FILM CLASS

Three Directing Classes on Zoom with Director Jason Ensler.
A fundraiser for the Ah Haa School for the Arts.

Individual Classes $50/each
All Three Classes $120

CLASSES + DATES

Class 1:  A Monster in the House
Thursday, July 30, 2020 2-4pm

Movies to Watch:
Ordinary People, 1980 - Written by Alvin Sargent, Directed by Robert Redford
The Babadook, 2014 - Written and Directed by Jennifer Kent

As a director, you must know your theme: it becomes a riverbed through which all your decisions are made.  Both Ordinary People and The Babadook are studies of loss, self-blame and redemption.  Both films ask the question: what happens when your unconquerable grief creates or reveals a monster in the house? Though they are drastically different films, there are visual similarities that can teach us common cinematic tropes.  We’ll study how to shoot intimate scenes in intimate spaces, and examine the use of color to convey character’s emotional journeys.  And, of course, eyelines.

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Class 2: Blocking A Scene, Composing the Shot
Thursday, August 6, 2020 2-4pm

Movies To Watch (optional since I’ll be playing clips in class):
Moonstruck, 1987 - Written by John Patrick Shanley, Directed by Norman Jewison
Die Hard, 1988 - Written by Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza, Directed by John McTiernan
Get Out, 2017 - Written + Directed by Jordan Peele
You Were Never Really Here, 2017 - Written + Directed by Lynn Ramsey
Silence of the Lambs, 1991 - Written by Thomas Harris, Directed by Jonathan Demme
Lola, 1961 - Written + Directed by Jacques Demy

You’ve got a script.  Now you need to put it on its feet.  What tools do you, as a director, have at your disposal to elevate the material and bring it to life?  In our second session, we’ll examine the six questions you should ask yourself before blocking a scene, and how the answers to those questions will inform your choice of lenses, lighting, space, movement and eyelines.  We’ll review on-set approaches to working with actors to get authentic performances and learn the vast visual difference between moments of connection and disconnection.

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Class 3: The Female Gaze + Learning to be a Witness
Thursday, August 13, 2020 2-4pm

Movies to Watch:
Moonlight, 2018 - Written + Directed by Barry Jenkins 
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, 2019 - Written + Directed by Celine Sciamma

In 1975, film critic Laura Mulvey coined the term the “male gaze,” roughly defined then as a way of looking at women in cinema as an object of heterosexual male longing.  The phrase has evolved, coming to mean any approach to story telling that is about conquest, power, objectification and violence - to name a few.  In our third session, we’ll look at examples in popular American cinema, dissect the technical visual choices that reinforce the “male gaze,” while considering alternatives that seek to tell stories through the lens of compassion, healing, and love.  Specifically, the recent films Moonlight and Portrait of a Lady on Fire bear witness to their characters emotional lives without objectifying or controlling them. In both films, characters are transformed incrementally by love. We’ll track those changes visually and examine the use of and absence of sound to empathetically portray characters’ inner worlds.

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PRICING

Individual Classes $50/each
All Three Classes $120
100% of the proceeds go to The Ah Haa School for the Arts

The Ah Haa School for the Arts

The Ah Haa School for the Arts is a dynamic art school in Telluride, Colorado dedicated to inspiring all people to discover, nurture, and celebrate creativity. The Ah Haa School offers year-round classes, workshops, art retreats, open studios, lectures, exhibitions and special events. They offer an amazing variety of classes and workshops in painting, ceramics, textile arts, sculpture, welding, stained glass, photography, acting, writing, cooking, wellness and dance. 

To remain relevant and vital in these uncertain times, your contribution is a direct investment in the vitality of the arts.  Your donation gets you any or all directing classes and helps fund:  

  • scholarships for children

  • art materials

  • studio equipment

  • Art Walk receptions

  • free & reduced rate classes

  • and much more!

Ah Haa School for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For tax purposes, your gift is deductible.  

ABOUT JASON ENSLER

Jason Ensler is a writer, director and producer.  After graduating Brandeis University, he spent a year doing stand-up comedy in New York. One night in Greenwich Village, Dave Chappelle went on stage before him, proving once and for all that Ensler was on the wrong career path.  He quickly enrolled in the USC School for Cinematic Arts and got his MFA.  For the last 20 years he has directed television and movies, including the pilots for HART OF DIXIE, FRANKLIN + BASH, and the acclaimed cult series ANDY BARKER, P.I (available to #bingewatch on Amazon). He’s directed episodes of THE WEST WING, LETHAL WEAPON, GRACE + FRANKIE, BROOKLYN 99, GOSSIP GIRL and THE NEWSROOM. He recently served as the executive producer on THE PASSAGE and THE EXORCIST and is currently the producing director for the hit series LOVE, VICTOR (available to #bingewatch on Hulu). In 2020 he hightailed it to Colorado with his Leica M9, Nikon FM II and a prayer that we get back to work soon.  Meanwhile, he’s available on zoom for directing seminars and game nights.