HipCinema

New Workshop! Directing 4Film.  Learn about the process of directing narrative cinema. Each Saturday session will focus on practical directing techniques from 10:00am to 2:00pm. On Wednesday evenings (after 5pm) we will see films in Center City Philadelphia, and then discuss the films.

Tuition is $250 for early registration. $255 on the first day of class. The class fee includes production equipment and tickets to screenings  (plus one cup of coffee or tea afterwards). Space is limited to six participants per class. Class is designed for filmmakers who have made at least one film/video and taken entry level production courses. It is also for documentary makers who want to transition into doing narrative work. Actors who want to learn more about the directors’ process and acting for film/video are welcome.

Dates: Saturdays: September 11,18,25. Wednesdays: September 15, 22, 29.

Location of Saturday classes to be announced.

Note: Cell phones must be turned off during class. You are stealing time from your classmates and yourself when you talk on the phone.

The curriculum will cover the following:

Making Choices

Discovering How You See Things: Composition, Lenses, Lighting

The Process of Interpretation: Working with Actors & Crew

Blocking dramatic action

Placing the Camera

Breaking Down the Scene for Coverage

Storyboarding Basics

Techniques for Moving the Camera: Handheld, Tripod, Dolly

Shoot to Edit

Sound Advice

Science of the Image: Film, Light, and Codecs

Taking Care of Yourself & Others During Production

Recommended reading:

Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen by Steve Katz

Michael Caine – Acting in Film: An Actor’s Take on Movie Making by Michael Caine

The Rules of Management by Richard Templar

Catching The Big Fish by David Lynch

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Film Editing by Michael Ondaatje

Making Movies by Sidney Lumet

On Directing Film by David Mamet

Filmmaking for Dummies by Bryan Michael Stoller

About the Instructor: Nadine Patterson has taught video/film production for the past 20 years. She actively engages her students in the process of production during each class. She has made over 20 independent films. She earned a BA in Drama from Franklin & Marshall College, a Masters of Science from West Chester University, and a Masters of Art (MFA equivalent) from the prestigious London Film School in 2005. She is a life long learner.

About the class: The directing and the screenwriting workshop are part of a new initiative of Harmony Image Productions called HipCinema Labs.

Click on this link here to see the presentation of this year’s honorees. I did not hear about it in the media, not NPR, WHYY, CBS, NBC, ABC, KYW, etc. The people who were honored are truly monumental and very representative of American culture and society.

If you missed the screening and discussion on June 1st at L’Etage you can catch up on some of the proceedings here. Elizabeth Peres Luna introduces the set and moderates the discussion with Nadine Patterson. Ms. Peres Luna starts the video clip by talking about the importance of  a filmmaker’s early work in gauging the work that is to come. Thanks to the Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association for holding the event.

On Tuesday June 1, 2010 The Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association (PIFVA) presents a Cinema Speakeasy event at L’Etage (6th and Bainbridge in south Philadelphia) featuring three documentaries by Nadine Patterson. In between films, WHYY’s/NPR’s Elisabeth Perez Luna will lead a discussion about Ms. Patterson’s documentary work and engage Ms. Patterson and the audience in a provocative analysis of current media practices. How are stories selected? Who has the right to tell them? What is mainstream media missing when it comes to depicting the Black community? How does the official story effect how we view each other?

Doors open at 7pm. Program starts at 7:30pm. Admission is free. Contact PIFVA for more information.

Works to be screened include Thirty Eight Twenty, I Used to Teach English, and Cosmic Trane.

Finally the United States joins other industrialized nations in setting a policy that declares health care as a right not a privilege. Since working artists often live on the edge, working part time jobs or doing freelance work, this bill means that we will have access to affordable coverage. I would prefer a single payer system like the one they have in the United Kingdom, but this is a great start. A certain amount of fear, pressure, and apprehension is gone from our lives. We can focus on making a living and making art.

Three persistent writers have joined the second Writing 4Film Workshop. Clockwise from the left is Darrell Henderson, Milton McGriff, Nadine Patterson(me!) and Pheralyn Dove. Big shout out to High Point Cafe at Allens Lane for making us feel right at home. Watch this space for more information on their projects and other Philadelphia Independents!

Overview: A four-week workshop with award winning independent filmmaker Nadine Patterson that explores the process of writing for film. Various methods for writing screenplays, treatments and outlines will be explored. Recommended for writers, poets, directors and producers who have an idea for a writing project or a film, whether it be documentary, experimental or narrative.

This video is from the Free Press website. I believe we have to hold President Obama to his word by letting him know how important these issues are to us. The Comcast-NBC merger, a vertical integration move of incredible scale and magnitude, threatens the openness of the internet and our ability to use it as a two-way communications medium.

As stated on the Free Press “The phone and cable industries that control Internet access for 97 percent of Americans are spending tens of millions of dollars on nearly 500 Washington lobbyists. Their mission is to consolidate industry control over the Internet and kill Network Neutrality, before the public…. gets a seat at the table.”

Let your voice be heard. Write to the Federal Communications Commission, your city council and congress people, the Federal Trade Commission, your local newspaper, and your president. The airwaves, and grounds through which telecommunications companies build their networks are owned by the American People. We grant them access. We have a right to be heard just as much as any lobbyist or billion dollar corporation. They made their fortunes on our blood, sweat and tears. Without us they would be nothing. But we have to speak as one giant voice if we want to be included in the conversation. Let’s break our collective silence now. —- Nadine Patterson

I just saw over 38 films at the London Film Festival in October. Many were from non-European countries. It is amazing how little international content we have access to in the United States. And the major internet providers filter out a lot of that content. At the London Film Festival big Hollywood premieres like Men Who Stare at Goats play alongside films like No One Knows About Persian Cats. I also gained more confidence in the film projects I am currently working on for Harmony Image Productions. Globally people seem to be a bit more sophisticated about story structure, character development, and plotline. American filmmakers should take note of the various ways of telling stories and break out of the 3-act structure strait jacket.

Nadine Patterson at the Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival on Leicester Square.

Greetings. I had great time in Boston at the NAMAC Conference (National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture). I participated in an Open Session on making the media arts field and the foundations that support them more diverse, less sexist, racist and elitist. Tall order. We have spent the last 40 years since the Civil Rights Movement pushing Affirmative Action and African Americans still are at a disadvantage when it comes to health, education and employment. Women have made some strides, but they still face salary inequities and the glass ceiling. Not to mention the breakdown/segregation along ethnic, economic/class lines, sexual orientation, and disability (please send a better word for this). We have a lot of work to do! For a field that supposedly believes in diversity, the leadership ranks are overwhelmingly monolithic. How can we change this! Send me your comments here and let’s get to work on a manifesto! The plan is to 1) write it; then 2) get organizations and individuals to sign off on it; and 3) enact/follow through on the principles in practice. Let’s take this on together, one person at a time. Please leave a comment. Thanks.