• English

The one-year degree program in which students earn a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) features an intensive studio-based approach to short, narrative film production. Led by industry professionals, the program emphasizes the creative, critical and technical skills essential to the working filmmaker in today’s marketplace. The program is chaired by award-winning television and film director and longtime SVA faculty member, Bob Giraldi.

“Many established and successful directors, including George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, first began by making short films—it served as a way for them to hone their craft and gain entrance into the industry,” says Giraldi. In addition to the opportunities that short film has historically provided, the changing media landscape has helped to vitalize the genre, as Web sites and mobile device platforms have created increased outlets for short films.

“The short film is a vehicle for experimentation with new technologies and offers a freedom of ideas that cannot easily be realized in a longer format,” Giraldi explains. “Digital media and editing equipment have made the genre an accessible, economical way for filmmakers to articulate ideas that might otherwise be deemed too challenging or untenable.”

Working alongside professional casting agents, actors, cinematographers, location scouts, stylists and editors, students in the MPS Live Action Short Film program have the opportunity to explore every aspect of short filmmaking—from the conception of an idea to the creation of a script, to casting, budgeting, directing, filming, editing and marketing the final product—in a program that mirrors the real-life experience of a professional independent film production. The program culminates in a thesis-based short film festival at the SVA Theatre in New York City.

Additional details about the program can be found at http://mpsfilm.sva.edu.