the course. The Director's Craft instructor challenges students to find the most effective and visually expressive means to tell their stories. This course also exposes students to the unique ways great directors have approached visual storytelling and how they have used miseen- scène (the task of staging scenes and moving actors within the frame).

Hands-On Camera & Lighting
In the first week of the course students are trained to use the 16mm Arriflex-S motion picture camera and its accessories. In lighting class they learn fundamental lighting techniques through shooting tests on film. As they progress through the workshop they learn how to support the mood of the story with lighting choices, and they experiment with expressive lighting styles.

SCREENWRITING I
This course focuses on the fundamentals of visual storytelling and provides students with constructive analysis and support as they take a story from initial idea, treatment, and outline to a rough draft, and finally, a shooting script. The intersection of story structure, theme, character, tension, and conflict is examined through detailed scene analysis. Students are encouraged to tell their stories visually, and not rely solely on dialogue to tell the story. The scripts they write become the basis of all class work and the Year One Final Film projects in the second semester.

Student Producing 1
This course teaches students how to break down a film script for budgeting and scheduling purposes. Students learn how to use all the necessary forms for use in their own short films. The importance of having a finished script before going into a shoot is stressed as it applies to creating realistic budgets and schedules.

Editing
Editing is an art unto itself. Students learn how to use the Final Cut Pro digital editing system. Each student edits his or her own films, and can supplement their classes with individual consultations at the computer. Students are taught the fundamental concepts of film editing, both practical and aesthetic. Directing Actors 1: Acting For Directors This course helps students learn how to communicate and collaborate with their actors. Students learn how to identify a screenplay's emotional "beats" and "character objectives" in order to improve their actors' performances. Through exercises, students learn how an actor trains him/herself physically and emotionally. Sensory work, emotional recall, and improvisations are the tools the students use to understand how an actor is able to live out a character's reality.

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DIRECTING ACTORS 1: ACTING FOR DIRECTORS
This course helps students learn how to communicate and collaborate with their actors. Students learn how to identify a screenplay's emotional "beats" and "character objectives" in order to improve their actors' performances. Through exercises, students learn how an actor trains him/herself physically and emotionally. Sensory work, emotional recall, and improvisations are the tools the students use to understand how an actor is able to live out a character's reality.

Production Workshop 1
In Production Workshop students stage and shoot exercises under the supervision of the instructor. The technical aspects of filmmaking are seen as tools to realize the story. The guiding idea is that once students can articulate the objective of a given scene, the necessary craft and techniques follow. Students design shots to heighten the emotion of a sequence and shoot it on film with supervision. In the next session, they edit the exercise and analyze it with the instructor.

First Semester Film Projects
While each student in the program writes, directs and edits his or her own films, it is also essential that he or she learn the importance of collaboration. Crews function as working groups for each film project. Thus, each student not only directs a series of projects, but also works in crew positions on his or her colleagues' films. Students edit and screen their films for critique and discussion.

Art History 1
An introduction to the art and architecture of various geographical areas around the world from antiquity through the medieval period. The course provides foundational skills (tools of analysis and interpretation) as well as general, historical understanding. It focuses on a select number of major developments in a range of media and cultures, emphasizing the way that works of art function both as aesthetic and material objects and as cultural artifacts and forces. Issues include, for example, sacred spaces, images of the gods, imperial portraiture, and domestic decoration.

HANDS-ON DIGITAL CAMERA & LIGHTING
Digital Camera & Lighting class sessions are designed to help students master many elements of digital video photography including white balance, shutter speed, focus, video latitude, gels, and filters. Through hands-on exercises, students explore the possibilities of digital video and learn how it differs from film.

Script Supervision: Efficient Shooting
In this interactive course, students learn how proper script supervision helps filmmakers effectively tell their stories. Students break down their Year One Final Film scripts and learn an advanced and efficient approach to the organization and management of the shooting day. Students are challenged to maximize the efficiency of shooting schedules and learn practical techniques for creating and preserving spatial and temporal continuity in their films.

Digital Video Projects and Semester One Film
A continuation of the Film Projects, students direct 3 digitally filmed projects and a culminating Year One Final Film.

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Semester Two COURSES

Director's Craft 2
Director's Craft 2 further explores the aesthetic elements of mise-en-scène: shot choice, composition, setting, point of view, action of the picture plane, and movement of the camera. Starting where the first semester directing class left off, students learn how to cover a dialogue scene with a series of shots as well as more sophisticated approaches to coverage including the use of dollies. Students break down scenes from their own scripts to practice different approaches of coverage. They create floor plans and shot lists and discuss their choices with the instructor.

