I'm sorry I don't see what is so terrible about this. Surely someone who wanted to learn could benefit from an immersive week with real cinematographers? Of course the paper is worthless, but who cares?

Thanks for Mentioning this. I'm going to apply - wouldn't have known about it otherwise.

I would take the course in a heartbeat if I had the scratch. I don't think this is the kind of thing that "no talent tards" drop their extra cash on. They just go buy the latest camera and call themselves a DP. This is for people who want to learn something, I'd bet.

No, it's just the ASC selling out. They must be hard up for cash. Need a bigger clubhouse? Haven't film schools just turned into cash cows? I can't imagine Caleb Deschanel (mentioned in the article) doing this.

My 2nd union movie I loaded mags for Caleb Deschanel. He was the biggest prick I ever met in the business, always looking for someone to beat up on. Once his wife (an actress) came on the set and he beat up on her. But, what a sweet guy, he gave everyone in the camera dept. a nice gift after 3 months of being a caffeine withdrawal dickhead.I used to have to make or buy the expresso for him, I would know. I just saw him on "who do you think you are" S04E04 where daughter Zooey traces his Philadelphia Quaker roots. The Quakers are pacifists, he is not, when he hasn't had 10 shots of expresso in his arm.

I'd love to see him selling his name brand out, let alone the ASC.

Also "classes “will be augmented by field trips to nearby state-of-the-art facilities." is another way to waste time while you're paying. WhenI lived in LA many moons ago, Kodak would screen tests of their film stocks, everyday to almost anyone who would call. Many facilities give tours to students, they want their business if they ever make a movie. Just call up and say you missed the school tour and could you come another day... ;-)

I'm picturing them all skipping out a bathroom window once tuition are collected, ala the bounty hunter master class in Domino.

Toll: Dante, you and Russell go get the car and bring it around back. Me and Dean will stall them and meet you in five. Keep...the motor...running.

The ASC in association with AMPAS (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) presents

A MASTER CLASS with CLAUDIO MIRANDA, ASC

HOW I SHOT 110% of LIFE OF PI

and How You Can Shoot 110% of Your Movie Too!

Cinematographer Claudio Miranda ASC will demonstrate how he shot everything in the Life of Pi and more without using cameras! He and Ang Lee just sat in a Chinese restaurant thousands of miles away from the studio! Eating, drinking and laughing for months, while the movie made itself! Participants will learn how to order and eat Taiwanese Dim Sum brunches, while your movie is being made by invisible and unpaid elves! Learn how to collect prestigious awards for a movie without actually working on it! Well, maybe a teenie weenie bit!

Special Guest CHRISTOPHER DOYLE, HKSC

He hates people who shoot movies without cameras, then claim they shot it all with a camera! So get ready for some real Kung Fu fisticuffs at the Clubhouse! (Drunken Irish Style ). If Claudio Miranda ASC doesn't know any Kung Fu…Kung Fu Panda will sub for him, courtesy of Dreamworks Animation.

P.S. Chances are, this epic fight will spill out onto the street, carrying Claudio Miranda ASC, clutching his Oscar, all the way down to Hollywood Boulevard! If the LAPD clobbers him, 'cause he looks like a hippie, here's your chance to GRAB HIS OSCAR!!

ASC and AMPAS will not be held responsible if participants are clobbered by the LAPD. Legal waiver must be signed with enrollment fee.

Tuition includes:

Green Tinted Glasses (so you won't see any green screens anywhere)

Choice of any two frozen entrees from Trader Joe's (microwaving included)

How I Shot 110% of Life of Pi Behind The Scenes Scrapbook ( with tons of bogus pics )

Genuine Autograph from Claudio Miranda, ASC ( done by Pixar )

Christopher Doyle on Life of Pi

http://sea.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/874483/christopher-doyle-interview-part-2-life-of-pi-oscar-is-an

@matt_gh2 :) Yeah, love that movie. I think about it every time I see seminars on how to make it as a writer, how to pitch your script, how to raise funds for your movie, how to maximize the social media impact of your project, etc., etc...Respect the cruller and TAME the donut!

@jleo +10 The guy has shot and gaff'd on some great stuff but this is one of those times where the Academy got it all wrong and the guy made it worse by not copping to the fact that 90%+ of the imagery or more had nothing to do with him and he had zero presence in its creation.

@jleo There's a lot of raw footage of Life of Pie that shows you the before and after. I couldn't believe what I saw and they even showed some during the Oscars. All the before was flat, over lit scenes. Looked like a fish and chips shop. Then they showed what the post guys did and it was amazing. I wanted to punch that DP in the face when I saw him except that award but I know they did cut off what he said about the Visual Effects team because of the current situation.

@jleo @vicharris Imagine how I felt knowing a lot of the people who worked on that show personally, having worked at that facility, personally, and knowing they were circling the drain at the time of the Oscars, because the six clients that they have, and the majority of the Academy, know absolutely nothing about visual effects and care even less than that. Both Miranda and Ang Lee were complete ass clowns that night with respect to respecting who was responsible for the imagery throughout that film.

My brother (one of them) was a layout supervisor on Life of Pi so I was able to inquire just how much input Miranda had after shooting greenscreens for all but a handful of scenes making up the entirety of the film. None. He had no presence at the facility. He wasn't involved at all. I can't even confirm that he made a single appearance during the crafting of that film. Lee was there and, if I remember right, Lee's editor. Not Miranda. And there wasn't a client-side visual effects supervisor, someone put in place to control and guide vendors and act as advocate for the director's vision. There was no intermediary, a place Miranda coulda-shoulda been positioned if he was going to take credit for SFA.

I can contrast that with a film that I worked on where, instead of having a client-side visual effects supervisor, the Coen Bros. instead differed to their DP to craft the look of a visual effects sequence that was created in the exact same way and so I got to work directly with Roger Deakins on the flooding of the valley for the finale of O Brother, Where Art Thou? In that case, instead of an Indian boy on a boat, shot in a pool on a green screen stage you have three actors, shot in a pool on a studio lot and everything from a few feet behind them all the way to the horizon, the sky and everything else was digital. Deakins was there, because the digital work needed to feel like it fit with the rest of the film and he knew, ultimately, reflected on him.

But he's very unique. He's since extended his reach and influence to help shape cinematography for CGI and could actually be nominated for cinematography awards for at least one feature animated film.

edit: fun fact, the Academy is made up of mostly older members who, it's known, don't even view all of the films up for voting. That's why the campaigns are marketed so heavily, in trade magazines, the paper, TV ads and billboards in LA. They're more likely to see the awards push marketing campaign than the film itself.

Living and working in LA in the film business means even if you're not in the Academy you likely know someone who is, or, more specifically, know and work with one of their kids. Awards season was always a lot of fun because we'd gather at my friend Ethan's house to watch films that weren't available on home video yet because his father, a WGA and Academy member, invariably just gave him the yearly screeners. And that's not an uncommon story. The Academy spent some effort to try to curb their yearly screeners being given away or, worse, sold to the public. I don't know that they were ever successful.

"You can not put a child with a tiger in a boat. never. know you will be in the hands of those in charge of visual effects to put the tiger there ... and pray that does not look like a cartoon." - Claudio Miranda, March 1, 2013

Odd choice of words! Still no praise for VFX artists?

It sounds cliché but while the award goes to a single person, it's the result of everyone's contributions - Claudio Miranda

I know...even Miley Cyrus and Britney say "Leave Claudio alone!"