Photonarration

Display Schedule

Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Jitka HEJTMANOVÁ

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Developing storytelling skills. It does not matter if we write or draw, speak or take photographs – to tell a story successfully we simply have to follow certain rules.

Mode of study

Practical seminar. Assignment specification will be the content of our 1st meeting. Students will continue to work individually. There are two more meetings: Work in progress session and the final session when the results are handed in.

FIXED SCHEDULE OF THE COURSE:

1st meeting, assignment introduction: March 21 (Mon), 9:00 - 9:45 (Jitka's office, 4th floor FAMU main, door number 439)

2nd meeting, selecting process: April 11 (Mon), 9:50 - 13:05 (Jitka's office)

3rd meeting, „montage“ on the table: May 2 (Mon), 9:50 - 13:05 (Jitka's office)

Prerequisites and co-requisites

A digital camera would be great. A cell phone is sufficient, too.

Course contents

The exercise was developed in order to provide condensed basic knowledge of the visual component in storytelling.

The topic of the exercise does not have to be linear narration, documentary and visual essay stories are also welcome. We do not resemble films storyboards - we try to built an dramatic arc of the story through a narrative based exclusively on photography without any textual assistance.

(Students are asked to pay attention even to unknowingly captured graphic symbols that can shift the meaning of the image.)

Students - non-photographers are led to perceive the image in its complexity, to read image plans and to attempt to faithfully transfer their imagination to two-dimensional representation. Explaining words are not accepted, there is nothing like “we see THIS at the photo“. Photography is the message itself.

In the frame of (maximum) sixteen photographs, students tell the story in 2 steps.

-1. they learn the assignment and consult their ideas.

-2. they present the pictures on computer screen to the teacher and their colleagues - students.

“Do we read or do not read the story in the pictures?”

We select 16 photos for printing.

-3. The result of phase 3 never corresponds with the intention of phase 2.

Over the printed images, students learn that Montage is as creative part of creation as inventing the story and shooting it. Often, the beginning becomes the end of the picture series and we may end up with only 12 pictures on the table.

The learning outcome is on the one hand the awareness of the limits of the image without text and on the other hand the power of the meaningful image.

Recommended or required reading

-

Assessment methods and criteria

Submission of 16 hi-res photographs before the final session.

The exact date and time of delivery will be discussed with students during the 2nd meeting.

100% attendance

Schedule for winter semester 2021/2022:

Schedule for summer semester 2021/2022:

The subject is a part of the following study plans

• Cinematography_1920 (optional subject)
• Cinematography_3_2021 (optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing_1920 (required optional subject)
• Cinema and Digital Media - Directing 2020 (required optional subject)