Video Studies at the Berlin Film and Television Academy (DFFB)
The DFFB offers a full professional course f study for artistic professions in film and television with a focus on direction and camera work. The media of film and tele­ vision receive equal emphasis. The first level of the program (first and second years o f study) includes a several-week-long video course with an introduction to the history and aesthetics of video and an overview of the medium's possibilities and present state of technology. During the course students create their first video films (some of which will be shown as part of the DFFB program in Podewil) under the supervision of lecturers with broad practical experience in the field. The students learn the basics of video technology and the use of professional equipment. Participation in this course is obligatory for all students. The second level of the program (third and fourth years of study) offers several video courses aimed at a wide range of topics. Here are several examples from the present study program: Thomas Schafer and Beate Schwarz of Spiegel-TV are con­ ducting a four-week seminar focusing on video reporting. Michael Baithaus, the internationally known cameraman who has shot a number of music videos, will create a clip in colla­ boration with DFFB students as part of a practical seminar. Angela Zumpe is presenting a course on computer graphics and animation. In recent years the DFFB has regularly offered seminars of comparable quality under the supervision of experienced videomakers, such as Egon Bunne (himself a DFFB gra­ duate who studied under Gabor Body in the Academy's early years), the american videoma­ ker Shelly Silver or Pepe Danquart (just to name a few). DFFB has a full complement professional video equipment which has recently been thoroughly updated and expanded. Details will be provided at our presentation. Work by the following students will be shown: Alejandra Carmona, Domenica Cicoria, Martin Eigler, Dorothée Jansen, Rudolph Jula,Thorsten Löhn, Horst Markgraf, Nathalie Percillier, Stefan Pethke, Mark Schlichte, Martin Zawadski