Filmmaking Program - Harvard University

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Learn the Craft of Filmmaking

Whether you see yourself pursuing a career in filmmaking or want to learn these practical and applicable skills for yourself, the Academy’s film camps are perfect for everyone with an interest in making films.

In all academy summer film camps for teens, each student writes, shoots, directs and edits his or her own films. Our film camps are designed for people with little or no experience in making films. The programs focus on the fundamental elements of visual storytelling that enable the students to direct their own projects.

During teen film camps, each weekday is split between in-class instruction and on-set production. The below subjects are taught both in-class and on set, where students get to apply the lessons they learned in the classroom to a real film set. In our longer film camps (three, four and six-week), these subjects will be treated in greater detail and taken to a higher level than in the shorter camps.

Students in longer programs make more films and, therefore, have more opportunities to develop their abilities and employ what they have learned. But regardless of the length of the camp, our students would agree that they learned more in even just one week than some learn in a month through being on set and gaining hands-on experience working on actual productions.

At the end of each camp, the students’ directorial work is celebrated in a screening open to crew, faculty, family, and friends.

Curriculum

Some of the classes and subjects students can expect to cover in the Academy’s filmmaking camps include the following.

DIRECTOR’S CRAFT

As the director is the leader of a film set, students will learn the language and practice of filmmaking so that they can apply this knowledge to their own original films. They will discuss shooting plans for their film projects and screen their work with their instructor throughout the course.

Directing is approached as the art of visual storytelling. Students will find that directing the camera concerns more than just where to place the camera. Through hands-on demonstrations, the students will learn how camera movement, visual arrangement, and editing patterns not only depict the action but also express the underlying drama. Each student directs a series of films in crews of four. Students also rotate in these crews among the principal film crew positions. Crews are required to meet each week with the directing instructor to review scripts and shooting plans.

WRITING

It’s the script that is the backbone of any film and in summer film camps for teens, students will become comfortable writing original screenplays. Students learn the process of taking take a story from initial idea, through treatment and step outline, to a finished script for their final film with the help of our exceptional faculty. Story structure, theme, character, tension, and conflict will be explored as they are used in filmmaking.

HANDS-ON DIGITAL CAMERA AND LIGHTING

Summer camps for teens feature a no-nonsense approach to cameras, placing students behind a camera from day one. Students will learn to shoot using industry-standard HDSLR cameras. They will learn proper loading, operation, and maintenance of the camera. In the first week students will shoot and screen tests for focus, exposure, lens perspective, film latitude, slow/fast motion, and contrast. Any students needing extra instruction are given review sessions as necessary.

DIGITAL EDITING

While the script provides the backbone of a production and cameras capture the action, it is the editing process that gives all that footage actual structure. Students will learn to edit their films with digital editing software. Their instructors will cover both the technical aspects of the editing process, as well as the conventions and theory behind editing choices and styles.

WORKING WITH ACTORS

To direct actors, one must learn how to work with actors and receive instruction and experience in how to get effective performances from actors in their film projects. Students also get the chance to gain some experience as actors, providing them with important insight into what happens on the other side of the camera.

Location:

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Harvard University, founded sixteen years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986. Eight presidents of the United States—including John Quincy Adams, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy—graduated from Harvard. Its faculty has produced more than 30 Pulitzer Prize winners and 30 Nobel Laureates.

The Academy Summer Camps are held in Memorial Hall and Lowell Hall, a Ruskinian Gothic memorial to Harvard’s Union casualties from the Civil War, built in 1878. This majestic structure is conveniently located close to Harvard Square’s historical, commercial, and academic resources.

Gain Hands-On Experience in the Visual and Performing Arts

Offered each summer at Harvard University, the Academy offers its acclaimed summer camps in filmmaking, acting for film, and 3D animation. Harvard is a prestigious Ivy League university, perhaps the most famous learning institution in the world. Harvard is located in the charming, dynamic city of Cambridge, just minutes away from Boston, the “capital” of New England. The University’s roots in Cambridge are widespread, charging the city with a unique and intellectually invigorating atmosphere. In this environment, summer camp students are challenged to achieve their potential at the highest level.

CAMBRIDGE AND BOSTON

Cambridge and Boston, two of the oldest cities in the United States, offer innumerable locations and sites to film, be inspired by in their animation, and to use as locations for acting in student films. Situated north of Boston, Cambridge is a hi-tech and cultured city that has served as an attraction for artists and scholars for centuries. Whether it’s capturing the iconic image of the Harvard Crew rowing down the Charles River or visiting where Paul Revere took his famous horse ride, Cambridge is simply teeming with American history and culture, creating a truly rich environment for students.

In addition to exploring Cambridge, students also make frequent trips into Boston, a twenty-minute train ride away.

SUPERVISION

The Academy students living on campus will reside in Claverly Hall, part of the Adam’s House dormitory complex. The dining hall and classes are located in Memorial Hall. Adams House has often been called “Harvard’s most historic House.” Its former residents include Franklin Roosevelt, Buckminster Fuller, William Burroughs, William Randolph Hearst, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Bernard Law, Martin Feldstein, and William Weld. John Kennedy met with his senior thesis adviser in the Coolidge Room. Aaron Copland lived in the House as a guest. More recently, Fred Gwynne, Peter Sellars, John Lithgow, and Donal Logue have lived in Adams and added to its reputation as a haven for the performing arts. The dormitory is a 10-minute walk from campus and students may walk at their leisure without a counselor from the dormitories to Memorial Hall.

Students spend the majority of their day in class, on shoots on campus with their instructors or teaching assistants, and/or working in professional labs with industry standard software. Following class, when time allows students have the ability to roam freely on campus and patronize establishments in Harvard Square and the surrounding urban environment. Students must inform their counselor of their destinations in Harvard Square and they must adhere to our Buddy System—no student is allowed to roam alone. Although students may explore the Square they must stay within a certain radius of Harvard Campus proper. That radius is clearly outlined at the onset of the program. If any parent requires that their child not be permitted to explore Harvard Square without a counselor, please contact the Film Academy and we will make the necessary arrangements.Weekend activities are mandatory for housed students and include daylong trips. Counselors attend and supervise these outings. Additional activities take place nearly every weeknight and on Sundays as well, and these are optional. In case of medical emergency, students are taken to Cambridge or Auburn Hospital. We require that all students submit their medical insurance information prior to the workshop.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Although the camp’s daily schedule is demanding, non-commuting students will take part in organized activities in and around the Harvard campus. Cambridge is a vibrant college town with dozens of restaurants, cafés, bookstores, ice cream shops, and pizza parlors encircling the university. One can find almost anything in the city, from independent record and comic book stores to clothing boutiques. A number of world-class museums are in the area, including the Gardner Museum and the Harvard University Art Museums. Theatrical productions are held in Cambridge throughout the summer, for example, at the famed American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.). Students enjoy excursions to the many cultural offerings of Boston, located a short twenty-minute train ride away.

ACCOMMODATION

Due to safety concerns surrounding COVID-19, the academy will be unable to offer housing for in-person camps. Families will need to secure their own housing for campers and provide any necessary off-campus supervision, if traveling to the academy summer camp from another city, state or country.

What is Included

Tuition costs include classes, instruction, equipment and technology. End of course Certificate. Three meals per day.Shared suite room.