Directing
Laboratory of Directing
of Arthur Aristakisyan
Master of the laboratory

Arthur Aristakisyan is an outstanding film director, screenwriter, writer. The author of the legendary films «Palms» (1993),
«A Place on Earth» (2001).

Subjects and courses

Terms and conditions

2 years (4 semesters)
330 000 rubles per year
Start of training on October 1, 2022
Deadline for receipt of documents until September 20

Studying
1.

The specificity of Arthur Aristakisyan's method is, that he uses not only the material of the movie,
but also attracts photography and painting.

Arthur Aristakisyan shows how one and the same theme or figurative metaphor changes 
and is transformed by using the optics inherent in different arts, and at the same time, the center
or core of the metaphor remains intact, and it is important to be able to see it. The universality
of the metaphor that reveals the invisible reality of the world is what Aristakisyan is exploring.
The world, things and people - all pretend, hide, everything is not what it seems, and if you skillfully adjust the optics, or, in other words, your director's vision, you can hunt for an invisible target and capture it with the help of a movie. Arthur Aristakisyan encourages every student to develop his inimitable and unique visual language.

Comparisons of the cinema language of silent movies and modern photography, films of the 60s 
and painting of the Renaissance, today's topical political reports and icon painting art explodes
the habitual view and allows one to be born with a unique creative vision, which is necessary
for directors.

Practically at each lesson the master uses specially prepared video material. At first sight,
it representing the connection stylistically and genre-incompatible, however, filigree work with this material creates students a transformational shift of perception and prepares them for freewheeling
in that stormy sea, which today is called the general term «Contemporary modern art».

Education program
  • 1 semester
  • 2 semester
  • 3 semester
  • 4 semester
2.

Learning outcomes in the first semester:
scpipt of the course film / multipolar dialogue / photo-film / short documentary.

The first semester in the laboratory of Arthur Aristakisyan includes:

  • classes with masters in directing (twice a week)
  • drama and scriptwriting courses
  • the history of cinema course
  • cinematography course 
  • the technical part of the editing (mastering the editing programs) course
  • special course «Assembly thinking»
  • The basics of film production course (students get acquainted with the features
    of «pre-production» - the creation of a director's script, team selection, casting, location, storyboard)
  • course «Video and Media Art»

Practical classes include:

  • shooting exercises
  • scriptwriting exercises (exposition, dialogue)
  • editing exercises («waking up frame», «naming», «five shots», «motion texture» etc.)
  • master classes by artists, art theorists and other representatives of the artistic community
  • individual consultations with teachers
  • showing and analysis of students work

Learning outcomes in the second semester: educational film-video surveillance / course work: short feature film (10-20 min).

In the second semester continue courses:

  • classes with masters in directing (twice a week)
  • drama and scriptwriting courses
  • the history of cinema course
  • cinematography course 
  • special course «Assembly thinking»

New courses:

  • special course «Film structure»
  • the film production basis (the period of «production», work on the set of the film)
  • course «artistic production»
  • director's work with the actor
  • course of building a frame and composition
  • introductory course on compositing and computer graphics
  • film theory
  • course «how to read a film?»
  • plot theory in the literature 
  • history of fine art

Practical classes include:

  • shooting exercises
  • scriptwriting exercises (plot, fable, characters, peripetias)
  • editing exercises («self-portrait», «contact», «one on one», «three characters», etc.)
  • master classes by film and television producers, editors of TV channels, psychologists,
    cinema sociologists and other representatives of the cinematographic community
  • individual consultations with teachers
  • showing and analysis of students work

Students work on a course film.

Learning outcomes in the third semester: educational film «portrait of a man» / script of a graduation film.

In the third semester continue courses:

  • classes with masters in directing (twice a week)
  • drama and scriptwriting courses
  • course «Film structure»
  • the history of cinema course
  • special course «Assembly thinking»

New courses:

  • the basis of film production (the «post-production» period)
  • sound engineering and sound design
  • film producing and economics
  • psychology for screenwriters and directors
  • sociology of cinema
  • psychodrama cinema performance
  • a series of seminars on the theme «Where do ideas come from?»,
    «How to make your history?», «How to write a synopsis, trittment, logline?»

Practical classes include:

  • shooting exercises
  • scriptwriting exercises (script of a short film)
  • editing exercises («cinematographic action», «COUB», «character and background», «space», etc.)
  • master classes by invited film and theater directors, literature and film theorists, philosophers
    and other representatives of the artistic and scientific community 
  • individual consultations with teachers
  • showing and analysis of students work

Students develop a script for a graduation short feature film.

Learning outcomes in the fourth semester:
the concept formation of the full-length feature
film script or a series script / graduation short film
(20-35 min).

In the fourth semester continue courses:

  • classes with masters in directing (twice a week)
  • drama and scriptwriting courses
  • course «Film structure»
  • special course «Assembly thinking»

New courses:

  • costume designer
  • music in the cinema
  • makeup in the cinema
  • copyright course
  • acquaintance with the acting producer companies, funds, rules of co-production
  • course «Ritual basis of art»
  • seminars for the preparation for pitching

Practical classes include:

  • shooting exercises
  • editing exercises («three shots», «diary», «film-message», «impact», etc.)
  • master classes by invited film and theater directors, literature and film theorists, philosophers
    and other representatives of the artistic and scientific community 
  • individual consultations with teachers
  • showing and analysis of students work

Students work on a graduation short feature film.