When Adrienne Berofsky and Jana Siciliano met in directing class their first year in the film department at the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts, they could not have known that their friendship would take them on a journey from Manhattan to Berlin to Metuchen, New Jersey--and now, thanks to the Forum Arts Center's creative arts program, they will be working together to create a hands-on filmmaking class for the 09-10 year.
Their film production course helps students make short films together which will be given a red-carpet premiere at the end of the year. Bypassing the not-so-artful world of YouTube personal videos, Berofsky and Siciliano hope to guide their students through the many elements of the production process, ending up with a high-quality short film that will get a red-carpet premiere at the Forum in June. They will work on their projects through two months-long semesters of production and a short post-production class in the spring.
These classes are designed to enhance a variety of skills through the creative process of thinking cinematically, the partners agree, including:
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Teamwork & social interaction
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Cognitive thinking
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Creative problem solving
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Reading comprehension & expanded writing and communication skills
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Enhanced motor skills and hand-eye coordination
There will be a Grades 2-8 class, a class for teens and a class for adults. Professional equipment and editing software will be utilized to ensure that the end product represents all the hard work and creative effort each young filmmaker will bring to the class. "We can use our own experiences to help the students through the entire production sequence," Siciliano said. And, with the new digial technology available, the end result will be "more highly professional than it was possible even when we were at Columbia," the team declares. For more information about their classes (Siciliano will also teach screenwriting and Berofsky will teach a dance-based class called "Dance for Joy") and to check out their varied backgrounds, go to http://www.forumtheatreartscenter.com/id25.html.
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