Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood and J.J. Abrams. Those are just a few of a long line of famous directors. Could you be the next famous director that people know who you are just by your name?
Durham College is offering a new Advanced Filmmaking program to help you earn your graduate certificate to further your career.
The program is one-year and is designed for people who have a minimum of three years working experience in the filmmaking or video production industry or are a Durham College graduate in programs related to any type of filmmaking. This includes Broadcasting, Digital Video Production, Journalism- Broadcast and Electronic Media or any film program.
Greg Murphy, Dean for the School of Media, Art and Design, explained the process for coming up with the course.
“There are people who want to take their skills and take them to another level,” Murphy said. “Whether they want to be able to say make a documentary, or they want to make a narrative film.”
Murphy said the concept of the grad certificate is layering skills from one program on top of another to create even more skills.
Murphy said that the program was created to allow students who wanted to enhance their skills to become better at the storytelling process of video.
Students who are taking the program will take classes that look more into detail about working with the storytelling side of the art of film. Students will also learn more about editing and screenwriting, he said.
The program consists of three semesters, ending with a field placement or a capstone project where students work in groups to create an independent project, showcasing the work that they have learned over the semester, according to Murphy.
The program’s tuition for international students is about $16,000 while domestic students would pay about $5,000.
Once graduating from the program, students could potentially become an assistant director, cinematographer, production manager or screenwriter, Murphy said.
“We think that by teaching people how to be better at filmmaking, they’ll be on more film crews, that people will come here because there are skilled people, there are talented people,” Murphy said.
Seats are still available for the September start semester. More information is available on the college’s website.
