San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking

  United States

San Francisco

Term: Throughout the year 

Description: We are excited to announce that we have received our Student and Exchange Visitor Program approval and are now welcoming international students!!!

If you're ready to launch your career in the motion picture industry, welcome to the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking!

At the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking the film set is your classroom whether you're directing your own film, writing your first screenplay, or working with professionals on a feature. For aspiring filmmakers, screenwriters or film actors, our film school gives you the three most valuable tools you need to start your career - a reel of your own work, credits on student and professional projects, and contacts in the industry.

Our film school curriculum is entirely project-based, allowing you to develop your skills hands-on while bringing your creative ideas to life. We have a powerfully simple philosophy "the best way to learn the craft of filmmaking is to make films!" At SFSDF students produce hundreds of films every year.

As a student of Digital Filmmaking, Screenwriting or Film Acting you're mentored by award-winning industry professionals in small classes. Students work on professional sound stages, use state-of-the-art High Definition filmmaking equipment, and make tough creative and technical decisions.

San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking is the only film school in the country offering every student the valuable experience of crewing on a professional feature-length motion picture through its sister company, Fog City Pictures. As a part of the Digital Filmmaking Program's curriculum, students work directly under professional filmmakers. This is not an internship. It is an apprenticeship, where students are mentored and work side-by-side with industry professionals in key positions. Students working on Fog City Pictures feature films are actively involved in the professional filmmaking community and also get a valuable "credit" for their work on the film. Fog City Pictures and SFSDF submit these films to festivals, look for distribution outlets, and theatrical release.

In the past year, Fog City Pictures has produced two feature films with a talented array of award-winning actors and filmmakers.

MOONLIGHT SONATA
Moonlight Sonata is the story of a privileged San Francisco family, the difficult moral choices its members make and the consequences they have to face, told in the genre of a modern psychological thriller with surprising twists and turns along the way, all culminating in a cliff-hanger climax.

AROUND JUNE
Around June is a love story in the vein of a classic fairy tale set near the shipyards of San Francisco. June, played by Hollywood actress Samaire Armstrong (Dirty Sexy Money, Entourage, The O.C.), is a young woman trapped in a life caught between her crippled, abusive father (Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite, Real Genius) and mentally challenged uncle (Brad William Henke (Dexter, World Trade Center, Sherrybaby), whose adoration of her offers little solace. One day, through a poetic twist of fate, June meets a penniless immigrant, Juan Diego (played but newcomer Oscar Guerrero), whose love empowers her to finally break free and realize her dreams. Around June was written and directed by SFSDF instructor, James Savoca.

PRESQUE ISLE
Presque Isle is SFSDFs first feature-length motion picture. Written and directed by Rob Nilsson, an award-winning director since the 1970s, Nilsson was the first American director to win both the Camera d'Or at Cannes (for his 1978 film Northern Lights) and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (for Heat and Sunlight, 1987). Presque Isle is set in Nilsson's childhood home of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He describes the story as "touching on themes of memory, human suffering, family reconciliation, and also a portrait of a land much neglected by American cinema."

Highlights:
Digital Filmmaking Program:
Our immersive one-year Digital Filmmaking Program prepares students for a career in the motion picture industry. This course is designed for students with a passion for learning the craft of digital filmmaking. Graduates will possess the necessary skills and experience needed to become directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, editors and independent digital filmmakers.

Digital Filmmaking Workshops:
Our Digital Filmmaking Workshop is a 5-week, hands-on class, which explores the language of cinema and the tools of digital filmmakers. Working in small production teams, students learn the entire process of digital video production.

Film Acting Classes:
Our Film Acting Classes offer aspiring actors technique-based classes in the craft of acting for the camera. Student's of each 8-week long class maximize their creative potential, and work with filmmakers in a professional environment. All of our acting students have the opportunity to build a professional, high quality demo reel.

NEW! Screenwriting Workshops:
Taught by award-winning writer/director James Savoca, this workshop educates beginning screenwriters in the essential elements of screenwriting from developing a good idea to creating a treatment for a feature-length film.

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Minimum Education: High School

Cost in US$: Please contact us for more information.

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to United States Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Essay
• In-Person Interview when Feasible
• Letters of Reference
• Online Application plus Application Assessment
• Transcript
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network
• Job and Internship Network

San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking's Mission Statement: As one of America's top film schools, San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking (SFSDF) is a leader in the training and development of quality filmmakers, film actors and screenwriters. From its inception, SFSDF has dedicated itself to the reimagination of the film school model and to building a more creative and educational environment, which puts students at the center of the experience. The School's personal, immersive teaching methods combined with small, collaborative classes delivers the highest degree of student/teacher interaction in a vibrant developmental incubator. SFSDF nurtures a filmmaker's aesthetic spark while providing critical hands-on training. SFSDF's next-generation digital entertainment focus places its students at the forefront of the digital media industry and prepares them for work on major motion pictures, television, and web content. Students use only the highest-quality, industry-standard equipment and each student writes, produces, directs, shoots and edits their films from start to finish. Additionally, strong industry relationships and a unique film studio partnership give students the opportunity to work on full-length feature films.

Year Founded: 2005