Independent filmmaking may be alive and well, but independent distribution is another story. At a time when “independent” films have to have a star and a multi-million dollar budget, how do you get your film seen? Forget Sundance, Miramax, and PBS (these places get hundreds of submissions a year). Learn to make a realistic assessment of the market for your film, and then take marketing and distribution into your own hands. From wooden nickels and Web sites, to press kits and reviews, this workshop takes you through the different ways to reach your audience. Do you submit to film festivals or not? What about on-line opportunities? Does social networking help? How safe are downloads and VOD? What about Netflix and Amazon? On-line distributors are a dime a dozen. Are any of them any good? What do you need to ask a distributor if they’re interested? Real life case studies of filmmakers who are getting their work out after being turned down by traditional distributors will be provided. No experience necessary. Bring your questions!

The School of Film welcomes legandary San Francisco film and video maker George Kuchar, one of the most prolific and distinctive underground filmmakers working today, for one-on-one conversations with emerging filmmakers about their current projects and evolving aspirations. A pivotal influence for John Waters and countless other independents, Kuchar spent much of his career mentoring students at the San Francisco Art Institute. This unique opportunity to convene, commune, and even possibly conspire with his wisdom is by appointment only. Appointments are available to individuals and to filmmakers duos working on the same project. Come with 5-8 minutes to screen, a treatment or project description, and three critical questions to ask. Priority will be given to current and matriculated School of Film Certificate Program students, though members of the general film community are also welcome if space allows.

GEORGE KUCHAR, a legendary figure in New York's underground film scene, began making 8mm films with his twin brother, Mike, at an early age. In the 1960s and 1970s, the pair produced a prodigious body of Super-8 and 16mm narrative psychodramas and pop culture parodies whose perverse humor won them post avant-garde audiences. Transitioning to video in the 1980s, he created a series of roughly 50 self-narrated, wry, video diaries of his observations of everyday life and the lives of friends and family, redefining 'low budget' by the creative use of low-end technology and in-camera editing. In recent years, with his students at the San Francisco Art Institute, he has produced outrageously theatrical narrative pastiches of pop culture melodramas, horror films, and high camp, which have joined the rest of this body of work in winning recognition internationally.

$15 Certificate Students; $20 General Public (if space is available)

Tuition includes free admission to AN EVENING WITH GEORGE KUCHAR, screening Tuesday, February 2 at 7 p.m.

MICHAEL ROHD, SHANNON SCROFANO & SOJOURN THEATRE ENSEMBLE MEMBERS

For an entire decade, Portland-based Sojourn Theatre has been a national innovator in creating and fostering civic theatre, in which contemporary issues are interrogated by directly infusing community members and community expertise into the dramaturgy before, during, and after production. Their creative integrations of story, idea, perspective, and fact offer much to filmmakers, suggesting new ways of thinking about the traditional relationships between subject and filmmaker, interviewer and interviewee, and, ultimately, a completed work and its audiences. If civic theatre acts as a bridge, in which spaces are created for illumination, recognition, and dialogue, then why not film? The first day of this workshop will introduce Sojourn's hallmark collaborative processes through case studies, demonstrations, and sequences of physical activity. On the second day, participants will apply these tools by going out into the field with basic video equipment to design and create content for the company's community engagement process as part of Sojourn's upcoming event/show, ON THE TABLE, which will explore Oregon's urban/rural conversation through performance, travel, and online experience in Portland and Molalla. Open to all film and theatre artists with an interest in reflecting on and activating the community building potential of their own artistic practice as storytellers.

MICHAEL ROHD is founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre and a recipient of an Americans for the Arts' Animating Democracy Exemplar Award. SHANNON SCROFANO is Sojourn Theatre's resident designer and film/video artist. Their work includes BUILT, presented as part of the 2008 TBA Festival, GOOD, winner of a Portland Drammy for Outstanding Production of the Season, and WITNESS OUR SCHOOLS, which toured for 9 months in Oregon and was seen nationally. Rohd is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Northwestern University with a focus on Devising Performance & Civic Engagement; Scrofano teaches in the Graduate Program at CalArts. They have received support from the Ford Foundation, NEA, Rockefeller MAP Fund, and arts councils in over a dozen states. Their current projects include new work at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Sojourn's ON THE TABLE, which utilizes community partnerships, ambitious interactive media, multiple long distance locations, and audience travel to explore how place-based identities and values might be bridged through conversation and a good meal.

The successful interviewer, often off-screen but always the critical presence in a compelling film project, brings a host of abilities to the task, among them focused listening, research, and planning skills aimed at gathering essential information and factual evidence through the most economical means possible. This day-long session for film/videomakers, researchers, journalists, those interested in posting clips to Web sites, family historians, and others interested in professional interviewing techniques will examine the art and the practice of the interview, providing the opportunity to actually conduct and critique interviews in class with guest subjects. Topics to be covered include: the role and rights of the interviewer, different approaches and styles, interviewee selection, pre-film audio interviews, techniques for relaxing and empowering the interviewee, basic requirements for appearing on-camera, locations for filming, techniques for editing, ethical considerations, and media responsibilities.

Interested in learning about digital video production but don’t have the time to take a semester-long course? Want an introduction to the entire process so you can then do it yourself, or follow by taking special topic offerings? Learn the basics of DV planning, shooting, and editing, from storyboarding, scripting, and camera technique to post production using Final Cut Pro editing software in the Film Center’s digital editing lab. Everything you need is provided: scripts you can practice with, camera and editing equipment for use in class, and other classmates who will crew with you to project completion. The pace will be fast as the basics are laid out in sequence, and projects progress from week to week. Outside time is not required, as projects can be completed during class meeting time, though participants are welcome to rent equipment from the Equipment Room at a special rate between class meetings if they desire. Review and critique will take place along the way. Gain the confidence to proceed on your own project once the course ends. Pre-requisites: None.

TWO IDENTICAL SECTIONS

Fee does not include out of class camera use.

NON-CREDIT OR 2 PSU CREDITS

A well-conceived storyboard saves precious dollars and promotes efficiency before and during production. This workshop introduces the critical creative and business roles that storyboard artists play on a crew, addressing the range of approaches they may use in working with a director and the way their creative input fits into the overall production, whether a short commercial or long-format feature. Short-hand instruction in figure drawing, composition, and perspective will be provided, and standard blocking techniques, camera shots, and camera moves will be defined. Participants will try their own hand at storyboarding through an in-class, hands-on exercise which is followed by instructor feedback and class critique. The overall goal is for participants to develop the confidence and language to storyboard their own films and/or to be comfortable working with a professional storyboard artist. Suitable for drawing novices as well as the highly skilled. Open to filmmakers and design artists of all levels, though a general understanding of film language is highly recommended.