Arts & Entertainment

Introduction

Martin Scorsese

Lesson time 03:55 min

Meet your new instructor: Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese. Martin explains the goals of his MasterClass and talks about the importance of staying true to yourself on your filmmaking journey.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Introduction

Preview

Hello and welcome. We're shooting this class in a place called Alice Tully Hall. It's on the corner of 65th Street and Broadway in Manhattan at Lincoln Center. And it means a great deal to me. It has a lot of significance for me, because every fall this is where the New York Film Festival takes place. And when I was young, I came to the festival every year to see pictures from all over the world. Sometimes I was able to get in the press screenings, because I had a couple of short films shown in the first few festivals. We saw new work from great filmmakers like Luis Bunuel, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Nagisa Oshima. So many remarkable movies and we were all just enthralled by the movies coming from all over the globe in those days. And as we went and absorbed those pictures, we were receiving an education. It wasn't the reverse. We didn't set out to make a study of anything. We were immersed and entranced and on fire. And the education just naturally followed. And that's the way it is when you're pursuing an obsession, when you're going where you're drawn to go, where you have to go, as opposed to where you think it might be fun to go or where you think you should go. So if you're intrigued by movie making as a career, this isn't the class for you. But if you need to make movies-- a movie-- if you feel like you can't rest until you've told this particular story that you're burning to tell in moving images and sounds, then I could be speaking to you. Because that's who I was when I started making pictures, and when I made Mean Streets and showed it here in this theater for the first time to the public and the New York Film Festival audience in 1973. So I'm going to be speaking personally and that's the only way I can speak about making movies. I'm not going to give you a blueprint. There are no shortcuts. I'm going to give you some practical advice along the way, but the most important thing I can convey to you is that you always have to find your own way. You can be inspired. You can learn about cameras and sound equipment, editing tools, but in the end it's just you. And that's what you have to guard. That's what's precious. So I'm Martin Scorsese and this is my master class.

About the Instructor

Martin Scorsese drew his first storyboard when he was eight. Today he’s a legendary director whose films from Mean Streets to The Wolf of Wall Street have shaped movie history. In his first-ever online film class, the Oscar winner teaches his approach, from storytelling to editing to working with actors. He deconstructs films and breaks down his craft, changing how you make and watch movies.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Martin Scorsese

In 30 lessons, learn the art of film from the director of Goodfellas, The Departed, and Taxi Driver.

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