You've asked for it! Our Advanced Projects program has been designed for our dedicated alumni, our filmmaking students who have taken our two and three-week filmmaking intensives as well as our three-week Advanced Filmmaking intensive and who still want more! Students in the Advanced Projects intensive have a strong foundation in narrative filmmaking - having previously written, directed and produced more than three films of their own. They have edited extensively with Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere, have made films using the dual system (recording image and sound separately) and have synced their own sound.
Please note that students in the Advanced Projects intensive need to come to the program with a 6-8 page production-ready screenplay.
The first week of the program is devoted to thoughtfully editing these completed scripts with screenwriting instruction. Students will also have opportunities in their first week to begin scouting and securing locations and organizing their props. In the second week, students are in production making their films. The third week is devoted to picture editing, sound design, sound mixing, color correction, critique, and final output.
With a focus on advanced writing and producing, the Advanced Projects program instructors work with a small group of students to guide their filmmaking ambitions to reality. Lessons in advanced directing technique and advanced producing are the cornerstone of the course, but many of the lessons and guest speakers will be chosen according to the students' project ideas and expressed learning goals. Sculpted after the Advanced Projects courses at leading collegiate film schools, the Advanced Projects program serves as a bridge between attending filmmaking programs and being an independent filmmaker.
After lunch, students have supervised writing lab time, one-on-one writing advisements, and production planning time. Successful films require detailed planning, and the afternoon planning and writing lab is the time for that. Students buckle down and make their ideas come to life on the page, and figure out how to make their ideas come to life logistically. At the end of each lab, students come together again to do script readings, critique each other's work and solve narrative and practical problems with the help of their instructor and their classmates. This creative workshop time is invaluable in that students learn from one another and form a community of young artists who continue to support each other and nurturing collaborative friendships long after the summer comes to an end.
The great German filmmaker, Werner Herzog, has made one masterpiece after another in both the narrative and documentary form over his prolific five-decade career. His fascination with stories featuring tenacious heroes burdened with impossible dreams mirrors his own struggles as an uncompromising, visionary filmmaker in an industry dominated by Hollywood glitz. Herzog is known for pushing himself, his crew and his actors beyond their limits to create highly ambitious works of art. With Herzog as our inspiration, we encourage our Advanced Projects students to dream big, push the limits, and create the impossible!
SOCAPA has two summer camp locations in Vermont: one at Champlain College, situated in the picturesque city of Burlington, and the other at the Burke Mountain Hotel in East Burke, a summer haven for mountain biking and other outdoor sports.
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