Alexander Mackendrick on Film-making with Paul Cronin

Paul Cronin, editor of the book On Filmmaking: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick, presents a workshop based on Mackendrick's influential teachings.

This 2-day seminar is an excellent opportunity for any filmmaker who wishes to learn more about filmmaking from one of the masters of the medium. Alexander Mackendrick's practical approach serves as one of the best introductions to the craft of filmmaking available today. The weekend is structured around the illustrated lecture MACKENDRICK ON FILM which features footage of Mackendrick discussing his approach to filmmaking, and interviews with some of his former students and colleagues who discuss his ideas in detail.

Please note that this is a seminar-based workshop, not a practical hands-on weekend.

As well as dealing with Mackendrick's ideas on how film should be taught, the workshop topics covered include:

• Crafting a narrative screenplay
• Turning your script into a film
• How the director works with actors
• 'When not to write a shooting script'
• Why you should always try to cut dialogue from your script
• How 'Movies show and then tell'
• Why a 'clever plot' might not be a good starting point for your story
• Why props and 'incidental business' are crucial to the job of the director
• 'The Pre-verbal Language of Cinema'
• Why you should be beware of flashbacks
• 'Exposition is boring unless it is in the context of some present dramatic tension or crisis'
• 'Passivity is a capital crime in drama'
• 'The role of the antagonist may have more to do with the structure of the plot than the character of the protagonist'
• Setting the fuse and the obligatory scene
• How different camera angles and movement help create different emotions in the audience
• 'What is happening now is apt to be less dramatically interesting than what may or may not happen next'
• 'If you've got a beginning but don't yet have an end, then you're mistaken: you don't have the right beginning'
• 'Drama is expectation mingled with uncertainty'
• Use of the foil character
• Why a good story can be told from the point of view of any character
• Why you should always look for the longest axis on your set
• What you leave out is as important as what you leave in'
• Postcarding as a method of structuring your story

Alexander Mackendrick on Film-making with Paul Cronin

Where
The London Film School
24 Shelton Street, London, England WC2H 9UB

When
Sat 23 & Sun 24 Jan, 2007

Info here London Film School