MICROintrospective
This 5 days workshop will explore micro-cinema as a personal and introspective experience. Post-cinema, video diaries, biographies, (self)portraits, portraits, video-letters, connections between Nature and the Self, healing art, 'green cinema' and interactions between cinema and other arts (installation, architecture) will be themes in focus and starting points for artists’ individual projects. The days will be full but chilled so participants can find their own micro-introspective pace; lectures on themes, screenings of excerpts of films and analyses of websites will guide group and individual exercises / projects. In the morning there will be tai chi with cameras and other exercises alike exploring physical awereness, pecrception and images. Films around the proposed themes will be shown in the evenings over tea and informal conversations. I will share my last film Timeless Land and its process. Along the residence there will be the opportunity for individual meetings with me to discuss projects and for technical advice. The last day of the workshop will be an Open Studio Day where participants are invited to show the work produced during the residence – the form is absolutely free, it can be a film, an installation, a walk, a performance, you only have to use image and sound somehow.
This is a bring your own equipment workshop and it is limited to 10 participants.
MICRO CINEMA 1.0
workshop version: 2 sessions / 4 hours each; total: 8 hours. Micro-cinema can also be presented as a 3-4 hours lecture. for film students, artists, adults
In this workshop I will be sharing, in a practical way, 3 of my recent low-budget films - my creative processes, from the idea to the execution, through experiences and results. I’ll show films, FCP timelines and other working materials. In groups or pairs participants will improvise exercises using cameras, sound and video projectors. The objective of the workshop is to inspire people to look around and within attentively and to do the best use of little means. Micro-cinema can also be presented as a 2-4 hours lecture. read more
CREATIVE EDITING on final cut pro
5 days | 4 hours sessions. for artists, young people, adults. Available for groups and individuals
This is a hands-on creative and technical course with the aim of learning Final Cut Pro and the art of editing techniques - from capturing images to the final project. Topics include basic setup, settings, capturing video and audio, various editing and trimming techniques, audio editing and sound-design, work with single and multi tracks, make credits, subtitles, finishing and final output for master tape, DVD or internet.
Creative editing exercises will take place in each session, namely: working on a scene, sound design, sequences, editing structure, narrative progression, pace and rhythm. We will also watch excerpts of films by masters of montage around the world getting a hint of film history as well as studying contemporary films; we will be looking at different genres, styles and techniques to inspire you. You will be using given footage and also your own (mini dv or mov files).
This course will give you a solid introduction to Final cut pro and the Art of editing. It will also give you all the tools you need for an advanced and professional use. A basic knowledge of Mac OS X is recommended.
DIGITAL ARTIST
4 sessions / 3 hours each. Available for groups and individuals.
for Artists from diverse areas who want to make use of the internet and digital arts for specific projects or as a tool for their artistic practice, promotion of work and networking. -It can also be aimed at Young people or Adults as a creative tool. It can also be extended into a longer on-going course or after-school ‘studio’.
This practical workshop explores new possibilities for creative expression through digital art, also exploring narratives based on networking. We will be using mixed media, scanners, photocopies, text, sound, digital photography, video + the internet as a creative tool. Topics also include basic Photoshop tools, how to create and design your Blog, how to upload video and photos online (youTube, Vimeo/ Flickr, Picabia) and how to link different pages. We will create individual projects as well as collective projects with no individual authorship as they are created in a network experience.
- for artists - we can extend the course to stretch the importance of design and online networks for professional use: mySpace, design of websites (using Dreamweaver and Photoshop) and an introduction to Self-publishing on-demand (books, music and films). In this case the workshop should be longer and focused on artists’ projects.
FILM AND PERFORMANCE - Cláudia Tomaz + Jiska Morgenthal
This creative workshop involve film, performance and media arts for students - arts, theater, film, performance or anyone interested on the interaction between performance and moving image. Performance for the camera and the use of cameras and screens in performance are central themes of the workshop.
