INTRODUCTION TO DIPLOMA
The one-year Diploma in Cinematic Arts indicates advanced level studies in a new or an already familiar field. It is designed for students wishing to enhance their skills and broaden their knowledge through practical workshops with professional filmmakers.

IVS DIPLOMA IN CINEMATIC ARTS
Program Description:
The program is rooted in the belief that cinema is an art form. It is an act of imaginative story-telling that strives to unveil and understand truth in all its complexity, and to creatively express the ambiguous and often contradictory realities that we embody and inhabit. Cinematic art is the nexus of craft, creativity, observation and inquiry. In Pakistan today, we are witnessing a revival in filmmaking. We believe that the best of a nation’s cinema will reflect its realities whilst imagining a better future.

The year-long diploma in cinematic arts is an intensive study in the specialized skills of directing, producing, editing, sound design, cinematography and script writing.

The program offers students a chance to work closely with practitioners and filmmakers. They have the opportunity to emerge with a portfolio of work and creative experience to equip them to join the film industry and to forge new boundaries and levels of excellence in cinema.

Structure:
The program is non-modular. It is composed of fifteen workshops to be taken sequentially, eleven in the first term (Aug-Dec) and four workshops in the second term (Jan-May). Some of the component classes are term specific and others run continuously across the whole program including Film History and Analysis and Contemporary Cinema.

Important | Curricula are continuously under review. The Indus Valley School reserves the right to alter, substitute, eliminate from or add to the list of courses and details at any time without notice.

 

Film Appreciation:
This course is designed to teach students how to analyze films, while exploring and understanding the difference between documentary and fiction, especially in an age when the boundaries are often blurred. The course will take the students through a history of film, studying the different approaches to cinema ranging from auteur, studio, low-budget, big-budget, independent, etc.

Cinematography and Lighting:
Cinematography is both an art and a craft, and a good Cinematographer requires a synthesis of technical skills and creative sensibility. In this course students will learn the use of cameras and the principles of cinematograph. They will learn the use and importance of camera movement, advance studio and outdoor lighting. The students will be shooting on high resolution cameras supervised by leading industry professionals.

In the second term students will also get a chance to try their hands on a 35 mm. 

By the end of the Diploma students would have had opportunities to explore, experiment and develop their own cinematic sensibilities.

Sound Recording:
Sound is an integral part of any film – be it fiction or documentary. In this course students will learn the use of microphones and mixers. They will learn sound recording in different kinds of locations, both indoors and outdoors.

Sound Design: 
A large part of a film's meaning is carried in its soundtrack. In this course students will be made to realize the post production aspect of sound. They will be acquainted with different software through which they can process sound and music for documentary and fiction. This course will also include a brief foray into music scoring for film.

Screenwriting: 
In this course students will go through intense brainstorming and research sessions, and will be taught how to set the premise, build and develop characters, create context and write dialogues. The students will be taught the difference between genres and the different kinds of conflict. As script is the foundation of a good film, all scripts are subject to a continuing process of discussion and criticism. Students will be expected to write drafts of their scripts and present additional research.

Producing For Fiction:
In Producing fiction, students will learn to manage a project, which would include making a script breakdown, budgeting, finding the best suited locations, casting, scheduling, etc.

Directing fiction:
This course focuses on different approaches to storytelling, through theory classes and practical exercises. Students will be taught how to visualize and storyboard, work with actors, direct crew, view rushes and most importantly how to work within budget.

Production Design:
The visual look and feel of the film is an important part of the film and in this course students will learn to understand and translate a script into set design. They will learn about composition and how color translates onto the screen.

Editing for Fiction:
Along with capturing and logging students will learn how to edit dialogue and action. They will learn different approaches to editing fiction, like continuity, essential story elements, the expansion or compression of real-time, context, psychology of characters, flow, pace, etc.

Documentary:
In this course students will learn the different approaches to documentary filmmaking, like anthropological, observational, constructive, scripted, investigative, empathic, dramatic, impressionistic, essayistic, etc. Students will learn documentary camerawork and interview techniques, along with the ethics of the filmmaker’s relationship with, and the approach to the subject.

Producing for Documentary:
This course is designed to help the students develop ideas, research subjects, locations and themes. Students will also be taught how to write proposals and treatments, and make budgets for their documentary films

Editing For Documentary:

The editing course is designed to teach students how to arrange their shots in a rhythmic succession of scenes, to convey a desired message to an audience. Students will learn how to capture, log, transcribe and organize material along with different approaches to documentary making.

Important | Curricula, courses and course outlines are continuously under review. The Indus Valley School reserves the right to alter, substitute, eliminate from or add to the list of courses and details at any time without notice.