University degrees: Courses
Course length: 3 years
Course city: Bolzano
The ZeLIG course of study is aimed at young people with an interest in working with audio-visual media and particularly all forms of documentary cinema – the entire creative spectrum of the visual and sound experience. ZeLIG seeks people with passion and talent, who are strongly motivated to make a career out of these gifts.
No practical prior knowledge is required. However, a certain degree of maturity is desired. Many students at ZeLIG have a university degree or professional experience.
ZeLIG is located in Bolzano, Italy, a multilingual city where different cultures live together. The school is a place of exchange for students, teachers and film professionals from all over the world.
Training period:
3 years – 1 year basic training, 2 years specialisation courses
Specialisation courses:
Directing/Project development • Photography/Light • Editing/Post-production
The full-day classes consist of seminars and project work in small groups. Attendance is obligatory. The teaching languages are German, Italian and English.
Applications may be submitted every 3 years and 30 students are admitted.
The admission procedure is through pre-selection.
The dates for the next entry exam will be communicated later.
Practise-oriented – open-minded – multilingual
ZeLIG training is well suited to the labour market.
The teachers bring different cultures, styles, perspectives and work procedures to ZeLIG and are all highly qualified professionals. Coming from all over the world, they hold classes of one or several weeks in Bolzano during which they pass on the latest developments in the media.
Technical and content know how is taught with a practical orientation. Students are introduced to different narrative forms and stylistic means. They are supported and guided in their quest for their very personal paths.
At ZeLIG the spoken languages are German, Italian and English. Student, teachers and staff are free to express themselves in any which one of these language and which is best suited to transmitting their ideas. This creative approach to linguistic variety opens the gates to the international markets and to future opportunities.
Independent – committed – creative
ZeLIG’s three-year program is designed for people interested in all forms of documentary cinema – the entire spectrum of the visual and sound experience. ZeLIG seeks people with passion and talent, who are strongly motivated to make a career out of these gifts.
The program is geared toward people who look at the world with interest and creativity; people who are flexible, who freely express themselves and are willing to take chances. People who can adapt to different roles to make their contribution to an audiovisual production.
Applicants must be hungry to learn, and develop their own creativity and the ability to recognize creativity in others; they must seek to acquire knowledge and technical skills, improve social skills and focus on working in groups.
Applicants must be committed to hard work and responsibility, and be dedicated to learning and growing together – both as professionals and as people.
The aims of training are to provide students with the basic technical skills and know-how to be able to work as professionals upon graduation, in various areas of audiovisual production, and specialized skills and know-how in the three majors offered: Direction/Project Development, Photography/Lights and Editing/Post-Production.
Students who graduate with a major in Direction/Project Development will demonstrate a capacity for working autonomously and assuming responsibility, as they contribute creatively to the conception, research and writing of the documentary. They will also have the skills and know-how to create dossiers for film projects, and pitch those projects. From there, they direct the making of films, in terms of narrative and artistic development, and technical direction of the other professionals involved.
Students who graduate with a major in Photography/Lights will demonstrate a capacity for translating the idea and subject of a documentary into images. They will also have the skills and know-how to work with directors, or autonomously, as they contribute to the conception of visual ideas for films. They are responsible for the photography of documentaries, in line with the subject and story, from filming phases to post-production.
Students who graduate with a major in Editing/Post-Production will demonstrate a capacity for working autonomously and assuming responsibility in the construction of the documentary’s story line through the creative use of images and sounds recorded during filming. They are responsible for the editing phase in its entirety; along with directors, they are in charge of the post-production process, and the realization of documentary films based on the techniques agreed upon with the production staffs.
3,300 hours of training – of which 3,000 in classes and 300 in work experiences, full-time and with compulsory attendance
The study course starts on 4. November and ends on 1 July.
The study course is structured into introductory, intermediate and specializing modules with classroom teaching, hands-on experience and group work. We strongly encourage active involvement in co-creative work. The students have access to the premises and the equipment outside of study hours in order to enable them to work independently on their projects.
First year
During the first year, the emphasis is on the basic elements of analyzing and understanding audio-visual language and the general principles of film production. The students are also taught the basics of how to plan and make a documentary. The general introduction is followed by intermediate courses on the contents in phase two, ending with a practical exercise: short documentary films, produced in a group and independently developed.
The first year is also aimed at identifying motivations and talents of the individual students for one of the three specialisations (Directing/Project development, Photography/Light, Editing/Post-production). The exam at the end of the year assesses the general level of learning, followed by assigning a specialisation.
Second Year
The second year is divided into “vertical modules”, which are different for each major, and focus on developing the skills in each of the three specializations offered; and “horizontal modules”, which involve all students, regardless of their majors. As in the first year, seminars that focus on theory are accompanied by hands-on activities, including the making of a short documentary, in which each student participates in a group initiative based on his or her area of specialization.
Upon conclusion of the second year, students take part in internship programs based on their majors.
Third year
In the third year the students produce a professional documentary film of medium or feature film length. This involves research, a written abstract with storyline, visual and editing concept, a pitch with two-pager and teaser, a project dossier, pre-production, budgeting, production, post-production and delivery. During the production the students work according to their specialisations and as a team on all other aspects.
Diploma exam
The third year concludes with the diploma exam, assessing the didactical results at the end of the triennium.
Internships
During the training the students take part in work experiences between the first and second and/or the second and third study year, in line with their specialisation.
