Film
You can’t escape the moving image. Whether in theaters and art galleries or on television, smartphones, YouTube, building façades, and cabs, movies are everywhere. The magic of cinema, which shocked audiences at its inception, is now fully integrated into our daily lives. With near universal access, the medium is constantly evolving and reinventing itself. How can you, as a young artist, make the most of this moment? How can you explore all the exciting new possibilities of film and video, while still becoming skilled in the relevant traditions?
Pratt’s BFA in Film is designed to grow the next generation of innovators in time-based media. Housed within the School of Art, the program offers a unique approach to the fundamentals of filmmaking, with extensive technical and conceptual training in both traditional and nontraditional forms. At Pratt, there are no limits. Fiction or nonfiction? Commercial or art world? These may be boundaries you choose to move beyond. Your classes will take you through all modes of film and video (narrative, documentary, and experimental), encouraging intellectual cross-fertilization and allowing you to shape your own artistic vision. While our program provides students with professional training in all current technologies, our priority is creative expression.
In our curriculum, award-winning film/video artists and industry professionals teach an exciting range of courses, from first-semester Film Fundamentals and Technical Practices to the culminating Senior Project, in which each student makes a short film, video, or installation as their senior thesis.
Throughout the program, students create, write, direct, and edit as “total filmmakers,” rather than focusing on one area. We provide a core curriculum of rigorous required courses, while simultaneously encouraging students to follow their own interests as they choose electives, which include dynamic film/video topics as well as interdisciplinary collaborations with students in other majors.
For example, consider an elective in Dreams, Memories, and Hallucinations, a nontraditional animation and After Effects class, or collaborate with fashion design students in Film + Fashion, and explore the rich interaction of costume and the moving image. Challenge yourself to learn from your peers and your environment, as well as from your professors.
Access is key. In the Film program, starting freshman year, students shoot with digital cinema cameras, quality microphones, and digital audio recorders. Students edit in our digital editing facilities, manipulating images and audio with the latest postproduction software. The members of the Film/Video Department (administrators, faculty, and technical support staff) are all active, accomplished filmmakers, enthusiastic to share their experiences with you, which is critical to your development.
As a Film major, you will have access that extends beyond Pratt into New York City itself. Your options for identifying new directions in the field are not limited to your Ways of Seeing Cinema class. You can visit cutting-edge galleries and micro-cinemas, world-class museums and film festivals—it’s happening all over the city. Opportunities for preprofessional experiences abound. You can join a film crew shooting on the streets of Brooklyn—or intern at places like the Museum of Modern Art, Saturday Night Live, or one of the countless independent companies that shape New York City’s thriving creative scene.
The future of the moving image is unpredictable and wide open. At Pratt, we’re excited by the possibilities. Our mission is to provide you with tools and techniques, an understanding of history, and a complex yet flexible interdisciplinary arts education, allowing you to guide us into that future.
Our recent graduates are already leading the way with their infectious pioneering spirit. They are directing films that have premiered at Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Miami’s Art Basel, and numerous other festivals. Some alumni work as video editors and producers at prestigious media outlets including MTV, USA Networks, Entertainment Weekly, The New Yorker, People, and Time, while others are directors for established commercial production companies or have formed their own successful media businesses. We celebrate their accomplishments and look forward to yours.
Chair
Kara Hearn
Assistant Chair
Eric Trenkamp
Assistant to the Chair
Wendy Margulies
Technical Director
Matthew Hysell
Assistant Technical Director
Trace Tsui
Technicians
Joanna Claessens
Chris DiVincenzo
Lorenzo Gattorna
Academic Adviser
Erich Kuersten
Office
Tel: 718.636.3633
Fax: 718.636.3478
filmvideo@pratt.edu
https://www.pratt.edu/art/film-video/
Faculty Bios
https://www.pratt.edu/people/?live_global_search_people[refinementList][departments][0]=Film%2FVideo