Kera MacKenzie

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

This course is designed to introduce students to the language and histories of the moving image arts and the diverse ways in which artists have contributed to them. Throughout the semester we will examine a range of approaches to creating moving image work. We will compare and contrast established ?norms? with radical and experimental approaches to these various media, leading to an understanding of the rich, complex, and evolving landscape upon which individuals have been making, and continue to make, moving image art.

Students will engage with this expanded field through lectures, readings, screenings, meetings with visiting artists as well as becoming active in discussions and practitioners in the field via group projects.

Working in small groups, students will complete a series of short projects to introduce them to the various pathways of the department. By the end of the semester, students should have gain basic production and postproduction skills as well a good understanding of the key concepts relevant to contemporary film, video, new media, installation and animation.

This course gives students the opportunity to comprehensively explore industry-standard devices in digital editing and visual effects, bringing to bear the power and versatility of nonlinear editing on their creative projects. The class offers advanced editing techniques including data management, sound mixing, visual effects, color correction, compression and output options. The course is structured around a series of technical lectures and hands-on workshops as well as discussions of theoretical texts and screenings of films specifically selected to address important issues in the post-production process. Students will be working on the post-production of a single self-directed project. Students should come prepared with some of their footage ready for editing at the beginning of the semester. Students must participate in a mid-term critique and end-of-semester critique. Students will also generate a press kit for their project.

This course gives students the opportunity to comprehensively explore industry-standard devices in digital editing and visual effects, bringing to bear the power and versatility of nonlinear editing on their creative projects. The class offers advanced editing techniques including data management, sound mixing, visual effects, color correction, compression and output options. The course is structured around a series of technical lectures and hands-on workshops as well as discussions of theoretical texts and screenings of films specifically selected to address important issues in the post-production process. Students will be working on the post-production of a single self-directed project. Students should come prepared with some of their footage ready for editing at the beginning of the semester. Students must participate in a mid-term critique and end-of-semester critique. Students will also generate a press kit for their project.

This Professional Practice course is designed for students with practical experience and understanding of the language and process of fiction, non-fiction, hybrid or experimental film production, and who would like to prepare themselves for professional survival and growth as emerging filmmakers outside of school. The topics covered at the class will include: producing project proposals for grants, fellowships and labs; learning about local, national and international film communities, networks and institutions; discussing festivals and other conventional or DIY distribution models; learning about programming and writing about film as career paths; and strategies for building film communities and production teams such as companies and collectives.
We will watch and discuss works by notable SAIC alumni such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and will have in-person and virtual visits and discussions with local and global filmmakers, programmers, distributors, centers and platforms. Selected successful recent film projects will be discussed as case studies; we will research the life of each project from ideation to fund-raising, production and distribution.
Students will practice professional development by working around one of their own past or in-progress film projects and producing a body of documents around it, including a proposal for a grant or a lab, an artist/director statement, visual treatment and mood-board, and a written festival and distribution plan.