Author: [log in to unmask]
Date: 12/12/94 9:10 PM
[Editor's note: This message was submitted to SCREEN-L by the "Author" noted
above, and not by Jeremy Butler ([log in to unmask]).]
I'm not a filmmaker (except in my head as I reshoot scenes in bad movies--
THE SANTA CLAUSE being the most recent case), but the discussion of film
schools, especially Cal Pryluck's recent post, reminded me of the
exhaustive syllabus prepared by Sergei Eisenstein for his ideal film
school. It's much too long to cite here (the full text is in LESSONS WITH
EISENSTEIN by Vladimir Nizhny), but a few examples of his curriculum include
the following:
WORK ON ONESELF--
Development of the necessary physical requirements
(phy. ed., movement through boxing, gymnastics, etc.,
voice training and diction, surveying, rhythm via dance, etc.)
Development of Directed Perecption
Problems with reconstruction of reality
Analysis and synthesis through verbal and visual reportage
Practice in directed reconstruction of events
The Creative Process
Creative qualities, methods, and failures. Examples of
creative individuals--Lenin and Marx, Henry Ford and
Thomas Edison, Falubert, Zola, Balzac, et al.
Practice in creative system
Work in the Group and On Production
WORK ON FILM
The director in prouction
The director in Western countries and the USSR
Cinematograph of the West
Soviet Cinematography
--and so on. It's a demanding course of study!
--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN
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