Filmbase’s Alan Fitzpatrick Talks Upcoming Courses | The Irish Film & Television Network

“The course looks at acting for the camera,” says Fitzpatrick of the latest Acting programme. “The participants on the course will be guided by people who play various roles in the industry such as the casting director Thyrza Ging, who can share her experience and knowledge with them. It’s the first time we’ve had an acting course in a few years, our resources usually go into training courses for crew members on the other side of the camera but we held a workshop event a few months ago where actors were given advice amongst other things, and we got such a great response to the workshop that we decided to run this course.”

Discussing the development of Filmbase’s course calendar, we ask if this is generally how new courses come into existence or are they a result of in-house brainstorming sessions? “It’s a bit of both really,” says Alan. “We generally try to respond when we sense a need amongst our members. That said, we also look for gaps in what we are already providing for our members and see if we can fill it with a specific course or training event.”

Other courses starting soon include a three day course entitled ‘Crafting a Scene’, which looks to offer writers and people collaborating with writers the chance to learn how to craft a scene effectively. Other crew members will be catered for with a weekend-long course coming up on Assistant Directing (November 7th and 8th); a 5 day Camera and Lighting course starting on Monday, November 9th; a weekend long course entitled ‘Being an Independent’ which examines how to set up a production company (14 – 15 November). There are also several courses available for producers including two weekend courses, the first of which takes places on the 21st and 22nd November and deals with Producing a Short Film and another the following weekend (November 28th and 29th) which will explore how to produce a low budget feature.

Fitzpatrick believes attendance at the Filmbase training courses has thus far not been affected enormously by the recession but admits there has been an increase in unwaged applicants. “We certainly notice that we have more unwaged people in training,” says the MD. “Attendance at the classes has not gone down because people may now have more time on their hands and are deciding to re-train in the arts and in film. Obviously price is an issue for people moreso nowadays so we are especially mindful of that and try to run our courses as cheaply as possible.”

With digital filmmaking technology becoming more and more widespread, IFTN asks if the Filmbase team have plans to introduce more digitally-centred courses. “Well, we are always talking about new courses and obviously digital makes up a large part of what we do. Our camera courses now concentrate on various digital and we have been providing training in that area for quite a while. So really, when it comes to digital training – we’re there right now.”

For more information about upcoming Filmbase courses visit www.filmbase.ie

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