On June,17, at 15.00 p.m., a master-class by Nancy Novack, a director of montage, producer and screenwriter (USA) took place in VGIK. There were present: professor V.Lisackovich, the head of the Chair of documentary film direction, B. Karadjev, associate professor of VGIK and head of the work-shop, teachers and co-workers of the documentary film direction chair and students of VGIK Film direction and Cinematography departments.
At the beginning of the event, T. Tursunova, the head of the Department of International Affairs, presented the guest to the participants of the master-class. Nancy Novack is a teacher at the School of Fine Arts in Pennsylvania State University (USA) and has a long-time experience in teaching the course of «Theory and Practice of Montage».
During her master-class in VGIK Novack accentuated the means of film material arrangement as, on the one hand, it should be within certain laws of the audience’s perception in order to be a film, but on the other hand, not to destroy «the authenticity feeling» of documents, in other words - not to be just a film, but a documentary one.
At the start of her master-class Nancy Novack spoke about her work on the film « When the Levees Broke» (2006) by a well-known American director Spike Lee where she performed as the director of montage. The story of her work on the project caused many questions from the part of VGIK students present at the master-class. The lecturer explained in detail the main principles of the profession of the director of montage in America, the rules of co-operation with the colleagues at the final stage of completing the film, as well as the technical peculiarities of working with film montage computer programs. Later on Novack showed an extract from the film «When the Levees Broke» (2006) that told about the aftermath of Katrina hurricane in New-Orleans (USA). The screening caused a very lively discussion among the students of the Chair of the Documentary film direction (the Film Direction department), the workshop of V. Lisakovich, concerning the montage devices used in this lengthy documentary film.
In the final part of her master-class Nancy Novack showed five variants of montage of one and the same story shot by her students at the School of fine arts in Pennsylvania State University (USA). After screening of each version Novack suggested the students should discuss merits and drawbacks of the film extracts and spoke about creating emotional effects through documentary film montage devices.
Nancy Novack pointed out that tuition methods and techniques in VGIK and American film schools differ but she appreciated the system of work-shops for the young film makers to study in and undoubtedly this is a great advantage of VGIK.
In the end of the master-class T.Tursunova, the Head of the Department of International affairs handed souvenirs to the lecturer and carried out a tour of the Art Direction and Acting Departments of VGIK for the guests- Nancy Novack and her husband, David Novack, the director of the documentary «Finding Babel» who presented the premiere of his film in Moscow. Nancy Novack thanked VGIK for arranging the master-class and stressed the active participation in it of VGIK students.
The event was held with the support from the USA Embassy in Russia.
The material is prepared by the Department of International Affairs of VGIK.