Screenwriting 2
Screenwriting 2 focuses on the completion, rewriting, and polishing of the scripts for the Year-One Final Film. Students use live readings of their screenplays and engage in instructor led round table discussions of the work to hone their material. The goal is to increase the writer's mastery of screenwriting as outlined in Screenwriting 1. In order to successfully complete this course, all students must achieve "script lock". At the completion of this course, each student formally enters into Pre-Production of the Year-Two Final Film.

Student Producing 2
Student Producing II leads students through the entire process of pre-production, including scouting and securing of locations, permits, and casting. The producing instructor and the students design a production schedule for the entire class. The instructor encourages students to form realistic plans for successfully making their films. Using script breakdowns, students learn how to plan and keep to a schedule and budget for their productions. They use their own finished scripts in class as they learn how to take advantage of budgeting and scheduling forms and methods.

Directing Actors 2: Casting
This course builds on the tools students gained in the Directing Actors I course of the first semester. Students break down their own scripts by identifying the dramatic beats of their scenes and translating this into effective feedback for actors. Students learn to adjust character objectives through rehearsal. This results in specific and believable performances. Advanced Hands-On 16mm Camera & Lighting Students are trained to operate the Arriflex 16SR camera and accessories.

ADVANCED HANDS-ON 16MM CAMERA & LIGHTING
Students are trained to operate the Arriflex 16SR camera and accessories.

Cinematography
This class immerses students in the technical and creative demands of cinematography. Color film stocks are tested to help students make the best choice for their films. The use of color correcting filters and gels is practiced through shooting tests. Lighting and contrast ratios are reviewed. By shooting set-ups from students' own storyboards, this camera and lighting-centric class provides students with a practical approach to getting the most out of their resources.

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35mm Filmmaking
This class trains students in the proper use and operation of 35mm cameras and accessories. All the fundamental creative skills and concepts students have learned working with 16mm film and digital video apply fully to 35mm filmmaking. The 35mm class is an opportunity for students to see how the wider frame and higher resolution of 35mm affects their shot design, framing, composition, staging, camera movement, lens choice, and lighting. The class demystifies the process of designing, shooting, and editing scenes on 35mm.

Synchronous-Sound Editing
This class teaches students to edit their sync-sound projects. Dailies from the exercises conducted in Cinematography class are transferred to digital video so that students learn to sync and edit with dialogue. This gives students the hands-on technical training they need to edit their own projects. Students benefit from the creative discoveries their classmates make when they compare the very different versions that are edited from the same material.

Production Workshop 2: Synchronous Sound
This class brings together all the elements of the second semester program in a practical hands-on workshop. In a series of sync-sound production exercises students shoot scenes on 16mm film from their own scripts with the guidance and critique of the instructor. One of the course objectives is to empower the students to determine what adjustments to make to their scripts and shooting plans before their films go into production. These practice scenes are fully pre-produced (storyboarded, cast, scouted, rehearsed and pre-lighted) and treated as actual productions.

Art History 2
An introduction to the art and architecture of various geographical areas around the world from the fifteenth century through the present. The course provides foundational skills (tools of analysis and interpretation) as well as general, historical understanding. It focuses on a select number of major developments in a range of media and cultures, emphasizing the way that works of art function both as aesthetic and material objects and as cultural artifacts and forces. Issues include, for example, humanist and Reformation redefinitions of art in the Italian and Northern Renaissance, realism, modernity and tradition, the tension between self-expression and the art market, and the use of art for political purposes.

Year One Final Film
Year One culminates in the pre-production, production, and post-production of the Year One Final Film.

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Semester THREE COURSES

Director's Craft 3: Contemporary Masters
A continuation of Director's Craft 2; students study the language and craft of film directing from the perspective of the last thirty years. In preparation for the film exercises executed during Production Workshop, students study the style and techniques of contemporary filmmakers like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Coppola. This class is the venue for screening and critiquing their work throughout the course. The Director's Craft instructor challenges students to find new and effective ways to visually express their stories.

Advanced Hands-On Digital Camera & Lighting
Class sessions are designed to help students master the many elements of digital video photography using professional DV cameras. In preparation for the Semester Three Music Video or Commercial Projects, students learn lighting techniques of increasing complexity, building on their arsenal of skills through shooting tests on film and experimentation.

Screenwriting 3
This course focuses on the fundamentals of visual storytelling and provides students with constructive analysis and support as they take their Thesis Project Script from initial idea, treatment, and outline to a rough draft. Each student's work is discussed and critiqued by their peers and instructor during in-class workshops.

