4 Week Summer School in in Filmmaking

Week 1 – Pre-production and screenwriting
Learn how to write and create a short film script. Discover how to create compelling characters and write believable dialogue.
Once your script is written start the planning process of how you are going to execute your short. Consider locations, casting and shooting strategies.

Week 2 – Cinematography, camera techniques and working with actors
Work with a professional cinematographer. Experiment with lenses and lighting.
You will also work with actors and learn how to extract great performances.

Week 3 – The Shoot
During this week you will shoot a short film. You will work with your collegues on the 4 Week Acting certificate. All participants will rotate through each of the crew positions: directing, camera, sound, and assistant director.

 Week 4 – Editing and post-production

Participants will work in teams with a professional editor. Learn how to assemble the rushes combined with sound and music. The finished shorts will have titles and a rear-title credit roll with your name. The finished films will be screened on the final day. Particiapnts will be able to take a copy of the finished film with them to add to their protfolios and showreels.

The course runs Sunday to Thursday from 10.30am – 5.30pm over 4 weeks (20 consecutive weekdays).

We aim to restrict the class size to 16 per group.  This allows us to run practical workshops and give all our students on-going hands-on support throughout their learning.

After completing the certificate, students will be sufficiently trained to start working on their own film projects.
Upon successful completion and approval, students who wish to do further studies can progress onto the Raindance HND Level 5 Diploma in Film. Please note, you must be proficient in English and demonstrate the ability to study at level 5 to be considered for our HND programmes.  This will be assessed during the course.

Visitors from outside the UAE can enrol on a short course of 30 days with a standard tourist visa while they are visiting the Emirates.  Most nationalities can extend visit visas for up to 90 days. Please contact us with any questions on visa requirements.

Simon Hunter has directed over fifty TV commercials and three feature films. His directing debut was the horror movie LIGHTHOUSE which was released theatrically in 2002. He subsequently became a much sought after commercials director before returning to features with Edward R Pressman’s visual effects-laden, sci-fi movie The Mutant Chronicles in 2008.In 2016 Simon directed his passion project, Edie which took the Edinburgh International Film Festival by storm.

Simon lives in the German capital, Berlin. Since 1999 he has regularly lectured for Raindance and other organisations.

Justin Shevlin originally trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (now Central School of Speech and Drama) and upon graduation joined the Royal Shakespeare Company under the Artistic Directorship of Adrian Noble. Justin is a freelance filmmaker and has directed viral adverts, music videos and corporate films for the advertising agency Blueprint-London. He’s been teaching the Raindance HND courses since last year.

Chris Thomas has been teaching and developing courses for film directing with Raindance since 2000, with a strong emphasis on storytelling and communications skills. He has created classes both practical and inspirational. The camera classes he runs place weight upon storytelling and understanding visual grammar from a psychological and creative perspective.

As a teacher, Chris, has always prioritised clear communication of the techniques he has learnt and encourages his students to harness their individual talents through the methods he demonstrates. He believes learning is a two-way process and as a filmmaker it never ends, however there is a place to begin and his courses offer up an opportunity to do so.

Ufuk Gky is an independent filmmaker & freelance videographer with over a decade of experience in creative visual production. He’s been actively involved in film education and have taught with institutes such as the New Film Academy, Al Jazeera, Istanbul Media Academy, London Film School, and more recently with the National Youth Film Academy. This summer is his first time teaching at Raindance.