London Film School, offer full-time MA Degree courses in both Film Making and Screewriting.

How do you tell a story visually? What makes a film a film, and not TV? We could say a "real" movie is one that's mostly comprehensible with the sound turned off. But where do we start?

Course Outline

In this practical 2-day weekend workshop, director Josh Appignanesi [THE INFIDEL] takes participants shot by shot into the heart of cinema by addressing the following issues:

• What choices make a shot tell the story your way? - How do you use composition, framing, blocking of actors and their position to camera? Background, palette, costume, lenses, light, camera movement?
• How do you juxtapose this shot with your other shots through editing, to create suspense and involvement?
• How do you create a system of images that, by repetition and inversion, build tellingly into a moving and memorable visual story?
• Audiences are already saturated in the visual grammar of other films - collectively known as "genres." How do you refer to and exploit the assumptions every audience brings to a film in advance?
• What is it that makes a given filmmaker distinctive?
• How do you apply these ideas practically in your prep and on your set, getting your ideal shots as well as your coverage?

With inspiring film examples, practical storyboarding exercises, and analysis of participants' own films, this workshop will give you the tools you need.

The workshop would most benefit those with some prior filmmaking experience. A significant part of the course will be dedicated to analysing participants’ own work. Participants are therefore asked to bring along an example of their own work, preferably a short film in DVD format.

Fee: £220

 

TUTOR BIOG

Josh Appignanesi's second feature THE INFIDEL is an indie comedy written by David Baddiel about a Muslim everyman who finds out he was born a Jew. The film stars BBC1 comedian Omid Djalili (THE MUMMY) and Emmy-winner Richard Schiff (THE WEST WING), with Matt Lucas. Slingshot produced and Revolver-distributed with 4K+ screen averages on opening weekend, Salt also pre-sold the film across the world, something very uncommon for an indie comedy, including to the Tribeca Films’s new distribution outfit. www.infidelmovie.com

Josh's debut feature, SONG OF SONGS, was an austere psychological dissection of religious desire, starring Natalie Press (MY SUMMER OF LOVE, RED ROAD). International festival success included a special Commendation at the Edinburgh Festival, official selection in Rotterdam’s Tiger Awards, an award at London, and a BIFA nomination. Produced by Gayle Griffiths, distributed by Soda Pictures, it was received with critical acclaim in the UK press. www.songofsongsmovie.com

Josh recently worked with John Malkovich on a Sony commercial. Previous works include a documentary (tx Channel 4) and several award-winning short films such as BBC Talent winner NINE ½ MINUTES starring David Tennant (DOCTOR WHO), and Wellcome Trust funded, BIFA-nommed EX MEMORIA with Sara Kestelman. Josh also founded a post-production company which edited Emmy- and BAFTA-award winning political documentaries.

He has several features in development including Jay Basu’s psycho-chiller WITHIN, supported by the UK Film Council, and has a comedy stage play in development with Matthew Lloyd (DUET FOR ONE). Josh teaches and mentors in writing and directing at various institutions including London Film School, Arista, Script Factory, Film London, and the Met Film School, where he was head of fiction direction.

 

Acclaim for THE INFIDEL:

"Cracking, joyful and instructive, the film is already certain... to be the summer’s funniest film. Appignanesi jumps, in one beautifully executed move, to join the front rank of new British directors. His timing is perfect, his feel for the rhythm of moral action is bracing, and I hope he goes on to make a ton of interesting movies."
****Andrew O’Hagan, THE EVENING STANDARD

"Startlingly, for this second project, [Appignanesi] shifts gear for something more confrontational and taboo-busting... a broad comedy that gleefully and repeatedly stamps on the tender toes of liberal correctness."
**** Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN

"This is essentially a writer's film, but Baddiel's script is well served by an excellent cast, and the director, Josh Appignanesi, whose only previous feature was a deadly serious look at an Orthodox Jewish family... has directed with a light touch."
Philip French, THE OBSERVER

"A terrific odd couple: there’s a real bromantic spark between Djalili and Schiff... a perfectly pitched buddy dynamic."
TIME OUT

"Great laughs in this sweet comedy…. Djalili is delightful."
THE NEW YORK TIMES

"It’s very funny; even metaphysical... Sight gags abound."
VARIETY

"The two leads make a terrific comic team, with Djalili’s deadpan style of physical humor perfectly complementing Schiff’s hilarious, fast-paced wisecracking."
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

 

Acclaim for SONG OF SONGS:

"A cinematic milestone… a challenging, unashamedly intellectual rigour to it. Song of Songs confirms [Natalie Press] as a star. In both style and content, the film reveals a distinctive and bold new voice in British cinema."
Jason Solomons, THE OBSERVER

"Terrific performance from Press... something uncomfortably compelling about this tale of murky deviant flipside of religious ecstasy. A daringly original debut."
Wendy Ide, THE TIMES

"A powerful and confident work and shows that Appignanesi is seriously committed to cultivating a real cinematic language."
Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN

"Appignanesi’s intelligent low-budget feature debut… Press is compelling. The film modulates into a kosher version of Cocteau’s Les Enfants Terribles… assembled with considerable psychological authority."
Philip French, THE OBSERVER

"Boasts superb playing from Press and Chalfen... It is framed edited and scored with a precision and confidence belying its limited resources, and the script is brimming with provocative ideas… Appignanesi is clearly a talent to watch… Press confirms [her] considerable promise."
Michael Brooke, SIGHT & SOUND

"A brave debut… Persuasive playing from [Press] and Chalfen… the atmosphere is suitably claustrophobic."
Derek Malcolm, EVENING STANDARD

"L'oeuvre ne cesse d'intriguer par son atmosphère irréelle et maléfique.
(The film is ceaselessly intriguing, with its dreamlike and maleficent atmosphere)"
Agnès Poirier, LIBÉRATION

"La naissance d’un grand cineaste... quatre vingt minutes bouleversantes qui nous rappellent l’exigence de Krzysztof Kieslowski"
(The birth of a great filmmaker, 80 upsetting minutes which remind us of the demanding nature of Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Arno Gaillard, PARISCOPE 2008

 

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How to apply

Please submit the following items (email applications preferred):

• Application Form
  (click to download)
• CV
• Personal Statement
  (i.e. a few brief paragraphs explaining why you're applying for the course, what you hope to gain from it etc.)

Once your application has been approved we will provide you with instructions for booking your place online.

Email us:
Carolyn Atherton:
workshops@lfs.org.uk

Postal Address:
Workshops Admissions,
The London Film School,
24 Shelton Street,
London, WC2H 9UB, UK

Telephone us:
+44 (0)20 7836 9642

Fax us:
+44 (0)20 7497 3718

• Testimonials