Explore Filmmaking Online Course by National Film and Television School (NTFS)

Explore Filmmaking Course  by National Film and TelevisionSchool (NTFS)
by Tazeen Hasan

Exploiting the power of film to tell the stories can be exotic for journalists. The boundaries between the art of documentary making and journalism are already blurring. Luckily, no professional credentials are required either for journalism or film production. Similarly, multimedia has become almost vital part of news stories, and features and so a  freelancer must be equipped with a range of skills including filmmaking skills.

Back in the days when CNN, Aljazeera, and Geo introduced documentaries to tell the investigative stories to the television viewers, I  used to dream about making documentaries. So when NTFS announced the online course 'Exploring Filmmaking,' I could not help myself and joined it without giving it a second thought. But let me confess, I was totally ignorant of the process of filmmaking. I was not even able to distinguish between the roles of director and the producer.

The six-week online course introduced several resources to learn the skill. Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Guru was one of them. It;s inspirational contents include 400 interviews with film professionals. I was particularly intrigued by short films from 90 seconds to 40 minutes duration. How effective and challenging  it must be to tell the stories in 90 seconds? I am thrilled.

Film professionals from different backgrounds hosted each week of the course. Destiny Karagha, writer, and director hosted the second week and talked about the distinction between the plot and theme. She mentioned her film 'Gone to far' and the tough time she faced to find out the sponsor for a comedy with the entirely Black cast.

The Third week was hosted by Mike Figgs and the discussed the low budget films. How to cut cost by making changes in the script? How to find out alternatives for the unaffordable situations. He also shared some very useful tips on inexpensive lighting and camera stability. The director of 'Mass of the men' said script and cast are the two vital ingredients. If they are done right, it is hard to go wrong.

The Fourth week was hosted by Corin Hardy, who talked about breaking the scenes and the use of storyboarding to detail and imagine the scene from the script. Brian Tufano, the head of cinematography at NTFS talks about the roles and range of skills that a DP need. Apart from lighting and camera work, he should be imaginative and adaptive and prepared to be flexible. A 2-minute  clip to understand the effects of lighting.

The fifth week discussed the power of editing via 'Iron Lady.' The use of flashbacks, transition in times, and deciding what to leave and what to cut a scene were the essential tasks of editing.

As a first exposure to film production, it was not bad. However,  let me confess,  I do not fully understand everything and am not able to complete the assignments yet. Luckily, there is no deadline.