Joint Program: BIP Erasmus Program Still Photography for Cinematography Students & The Cinematography of Today Conference
CINEMATOGRAPHY OF TODAY
Still Photography for Cinematography Students
BIP Erasmus Program
22 - 26 of June 2026
Objectives
Students are required to produce a series of photographs or a video essay set in the city of Lisbon. The work must be individual, and both the photographs and video should reflect the student’s unique perspective and aesthetic interpretation of the city’s architecture and urban life. All images must be original and captured over a minimum of two consecutive days. After shooting, the material will be processed in the laboratory, where students will apply special artistic techniques. On the final day, all completed works will be displayed in a gallery
The program
The BIP engages students from multiple higher education institutions, with Lusófona University – Lisbon, Portugal serving as the coordinating host, and HdM Stuttgart – Germany, INSAS Brussels – Belgium and UMH Elche – Spain as partner institutions.
The program is structured as a combination of virtual and in-person components. A minimum of three virtual sessions will be conducted to introduce the program’s methodological framework, outline procedural requirements, and examine the relationship between still photography and moving images. These sessions include the critical analysis of selected films whose cinematographic approaches are directly informed by photographic practices, as well as the study of significant street photographers—such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Vivian Maier, Saul Leiter and Alex Webb—whose work serves as conceptual and aesthetic inspiration for subsequent practical exercises.
The in-person component, conducted over one week in Lisbon, allows students to apply the concepts explored virtually through structured exercises. In the concluding phase, students will undertake laboratory-based post-production processes, employing advanced artistic and experimental techniques to refine their photographic outputs.
The program culminates in a public exhibition of the students’ final works, which serves both as an evaluative platform and as a means of disseminating the outcomes of the program. By integrating theoretical instruction, practical application, and artistic presentation, the BIP fosters an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning environment that enhances students’ professional and creative competencies.
“This initiative aims to reinforce cultural exchange by employing photography as a medium for observation, representation, and dialogue within the multicultural urban landscape of Lisbon. By engaging with the city’s diverse social and cultural environments, participants use photographic practice to explore, document, and critically reflect upon the multiplicity of identities and experiences that coexist in Lisbon.”
Evaluation criteria and methods
This module offers an in-depth investigation into the language of photography, examining both its technical foundations and its capacity to construct meaning through visual representation. Students will engage critically with the aesthetic principles that govern photographic practice, including composition, perspective, light and shadow, colour dynamics, texture, and spatial organisation—while also analysing the expressive and narrative potentials inherent to the photographic image.
The central focus of the module is the conceptual and practical dialogue between still and moving images. Through theoretical study and applied exercises, students will explore how photographic techniques and visual strategies can be reinterpreted within the temporal, sequential, and rhythmic structures of cinema. Attention will be given to the ways in which photographic thinking informs cinematographic decision-making, including approaches to framing, visual storytelling, camera movement, and the articulation of atmosphere and tone.
By understanding the continuities and divergences between these two mediums, students will be equipped to translate the precision, intentionality, and aesthetic sensibility of photographic practice into the domain of moving-image production. The aim is to cultivate a refined visual literacy that strengthens both the artistic and analytical capacities of emerging image-makers.
Street photography: training to adapt a style of photography as inspiration for the development of a visual style for cinematography.
- Each university picks a master street photographer and learns to follow the typical style or language
- Students are divided into groups of 3
- shooting (2 days: Monday 22.6. + Tuesday, 23.6.) in Lisbon in mixed groups of students (locals & incomings)
- Wednesday 24.6 to Friday 26.6 Printing and Conference
- exhibition (Friday 26th of June)
Virtual meetings:
SCHEDULE:
LESSON 1 - THURSDAY, May 21st
Moderator Tony Costa
Presence All teachers
- Introduction, concept, participants, organization
- introduction BIP
- introduction conference
- Groups of work created
- Food restrictions - form
- Departure and arrival time
LESSON 2 - Wednesday, June 3rd
Moderator teacher part 1: Stefan Grandinetti (60 m)
- Street photography as inspiration for cinematography:
- Ed Lachman on CAROL + Rodrigo Prieto on 21 GRAMM
Task1: Each University finds one or two local street photographers to present on the first day in Lisbon with a PPT presentation ideally done by only one student of the Institution. 10 to 15 m presentation allowed.
Task2: Who is shooting analogue/digital or color and black & White? 35mm or medium format?
Moderator teacher part 2: Jack Shelbourn (30m)
- Sustainability in the context of working with natural and available light for street photographers and cinematographers.
LESSON 3 - Thursday, June 11th
Moderator: Marie Sordat
- Presentation of famous street photographers as masters.