We will present work from reference artists and we will share our own work with students to feed their own projects and practical exercises. Students will learn and experiment with multi-screens on stage performance, live cameras, editing and sound techniques; the relationship between movement, camera, light and space are all part of our workshops. Each day the workshop practice will also include exercises that aim to prepare students for a broader artistic perspective and group collaboration, such as: physical exercises, visual and sound awareness exercises, coordination between body/ image perception and improvisation exercises.
OPENED NARRATIVES
Film exercises, editing, sound design, music and Jam sessions/video battles using video projectors in live cinema performance are included in this workshop. Individual and pair film exercises will be used as samples or scenes of a group narrative taking place live.
MOBILE FILMS
This experimental workshop explores a transversal cinema, in digital. It explores themes on mobile technologies as a way of creating new emotional landscapes. Low tech digital devices are used to register images, stories, ideas, sensations, emotions. A lecture component will explore themes like: being mobile | boundaries and networks | interactive films | opened narratives using software and live cinema. Searching for new trajectories, a new geography of connections appears.
INTER-ACT
This creative course deals with the concept of Interactivity and Action - physical and technological inter-action. Performance, digital video and Software (image/ sound/ design and web design) will be used as tools to push the boundaries of what is (can be) a film or what is (can be) a narrative. Lectures, web site' analysis and presentation of artists' work will be managed with practical exercises. Students will develop their own projects, individually and in groups, having for each assignment, a theme related with contemporary society, mobility, technology and the emotional and physical impact of it. The final projects can be web sites, DVDs, performances, site specific or any other forms of visual and physical expression. Artists in focus include Matthew Barney, Vanessa Beecroft, Sophie Calle, Lev Manovich, Andy Goldsworthy, Fred Forest, Blast Theory and Improv Everywhere.
CREATIVE FILMMAKING
This is a practical course where students have to develop their own project from the idea to the accomplished film, conceiving their own paths and creating consistent work-in-progress methods. The context is «How to make low budget films with meaning». Looking at filmmaking as creative expression, film technique and production methods will be integrated in a self-discovery / personal process. Trying to find each one's individual voice and a personal way to look at things will play a great deal and will be fairy stimulated.
‘Cláudia opens her workshops to all kinds of people which automatically creates an environment of exploration and experimentation of video and it's multiple ways of functioning. The exercises she proposes are precise but open enough for us to put our input of personal creativity. I also found that the viewing of different films, videos and documentaries and the discussion about reality/fiction, were utterly important as a way to rethink cinema, art and life and therefore to question our work and working process’. (Miguel Bonneville, performance artist)
‘To get conscious of the body while filming, that was very new and important. To get conscious of the line we create telling a story. A great trip through little pieces of film you were showing us, discovering some of my nowadays masters. Your way of teaching is at the same time very structured and free giving us basis to create, where the rational and the sensible perception get together.’ (Alex, filmmaker)
‘The documentary workshop with Claudia was very useful as I was trying to get back into video filming. Claudia has an easy way to teach technical aspects of filming through practical exercises. She stresses the importance of all these aspects, yet in a very approachable way impelling the student to experiment. This helped me to have a new and more conscious approach to my work and have a more assertive point of view as a spectator. Also, Claudia's very gentle but strong personality, helped us to approach quite a tough subject with a lot of confidence. And last but not least, it allowed me to rediscover Lisbon in a totally new light! Thank you Claudia!’ (Céline Carlisle, artist)
‘Claudia synthesized in this workshop the relationship between actor-character-director, which allowed each participant to explore, discover, open definitions so many times narrowed by each profession. The work between writing a situation and putting it on camera, with the responsibility of casting and directing, allowed very concrete and immediate explorations with visible results. Cláudia showed that creativity is within us and that is possible to make it real and express it. Due to the richness of the proposal of this workshop I only think it would be beneficial to have more time, for example in a longer course, to explore all the potential of Claudia’s theme and go in-depths in exploring creative expression in it-self in a fluid flow between writing, acting and directing.’ (Marie Carré, actress)
‘It was great to re-read some moments of your articles on Premiere Magazine. Magnificent yes, I remember how I did like your ideas unfolding and how you would make me think about cinema.
