There are thousands of ways to discover a city. One of the best ways to discover Milan is by interacting with the local culture and people. Digital film-making enables the students to exam the Milanese culture and society and the city of Milan itself through a more unique vantage-point, that of a lens. Students learn how to tell a story using the media of film; that is, how to write, how to visualize, how to understand and view the world through a lens, and how to frame and shoot a film. Students analyze other viewpoints of Italy and Milan, both from an American and an Italian point of view. Students must individually write and develop their own script based on any aspect of the Milanese culture that is of interest (i.e. the Milanese, the concept of aperitivi, Milanese architecture and cuisine). Students are then divided into groups of three or four, where they choose one student script to film. Through role playing within the group, students take on the position of Director, Director of Photography, Assistant Camera and Gaffer. Each group has two days to shoot their project and one week to edit it as a team. At the end of the semester there is a public screening of all group projects.
Prerequisites:
None
Additional requirements:
Required Viewings:
Film excerpts will be used for in-class sessions; students will be required to view outside of class all seven Italian movies listed in the syllabus:
•Viaggio in Italia
•Paisà
•Ieri, oggi e domani
•Rocco and His Brothers
•8 ½
•Volevo solo dormirle addosso
•Casomai
Method of presentation:
Lecture, lab work*, group work, and field studies to film sets and/or post-production company.
*Due to the lab work required for this course, the enrollment is capped at 10 students. Additionally, students are required to pay a lab fee of 80 euros, which will be billed through IES Chicago.
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance and class participation (30%); mid- term exam* (30%); final exam** (40%)
*The mid-term exam consists of a written exam of research on the topic of your project and script
**The final exam is the production of a digital video and oral presentation of the project
content:
Sessions 1 & 2
Introduction to Cinema and Italian Cinema/discovering a culture through images and sounds/film language
Films viewed: My Voyage to Italy by Martin Scorsese; Viaggio in Italia and Paisà by Roberto Rossellini
Sessions 3 & 4
Contemporary American visions of Italy/developing student ideas and creative skills
Films viewed: Mission Impossible III; The Italian Job
Sessions 5 & 6
Film Storytelling/theme, story and structure
Films viewed: Prèt-à-porter by Robert Altman; Ieri, oggi e domani By Vittorio De Sica
Sessions 7 & 8
A Portrait of Milan/creating students’ stories of Milan
Films viewed: Rocco and his Brothers (1960)* by Luchino Visconti
Sessions 9 & 10
Visualization/the director’s craft – lenses, distances, angles, continuity, actor and camera blocking
Films viewed: 8 ½ by Federico Fellini with interpretations by David Lynch and Woody Allen
Sessions 11
Field Study
Sessions 12
Mid-term Paper – Student Script
Sessions 13 & 14
Contemporary Portraits of Milan/group and choice of script/use of camera
Films viewed: Volevo solo dormirle addosso by Eugenio Cappuccio; Casomai (2002) by Alessandro D’Alatri.
Sessions 15 & 16
Use of the camera/organizing shooting/pre-production (casting, scouting locations, setting up shooting times)/making a storyboard
Sessions 21 & 22
Post-Production/faculty works with students in editing process
Session 23
Final Exam - Final paper presentation and screening of group project
Required readings:
Katz, S.D. Film Directing, Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen. Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA, 1991.
McKee, R. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: Regan Books, 1997.
Recommended readings:
Ascher, S. & E. Pincus. The Filmmaker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age. New York: Plume, 1999.
Bondanella, P. The Cinema of Federico Fellini. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992.
“---“. Italian Cinema from Neorealism to the Present. New York: Ungar.
Tirard, L. Moviemakers’ Masterclass. New York: Faber & Faber, 2002.
Volger, C. The Hero’s Journey. Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA, 1992.
Notes:
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Mara Perbellini received her Bachelor’s Degree in Italian Literature and Drama from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy. While an undergraduate, she not only acted in several productions, she was also an active writer and director. She then attended the Screenwriting Program at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan. After earning her Master’s Degree in Screenwriting, she moved to Rome, Italy, where she began to write screenplays and work as a story analyst for Rai Fiction and Eagle Pictures. In 2004, she established Studio Metaphora S.R.L. with five screenwriters and story editors. Based in Milan, the company offers consultation and script development to film and television production companies. Since then she has had over eight feature film stories and screenplays purchased or optioned. Mara joined the faculty at IES Milan in 2006, where she teaches History of Italian Cinema. She continues to be a project consultant for major film and television production companies, and she is currently writing for an acclaimed dramatic television series as well as for other cinematic projects.
