This course is a dynamic blend of classroom instruction and hands-on film workshop.
This course explores the fundamentals of cinema language, history and techniques with particular attention to the transformations which are currently underway in filmmaking in the age of multimedia.
The course is preparatory to the cinema and media courses which students will take in later years. The course is organized in two modules, one theoretical and dedicated to history of the cinema and film theory analysis and the other involves hands-on training organized as a workshop dedicated to filmmaking techniques (screenplay, directing, photography, editing).

Theoretical learning module:
Knowledge of the fundamental elements of cinema language both from the technical point of view and the syntactical.
Basic knowledge of film history from its birth to the current day.
Ability to analyze a film according to the tools of film theory analysis.
Ability to analyze and interpret the principal elements of filmmaking language (screenplay, directing, post production).
Analysis of the relation between the author’s drive, individual creativity and the rules of the filmmaking industry.
Knowledge of contemporary authors and recent developments of filmmaking language.

Hands-on module:
Elements of storytelling: how to invent and write a movie screenplay.
Basic techniques on how to organize a film set.
Fundamentals of photography for motion pictures. Knowledge and direct experience of the main filmmaking techniques.
Fundamentals of live shooting for cinema and television.
The heart of cinema: editing. Knowledge of the linguistic, semiotic and technical principals of nonlinear editing from a fictional perspective.
Projects: design and realization of a short film or video clip.

Students are not required to have assumed knowledge on the topics that will be taught during the course, however skills will be needed to analyze media languages along with creative ability during the hands-on workshop.

Theoretical module:
Lesson topics will be introduced through movie viewing (complete films and/or just sequences), so that students will be able to assess the theoretical topics studied visually at the same time.
Films from the new Hollywood period will be analyzed in particular (works by Scorsese, Coppola, Cimino, De Palma); the period which bridged the gap between traditional filmmaking and the innovative language trends of contemporary movie making.

Hands-on module:
Here, the movie making experience will break through the screen turning students from an audience into filmmakers. All theoretical/practical aspects of movie production will be tackled in class. Many of the practical parts will be shot on location outside the classroom, so that students will learn firsthand what movie making actually entails. A project will wind up this work: students will be asked to realize an audiovisual product of their choosing, either a short film or a video clip.

Classroom lectures will address the theory track while hands-on experience will be held in part in the classroom and on film sets. A guided tour will be conducted on a real film set with hands-on training using various types of filmmaking techniques.

Exam materials :
Giaime Alonge - "Il Cinema. Tecnica e Linguaggio. Un’introduzione." – Published by Kaplan
Guido Chiesa - "Manuale di Regia Cinematografica" – Published by UTET
Michael Ondaatje - "Il cinema e l'arte del montaggio. Conversazioni con Walter Murch" – Published by Garzanti

The final exam will consist of an oral exam based on the ground covered during the course and supplemented by the textbook materials listed above. The overall audiovisual projects will be assessed together with the individual contribution of each student. The exam lasts 15-20 minutes.