Online Cinematography Curriculum

[PJ Palomaki]

Hi all,

 

I tried to browse the forums and search for an extensive cinematography curriculum which I could use as basis for patching any 'holes' in my knowledge of cinematography. Unfortunately I couldn't really find one and I was wondering if we could compile together such a thing?

 

Its great that these days getting hold of a decent camera and shooting is a possibility for most people, but to get the best results, you need to know a bit more than just where the record button is located.

 

There is a huge demand for cinematography courses and even though it would be utterly impossible to replicate that experience (time given, great tutors, certificate, connections you make, kit, studio, props, crew, productions, etc. to name just a few benefits), it would be great to have a good, solid curriculum, compiled by people who know what you should know and filled with articles, videos & book/film recommendations.

 

This would help many, especially those who have some knowledge of cinematography already, but might have 'holes' in their knowledge as they might have never attended a decent course or the information they received is outdated.

 

What do you guys think? If anyone knows of such a 'curriculum' already online, please share, I'd be keen to know! Just to point out, I personally am interested in Cinematography, especially, not about 'filmmaking' in general.

 

A good place to start from I guess would be to look at the 'Responsibilities of a Cinematographer' at the BSC website and then convert those to a curriculum: http://www.bscine.com/information/training/the-responsibilities-of-the-cinematographer/

 

If there is interest, I/we/someone could even set up a wiki to keep things organised.

 

Please chime in.

 

Cheers,

PJ

[Alexander Curtis]

This sounds like a great idea and I've been looking for just this type of thing. It would be great for those of us who aren't going through a full-time film school, or are going through school but not with a focus on cinematography.

[Alexander Curtis]

While not strictly cinematography, the website CourseA.com has a free course called 'The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color.'

 

https://www.coursera.org/course/hollywood

[PJ Palomaki]

@Alexander: Interesting!

 

On this topic, I'm currently in the process of creating a basic syllabus but I'm planning on making it open to public modification (i.e. wiki-style) so anyone who knows/finds relevant information on a topic, can add it to a correct area. It'll take a while to get the skeleton up but hopefully with community effort it could take off?

 

What do you guys think?

 

Cheers,

PJ