Student Producing 3
Students apply the fundamentals of film producing to their own Thesis Project. Similar to Student Producing II, this class continues to examine the job of producer by matching tasks and challenges with ways of approaching them. As students start to produce their own projects, the challenges become clear, and some class time is devoted to specific production "hurdles". Students hone group problem-solving skills, a film industry must-have, and learn through sharing real examples.

Advanced Editing 1
Students continue studying the Final Cut Pro digital editing system. Students are given instruction and asked to complete exercises of increasing complexity. Each student edits his or her own films, and can supplement their classes with individual consultations at the computer. The goal for students is to grow as editors and to understand the wealth of tools available to them in Final Cut Pro that they can use in the post production of their own evolving Thesis Projects.

Critical Film Studies
In this seminar, students are taught to identify techniques that they may use in their own films through screenings and discussions. They learn how filmmakers have approached the great challenge of telling stories with moving images from silent films to the digital age. The course explores ways that the crafts of directing (particularly shot construction), cinematography, acting, and editing have developed. Instructors select films for screening and discussion from among the great cinematic innovators. The course gives students an understanding of how cinema has evolved from its origins to the present moment and where they find themselves in that development.

Production Workshop 3
In continuation of Production Workshop II, students stage and shoot exercises building in complexity, under the supervision of the instructor. Students are introduced to a broad range of technical aspects of filmmaking. Through these exercises, students learn various techniques and practical tools that they can use to successfully complete their Thesis Project.

Advanced Film Projects
While each student in the program writes, directs and edits his or her own music videos or spec commercial, it is also essential that he or she learn the importance of collaboration. Crews function as working groups for each film project. Thus, each student not only directs a series of projects, but also works in crew positions on his or her colleagues' films. Students edit and screen their films for critique and discussion.

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Semester FOUR COURSES

Screenwriting 4
Screenwriting IV focuses on the completion, rewriting, and polishing of each students' Thesis Project. The goal is to increase the writer's mastery of those aspects of screenwriting as outlined in Screenwriting III. In order to successfully complete this course, all students must achieve "script lock". At the completion of this course, each student formally enters into Pre-Production of the Thesis Project.

Student Producing 4
Student Producing II leads students through the entire process of pre-production, including scouting and securing of locations, permits, and casting for their Thesis Projects. The producing instructor and the students design a production schedule for the entire class. The instructor encourages students to form realistic plans for successfully making their films. Using script breakdowns, students plan and keep to a schedule and budget for their productions. They use their own finished scripts in class as they learn how to take advantage of budgeting and scheduling forms and methods.

Entertainment Industry Seminar
Students examine filmmaking from a business perspective. Topics include the history of the studio system, the job of production companies, professional guilds, financing, film festivals, and the roles of agents and managers. Students meet industry professionals during special guest lectures.

Cinematography 2
This class is a continuation of Cinematography I. Students learn new, complex approaches to cinematography, and shoot set-ups from their own Thesis Project storyboards. This camera and lighting-centric class also provides valuable practice that will allow students to get the most out of their resources.

Advanced Editing 2
This gives students the hands-on technical training they need to edit their own projects and assigned exercises. Students benefit from the creative discoveries their classmates make when they compare the very different versions that are edited from the same material.

Thesis Project
Year Two culminates in the pre-production, production, and post-production of the Thesis Project.

Thesis Option A:
Short Form Thesis Film and Feature Prep.
The requirement for students who choose to pursue this track is twofold:

1. Associate degree candidates must direct and shepherd a short-form thesis film through post-production. Projects may be up to 30 minutes in length, and must be delivered prior to graduation. Students may choose from all media formats studied over the course of the program to film their thesis films.

2. Associate degree candidates must also pre-produce and package the feature scripts they wrote and developed during year Two Advanced Producing and Screenwriting classes. Students must present a polished script, storyboards, a budget, and production schedule.

Thesis Option B: Feature Length Film Production
Students enter Preproduction of a feature film in Semester Four with the guidance of an appointed faculty member. Mandatory consultations with these appointed faculty members are necessary for students to gain guidance and an understanding of the grueling tasks inherent to feature length film production. These consultations also include a clear template of delivery dates for script deadlines, casting calls, production meetings, budget breakdowns, location lockdowns and a demonstration of financial responsibility to obtain approval to shoot. Students must receive a "green light" before beginning production on their thesis films.

Students who direct feature length thesis films must also collaborate in prominent crew positions for students directing short form thesis films.

Any college credit or degree earned is awarded solely by the New York Film Academy's academic headquarters in California. All camps are solely owned and operated by the New York Film Academy and are not affiliated with Universal Studios, Harvard University, or Disney Studios.

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