AFDA, The South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance

AFDA, The school of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance
AFDA
Motto Sada tanisens gera kuru da
Motto in English Our actions create us
Established 1994
Type Private
Students 1122
Location Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
Campus Auckland Park and Observatory
Website

http://www.afda.co.za/

AFDA the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance is a film school located on campuses in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, and Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa. AFDA is South Africa's only full member of CILECT [1] and therefore all AFDA degrees are recognized internationally[2]. It offers two three year undergraduate degree programmes - a Bachelors of Arts in Live Performance and a Bachelor of Arts in Motion Picture and postgraduate degrees as an Honours or a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

AFDA aims to create an environment that develops high quality human and intellectual property with the relevant skills to deal with the entertainment industry. AFDA believes that in the global economy, cultural exchange is a valuable commodity. AFDA graduates are taught to create indigenous products of South Africa for the local and international market. AFDA aims for its students to join profitable and sustainable careers in this market. More than 90% of AFDA's Honours alumni are working and employed in their chosen field of specialisation.

Contents

Location

AFDA has two campuses; the first is located in Johannesburg, the second in Cape Town.

Johannesburg is South Africa's television production hub. AFDA was established in Johannesburg in 1994 and is currently situated on a 10 000 metre square campus near the national broadcaster the SABC.

The Cape Town film industry has provided infrastructure and service to international feature films and commercial productions from Germany, Canada, USA, UK and many other countries[3]. AFDA Cape Town campus is situated in Observatory on a 7000 metre square campus in an area just outside the central business district.

Degrees

AFDA offers two different undergraduate degrees; a BA Degree in Motion Picture and a BA Degree in Live Performance. It also offers postgraduate degrees, the BA Honours Degree in Motion Picture and BA Honours Degree in Live Performance, as well as the postgraduate degree in Masters of Fine Arts (MFA).

AFDA has developed it's own learning programme. The learning programme aligns what it calls "core course" classes with the various specific film discipline skills. This system aims to get each learner to conceive original ideas and to create them efficiently in productions that communicate meaningfully with their identified target markets.

The first year offers a broad foundation and focuses on continuity and identifying each student's talents. The second year focuses on the entertainment medium, and aims to increase the students' understanding of the 'nuts and bolts' of the motion picture and live performance courses. The third year is designed to identify and develop each learner's artistic expression, while the fourth year is designed to ensure the maximum commercial management of the learner's chosen discipline. Although you may earn a degree after the third year, it is not internationally recognised, for that the fourth year must be completed.

In addition to the compulsory Core Course, AFDA offers disciplines which undergraduate students may choose a combination of, allowing them to specialise in a particular area of film making or performance. These include the following:

AFDA Honours students interact with the industry, their films are occasionally broadcast on M-net and SABC. The Honours thesis is a document with direct correlation to the student's chosen subject or that is focused on your Master of Fine Arts Motion Picture (MFA).

The AFDA Masters of Fine Arts in Motion Picture degree provides students with the opportunity to create a feature length film. It offers direct participation in the research work of key conceptual areas and the analysis of their contribution to targeting the broader local audience profile.

Ranking

See also: Rankings of universities in South Africa and Rankings of business schools in South Africa

International Recognition

AFDA films have been exhibited at various international festivals and have been broadcast worldwide, some winning awards including a prized Oscar[4].

At the 33rd annual Student Academy Awards, in June 2006, the AFDA production Elalini, directed by Tristan Holmes, won the award for Best Foreign Film. This is the first time that this award has been given to a South African film school[5].

In addition, Ongeriewe was nominated as a finalist in the professional short-film category at the Cannes Film Festival of 2006[6][7]. And Wamkelekile in the category of Best Foreign Film in 2009[8].

AFDA is a full member of CILECT (Centre International de Liaison de Ecoles de Cinema de Television). AFDA is the only film school in South Africa to be a full member of CILECT[1].

Facilities and Equipment

AFDA campuses both have 16mm super sixteen and 35mm film cameras as well as a number of digital industry standard cameras and an extensive range of camera accessories, lenses and lighting equipment. The school is currently in the process of shifting into the required digital platforms and this has been initiated in the acquisition of high-definition cameras for the outside broadcast unit vehicle.

AFDA's OBU (Outside Broadcasting Unit) is a mobile television vehicle. This unit enables AFDA to train students for the growing demand in various arenas of multi-camera recording, such as live television. The unit currently has a three-camera rig. The rig currently uses three JVC HDV (high-definition) cameras, two of which are linked via a control cable system and one which is linked via a fibre optic system. This allows it to be operated at a distance of 300m from the vehicle. All cameras are remote controlled by camera control units (CCUs).

A Digital Broadcast Pix Switcher is used to cut between cameras and insert all graphics, clips and chroma key requirements in real time. Final programme material is recorded onto hard disk drive via a Deck Link Multi Bridge interface. The rig has a separate audio station with a digital audio desk to control all audio inputs and mix down to final programme material.

The students' have limited access to this equipment when they first arrive but this becomes less limited as they graduate through the years.

Student Folklore

The Johannesburg Sound Design Suite

During the late 2000's the sound design suite at the Johannesburg campus used below par computers for the tasks the students required. Each virus-ridden and lacking many of the hardware requirements to fulfill the software demands, students often encountered problems with the computers.

The folklore surrounding these problems came from a rumour that an electrician had died in the room where the sound suite was located and his ghost remained to thwart students from completing their work. Although there is no actual proof that anybody died there, this was more a psychological defence mechanism to cope with the frustration caused by the malfunctioning machines.

The computers have since been replaced. But students have still been faced with frustrating problems due to hardware error.

L5

At the Johannesburg campus each of the lecture halls is referred to simply as the letter "L" and which ever number is allocated to it (i.e. lecture hall 1 becomes L1). This naming system was used to dub the area near the campus where students often go to smoke marijuana. This was done to imply that they were simply attending another class.

Awards

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Notes

  1. ^ a b http://www.cilect.org/
  2. ^ http://allqs.saqa.org.za/showQualification.php?id=35934
  3. ^ http://www.capefilmcommission.co.za/
  4. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-06-08-student-oscars_x.htm
  5. ^ http://www.bizcommunity.com/PressOffice/PressRelease.aspx?i=120797&ai=29668
  6. ^ http://www.tonight.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=358&fArticleId=3230236
  7. ^ http://www.uovs.ac.za/faculties/documents/01/153/SALRM/SALRM2006-final.pdf
  8. ^ http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/98/32883.html

External links