20.9.10 First Class and Cinema Dance

I just had my first class at CIEE and am now waiting for my second one. During the passing period, I went to get lunch with Devin and Meghan before lying on the grass. Upon returning to the study center, I hopped on the computer with the intention of checking my email when a file on the desktop caught my eye. Entitled Cinema Dance, I opened it, hoping to extract a few details about the class by the same name and in which I am enrolled. Here is what it had to say:

"CinemaDance 

"FAMU Intensive workshop 
Lecturer: Pavel Jech 
The place and the date will be announced (March 12-15) 
Contact: pavel.jech@famu.cz 

"CinemaDance is a pedagogical tool that helps prepare beginning filmmakers to create short films within a structured, supportive “boot camp” environment that promotes creativity and maximizes collaboration. 

"The three-day workshop starts with a journey to a remote location, beginning in the evening with a dance: Turkish belly dancing, Irish Jig, African rock and contemporary disco. The idea is to break down barriers and help the international medley of student filmmakers get to know and be comfortable with each other. Dance embodies many of the goals of filmmaking: individual and group creative expression is achieved through collaboration within a structured ritual that embodies rhythm, pacing, emotional exuberance, and sensual expression through the poetry of motion. 

"The workshop continues the next morning as the student filmmakers are placed into culturally diverse groups of four and randomly given roles: writer, director, producer and director of photography. Groups choose their own name, and make a pledge to cooperate and work in the best interests of their projects. 

"Themes and short screenplays are then developed with periodic consultation. After scouting locations and casting actors from among their peers (and faculty) each group develops a strategy for producing their project, and spends the evening finalizing casting, stories, locations and storyboarding. 

"The films are then shot in one day, and edited in the evening and following morning. On the final afternoon of the workshop, the completed films are screened before the workshop members for review, comment and celebration. 

"CinemaDance creates a sense of empowerment among the filmmakers. By completion, all the challenges of the boot camp have been met. The filmmakers have completed their shorts as a direct result of the collaborative process. The members have developed mutual respect for each other’s contributions and a deeper understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking."

Go ahead, laugh, but this "class" sounds like an amazing way to earn 3 credits. I go out into the woods, dance a little, shoot a movie and meet cool people, all in one weekend.