Workshops

Directing as Visual Storytelling with Josh Appignanesi

New dates to be confirmed.
Please register your interest by email: workshops@lfs.org.uk.

 

“Truly inspirational stuff and so rarely discussed these days, yet so VITAL to filmmaking. Josh is a fascinating person and what he has to say is very well thought out.” Brian Barnes, participant February 2009. Click here for more testimonials.

Introduction

How do you tell a story visually? What makes a film a film, and not TV? We could say a "real" movie is one that's mostly comprehensible with the sound turned off. But where do we start?

Course Outline

This practical 2-day weekend workshop aims to take participants shot by shot into the heart of cinema by addressing the following issues:

  • What choices make a shot tell the story your way? - How do you use composition, framing, blocking of actors and their position to camera? Background, palette, costume, lenses, light, camera movement?
  • How do you juxtapose this shot with your other shots through editing, to create suspense and involvement?
  • How do you create a system of images that, by repetition and inversion, build tellingly into a moving and memorable visual story?
  • Audiences are already saturated in the visual grammar of other films - collectively known as "genres." How do you refer to and exploit the assumptions every audience brings to a film in advance?
  • What is it that makes a given filmmaker distinctive?
  • How do you apply these ideas practically in your prep and on your set, getting your ideal shots as well as your coverage?

With inspiring film examples, practical storyboarding exercises, and analysis of participants' own films, this workshop will give you the tools you need.

The workshop would most benefit those with some prior filmmaking experience. A significant part of the course will be dedicated to analysing participants’ own work. Participants are therefore asked to bring along an example of their own work, preferably a short film in DVD format.

Maximum participants: 15

Fee: £180

 

TUTOR BIOG

Josh Appignanesi grew up in London and studied anthropology at King's College, Cambridge. His debut feature film SONG OF SONGS (2005) starred Natalie Press (lead in BAFTA-winning MY SUMMER OF LOVE and Oscar-winning short WASP) in an intense sibling drama set in the closed world of orthodox Jews. Produced by Gayle Griffiths, Appignanesi directed and co-wrote with LA Times Award short-listed novelist Jay Basu. His second feature, THE INFIDEL, is a comedy starring Omid Djalili and THE WEST WING'S Richard Schiff, from a script by David Baddiel. It will be released in the UK by Revolver in April 2010.

He previously made six short fiction films, acquired for channels like Sky, BBC, CBS, CBC, HBO, Fox. NINE 1/2 MINUTES (2002) starred Olivier-nominated David Tennant, premiered at Edinburgh 2003, and won 2nd place in the BBC Filmmaker Talent Award on BBC3.

As writer-director his latest work is the short film EX MEMORIA about a woman with Alzheimer's, funded by The Wellcome Trust and starring Sara Kestelman. He has also directed artists' videos and documentaries (C4), and co-founded production company Mercenary.

 

Top

How to apply

Please submit the following items (email applications preferred):

Once your application has been approved we will provide you with instructions for booking your place online.

Email us:
Carolyn Atherton:
workshops@lfs.org.uk

Postal Address:
Workshops Admissions,
The London Film School,
24 Shelton Street,
London, WC2H 9UB, UK

Telephone us:
+44 (0)20 7836 9642

Fax us:
+44 (0)20 7497 3718