BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS IN FILM AND
TELEVISION
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This is a three year programme offering a practical specialist education within a group context. Supportive theoretical studies are also incorporated to allow students to better understand the context within which they are working.
To enter the BFA programme (either from the diploma or from outside) students must choose one of the specialisms listed below. They then follow a generalised first year studying and practicing all roles involved in the Film/TV production process and learning to put their specialism in perspective and relate it to the whole. In the second and third year they work in a team in the area for which they were originally admitted.
Different types of film/TV production are dealt with from the angle of the specialist whilst understanding of each other's specialisms AND the importance of cooperation is kept central through joint projects growing in scale from 1st year exercises via 2nd year productions to 3rd year Honours projects.
Screenwriters will contribute short scripts for yearly productions but will themselves graduate on the basis of a major piece of screenwriting (feature or TV drama) which will not be filmed on the course. Screenwriters in particular may also be considered for advanced entry to the second year where they can prove suitable experience and maturity.
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Students apply to the BFA programme to graduate in one specific specialism. Each pathway of study incorporates elements of training in other specialisms but students will always participate in second year and Honours productions within their chosen specialism. Switching specialism after entry will be very hard as the balance of the team is essential to the programme's success. It is therefore important you think seriously about which area most interests you before applying. We will then ask you to specify this on the application form.
The specialisms on offer are :
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The school stresses the importance of creative organisational and management abilities within the field of film and television. To this end we will admit the same number of students interested in specialising in Producing /Production management as in Direction. We aim to educate Creative Producers as well as efficient Production Managers and Production Assistants.
Students will alternate the role of producer and production manager on projects. As producer the student will be actively involved in selection of scripts, creative development of ideas, and creative solving of logistical financial problems. We aim to develop producers who will be creative participants and partners in projects initiating as well as executing ideas; providing support and insight as well as organisational and financial sanity for the film/TV team.
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We offer the most comprehensive and in depth BFA degree screenwriting specialist program in Hong Kong , and in fact our program is quite unique even by international standard.
In BFA year 1, screenwriting specialist students besides receiving all-round basic training in film and video production and post-production , they also learn both the narrative and the documentary aspects of film and TV screenwriting through the Screenwriting Fundamental course.
In year 2 screenwriting students take three writing courses .There is TV Screenwriting which includes screenwriting for drama, variety shows and situation comedies. Screen Writing Adaptation teaches the adaptation of real life incidents, fiction, and stage plays into screenplays. There is also an in-depth writing course of Documentary and Non-fiction. The students can also offer short film scripts for Second Year Projects , and provide drama scripts for TV multi-cam production.
In year 3 screenwriting students while can offer short scripts for graduation Honours Projects, are required to do their own Screenwriting Honours Projects and to take a Screenwriting for Features course. Here we offer the only screenwriting program in Hong Kong that a student can take five screenwriting courses within a three year degree program , and is also trained in the final year to write and complete a feature length ( not less than 90 mins. ) screenplay as a graduation Honours Project.
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Within the directing department the School will help students learn about different kinds of directing from fiction (Film and TV) to documentary, from corporate to commercial. We hope to produce Directors who are more than just fiction auteurs with their one or two personal ideas and more than just technically competent managers capable of carrying out a commission. We will encourage students in the development of personal projects as well as giving them the chance to work in commissioned situations or with scripts written by fellow scriptwriting students. Creativity developed for personal expression as well as creativity channeled into finding solutions for problems posed by others. The director as interpretor and filmic shaper as much as an originator of ideas.
Whatever the type of film, TV or disc project, we aim to help directors learn how to work in creative partnership with producers, crew and actors and operate within realistic budget and time limits. We aim to develop the idea that creativity can be challenged and stimulated by logistical/financial restrictions rather than blocked and frustrated. We wish to encourage the making of projects that work within the limits set and do not end up looking like underfunded imitations of something they should never have tried to be.
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Camera students will be expected to become proficient in both the areas of lighting and camera operation. They will also learn to work with the various different technologies available for recording images (film, video and maybe shortly disc cameras). They will also have the chance to work on both fiction and documentary projects as well as being introduced to TV studio techniques. The basic techniques and craft skills will be the groundwork for developing individual creative style that can be put at the service of the director in interpreting a script on film.
At the same time camera and lighting students will be taught to work fast and efficiently without losing creative control of the visual look. Learning to compromise under pressures of time, budget and available light and resources will be an important part of their creative/technical training.
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In the area of editing the School aims to develop the technical and creative competence of students to the highest standards. To this end we are investing in modern digital technology as well as continuing to respect and use the educational strengths and creative potential (particularly in the early years) of older video/film analog systems.
Editors will be taught the craft in a variety of documentary and fiction situations and using a variety of technologies. They will also learn to work closely with sound students as well as taking part in the shooting situation as continuity (location filming) or vision mixers (in the studio). The concept of advanced editing will incorporate notions of creative montage (meaning shaped by juxtaposition of images) as well as learning to work with advanced technologies. Editing students will be encouraged to see themselves as partner and advisor to the director and producer capable of suggesting solutions and creating a cohesive creative whole from the raw material.
