The latvian academy of culture

The Name of the Course: Cameraman’s Work in Staging

The Scope of the Course: 64 hours, 4 credit points.

Type of Assessment – a test and an examination.

VII.The Author of the Course: Lecturer I.Gorodecka

The Content of the Course: The future cameramen have already acquired reporters’ skills and learned specific features of journalism as part of their profession. This course introduces the students to another side of cameraman’s work - the production of dramatic material. In contrast to the depiction of real life the cameramen are to learn to organise “the life” according to the director’s artistic idea and its technological rational implementation. The cameraman has to be able to cooperate with representatives of various professions, especially with actors and understand the specific character of their work. Moreover, the course introduces students to various elements the cameraman meets when working in a pavilion in the TV genre or the art cinema.
Preconditions for the Acquisition of the Course: The acquisition of the fundamentals of the cameraman’s profession, especially skills of using a camera. The knowledge of English to read the literature.
Thematic Planning:

THEMES	Week	Type of classes and hours
The fundamentals of a dramatic work.	1	L2
The cameraman – an executer of the idea of the director.	2	L2
The analysis of the script from the cameraman’s point of view.	3	L2
The cameraman’s work at the director’s script.	4	L2
The choice of the objects and the place to be shot.	5	L2
The analysis of sketches and models of decorations.	6	L2
The assessment of costumes and make-up.	7	L2
The concept of the plastic arts of the production. Lights and the frame, the cameraman’s style, rhythm, etc.	8	L2
Video tests and the creation of a pilot cassette.	9	L2
The planning of shooting per shot (artistic and technical aspects).	10	L2
Soap operas, family serials, TV dramas, musicals and others.	11, 12	L2, L2
Video graphics and shooting of composite shots.	13, 14	L2, L2
Editing.	15, 16	L2, L2
PRACTICAL TASKS. During the term every student has to shoot 3 studies about the following themes:
The choice of the shooting place and time.	17, 18	P2, P2
One-actor-study in natural light.	19, 20	P2, P2, P2
One-actor-study in simplified artificial light.	21, 22, 23	P2, P2, P2
A dynamic study performed by an actor in natural light.	24, 25, 26	P2, P2, P2
An act of a play shot during some performance with VHS camera (without editing)	27, 28, 29	P2, P2, P2
A study performed by several actors (5-7 min. with editing), the main task: right staging and the inner editing of a shot if possible.	30, 31, 32	P2, P2, P2