First year: Undergraduate studies
Interdisciplinary directing and cinematography lessons: From reality via perception to image-making. Storytelling with images – illusion transfer and syntax, dramaturgy and composition. Cinematography profession and team structure, introduction to digital and film cinematography, light and exposure – technical and artistic – setting the mise-en-scene.
Practical photographic and film exercises (digital + 16mm), scenic resolution and lighting exercises in the studio, preparation of the film studio exercise in project groups. Script analysis, resolution, filming preparation with individual discussions, film shooting, analysis of the material/content that was filmed and the finished films.
Second year: Undergraduate studies
Emphasis on documentary cinematography:
Introduction to documentary cinematography – History of documentary film – Basics of digital cinematography –Interdisciplinary courses – Cinematography for documentary film, editing, directing, original sound – Basics of 16mm camera technology, film laboratory technology, sensitometry – Image dramaturgy – Portrait lighting exercise – Experimental 16mm film exercise – Practical handheld camera exercise – Original motif exercise ‘Available Light’ – Preparation and filming of a second-year documentary project with individual one-to-one supervision, evaluation of the content that was filmed and the edited film.
Emphasis on cinematography for fiction film:
Introduction - Inspiration photography – Introduction to optics – Camera assistant profession – Electricity academy, working safely with amperages, generators and power distribution – Interdisciplinary film acting workshop with directing, original sound, editing.
Preparation and filming of a second-year film project with individual one-to-one supervision, evaluation of the content that was filmed and the edited film.
Third year: Graduate studies
Interdisciplinary production design and cinematography workshop: practical implementation of a set model for studio construction, development of own stories and scripts in teams, preparation and shooting of a short film in the studio, with individual one-to-one supervision, evaluation of the content that was filmed and the edited film.
Lighting technology and lighting design – Staging and blocking – Exemplary film analyses and profile reports – Camera and acting techniques – Camera resolution seminar, colour in film seminar.
Fourth year: Graduate studies
Interdisciplinary set extension workshop in cooperation with Production Design department and the Animationsnstitut – International screen acting workshop: realisation of film scenes in cooperation with the Fiction Film department. Rehearsals, resolution, filming with actors at an external location, evaluation of the filmed material on screen in the cinema – HDR workshop: Requirements, preparation and production in HDR – LOOK and LUTS – Independent preparation of diploma projects with individual one-to-one supervision.
Diploma project
The presentation of one or more film projects followed by an oral examination and the submission of a written diploma thesis are required to obtain the diploma.