Directors Foundation Certificate Course – All You Need to Know about Directing Your Own Film! A 5-Week Intensive Course

RAINDANCE

LA & ROUGH DIAMOND PRODUCTIONS

present

DIRECTORS

FOUNDATION

CERTIFICATE COURSE

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW TO

DIRECT YOUR OWN FILM!

with

DIRECTOR

JOHN

PENNEY

Award-winning Writer/Director, Directing

Instructor at the Los Angeles Film School

TAKE THE CLASS:

IN

PERSON in West Hollywood

OR

LIVE

ONLINE

with Streaming Video!

If you live outside LA you can watch from

ANYWHERE on your computer, smart phone, or tablet!

OR

AFTER

EACH CLASS

– with V.O.D!

If you can’t make it at class time, you can

still watch afterwards with a Video On Demand link of the class sent the next

day!

5-WEEK COURSE

beginning

MONDAY, January 23rd,

2017

6pm to 8pm

and continuing for

5 Consecutive Monday

Evenings

(through Monday, February

20th)

YOU

WILL LEARN:

You will learn the key skills of

working with the screenplay, directing camera, cast and crew, and gain an overview

of each area of the director’s responsibilities through a series of classes.

 The course will cover How Directors Work with

Writers and Interpret the Screenplay, how to

Work with Actors in Rehearsal and On Set,

the Technical Aspects and “Grammar” of

Directing, and finally, what the director actually does On

the Day of the Shoot and how to best Work

with Editors.

WEEKLY

COURSE OUTLINE:

Week 1: The Director And The

Script

The script is the blueprint for a movie.

 The director’s job is to read and interpret the screenplay.

 Discover how a good director translates the written word into the

visual elements on the screen.  A screenplay will be sent out to all

students to read before the class and single scene will be work-shopped in Week

1.  The instructor will talk about the over all story, how to break

down a scene and discover the key events.  He will discuss how to

identify issues such as the 3 types of conflict in a scene.

–  Analyzing and reading the

script.

–  Looking for the truth –

what is this script really about?

–  3 types of conflict in a

scene explained.

–  Identifying key

moments.

–  Finding additional visual

elements including discovering your theme and best way to show it

visually.

–  Discovering the hero’s

journey.

–  Identify what each

character wants and how this defines the conflict.

Written Assignment for next

week:  Summarize the hero’s journey in the story and

identify some of the story elements discussed.

Week 2: The Grammar Of

Directing

Directors use a variety of shots and lenses

to compose their scenes and create a vocabulary of cinematic techniques and

processes.  Directors must learn the dos and don’ts of film

grammar.

–  Using the camera with

intention to tell the story.

–  Demonstration of camera

placement and lenses.

–  Framing and composition –

when to use subjective or objective.

–  Approaching your coverage

– the evolving master shot, shot size and focal length for coverage.

–  How does a director

communicates his vision, floor plan, storyboards, lookbook and shot

lists?

–  What is the 180 line?

Understanding crossing the line with intention.

Written Assignment for next

week:  Take the scene and do your own story boards, floor

plan and shot list.

Week 3: The Director and the

Rehearsal

Students will be sent a reading assignment

that discusses directing tools for actors before class to review.

Guests: 2 actors

to join “Table Read Rehearsal.”

–  Casting and how to handle

and identify the best actors in casting.

–  Director’s role as a

storyteller and how to get the results you want in performances from actors and

how best to create characters for screen.

–  Exercises to discover the

subtext.

–  How to run a rehearsal

and create mood and tension by inspiring the actors and using the tool of

staging.

–  We will do a table read

first.  Then students will adjust the performances.

–  Creating characters for

the screen – going over objective, action, subtext, destination, inner

monologue, inner object, expectation, preceding moment, back story, and

biography.

Written Assignment for next

week:  Write a report on your thoughts on the tools and how

you could use them for the characters in the scene.

