The NFTS was honoured to welcome four of the world’s leading directors Christopher Nolan, George Miller,Joe Wright and Jonathan Glazer - and four of the world's greatest producers, Emma Thomas, Christine Vachon and Elizabeth Carlsen and Paul Webster who all gave Q&A talks to students this month.
There was a packed house for Christopher Nolan and producer Emma Thomas who talked about their production company Syncopy and working together on Memento, Inception, The PrestigeandTheDark Knight trilogy offilms. Nolan talked about the value of film vs. digital and the importance of creating a cinema experience to attract new audiences. Read more in Screen Daily
Students were also thrilled to meet Oscar-winning director George Miller (Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet, Mad Maxfilms) following a screening of the critically acclaimed box office hit Mad Max: Fury Road in the Dolby Atmos cinema at the Warner Bros. HQ, in London.
George Miller revealed the process behind making his critically acclaimed box office hit starring Tom Hardy in the role first made famous by Mel Gibson over three movies from 1979-85.
Describing his vision of the first Mad Max film, Miller said: “At its inception, it was a film that was going to be an extended chase. I wanted to see how much character, story and subtext the audience could pick up without stopping for exposition.”
Unlike the original trilogy, which was shot on film, Miller shot Fury Roadover 138 days in Namibia using digital cameras, from the high-end Arri Alexa M to more expendable Canon 5D’s.
Miller, who recently confirmed that two further Mad Max scripts have been written, said he used digital technology to enhance his vision, in a way he could never have achieved in the early 1980s.
“I was drawn to cinema in the first place with a kind of curiosity,” stated Miller….So to come back to Mad Max after three decades later, we can now erase tracks and skidmarks in the sand and can change the skies to make them uniform. I love the technology and it’s amazing what you can do.”
There was also a full house to hear the Oscar-winning director Joe Wright and producer Paul Webster share the vision for their latest film Pan. Producer Paul Webster who has worked with Joe Wright on three Oscar and BAFTA winning films (Pride & Prejudice, Anna Karenina, Atonement) said Joe was “…a producer’s dream because he knows what the film is going to look like from the start and then shares that vision. And what he creates is always very beautiful.”
Wright said that as soon as he read the script, he knew that he wanted to make the film - and exactly how it would look: “I saw Peter as a version of myself, aged 10 or 11, and my son, superimposed on this character and I was clear what I wanted to do with this film,” said the director. Read more about this masterclass here
Award-winning producers Christine Vachon and Elizabeth Carlsen talked to students following a screening of their latest filmCarol, directed by Todd Haynes, which was screened at the BFI London Film Festival.
BIFA winning director Jonathan Glazer spoke to NFTS students about his critically acclaimed films Sexy Beast starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Birth starring Nicole Kidman and Lauren Bacall and his most recent production Under The Skin starring Scarlett Johansenn. Read more about this Masterclass here.
Students on all of our courses are able to attend our Masterclasses and Q&As with world leading filmmakers through the year. Find out about our NEWFilm Studies Programming and Curation MA course, which is delivered in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI). This two-year Masters includes a professional work placement and attendance at the BFI London Film Festival.
Pictured (L-R) are Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas with NFTS students