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Sound students will learn about and be involved in all aspects of sound recording and sound design (post production track laying and mixing). They will be taught all necessary skills and techniques as well as being expected to develop creative capabilities in the use and application of sound in fiction, documentary and studio contexts. Sound will not be treated as a last minute addition to a project but seen as an essential creative tool at the disposal of the filmmaking team. Quality of live recorded sound will be encouraged and cooperation between sound editor and picture editor will be of paramount importance particularly as computer techniques bring the two disciplines closer together.
Sound students will also be encouraged to consider the emotional and atmospheric effects of music and other "non-real" sound sources as well as learning to heighten the dramatic contribution of conventional sounds. Learning the skills of the foley or "footsteps" artist (responsible for post synching effects) will also be encouraged for interested students. Sound students will learn to support and inspire the director in the use of sound and emphasise the critical contribution of the aural dimension to the finished film or video production.
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Other than the specialised courses and workshops , our BFA program offers a series of film /TV history and theory courses to strengthen the students' knowledge on tradition, history and theoretical concepts of the film and TV media . We firmly believe that such knowledge are invaluable to equip and to stimulate the students to create and to innovate.
In BFA1 there are two semester courses of History of World Cinema. The objectives of the courses are to study the development of world cinema in a historical, aesthetic, critical and analytical approach. Course 1 studies the development of world cinema from its silent birth in 1895 through to the classical sound cinema of the 1940's. Course 2 studies the development of world sound cinema from post World War 2 to the present.
The emphasis is on important directors and films, cultural, and socio-political movements and national cinema. Major concepts in theories of cinema will also be examined.
In BFA2 there is the Film/TV Theory & Criticism course that studies the principal topics and lines of inquiry in major Western and Chinese film and TV theoretical writings as well as key aesthetic questions of analysis and evaluation in relation to central works of film and TV criticism.
In BFA3 there are also two semester courses of Cinema & Society in Hong kong & china . Each is an analytical study of the historical and aesthetic development of the Chinese cinemas (Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) together with the political, cultural and socio-economic background and forces that helped to shape them.
Together they provide an in-depth understanding of the multi-level relationship among the three Chinese cinemas from the beginning to the present.
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The School will admit enough students in the various departments to ensure high quality technical/creative crewing throughout the three years of the BFA programme. We want students who are enthusiastic for their chosen specialism and not secretly wishing they were doing something else.
The concept of "learning to cooperate" as THE major specialism for ALL students is no empty phrase and the aim of the curriculum in the BFA first year (as well as in the execution of productions in subsequent years) is to emphasise the importance of creative and technical cooperation.
We will encourage flexible and effective working practice and help students learn how to contribute according to the requirements of the individual production rather than feeling they have to show off technical tricks or impose their personal stamp at the expense of the whole. Cooperation not clashing of specialist egos.
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| (Common to all specialisms) |
| Year One: |
Film Production
Video Production
Producing & Production Management I
Screenwriting Fundamentals
Directing Fundamentals
Montage - Concept and Theories
Sound Design For Film/TV
Visual Expression
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| Year Two: |
Multi-Camera Production
Second Year Single Camera Productions
Honours Project Development
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| Year Three: |
Honours Projects (Longer Film or Video Production)
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| (Dependent on specialism) |
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Editing/Intermediate Editing
Production Sound
Postproduction Sound
Videography Cinematography
Screenwriting for TV
Screenwriting (Short Film/Adaptation)
Intermediate Directing Directing for TV
Creative Producing
Producing & Production Management II
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Advanced Editing
Advanced Cinematography
Advanced Producing (include Promotion/Marketing)
Advanced Directing
Screenwriting for Features
Writing for Documentary/Non Fiction
Advanced Sound Design
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(Students will be required to take some of the courses listed above not directly related to their specialism. These additional courses may be designated "core" or "elective".)
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(Common to all students spread over three years)
English
Intermediate Putonghua
Visual Expression
History of World Cinema I & II
Cinema and Society in HK and China I & II
Sound Design for Film/TV
Film Theory and Criticism
Civilization I & II
Liberal Arts Electives
Professional (specialist) Field Study
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Creative Sound workshop
Music Appreciation for Film & TV
Interactive Media
Computer Generated Imagery I & II
Intermediate Photography
History of Experimental Film/Video
History of Broadcasting
Independent Studies (a chance for students to follow a programme devised with tutors usually related to their specialism.)
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DIPLOMA IN VIDEO PRODUCTION
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The School offers a one-year Diploma programme in Video Production to Form 6 School leavers and above. This is the only programme in Hong Kong providing students with a balance of introductory theory and hands-on practical experience in the production discipline of video and related digital technology. Such valuable experience not only gives the student the necessary preparation for seeking employment but also enables him/her to identify an area of interest for future specialisation on the BFA (Hons) Degree Programme.
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Film Appreciation I
Video Production Techniques I
Video Production Workshop I
Scriptwriting
Film Appreciation II
Video Production Techniques II
Video Production Workshop II
Introduction to Multicam Production (using Betacam)
Interdisciplinary Course
English
Putonghua
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Introduction to Photography
Introduction to F/TV Graphic Animation
Sound Music & Image
Creative Writing
Introduction to Production Design
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