Directing (8204T025)

master's programme qualification

Specific admission requirements:

Candidates who have completed a Bachelor?s programme at FAMU (in directing or a different field) as well as graduates of a Bachelor?s programme at any other university may apply for admission to the Master?s programme. In the case of candidates who are graduates of a Bachelor?s programme at FAMU, previous academic and creative results are taken into consideration, but the decisive criteria for all candidates are the prerequisites for further development of talent and the quality of the Master?s project. Through the submitted authored works, the candidate must demonstrate that he/she has mastered the principles of film production and is able to apply his/her distinctive talent to it.

Specific arrangements for recognition of prior learning:

The programme does not have any specific requirements for the recognition of prior learning.

The procedure for recognition at AMU is governed by Articles 89 and 90 of the Act on Higher Education Institutions No. 111/1998 Coll., as amended, and by the AMU Attendance and Examination Regulations (Articles 8, 14, 18).

Qualification requirements and regulations

Required qualifications: Completed university education in a Bachelor?s programme in the field of Directing.

Regulations: The Czech education system is governed by the Act on Higher Education Institutions, as amended (Act No. 111/1998 Coll.), and by the internal regulations of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

Field of study characterization

The programme is focused on developing students? imagination, creativity and the commensurate degree of the critical thinking of a film and television director, whose position is of key importance in the creation of a film or television work. The Directing Department was one of the first at FAMU. At its inception stood Otakar Vávra ? its first head and the creator of the instructional concept. Prominent film directors including Václav Wassermann, Jiří Weiss, Václav Krška, Bořivoj Zeman, Elmar Klos, Zdenek Sirový, František Filip, Jan Matějovský and Vlado Delong have worked in the department since the beginning, as have prominent actors such as Karel Höger and Radovan Lukavský. The study plans of individual programmes contain lists of required subjects and electives, including practical exercises for the Bachelor?s and Master?s programmes. The instruction is divided into a theoretical part focused on the history of cinematography, and on film and television techniques and technology. The effective framework for the acquired knowledge consists of core lectures: ?Dramatic Theory?, ?Director Work with Actors? and ?Film Language?. In the practical part, students verify theoretical knowledge in a system of exercises ranging from elementary etudes to the graduate acted film. During the course of the programme, students have the opportunity to work in workshops under creative personalities and to encounter diverse conceptions and cinematographic approaches. The history of cinematography is often identical to the history of film directing ? especially in those cases where the directing achieved a harmonic balance of many creative activities. This is one of the reasons why our department endeavours to synchronise its instruction with that of other departments.

Key learning outcomes:

The goal of the programme is to train broadly educated, distinctively creative and technically skilled film and television directors; the study plan therefore includes, in addition to core subjects, also lectures and seminars on the history of film, literature and fine arts, as well as instruction in philosophy, sociology and foreign languages. The large number of practical exercises tests students? talent and abilities in film as well as in television production; they teach students the craft from the selection of the topic to the literary elaboration of the selected material to the actual realisation. The results, i.e. film and television exercises, are the subject of comprehensive reflection during examinations in core subjects. In the practical exercises, the student masters the customs of management and teamwork with students of related film professions (camera, editing, sound, production, scenography, dramaturgy), among other things, and demonstrates his/her ability to lead a film or television crew and actors. The graduate demonstrates a distinctive view of the world, creativity, conceptuality, organisational abilities, general education and insight into other artistic disciplines. He/she is equipped with comprehensive knowledge and skills in audio-visual production, primarily for application in film and television directing. He/she knows the economic principles for institutional as well as so-called independent production. He/she possesses communication skills, including the ability to communicate in English.

Occupational profiles of graduates with examples:

The two-year Master?s programme aims to train comprehensively educated independent creative personalities with their own authorial view and capable of realising in a distinctive artistic form film and television projects in all the usual genres, and in medium-length as well as feature-length and serial formats. The graduate possesses the necessary knowledge and is fully equipped professionally for the creative realisation of acted and documentary films. Graduates who do not become full-time film and television directors apply their skills versatilely in the audio-visual sector in higher technical and production positions, for which they are prepared thanks to the interdisciplinary focus of components of the study plan in the Directing programme.

Access to further studies:

The doctoral programme in the field of Theory of Film and Multimedia Production.

Examination regulations, assessment and grading:

Studies are assessed by credits and examinations stipulated by study plans. The student is informed of these through the information system.

The student registers for examinations using the information system, and is entitled to a second and third attempt to pass an examination. If neither of these attempts proves successful, the Dean may in exceptional cases permit a fourth attempt (administered by a commission). It is not permitted to repeat an examination for the main subjects or to repeat written examinations.

The credit is an ungraded form of assessment of studies. It is allocated upon fulfilment of requirements stipulated for individual subjects and is recorded in the information system with the word ?Credited? (Z). An examination is a graded form of assessment of studies, which tests knowledge and level of creativity in the relevant subject. In the main subjects, examinations are administered by a commission. An examination may be practical, written, oral, or involve a combination of these methods. Examinations are graded on the scale ?A, B, C, D, E, F?.

Graduation requirements:

The student fulfils the requirements set by the study plan.

The student passes the final state examination:

Absolventský film / Master?s Graduate Film

Přehled dějin světové kinematografie / The History of World Cinema

Práce s hercem, filmové herectví / Director Work with Actors, Film Acting

Stylizace filmového díla / Film Work Stylisation

Mode of study:

full-time

Qualification director or equivalent:

Pavel MAREK

Field of study is part of study programme:

• Film, Television, Photography, and New Media – (N8204)

Study plans of qualification:

• Film Directing - Master