Courses and Faculty ｜ Department of Film Production

Students gain the knowledge and decision-making skills necessary for directing and each person develops his or her own voice as an individual auteur through practical experience.

Filmmaking necessarily entails the collaborative effort of numerous specialists, and the director plays a definitive role in shaping the production. Students in this course broaden their understanding of film through classes and seminars and develop their judgement on-set through practical experience. They learn how to express their individuality as artists while working in a collaborative environment.

Directing Course
Nobuhiro Suwa, Professor

Born in 1960. Became involved in independent movies while attending Tokyo Zokei University. After graduating and gaining experience in producing TV documentaries, he directed 2/Duo (1997), which won the NETPAC Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. He was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize in the Parallel Sections at Cannes Film Festival for M/Other. Other major works include H Story, Paris, je t’aime (omnibus), Un Couple Parfait, which won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Locarno International Film Festival, and Yuki & Nina. He is known for his filmmaking approach that uses loosely written scripts.

Directing Course
Akihiko Shiota, Professor

Born in 1961. Starts his career with 8mm independent films as a university student. In 1999, he simultaneously released Moonlight Whispers and Don’t Look Back. Then, Harmful Insect (2001) was selected for the Venice International Film Festival, and later won the Special Jury Prize at the Nante Three Continent Festival. Futher, Resurrection (2002) and Dororo (2007) achieved the domestic box-office hits, grossed over 3 billion yen. He continues his filmmaking by bouncing back and forth between commercial films and art-theater film productions. His recent works include Wet Woman in the Wind (2016) and The World of You (2022). In addition, he’s the author of the film criticism ”The Cinematography: Why are these Directions so Attractive?”, which also translated and published in China.
『Moonlight Whispers』『D’ont Look Back』『Harmful Insect』『Resurrection』『Dororo』『Wet Woman in the Wind』『The World of You』

Students study filmmaking to establish their own artistic identity.

Screenplays are an assembly of words that conjure up images and sounds. The screenwriter needs to imagine in advance everything that the cast and crew will create. The avenues for presenting films will continue to evolve through online distribution and live events. The Screenwriting Course aims to give students the knowledge needed to create outstanding work and help them establish their own artistic identity so they can bring their ideas to fruition across all media and platforms.

Screenwriting Course
Michiko Oishi, Professor

Born in Tokyo. After graduating from the Fine Art department of Tokyo University of Arts(TUA), interjecting a period as an employee, she was then enrolled in Film production of Film and New Media graduate school of TUA in 2005. There, she studied screenwriting under Yozo Tanaka and finished her course by 2007. Some of her major screenwriting films are Tokyo Rendezvous (2008, directed by Chihiro Ikeda), GeGeGe’s Wife (2010, directed by Takuji Suzuki), Drive in Gamo (2014, directed by Masaki Tamura), and an animation work To You - Letters from Hibakusha- (directed by Yuka Imabayashi). She was also the supervisor of Japanese lines for Abbas Kiarostami's film, Like Someone In Love (2012).

Students experience film production first hand to learn about the producer’s wide-ranging responsibilities from pre-production to release.

This course was developed as Japan’s first program aimed at training film producers. In order to grasp the work of the producer, hands-on experience is more important than classroom theory. In other words, students must experience for themselves the rigorous conditions of film production starting with the proposal to preparing the script, budgeting, and negotiating contracts. After production is complete, the producer oversees the publicity and distribution strategy, including film festival entries and overseas sales. Students also gain valuable industry experience through exposure to the faculty’s on-going professional projects. This course trains producers who possess their own vision of filmmaking and have honed their problem-solving and decision-making skills. Students gain the knowledge and skill set to work on wide-ranging media projects at a global scale.

Producing Course
Shozo Ichiyama, Professor

Develop your sense of aesthetics and communication abilities for team work, along with technical knowhow

The cinematography and lighting course involves taking the concepts from the producer, scriptwriter and director and making them into something concrete through your own personal filter. Of course, you need to acquire wide-ranging knowledge and technical skills in order to create a film, but you will also raise your sights in searching for higher dimensions of cinematic expression, with an emphasis on communication with other departments in the film crew. In the studio work, the cinematography and lighting students work together as a team using professional-spec equipment to sharpen individual skills and sensibilities.