-- Cláudia's written workshops take you on an avid journey: thinking, analyzing, understanding, visualizing film. An unmissable cinematic universe reflecting on the meaning and the making of contemporary auteur cinema. State-of-the-art tendencies and methodologies, post-cinema, digital form here and now.’ (David Bonneville, filmmaker)
‘Claúdia's workshop was one of the most interesting ones I did in terms of documentary. She introduce me to important references that are today some of my favorite documentarists. She not only had an interesting way to introduce the topics but also managed to motivate a critical discussion among the participants. She not only has the knowledge - she knows how to pass it on.’ (Clara Gomes, teacher, video artist)
2009 - Portugal
MICRO CINEMA Coimbra, Portugal – Caminhos do Cinema Português Film Festival
Micro-cinema workshop analyzes 4 of my recent projects. The idea is to share my creative processes, in a practical way, from the idea to the execution, with the difficulties, experiences, results. I’ll show films and other materials + we’ll create some improvisation exercises using cameras, sound, video projectors... The objective of the workshop is to inspire people to look around and within attentively and to do the best use of little means. read more
2007–08 - England
FILM FOR CHILDREN (7-12) Jack Hunt Language School, Peterborough
a hands-on program covering all filmmaking process from the story to the accomplished film. It reinforces the nature of digital film production as a powerful educational tool. At Jack Hunt Language School, Peterborough, Uk. As a tutor of Cineclub, young filmmakers network.
2006 – Philadelphia, USA
SHOOT AND EDIT ON CAMERA – 16mm Temple University
1 day workshop: film exercise with Temple University students, storyboarding, filming, edit on camera in 16mm.
2004 - 2005 - Lisbon
DIGITAL CINEMA, TRANSVERSAL CINEMA – cinema of the body c.e.m - December 2004
Conceived as a 3 days lecture program analyzing the relationship between eye, camera and body, plus expression and emotion, this intensive workshop starts to show pieces of selected films as a way to introduce film techniques and stimulate the students for their own creative process. Find an individual perspective and a way to look at Others and at Itself are part of this intimate workshop. After the lectures, 2 entire days of practice takes us to new territories and explorations: Body work, breathing, walking, doing tai chi holding cameras, touching, creating characters, playing them, filming, talking about it... it's all part of the same transversal cinema.
DOCUMENTARY c.e.m - March 2005
This workshop stimulates new paths for creativity using digital video. It teaches how to take advantage of a low budget and limited technical conditions / production resources. This workshop starts as a 3 days lecture on documentary genre, screening and analyzing films and authors, in order to wide perspectives and create discussion. It will be given, bases of film techniques for accomplishment of documentary films. Every student has to create his / her own project. The work-in-progress is initiated with the goal of exploring individual ways to transform an idea into a film. A common subject is given, each participant explores its individual perspective.
DIRECTING ACTORS Restart - May 2005
This workshop intends to explore methods, languages and techniques of film and acting, always from the point of view of the actor and the director. The theoretical component of the course is constantly complemented by the screening and analysis of films and other documents. Some sessions include exercises of relaxation and concentration, as well as of movement exercises and body expression. Specific exercises and improvisation aim at the creative, individual and group exploration. The practice component is recurrent throughout all the sessions of the workshop, what it allows to apply the apprehended knowledge and to explore new dimensions and paths for acting and emotional expression.
