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Introduction to audio-visual heritage and its history
Módule: 1
Due to the industrial nature of the audiovisual world, technological breakthroughs in this field have caused major disruptions throughout its history. The move from the 'cinema of attractions' to narrative, the standardisation of feature films as the cornerstone of all programmes, the sudden, large-scale spread of sound, colour and the wide screen format, the moving away from cellulose nitrate as a photochemical medium, and the use of electronic mediums and digital technology in the creation, dissemination and commercialisation of images, have all triggered their corresponding linguistic revolutions over the past 120 years, along with successive bouts of widespread distribution of materials, prompting some private individuals and administrations to create film archives. These five classes aim to present a theoretical basis regarding the reproducibility of audiovisual works and their different manifestations, as well as the various processes used by the industry (and therefore present in film archives) during three main periods: 1896-1930, 1930-1980 and 1980-2010. With the participation of Santiago Aguilar, Luciano Berriatua, Alfonso del Amo and Nere Pagola.
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The art of Primitive Emulsions
This workshop takes a look at the production of home-made photochemical emulsions. Although it is based on film archaeology, it explores many contemporary creative questions. It is a workshop for those interested in the history of materiality, although it will also appeal to filmmakers curious about film not just as a means of storing their ideas, images and soundtracks, but rather as a material that actively forms and distorts these ideas, images and sounds.
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Artists’ Moving Image and the Documentary Turn
This course will examine how and why a strong documentary impulse has emerged contemporary moving image practice, with special attention to films that seek to challenge traditional assumptions about the documentary form and its association with objectivity, authenticity, and immediacy. We will explore how artist-filmmakers have interrogated the complex relationships between reality and representation in ways that extend, expand, and contest cinema’s long documentary tradition in light of today’s social, geopolitical, and technological conditions.
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Cloud dramaturgy
A brief tour of the representation of clouds in the history of painting. The basic tools for observing the heavens are sought and the importance of clouds in cinema is reflected. A way to approach "the screen of the sky", a space of representation and projection of images that connects the history of painting with that of cinema.
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Dreaming about sound
On very few occasions, if ever, do we associate the processes of dreaming with hearing. There is probably a simple biological reason for this: while we dream, although we temporarily switch off our sight so that we can enjoy other virtual images, our hearing always remains alert, always ready to make up for the sacrifice that rest imposes on our sight. As a result, although it sounds strange, there are no sound dreams. Every sound that we dream is irremediably linked to an image, whether this is abstract or figurative. This event offers an exercise based on sleepy listening (elusive, unfocussed..), in a kind of sound siesta, or perhaps more fittingly, a drowsy concert-listening session. In short, an entire long relaxing night, with a suitable soundtrack provided by pieces of radio art, in which the audience can sleep while listening or listen while sleeping. Cinema without light, without dialogue and without seats. The nuances and differences depend on each dream, we’ll let the comments be heard during breakfast.
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Film in space
Tabakalera commissioned Berlin based film curator, artist and publisher Florian Wüst to curate two large-scale film exhibitions dealing with the history of experimental film, computer and video art up to the present day. The first edition, Zin Ex. From Abstraction to Algorithm, opens at the end of 2020, and runs for four months, including a program of screening and performance events. It shall function as a "classroom" for this course in order to evaluate together the specific curatorial approach of creating non-canonical connections between films, archive materials and other artistic media. The joint reflection also concerns the presentation of historical film works in our contemporary context of digital culture. After this initial phase the main proposal of the course unfolds: the active participation in the curatorial research and realization of the second Zin Ex edition in 2021.
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Festival under construction
Subject directed by the San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF) articulated around the past, present and future of film festivals. The sessions focusing on the past will compare the histories of different international festivals, and chart that of the San Sebastián Festival in particular. Those focusing on the present will take the form of long conversations between students and the SSIFF team, while those focusing on the future will be exclusively dedicated to selection and programming, and will feature guest lecturers from different fields of cinema who will help students imagine the future of festivals.
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Permanent film sound observatory
The Observatory is involved throughout the academic year, providing a space for training, practice and research in sound. In addition to pre-established themes, it can also adapt to the specific needs of group members at any time, linking into practical work and projects under development, in the areas of sound recording and postproduction. Throughout the year, the observatory also builds links between the area of sound and other subjects, to form an ongoing echo chamber.
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The other film camera
Módule: 2
In the origins of film, the cameras used to record images were also used to project them. The operator who worked the crank to capture the moment was also the person in charge of making the gear turn so that, once developed, the images could be projected onto a screen. At what point did these two functions (and these two cameras) separate? And, above all, what were the consequences of this? Why is it that the profession of projectionist is now (and has been practically since the mechanisation of the reel drive and the creation of distribution circuits) so far removed from that of camera operator? The statement made by Henri Langlois, founder of Cinématèque Française, that his film camera was his projection camera, highlights the importance of reclaiming the art of projecting. This subject aims to recover this ancient, primitive unit, working from a twofold approach comprising both a brief theoretical-conceptual analysis and an almost genealogical exploration of projection (on light and shadow cones) in human culture, and a more extensive and strictly technical-practical section aimed at teaching students this ancient, forgotten, yet quintessentially cinematographic profession: that of the projectionist. With Carlos Muguiro and Asier Armental.