Cinematography Course
Sohei Tanikawa, Professor

Graduated from Nihon University College of Art, Department of Cinema. Mainly shoots films and TV dramas. Studied in the UK as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Program for Artists and serves on the board of the Japanese Society for Cinematographers. Main works as cinematographer include director Sion Sono’s Noriko’s Dinner Table, Love Exposure, Guilty of Romance, and Himizu; director Takashi Shimizu’s Kiki’s Delivery Service; director Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo; director Yuichi Sato’s Kasane: Beauty and Fate; and director Hideki Takeuchi’s Fly Me to the Saitama and Daughter of Lupin.

Students acquire knowledge and artistic sensitivity that transcends technique.

The furniture, wardrobe and props seen on screen must match the time and place for the story being told and also be appropriate for the atmosphere of the film. Art direction requires wide-ranging knowledge and finely honed sensibilities. The Art Directing Course uses seminars and on-set experience to foster production acumen that goes beyond mere technique.

Art Directing Course
Keiko Mitsumatsu, Professor (appointed April 2024)

Mitsumatsu graduated from Art Directing course of Nikkatsu Visual Arts Academy in 1995. She started her career as a trainee, and after three years as a prop makers, turned to an art assistant. She worked as an art director for Nobody Knows (2004), Our Little Sister (2015), Shoplifters (2018), and Monster (2023) directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, Sway (2006), Dear Doctor (2009), The Long Excuse (2016), Under The Open Sky (2020) directed by Miwa Nishikawa, Tokyo Rendezvous (2008) directed by Chihiro Ikeda, Drowning Love (2016) directed by Yuki Yamato, The 8-Year Engagement (2017) directed by Takahisa Zeze, and Life in Overtime (2018) directed by Hideo Nakata.

Students learn practical and experimental sound design for film and new media.

The Sound Design Course is built on three main pillars of instruction (excluding classes shared with other areas).

1. Studio seminars to gain hands-on experience with equipment used for on-set recording and mixing work
2. Lectures to cultivate knowledge of visual expression from the viewpoint of sound design and enable students to develop their own ideas
3. On-set film production experience

The course enables students to master the specific skills needed to work in the industry in roles including sound artist and soundtrack composer. The course also gives students the opportunity to use the sound mastering room and recording equipment to pursue original research and experiments with sound design as part of cinematic expression.

Sound Design Course
Hiroyuki Nagashima, Professor

Nagashima’s work on the live sound remix of a movie directed by Sogo Ishii led to work on music and sound for numerous works spanning multiple media. His sound work for movies include Sogo Ishii’s Angel Dust, Katsuhiro Otomo’s Memories episode 3 – ‘Cannon Fodder’ (Taiho no machi), Shinji Aoyama’s Eli, Eli, Lema Sabachtani?, Kunitoshi Manda’s Seppun (The Kiss), Hiroshi Takahashi’s Kyofu (The Sylvian Experiments), and Makoto Shinozaki’s Sharing. He also performs with Dowser, an electronic music group.

Students acquire skills to work as digital-are editors who can realize the director’s intent, and more.

Editing brings filmed images to life by giving shape to dailies shot according to the storyboard, as well as images that appear on frame by accident. Even as we transition from film to digital media, the essentials of editing remain the same: in-depth analysis of the material, effective communication within the production team, identifying the subject of the work, and discovering whether or not specific elements connect. Mastering these skills requires knowledge of film as well as the world at large. Technique can be developed only once the editor viscerally grasps the ideas that need to be expressed.

We live in an age when anyone can edit a film using digital tools, which makes the editor’s position increasingly complicated. Can an editor possibly work with more precision than the director? This course teaches fundamental techniques starting with reel film editing and cultivates editors who can work effectively in the ever-changing film industry environment.

Editing Course
Takefumi Tsutsui, Professor

Tsutsumi began making films while attending Tokyo Zokei University. He made his feature-length film directorial debut in 1987 with the silent movie Yumeko no daibouken. In addition to his work as a film editor and director, he has written countless film reviews. Tsutsui’s major films include Overdrive in 2004, Bahha no shozo (Bach’s Portrait) in 2010, and Kodokuna wakusei (Lonely Planet) in 2011. Recently he completed Fancy Free and Eizo no hakken=Matsumoto Toshio no jidai.