IMAGO Master Class I INSPIRATION - Copenhagen 2008
The Masterclass Inspiration was planned by the Imago Masterclass Committee in cooperation with Tine Sørensen from the Danish Film Academy Dep. of Supplemental Education. Imago Founded the Committee in Lisbon in 2007 during the precidency of Andreas Fischer-Hansen DFF. The members are Inês Carvalho AIP, Astrid Heubrandtner AAC, Paul Rene Roestad FNF, Herman Verschuur NSC, Jan Pallesen DFF og Jan Weincke DFF.
The basic idea of this gathering was to organize a Masterclass, not about technicalities, but about inspiration: To become inspired by listening how others got inspired!
We had invited 5 cinematographers:
Agnès Godard AFC
Bruno Delbonnel AFC
César Charlone ABC/ASC
Brian Tufano BSC
Slawomir Idziak PSC
Bruno Delbonnel AFC, ASC
Day 1 / 10.31.08
On behalf of the Masterclass Committee Astrid Heubrandtner AAC and Inês Carvalho AIP welcomed the 125 participants from all over Europe, New Zealand, Mexico and Australia – followed by Imago president Nigel Walters BSC, who was very happy that the committee had succeeded in arranging such an interesting programme.
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| The assembly listens to César Chalone ABC/ASC |
The evening finished with a dinner and a sailing trip to Nyhavn.
Day 2 / 11.01.08
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| César Chalone ABC/ASC |
We started out with coffee and varm croissants, and then it was César Charlone’s ABC/ASC turn, moderated by Louis-Philippe Capelle SBC. César’s inspiration came from everyday things. Armed with a small video camera he would walk around on location and record impressions – moving images, sounds and photography’s. He demonstrated the evolutionary process that led to the imagery in his current movie Blindness (2008). All that he had recorded/collected, was downloaded to his laptop, enabling him to develop the necessary imagery.
César: I was lucky enough to be paid for 8 weeks of preparation, but was able to decide when within 6 months.
César Charlone showed clips from: City of God (2002), The Pope’s Toilet (2007), The Constant Gardener (2007), and Blindness (2008).
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| Brian Tufano, BSC |
After lunch Brian Tufano BSC took over with Nigel Walters BSC moderating. Brian Tufano spent part of the time speaking of his time on the BBC as a young assistant.
Brian: Frame your Mind and The Story is the Story. Grab it and tell it to the audience.
Brian ended his séance quoting Albert Einstein: Technique will get us from A to B, but fantasy will get us everywhere.
Brian showed excerpts from: Quadrophenia (1979), Trainspotting (1996), Billy Elliot (2000), Kidulthood (2006), Adulthood (2008)
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| Agnés Godard, AFC with moderator Rolv Håån, FNF |
The last cinematographer on Saturday was Agnès Godard AFC with Rolv Haan FNF moderating. Agnés told how she sought a word or a sentence in the manuscript that somehow expressed the movie. When she was preparing herself for the movie Trouble Every Day (2001), it was the sentence: There is a rotten apple in the garden under the ground. Starting from this sentence, she began to seek inspirational images and texts.
Agnes compared the preparations for a movie with the preparations for a trip – you read travel books, looks for pictures of landscapes, try to learn the language...it is the same with a movie.
Agnés: Do I believe what I see?
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| Slavomir Idziak, PSC and moderator Andreas Fischer-Hansen, DFF |
Agnès showed clips from: Beau travail (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), The Intruder (2004) and Golden Door (2006).
Herefter var der gallamiddag sponsoreret af Nordisk Film Postproduction.
Day 3 / 11.02.08
Following the usual coffee and warm croissant, we started the final day with a Brazilian movie Illuminados, directed by Antonio Luiz Mendez – the movie showed 6 cinematographers lighting the same set, and at the same time explaining how they worked.
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| Slavomir Idziak, PSC |
After that, it was time for Andreas Fischer-Hansen DFF to moderate Slavomir Idziak PSC. Slavomir started with these words: I have been in the movie business for 40 years. For the first 20 years my inspiration was vodka, for the last 20 years it has been redwine. Whether he was telling the truth, was hard to know.
Slavomir talked more about visions than inspiration. His vision was stronger European films. Not so much the identity of individual countries, as a European identity.
Slavomir:
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| Bruno Delbonnel AFC, Agnés Godard AFC, César Chalone ABC/ASC, Brian Tufano BSC and Slavomir Idziak PSC |
Three or four musicians, even when they are meeting for the first time sit down and play music, they improvise. Filmmakers start their meeting by arguing which one of them will be the leader.
Slavomir showed clips from: A Short Film About Killing (1988), The Double Life of Veronique (1991), Three Colours: Blue (1993), Gattaca (1997).
And finally it was time for the finishing speeches – and the final half of Illuminados before everyone said their goodbyes.
It was a truly inspiring weekend!
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| Herman Verschuur NSC, Bruno Delbonnel AFC, Rolv Håån FNF, Agnés Godard AFC, Louis-Philippe Capelle SBC, César Chalone ABC/ASC, Brian Tufano BSC, Nigel Walters BSC, Slavomir Idziak PSC and Andreas Fischer-Hansen DFF |
date: 03-11-2008