Photos by Tom DonaldJermiah Birnbaum (above) Stephen Kopels (below) March 2008Lights, Camera, LearnBy Tom DonaldStephen Kopels and Jeremiah Birnbaum, co-founders of the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking (SFSDF), may seem unlikely partners. There’s a 20-year age difference between the two, and they have completely different tastes in films. But on the subject of SFSDF, and on teaching filmmaking in general, Kopels and Birnbaum are in complete agreement. Kopels and Birnbaum launched SFSDF three years ago in an industrial space located in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Their dream was to establish a school in which students would not simply learn about films, but make films. Real films, not “let’s shoot 20 minutes of the fire hydrant and watch how the light changes” films. Since the first class in 2005, SFSDF students have completed narratives, documentaries and even commercials. The school’s best-known film may be Presque Isle, directed by local legend Rob Nilsson, which premiered last fall at the Mill Valley Film Festival. The film, which is set in Nilsson’s childhood home of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, “touches on themes of memory, human suffering, and family reconciliation.” Two new films created by SFSDF students, Moonlight Sonata and Around June, are to be released soon.
SFSDF’s faculty is comprised of award-winning professionals in every aspect of the industry, including directors, producers, camera people, editors and writers. According to Kopels, “Nearly all of our instructors are working full-time in the industry, so they’ve faced all of the dilemmas our students are confronted with.” SFSDF’s Third Street facility houses a large, professionally-equipped sound stage. Students have access to high-definition cameras and edit on state of the art Final Cut Pro systems. “We’re trying to make the environment here as close as possible to what our students will encounter when they graduate and get jobs in the business,” said Kopels. The school works to place students in the film industry after they graduate, and nothing pleases the co-founders more than to hear from alumni who’ve gone on to work on big projects after leaving SFSDF. “We want a school that’s an incubator of new talent, fresh ideas and exciting projects. SFSDF is our vision, but in truth, the school belongs to the students,” said Bimbaum. For more information about SFSDF check-out www.sfdigifilm.com. Tom Donald is a film director who lives with his wife Mitzi Ngim on Potrero Hill’s outer reaches.
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SFSDF students work on films done by professionals and make their own movies, almost from the moment they begin class. It’s “learning by doing,” and as Kopels hastens to add, by “re-doing,” that characterizes the school’s one-year, project-based curriculum. Class sizes have been kept deliberately small so that a closer bond can form between teacher and student. For Bimbaum, constant constructive criticism is a key component of the learning process. “It’s the only way to learn; to find out why certain choices work, and others don’t.”