Filmmaking
(MA 2 Year PG Program)

Note: Applicants should apply to the MA courses if they intend to take up PGDP Finish. There is no separate application form for PGDP Finish; one can exit at the end of year 1 of MA with an award of a PG Diploma upon successfully completing the graduation requirements.

Film remains the most accessible yet ever-evolving narrative medium available. New technologies and contexts continue to allow different stories and unheard voices to emerge, creating varied forms, styles, genres, and viewing platforms that continually redefine and expand what films are or can be.

At SMI, we see filmmaking as a creative practice that consciously engages with the ever-changing social, political, aesthetic and cultural contexts around us. The program will nurture both new technologies and new forms and will encourage the telling of stories that reflect upon the nature of society, linking the personal with the political and the particular with the universal. It is a space for self-driven students who are keen on pursuing a line of inquiry through their filmmaking practice and achieve newer levels of fluency and sophistication. The MA program provides a framework to support this.

Learning in the MA program is partly through course work and partly through practice-based research. The curriculum provides strategic inputs in film technique, film language, storytelling, and research methods. Engagement with the context of the chosen line of enquiry is a necessary aspect of learning. Students are encouraged to explore and develop a personal style, voice and vision to tell their stories, through an intense engagement with the medium. The focus is on achieving an ease in using the language of film to tell nuanced stories, experiment with form and/or pose relevant questions about ourselves and the world we live in.

The MA program provides a framework that supports research and the developing of one’s film practice to newer levels of fluency and sophistication. It offers theoretical and conceptual engagement with relevant topics and discourses in film practice. It encourages independent learning with close guidance from mentors, and collaborative work with peers.

CAPABILITIES

• Representing real or imagined worlds through image and sound.
• Creating layers of meaning, feeling or thought through moving images.
• Constructing narrative through film language
• Experimenting with technique and form
• Conceptualising and realising a film in one’s chosen form.

OPPORTUNITIES

Once you graduate, you have several career opportunities

• • You can set up your independent film practice
  • You can work with a senior filmmaker or in any film or media production house, television or OTT platforms.
  • You can work as a media consultant for national and international development agencies.
  • You can work in media archives or in arts and media funding organisations
  • You can continue your research and pursue a PhD in film or any allied discipline

What is unique about the Srishti Manipal Filmmaking programme?

It is one of the few master’s programmes in India, aimed at all those who wish to develop a film practice, or take up film as an academic or research pursuit. It is designed by practising filmmakers who combine a long and sustained practice with academic experience. Visiting film professionals offer workshops and masterclasses to enhance learning. The course offers a comprehensive understanding of the art and craft of filmmaking. Theoretical study units and cross-disciplinary research engagements offer a broad based understanding of social, cultural, political and aesthetic contexts. The Srishti Manipal tradition of interdisciplinary study allows students to engage with other disciplines and ongoing lines of inquiry.

What are some of the basics I need to know in order to do this course?

You should have learnt basic filmmaking either in an academic institution or as an apprentice to a filmmaker, and should be able to show your ability through writing and/or creative work.

You should be an avid reader and a watcher of films, and excited about developing your film practice.

What will I learn over the two years?

You will add to your existing knowledge of filmmaking by honing further the technique, art and craft of filmmaking. You will watch lots of films, critically respond to them, and engage in several making exercises that explore the finer nuances of filmmaking genres of documentary film. You will be part of research projects along the chosen lines of enquiry, and build research skills

that draw from multiple disciplines and approaches. You will engage with the history and evolution of cinema in its various contexts and with the discourse that surrounds it. You will learn to conceptualise and develop ideas, write proposals and pitch your work to facilitators and peers. At the end you will make a short film within the framework of the programme.

What can I do after I graduate?/What are my career prospects?

By the end of the course, you would have developed the capabilities required for making a film, exploring form, narrative and genre. You can be an independent filmmaker, or join an established production house or a senior filmmaker as an apprentice. You could also find work as a media professional in any corporate or development organisation. If you wish to study further, you may continue to a PhD programme within Srishti Manipal or elsewhere. In addition, there are other opportunities such as curating festivals and working in grant making organisations.