RIFS One Year Program

RIFS offers a very high standard in all aspects: the level of education and mentoring, equipment, facilities, services and available cast for student films and exercises. The program, taught by experienced and working professionals, provides students hands-on, intensive training to provide all that’s needed to pursue careers in the field, while also giving each student an opportunity to make original, festival-worthy films during his or her time at RIFS, at the highest professional level, creatively and technically.

THE FIRST TERM

In the first part of the term, students receive 9 weeks of classes, 3 hours a week in each of the following subjects: Directing, Screenwriting, Cinematography, Editing, Acting for Directors, and Short Film Studies. Additionally there are seminars in Sound Recording, Sound Design, and Production Design. During these weeks they are also developing and writing scripts for the first films.

The second part of the term is dedicated to the pre-production, shooting and post-production of STUDENT FILMS. Each student writes, directs, produces and edits their own short film, and works on films of fellow students in different capacities, either on the crew or cast. The term ends with a faculty review of the films.

THE SECOND TERM

In the first half of the second term students take advanced courses, three hours a week each, in Production, Screenwriting, Cinematography and Editing, as well as seminars in Advanced Sound Design, Web Series Development, Film Festivals, and Italian Film Studies. As the year progresses, students are trained in more and more sophisticated shooting equipment (camera, lighting and grip) and cinema techniques. Additionally in this period, students participate in a weekly workshop aimed at developing professional protocols on set, and they are mentored as they develop and write their scripts for the diploma films they will make.

The second part of the term is dedicated to the pre-production, shooting and post-production of those diploma films. Once again, students each make their own film and work on films of fellow students. The term ends with a faculty review, a public screening/award ceremony, and the diploma ceremony.

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This intensive, professional film-making program, offering hands-on experience and valuable training in the many disciplines that go into the art, business and craft of film-making, gives students advanced skills and a portfolio of work to be proud of, enabling them to jump start their film-making careers.