Page 28 - Fujifilm Exposure_27 Bride & Prejudice_ok

every angl CHECKING OUT THE SURREY INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN’S
T he market town of Farnham in She stresses that the emphasis to 12 minutes in length. With around fied in her praise. Speaking to senior
70 students in each year group, a wealth of different material is constant- ly being produced which is premiered at different festivals and screenings throughout the country and interna- tionally.” Claire Barwell continues.
“Some of the students’ work has been shown recently at the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, The Eden Project in Cornwall, the International Film School Festival in Poitiers, e-magiciens at Valenciennes , Brief Encounters, Bristol and the Nahemi ‘Eat Our Shorts’ Festival at the NFT. All of which illustrates just how ambitious they are,” she adds.
With former students including a BBC sound recordist, Nick Reeks, who has just come back from Iraq, and David Caffrey, director of Divorcing Jack and the current release, Grand Theft Parsons - given an avant-pre- miere at the college - she is fully justi-
leafy Surrey may not seem the most obvious location for a highly-prized BA Honours course which promises to give
students a broad grounding in film and video practice.
But then again, who’d have thought it would also be the (equally unlikely) setting for the opening “Unleash Hell!” battle in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator with nearby woods spectacu- larly doubling for Germania?
After the most cursory of first impressions, it quickly becomes clear that the Surrey Institute of Art and Design is perfectly suited for the task.
“We believe in the integration of theory and practice, and an important part of this involves looking at the relationship that film has with the wider community,” says Claire Barwell, acting programme leader on the Institute’s three-year Film and Video BA Honours Degree.
throughout the course is on issue based work in the hope of producing critical, reflective practitioners who are not only driven by the concerns of the industry but also expected to think, argue and enquire for themselves.
“Within six weeks of starting the degree, students will have scripted and shot a film on 16mm. This first non-synch, black and white project introduces many of the principles of visual storytelling which is a key part of film education,” says Brian Clark, Senior Lecturer in scriptwriting.
The school offers courses in 16mm film production which include studies in lighting, sound recording, scriptwriting, directing, production design and editing.
“We give them work to do in differ- ent genres and using different technol- ogy throughout their time here, with a particular emphasis on documentary production. Students produce at least two short films a year of between five
lecturer Noski Deville, who is busy supervising second year students on their first synchronised sound film proj- ect shot on Fujifilm stock in a purpose- built studio, the buzz of creativity is almost tangible.
“It is important for everyone to learn how to work successfully in a small crew on a low budget independ- ent production on both film and video projects with each member of the group taking responsibility for a par- ticular area of production. In their sec- ond year they can choose to specialise and develop their understanding of a key area of production.
“They are later expected to com- plete a seven minute drama documen- tary shot on film and completed in dig- ital post production where everything comes together. We encourage them to take things seriously,” says Deville, who points out that all the hard work is necessary to give the students as
26 • Exposure • Fuji Motion Picture And Professional Video
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