Diploma in Digital Film
Overview
The Diploma in Digital Film is a groundbreaking method of getting a solid group of foundation skills in digital filmmaking written for the Southern Institute of Technology
Every week you download your coursework from the Southern Institute of Technology blackboard site. You'll have a wide range of different tasks to complete and end to me by email, and sometimes you'll need to post in discs. Then you'll get some fairly comprehensive feedback on your work. The course works by a dialogue between you and me, and on the forums you'll "meet" the other students. You're not doing the course in isolation. It's a small world in cyber space.
Why is the course run through the Southern Institute of Technology
Because SIT is one of New Zealand's most innovative and progressive tertiary organisations, and by SIT running the course you get access to good things like the Zero Fees Scheme, and you get a properly recognised Diploma at the end of the course.
How much does it cost?
Here's the best bit. If you're a New Zealand resident you probably qualify for SIT's Zero Fees Scheme (follow the link for more info) – meaning that you only need pay a small course materials fee and all the tuition is free!
What's digital filmmaking?
Once upon a time films were made on film and everyone who worked in the industry was a skilled specialist. Today big budget Hollywood films are shot on high definition video, and most people can't tell the difference. (In Collateral (starring Tom Cruise)some scenes were shot on video, others on film, and you don't notice the switch).
More importantly, a lot of the skills that were once the area of specialists are now within anyone's reach. The gear isn't expensive anymore. You don't need to hire an orchestra for a film score, or even be a musician – you can do it in SoundTrack or GarageBand. You don't need to work in a high dollar editing suite – Final Cut Pro or Express does it all for less than the cost of a beat-up second hand car.
BUT – and this is a big but – you need to know what you're doing on a creative level. The gear is cheap and easy to use, but you'll only make garbage unless you have a handle on making good creative choices.
And that's where this course comes in. You'll be guided by getting comprehensive feedback on your work, and not only will you learn to drive the software, but you'll learn to make solid creative choices.
What's in the course?
The course has fifteen papers, out of which you will choose eight. All students must complete the three core papers, and then choose five of the elective papers to complete the course.
What order should I do them in?
You can do the papers in any order except where papers have prerequisites. It's usually a good idea to start with the three core papers though. The following papers have prerequisites: DDF109, DDF131, DDF204, DDF205, 206 and 231.
What is the relationship between this course and the
Diploma in Digital Photography?
As you can gather from the corse names, this course deals with moving images, while the DDP course deals with still images - but there are considerable areas where the skills overlap. In fact the DDP course is an outgrowth from the DDF course. As you can see, several of the DDP paper are available as electives in the DDF (and vice versa - some of the DDF papers are electives in the DDP course).
Can I do more than eight papers?
Certainly. Many students enjoy the courses so much that they not only complete the diploma but keep on taking papers until they have taken all of the electives as well.
Can I cross-credit papers from one course to the other?
Yes - if you have completed the DDP course you can credit a proportion of that study towards the Digital Film Diploma. You can get both papers by doing a total of thirteen papers.
How heavy is the workload?
Some distance learning courses look pretty easy to me. This course is not. It's aimed at level 5 on the NZ Qualifications framework, which is equivalent to a first year course of study at university. Each paper is worth 15 credits – which means that four papers is about the same workload as attending a university or polytech fulltime.
In other words, if you have a part time job and you are doing four papers – it's possible, but you're going to be busy. If you have a full time job you should be able to do one or two papers. If you are doing the course fulltime, you're going to be busy – but you'll learn a great deal.
What gear do I need?
If you're on a tight budget this is the cheapest option for the entire course:
- Mac computer either with an Intel Processor (perhaps second hand iMac or MacBook Pro from Trade Me?). If you are on a really tight budget you could try and fine an older version of Final Cut Pro for sale and get an older mac to run in - but recent software will not run on the older G4 and G5 computers.
- Digital Video camera (see note below)
- Final Cut Express and Photoshop Elements (OR Adobe CS3 Production Premium if you have an Intel mac)
- Microsoft Word or Neo Office
- iDVD
- GarageBand
The total cost could be less than $1,000, if you use second hand gear and buy carefully.
However that is the minimum. I'd strongly recommend something like the following since you'll get more out of the course, and find the course easier. In fact considering the substantial savings to be had by purchasing at the education price a set up like this does not cost a lot more.
- A Mac computer with and Intel processor - anything made since 2006 should be OK if it has enough RAM, but avoid MacBooks (Macbook Pro is OK)
- Apple's Final Cut Pro Studio
- Microsoft Word or Neo Office
- Adobe Photoshop
- A digital Video camera (see note below)
Apple's Final Cut Studio software includes DVD Studio Pro, Color, and Soundtrack - although there are cheaper options, a set up such as this represents excellent value for money, and uses professional level software.. The discount for students purchasing the software is considerable.
Note on cameras -
Beware of cameras that will not interface with professional level software such as Final Cut Pro or Premiere Pro. Double check that anything you buy will interface with your computer without using the horrid software provided by the manufacturer. Almost all cameras that use miniDV tapes will have the right interface, and many cameras that record to SDHC cards or hard disc will be OK - but not all of them. Do not buy anything that records to DVD-Rs. While it is great to have a professional level three chip camera, a cheap one will do for this course. It's not the bells and whistles, it's where you point it that counts! Feel free to email me if you are purchasing a camera for the course and would like more specific advice.
Do I really need a Mac? Can I use Windows?
We recommend you use a Mac for the course because, due to the smaller number of Mac models, our experts will be able to help diagnose the problems you will come up with - and also because of the ease of use, low price and stability of Mac software. You'll also gather marketable skills as a Final Cut pro operator.
However, if you know what you are doing, you can use Windows to do the course using the Adobe CS3 or later Production Premium Package (Premiere, After Effects, Photoshop, Encore). Note that earlier versions of Premiere cannot be used for the course. If you are using Windows you cannot expect any technical help, so you should only attempt to do the course on Windows if you have a reasonable level of computer knowledge.
How do I enrol?
All the info you want is here:
http://www.sit.ac.nz/pages/enrolment/enrolment.php