THE NON-SEPARABLE TRIANGLE: director - actor – character c.e.m October 2005
Here the issue of acting in film is explored in the perspective of the filmmaker who directs the actors. In this context, this workshop explores an holistic perspective, looking for ways to understand the actor / character in order to direct them. One gives importance to emotional expression integrating psychological, neurological and muscular body. Film methods and techniques are lectured as well: all elements are non-separable in the process of construction of a film. Each session has a subject. Between theory and practice, it appeals to improvisation exercises, screening of selected scenes of films and its analysis, writing and filming exercises where each student has opportunity to create characters, to play a role and to direct an actor / character.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
BIOS
Cláudia was born in Lisbon in 1973. She is based in London since 2007. Filmmaker, traveler, editor, photographer, masseuse, camera-woman, designer, teacher, dj, Cláudia goes through life in a creative flow. Cláudia directed 2 full-length features [‘Noites’ won ‘The critic’s week award’ in 2000 at the Venice Film Festival, and ‘Nós’ was awarded in Locarno]; she also directed shorts, documentaries and experimental films. Her films were shown internationally in film festivals and her feature films were screened on cinemas and on TV. Having an extensive experience on professional film (as a director, camera-woman, editor, scriptwriter) Cláudia also created her own independent low-budget methods of filmmaking with the aim of creating a holistic, organic and quotidian art. Cláudia explores the limits between truth and fiction and she is now working on the connections between film, media arts, performance, installation and site specific. To explore those areas she recently created HOLONfilmLAB a project for collaboration, research, production and creative education. Cláudia is also graduated in Communication and Film. She started to teach intensive workshops in 2004. Her approach is to stimulate students to find their own perspective through film / visual expression using low budget methods, digital video and new media technologies. Between 2004 and 2007 she wrote monthly for Premiere Magazine Portuguese edition, where she explored different techniques and creative processes from the point of view of who makes films. Since 1995 Cláudia collaborated with film directors, actors, musicians, dancers, djs and other artists and technicians.
Cláudia is finishing the post-production of a documentary-conversation with The Light Surgeons [a multimedia collective working on live cinema] and her film One love, a personal road movie in Jamaica. Currently she is working on her film Timeless Land.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Leonor Venâncio
guest artist at Obras's workshop
Leonor was born in Alentejo, Portugal in 1976. With a degree in architecture she has been exploring zones of interception between sustainable architecture, drawing, sculpture and land art. In architecture she worked in projects of conservation and recuperation of houses and shops, she designed furniture and sets for film and advertisement and participated in urban architecture projects in favor of a green architecure integrated in the landscape. Currently she participates in ‘Earthship’ a pioner project to build houses made of recicled bottles. In architecture as in the production of objects, sculptures and mobiles, Leonor is interested in the use of recicled objects and natural materials. Her drawings focus on the quotidian, as a diary. Her photos of her own sculptures and models are compositions that go beyond documentation. Since 1995 she has collaborated with artists from different areas. Leonor lives in Evoramonte since 2005.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Jiska was born in Hamburg in 1973. She works as a choreographer, dancer and performing artist and teaches since 1997. She was trained professionally in classical and contemporary dance in Hamburg and furthered her studies at the HK Arnhem (Holland), assimilating skills in choreography, video editing, lighting design and sound composition. Jiska left to live in Portugal in 1996 where she developed her own work which received commissions from the Portuguese ministry of Culture, Porto- Capital of Culture 2001, and Expo-98 Lisbon. Her teaching combines theory and practice of compositional structures in dance, devising methodologies as well as media related performing practices. Her visual thinking was informed by the work with German photographer Werner Bokelberg, where she furthered her visual thinking through digital technology, image- processing and –manipulation. Jiska graduated from Laban in 2006 with an MA for Choreography. Here she deepened her interest in the relationship of split screen and live performance. In her work as a performing artist and choreographer, creative process and research are an integral part of the production process; seeking for an integration of movement, sound, image and content. Jiska is based in London since 2005.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Most of the workshops have a short format and intensive training but other formats and durations can be tailored according to group specification and available equipment.
other available formats | durations
course| 15-30 days
Along the course, the students have to develop their own projects from the idea to the accomplished piece. In smaller groups the students will conceive their own paths to create consistent work-in progress methods in an integrated way. The aim is to lead the students into a process of creating, devising and reflecting collaboratively upon their own strategies and methodologies in the creation of their own project with a focus on the process. Lectures, tutorials and technical support will be given according to the needs and nature of the students projects.
student’s project | 3-12 weeks
The student’s project aims to work with students in a larger time-frame and focus on the development of projects for a final public performance. It allows the students to gain a more in-depths insight into the diversity of contributing factors and techniques in the making and performing process. This project module furthermore stimulates a heightened awareness of the potential for alternative ways of developing film and performance through collaborative practice.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
this new workshops are part of the project HolonFilmLAB