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Film and video in the space of contemporary art
Módule: 2
An in-depth look at the funding of contemporary films at home and abroad. The subject avails itself of a detailed analysis of sources of funds to draw up a map of alternative resources: festivals, forums, foundations, sponsorship, subsidies, internships, competitions, self-funding and patronages. It draws comparisons between the financing of films and the financing of audiovisual art, in a bid to find connections and cooperation to help depict the economic panorama in which films are emerging in the 21st century.
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Basque film: a cinematography with tradition, an emerging cinematography
Módule: 3
This course suggests an approach to Basque film. Beginning with an historical contextualization in order to provide the background of the birth and development of Basque film up to the present time, it will carry out a chronological and thematic review of the history of Basque film and will present the most notable Basque filmmakers from its origins to the present day, with particularly close attention to the three (or more) generations of Basque filmmakers who are currently active.
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Subtitling workshop
Módule: 3
In this introductory workshop, students will be given a brief yet thorough overview of all the phases which make up the subtitling process. The course will focus more on illustrating the technical and practical aspects of subtitling than on the specific details of audiovisual translation, which is more an area of expertise for translation students than for film students. After completing the workshop, students will be able to create and work with different types of subtitle files for their own audiovisual creations.
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Introduction to video-essay
Módule: 3
This course addresses the generation of thought on the basis of writing with images. Particular emphasis will be laid on audio-visual essays, in a bid to produce critical thought generated using the film industry’s own media.
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What music thinks
Módule: 3
What can music theory teach filmmakers? This subject introduces students to the concepts of musical composition and structure and, by extension, to other art disciplines, in order to help them interrogate and explore these two aesthetic tools in the context of cinema.
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Film, body and performance
Módule: 4
Based on the age-old link between film, sculpture and dance, the conditions for the emergence and enunciation of the cinematographic image are transformed. Underscoring the presence of the film apparatus, spectators and projectionist, we explore the prolonged association between expanded film and the presence of bodies, the immediacy of the here and now and the primacy of the direct experience of space and the spatial conditions of film in its plastic, geometrical, physical, community and social dimensions. We explore celluloid as a material, film as an a-disciplinary art form and projection as a site and duration-specific process. The aim is to generate a place for performative experimentation that covers everything from choreographic approaches to the art of action and specific interventions to talking films–always based on an expanded idea of film and its resonance in space.
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Research, curating and creation related to the militant film archive
Módule: 4
This subject explores recent research, curating, archiving and creative practices related to the militant film cultures of the 1960s and 1970s. The aim is to analyse the devices and tools now being used to critically revisit some of the experiences that have been marginalised in mainstream film history. Starting with an analysis of the critical dialogues that curators, filmmakers and researchers establish with militant film archives, we shall go on to examine an issue that transcends this particular case study: how should we continue to debate and realise the full political capacity of the film image?
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Management of Complex Media
Módule: 4
Audio-visual documents are not exclusive to film libraries or film archives. Audio-visual work is a format or medium of expression that is extensively used in other fields such as art. Contemporary art museums contain audio-visual collections that combine a wide variety of formats and technologies, which require specific handling and management.
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Construction of audio universes
Módule: 4
This subject specifically addresses all phases of the design and construction of audio universes: ideation, work criteria, relations with images, gestation of projects based on sound, mixing etc. The multisensory power of images and sound. The synaesthetic sensory stimulation of images and sounds and the articulation of their paradoxical power in film.
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Digital to film
Módule: 4
Digital to film recording has become a key tool for digital artists and filmmakers who need to present their projects in film format. This technique not only consists of transferring digital images in order to make them look like film, it also enables the inclusion of digital elements in projects originally filmed in the traditional manner, along with special effects. This workshop explores all the creative possibilities offered by this technique.
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Open source digital tools for Audio-visual archives
Módule: 5
The class begins with an introduction on file formats. Building on this the students will practically explore free and open-source software, such as FFmpeg (for in-depth file transformation), QCTools (for quality control), AEO-Light (sound extraction from optical tracks) and DCP-o-matic (DCP encoding), as well as various media players. Resources on infrastructure and workflows for film and video digitisation will be presented and discussed, taking account especially of solutions which can be implemented in difficult environments at little expense. An overview on data preservation and migration, as well as disaster planning and recovery, will round off this class.
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Publications and film: paper, screen, text and moving images
Módule: 5
An analysis of the relationships which exist between the two mediums, based on a series of publications and exhibitions selected from among the teachers' own professional experiences. The aim is to adopt a subjective perspective that is not centred solely on results, but rather contemplates the process also, including difficulties and failures. Based on specific examples, we will analyse diverse key references from the field of artistic and film creation (authors, works and theoretical concepts) through the course's additional documentation.
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Tint workshop
Módule: 5
Right from the very beginning, cinema has always been a colour medium and many different processes have been developed to add a touch of colour to black and white images. From chemical tints and tones to manual painting, the development of Technicolor and modern emulsions, film has always used colour as a means of artistic expression. In this workshop we explore the original colour of film and the aesthetic possibilities that these techniques offer to filmmakers and artists.
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Optical printer: a tiny time machine
Módule: 5
Used to make duplicates of a positive, transform the size of the original material and create special effects in films, optical printing pre-dates the appearance of different digital post-production techniques. In this process, the image of a frame is printed and can be copied or modified. This workshop explores the creative and aesthetic possibilities offered by the device.
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Digital processing of images II: Diamant
Módule: 6
The Diamant film restoration software is a professional solution for film restoration, cleaning and repair. The workshop, which is run by the digital manager of the Catalonia Film Library, teaches students how to optimise their workflow in the digital restoration process.
