FOUNDATION COURSE IN 16MM SCHEDULE
1) Intro to 16mm: Making film on film workshop
27th and 28th march – Friday and Saturday
An introduction to the photochemical world of black and white film. The foundation course will start off with an overview of the celluloid medium, covering everything from the workings of 16mm cameras, film stock and black and white processing. Over two days, participants will shoot on black and white film, hand develop in the darkroom and project their work through an analog projector. Our goal is to make you work hands-on with film, make you acquainted with analog equipment and chemistry and leave with a foundational understanding of this tangible medium.
2) Measuring light: Practical light metering workshop
2nd April – Thursday evening
Often, there are terms thrown around in the world of light and cameras – Shutter angle. F- stop. Reflective reading. The terms around measuring light can be intimidating, but it’s all an effort to expose an image to match the visual in your head. This three-hour workshop will take participants through workings of a light meter, different types of light meter readings and barometers for exposure. Our goal is to make you well equipped in metering light and exposing for analog film.
3) Camera-less filmmaking workshop
4th April – Saturday
Being free of lenses and cameras and working directly with the material qualities of the 16mm film medium is truly liberating. This one-day workshop will introduce participants to making small animations directly onto 16mm motion picture film. It’ll be a bouquet of techniques from rayograms in the darkroom, to phytograms which is making images with plants; and scratching, marking and drawing directly onto film.
4) Film and Texture – Film Screening
4th April – Saturday evening
A collection of films screened for participants which stand as an exploration in camera-less techniques, light and shadow manipulation, handmade film techniques and darkroom play.
5) Technique and Thought – Film Screening
9th April – Thursday evening
A showcase of experimental films made with in-camera explorations, a cross stitch of filming and developing techniques along with optical printing methodologies.
6) Explorations in Moving Images – 16mm techniques workshop
10th and 11th April – Friday and Saturday
Once a basic understanding of operating cameras and developing film is reached, we create a playground for 16mm in-camera techniques. Over the course of two days, participants are encouraged to explore double exposures, stop motion, masking and a combination of two or more of these techniques. Our goal is for you to open up your ways of making and seeing images on photochemical film.
7) Masterclass with Amrit Gangar
16th April – Thursday evening
An understanding of the film medium in the experimental sense is not complete without knowing the work of those who came before us. Film theorist Amrit Gangar helps us get a deeper understanding of the materiality of cinema and what makes it. He will introduce us to his unique way of looking at film and within films. His mastery over understanding film will perhaps also give us a new way of looking at ourselves and our cinema.
8) World of lenses: Lecture with Karan Talwar
17th April – Friday evening
The subject matter of optics, perception and lenses is largely extensive in image making. In this three-hour interactive lecture, participants will be briefly introduced to different lenses, mounts, camera adaptabilities and the choices surrounding the apparatus. This will also be an in-road to making one’s own lenses and stretching the bounds of what an analog camera can capture on film.
9) Negative to Positive: Contact Printing workshop
24th 25th April – Friday and Saturday
Contact printing is a method of making a positive print from a negative through a contact printer. In this two day workshop, participants will learn the workings of a contact printer and developing positive film. We go over understanding contrast in prints, making double exposures and masking in the contact printer. It’s a way of being exposed to the trial and error surrounding experimental filmmaking and analog devices and learning to live with the images film comes out with.
10) Colour Film in the Commercial: Harkat x Monsoon Colour Lab
Workshop and Industrial Lab Walkthrough
2nd and 3rd May – Saturday
Participants get the opportunity to visit the only existing commercial film lab in India. Built and equipped with industrial processing machinery to develop Super 8, 16mm and 35mm motion picture films, we take you through how analog film is operated and handled on a larger scale. This will be clubbed with an overview of operating and loading larger motion picture cameras like the ARRI flex 416. Our goal is for you to experience how one can shoot with film in professional spaces, the know how – coupled with advanced light metering, choice of stocks and more.
11) Medium Manipulations: Masterclass with Richard Tuohy
9th May – Saturday
Richard Tuohy is one of the most active experimental filmmakers in the world based in Australia. In 2006 he, along with his partner Dianna Barrie, launched nanolab, a super 8 film processing laboratory. Since 2009 he has been an active and vocal member of the international artist-run film lab scene. In 2011 Richard and Dianna started the Artist Film Workshop which in 2012. AFW has become the center of experimental film practice on film in Australia, being the focus for regular experimental film screenings, touring artists programs, workshops and supporting numerous artists in their personal film practice.
Richard’s own works are firmly in the ‘hand-made’ film tradition. An advocate for the possibilities of hand made cinema, Tuohy has devoted much time and effort in sharing his knowledge through workshops and classes both in his native Australia and internationally (last count was 70 international workshops).
Through this lecture, he will showcase their work and talk about it. It’s a screening, mini masterclass and – before you know it – a mind-opening exercise.
12) Expanded Cinema: 16mm film as performance
15th 16th May – Friday and Saturday
A finale workshop to the analog film school. With a collection of photo-chemical experiments, films and footage shot over the course of the preceding workshops, participants create a film performance. We take you through operating a 16mm projector creating live projections, optical and lens based manipulations and making multi-image visuals. It’s almost like seeing your film being made in front of you. This acts as a way to collate and combine techniques learnt in the course into a work/exploration of your own.