The Department of Motion Picture Art and Communication as its name suggests, places special emphasis on the fusion of transdisciplinary inspiration. Our creative hub enables both our tutors and our students to cooperate fuelled by the dynamic interaction between the areas of television, film and communication, and view contemporary issues of motion picture and media from multiple angles.
The aim is to efficiently incorporate our professional heritage into our educational programme which is marked by an acute focus on contemporary artistic, technological and marketing trends. Hence, our educational strategies and collaborative relationships with partner institutes are designed to offer opportunities for our students to encounter prominent figures of the national and international film and media world. Via these trainee programmes students are provided with possibilities to acquaint themselves with film and media studios, and to try themselves in various creative positions.
The thematic and generic diversity of our graduates’ theoretical theses and motion picture pieces display the students’ openness, commitment to creative innovation, and above all the realisation freedom of thought and creativity.
The BA studies programme trains professionals who are enabled by their theoretical studies to understand the process and development of mass media, who are familiar with the nature of communication through media, and are also equipped to interpret its content. Our graduate students are capable of producing visual content through motion picture and multimedia texts. Their thorough theoretical knowledge and practical experience also enable them to continue their studies at the MA level.
The aim of this programme is to train professionals who are in full possession of a broad knowledge regarding the realm of motion picture and media, and who have acquired an up-to-date practical perspective and knowledge throughout their education which they can successfully utilise in the world of media and creative industries, motion picture strategy and art. Our graduates are capable of creative self-expression through motion picture and –due to their strong professional background– can successfully join the work of film studios, crews and other creative communities.
The focus of our teacher training course is to prepare students for teaching subjects and giving workshops in the field of motion picture and on both primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
The main aim of the Communication and Media Studies BA course is to train professionals who are familiar with the concepts of communicational systems, social communication, and the operation of media institutions and their technical devices. Our graduates have a wide range of career prospects and find opportunities in the world of media, advertising or public
relations.
– shouted once Jean-Luc Godard, who dreamt about that once everyone will possess a tiny, compact camera. His contemporary and fellow countryman Alexandre Astruc envisioned that cameras are going to be like fountain pens, and people will write journals, letters, stories, fairy tales, or anything else with them. That time motion picture was sixty years old. Another sixty years have passed since then, and the dream, which only a few believed in, became reality. Filmmaking is not the privilege of the elite, as writing was for the monks tasked with codex copying. Nowadays anyone can make images, for the pleasure of themselves or others. We are surrounded by an excess of images wherever we go: in the metro, in the mall, in public spaces. For some time, we have not been using paper for writing – I am tapping these words onto the screen (an apt word). Words, letters have also become parts of the flow of images. A hundred years ago the notable philosopher Julien Benda warned us about the role of intellectuals. Today we shall talk about the role of the visual intellectuals. Since image making has its language as well, with its rules, grammar, semantics, effects. Yet, ever since the primary school we continuously learn how to read and write, but nothing about motion picture, since the misconception is followed that anyone can make films. It is enough to press
a button, and a smart gadget will take care of the focus, sharpness, lighting, colours, and to record reality faithfully. However, what is really important – and this has not changed in our culture in the past thousand years – is the human being, who makes the images. Someone who does not only press a button, but who wants to say something, send a message, capture the volatile time – for himself, his family, for mankind.
Most people are still playing in a naive and engrossed way with this culturally novel – barely hundred years old – device, which is all right. When standing first behind the camera, Orson Welles said that this is the most marvellous toy train a child could dream about. Then he started to play, and created masterpieces, proving that everyone carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack. Including his descendants, the current students acquiring the art of filmmaking. André Bazin is right: all films are born free and equal. Just as every human being. They both carry a similar kind of hope. Only time will decide which of the beloved film drafts will be a flop, and which will turn into a masterpiece.
Can we learn art? – many would question this. One can only learn a trade, they say, but no school can give you talent. I do not agree with them, not only because I am myself a lecturer of an institution –The University of Theatre and Film Arts – whose name suggests its artistic stance, which endowed the world with numerous talented filmmakers, from Jancsó, Fábri and Makk to Tarr, Enyedi, and the even younger ones, to Pálfi, Hajdu and Mundruczó. One has to learn a trade, and can learn art, if it is paired with boldness, devotion and talent. No doubt everyone has to acquire the skills of their vocation the highest level possible. If this is all one acquires during their studies, it is not insignificant: they will be valuable members of film society. What comes after this more challenging. One cannot obtain talent, but talent can be recognised, developed, and improved. After all in da Vinci’s workshop art apprentices were not only taught to draw a straight line, paint a truthful nude, but also what a line is for, and how a form gets animated. Teaching art is to teach life. A world view, a perspective, sensitivity, openness – and last, but least – morality.
I know numerous distinguished lecturers of the Department of Motion Picture Art and Communication, and I am convinced they are aware of all these. Éva M. Tóth, Gábor Szabó, Csaba Bollók, András Monory Mész, Imre Szíjártó, Tibor Tóth among others. I not only know their oeuvre, but connected with them through friendship or work. They know their profession, and more than that. After all, in the name of their department the word ‘art’ appears three times, rightly so: Institute of Visual Arts, Faculty of Humanities and Arts, Department of Motion Picture Art and Communication. I have visited multiple times the beautiful neo-baroque building in Eszterházy square, probably the most beautiful university building in the whole country, and have had the chance to watch films of many students with pleasure, which provided me with evidence of the high quality education in Eger.
Make films, my friends!
György Báron
The author is a Professor
with habilitation.