Week 4: Directing The Actor

Put into practice the tools we have learned

the previous week.  The job of the director is to know the result you

are looking for and have a vision of the film through the eyes of the audience.

 The director needs to know the emotional experience they want the

audience to have.  We will use the tools from the reading assignment

to get the performance you want from the actors.

Guests:

 2 actors to join “Directing the Actor”

–  How to identify and

understand an actor’s needs.

–  The Director’s focus on

set.

–  Preparing to

shoot.

–  Working with AD on

shooting schedule.

–  Good communication under

pressure.

–  Making decisions and

staying flexible.

–  Shooting for the

edit.

–  Demonstration of how to

block the scene for camera with actors.

–  Students will get a

chance to try blocking based on their storyboards and floor plans

prepared

Written Assignment for next

week:  Watch “A Fish Called Wanda.”

Week 5:  Understanding

The Editing Process through the analysis of a completed sequence.

–  Function of the director in the

editing room.

–  What does the director

need to understand about editing?

–  Sequence analysis on “A

Fish Called Wanda.”

–  Discuss all the elements

we have worked on the previous weeks and how they come to play in the sequence

in “A Fish Called Wanda.”

–  Importance of music and

sound design and how to pick the right composer.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT

FOR INFOLIST.com!! Use the special link below, and get

$40 OFF!!

 That’s just $209 (regularly $249!) for a 5-week

course with director John Penney!

REGISTER

NOW!

Register now at the special link below to

get your discounted rate: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=6GNKRTKDKVWEL 

Course Location for LIVE

EVENT:

Rough Diamond

Productions

1424 N. Kings Road

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Information for Online or

VOD:

Provided upon

registration.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:

JOHN PENNEY

Award winning

writer/director John

Penney attended UCLA where he studied

film and received a degree in English.  In addition to his

screenplays, John has written short stories that have won him an award from the

Adelphi Academy in New York, and have been published in the

“Magazine of Fantasy and Science

Fiction.”

In 2011 John wrote and directed the

supernatural thriller “Hellgate” starring

William Hurt and Cary Elwes.

 The film was awarded Best Film at the Bram Stoker

International Film Festival as well as the Best Horror

Film from the Fantasy Horror Awards in Italy,

sponsored by Syfy Europe Universal.  Prior

writer-director credits include the thriller “Zyzzyx

Road” starring Katherine Heigl and

Tom Sizemore, and the family film “Magic”

with Robert Davis and Christopher

Lloyd.

John is currently an adjunct

Directing Instructor at the Los Angeles Film School and is

prepping his next feature film, “Truck Stop,” based on his

novel.

In addition to his directing, John

has written the screenplays for such films as “The

Enemy” starring Roger Moore, Luke Perry, Olivia D’abo; “Contaminated

Man” starring Peter Weller and William Hurt; “A

Breed Apart” with Robert Patrick, Andrew McCarthy;

“In Pursuit” with Daniel Baldwin, and Claudia

Schiffer; “Matter of Trust” with C. Thomas Howell;

“The Kindred” with Rod Steiger,

“Return of the Living Dead 3” with Mindy Clarke;

“Past Perfect” with Eric Roberts, and Laurie

Holden; and “Amphibious 3D” with Michael

Pare.

John also served as a

producer on his films “Zyzzyx Rd,” “A Breed

Apart,” “Matter of Trust,” and “In Pursuit.”

 In 2012 John wrote his first novel “Truck

Stop” and followed that up in 2013 with his second

novel, “Killing Time.”

 He is also featured in the newly released book on screenwriting by

Jose Prendes, “The High Concept

Massacre,” along with fellow screenwriters Carl

Gottlieb (“Jaws”), Amy Holden Jones (“Mystic Pizza,” “Indecent

Proposal”), and Doug Richardson (“Bad Boys,” “Die Hard 2”).

REGISTER

NOW!

Register now at the special link below to

get your discounted rate: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=6GNKRTKDKVWEL 

For questions or more

information:

Tel: (323)

848-2900

Email:  info@RaindanceLA.com