There are thousands of ways to discover a city. One of the best ways to discover Milan is by interacting with the local culture and people. Digital film-making enables the students to exam the Milanese culture and society and the city of Milan itself through a more unique vantage-point, that of a lens. Students learn how to tell a story using the media of film; that is, how to write, how to visualize, how to understand and view the world through a lens, and how to frame and shoot a film. Students analyze other viewpoints of Italy and Milan, both from an American and an Italian point of view. Students must individually write and develop their own script based on any aspect of the Milanese culture that is of interest (i.e. the Milanese, the concept of aperitivi, Milanese architecture and cuisine). Students are then divided into groups of three or four, where they choose one student script to film. Through role playing within the group, students take on the position of Director, Director of Photography, Assistant Camera and Gaffer. Each group has two days to shoot their project and one week to edit it as a team. At the end of the semester there is a public screening of all group projects.
None
Required Viewings:
Film excerpts will be used for in-class sessions; students will be required to view outside of class all seven Italian movies listed in the syllabus:
•Viaggio in Italia
•Paisà
•Ieri, oggi e domani
•Rocco and His Brothers
•8 ½
•Volevo solo dormirle addosso
•Casomai
Lecture, lab work*, group work, and field studies to film sets and/or post-production company.
*Due to the lab work required for this course, the enrollment is capped at 10 students. Additionally, students are required to pay a lab fee of 80 euros, which will be billed through IES Chicago.
Attendance and class participation (30%); mid- term exam* (30%); final exam** (40%)
*The mid-term exam consists of a written exam of research on the topic of your project and script
**The final exam is the production of a digital video and oral presentation of the project
Sessions 1 & 2
Introduction to Cinema and Italian Cinema/discovering a culture through images and sounds/film language
Films viewed: My Voyage to Italy by Martin Scorsese; Viaggio in Italia and Paisà by Roberto Rossellini
Sessions 3 & 4
Contemporary American visions of Italy/developing student ideas and creative skills
Films viewed: Mission Impossible III; The Italian Job
Sessions 5 & 6
Film Storytelling/theme, story and structure
Films viewed: Prèt-à-porter by Robert Altman; Ieri, oggi e domani By Vittorio De Sica
Sessions 7 & 8
A Portrait of Milan/creating students’ stories of Milan
Films viewed: Rocco and his Brothers (1960)* by Luchino Visconti
Sessions 9 & 10
Visualization/the director’s craft – lenses, distances, angles, continuity, actor and camera blocking
Films viewed: 8 ½ by Federico Fellini with interpretations by David Lynch and Woody Allen
Sessions 11
Field Study
Sessions 12
Mid-term Paper – Student Script
Sessions 13 & 14
Contemporary Portraits of Milan/group and choice of script/use of camera
Films viewed: Volevo solo dormirle addosso by Eugenio Cappuccio; Casomai (2002) by Alessandro D’Alatri.
Sessions 15 & 16
Use of the camera/organizing shooting/pre-production (casting, scouting locations, setting up shooting times)/making a storyboard
Sessions 17 & 18
Production of a script
Sessions 19 & 20
Editing process/Re-writing one’s project
Sessions 21 & 22
Post-Production/faculty works with students in editing process
Session 23
Final Exam - Final paper presentation and screening of group project
Katz, S.D. Film Directing, Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen. Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA, 1991.
McKee, R. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York: Regan Books, 1997.
Ascher, S. & E. Pincus. The Filmmaker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age. New York: Plume, 1999.
Bondanella, P. The Cinema of Federico Fellini. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992.
“---“. Italian Cinema from Neorealism to the Present. New York: Ungar.
Tirard, L. Moviemakers’ Masterclass. New York: Faber & Faber, 2002.
Volger, C. The Hero’s Journey. Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City, CA, 1992.
This course is offered during the regular semester and in the summer. For summer sections, the course schedule is condensed, but the content, learning outcomes, and contact hours are the same.
Mara Perbellini received her Bachelor’s Degree in Italian Literature and Drama from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy. While an undergraduate, she not only acted in several productions, she was also an active writer and director. She then attended the Screenwriting Program at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan. After earning her Master’s Degree in Screenwriting, she moved to Rome, Italy, where she began to write screenplays and work as a story analyst for Rai Fiction and Eagle Pictures. In 2004, she established Studio Metaphora S.R.L. with five screenwriters and story editors. Based in Milan, the company offers consultation and script development to film and television production companies. Since then she has had over eight feature film stories and screenplays purchased or optioned. Mara joined the faculty at IES Milan in 2006, where she teaches History of Italian Cinema. She continues to be a project consultant for major film and television production companies, and she is currently writing for an acclaimed dramatic television series as well as for other cinematic projects.