Street photography is more than capturing people in public spaces; it is about observing life as it unfolds naturally. Through spontaneous moments, light, movement, and emotion, street photographers reveal the poetry hidden in everyday scenes. This conference, through history and analysis of great photographers, invites us to explore how this medium can document society, tell human stories, and transform ordinary moments into powerful visual narratives.
Task 1: Students show their researched work about local street photographers.
Task 2: What equipment do students need?
LESSON 4 - Friday, June 12th
Moderator: Tony Costa and Emilia Lloret
- Intro to Alternative photographic processes
- Considerations of the BIP organization
BIP IN LISB0N (From Sunday 21st to friday 26th)
Day 0 - Sunday - 21st of June
Studio F
18:00 - Welcome reception. Tony Costa and Emilia Lloret
- Introducing teachers
- Introducing student groups.
- Presentation of BIP and Conference Program
- Visiting the premises - Paula Lourenço
- Check Equipment
- Students' Presentation: National Street Photographer
(15 Min. each: Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Germany) - Drinks and hot dogs.
Day 1 - Monday - 22nd of June
09h30 - Studio F
Marie Sordat - Final words about street photography techniques to be applied by students
10h30 - Students depart for the town freely to photograph.
Day 2 - Tuesday - 23rd of June
Second day of shooting
17h00 - End of day delivery of analogue rolls for development.
Diogo Bento
Day 3 - Wednesday - 24th of June
09h00 - Conference Day 1 - Room Fernando Lopes
Master Class for BIP students with Magnum Photographer
Yael Martinez
10h30 - 13h30 - Master Class for BIP students (Studio F)
with Yael Martinez
14h00 - 15h00 - Photo Lab - Delivery of rolls to develop. Printing Prep
15h00 - 18h30 - Alternative Photography - Emilia Lloret
19h00 - Any need in Photo Lab Paula Lourenço
20:00 - IMAGO CONFERENCE NETWORKING DINNER (Jardim Mário Soares - Campo Grande)Day 4 - Thursday - 25th of June
09h00 - Conference Day 2
09h30 - 16h00 - Photo Lab - FORCE
Paula Lourenço e Diogo Bento
Printing and preparation of the exhibition
16h00 - 19h00 - VR WORKSHOP (Room Z03)
With Francisco Julián Martínez Cano and Miguel Hernández.
17h30 - 18:15 - Case Study: (Studio F)
Influence of local frame rate differences on the perceived salience and presence of a foreground object
Ferdinand Kubiak (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
18:30 - 20:30 - Guest speaker - (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
David Mullen ASC -
Still Photographer and Cinematographer.
Day 5 - Friday - 26th of June
09h00 - Last Day conference
09h00 - 18h00 - Printing and preparation of Exhibition
14:00 - 15:00 Moderator: Manca Perko (cinema Fernando Lopes)
Case Study: “Burnout” – Unreal Engine as a storyboard and tech-viz tool
Luca Saalfrank (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Practice-Based Research Presentation from Lusofona University - Exercise 1
A Psychological Study of the Media Research Lab on the impact of a digital set in a mockumentary – Jule Pussinen (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Practice-Based Research Presentation from Lusofona University - Exercise 2
17:15 - 18:15 - Student report on BIP participation, projection of pictures, street photography
Moderator: Tony Costa
19:00 - Opening BIP PHOTO EXHIBITION
Emilia Lloret
STUDIO F
19:30 - 22:00 - Closing Conference
Barbecue and drinks outside. ARRAIAL - PORTUGUESE POPULAR SUMMER FEST. Sardines, roasted meat, salads, beer….
Saturday 27th - DEPARTURE
The Cinematography of Today Conference
Lisbon, Portugal | 24–26 June 2026
Universidade Lusófona
Each communication
max 15 min presentation + 15 min Q&A at the end of each session
Students' communications 10 min
DAY 1Wednesday 24 June 2026
09:00 – 09:30 Coffee, Tea, and snacks
Opening & Welcome (Room Fernando Lopes)
Organisation: Tony Costa and Emilia Lloret
Program of the day
09:30 – 10:00 Invited artist - Photographer (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Yael Martinez.
Magnum Photos Creative Documentary Photography
(BIP) - Continue until 13:00 with BIP students Workshop Studio F)
10:00 - 11:00 Session 1 (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Cinematography as Art and Practice I
Moderator: Manca Perko
Cinematography and Editing Create an Eye Scan in The Violent Men
Analysis of the 1955 Western shows how precise “eye-trace” editing and actor positioning solved audience-focus problems on early CinemaScope screens.
Marshall Deutelbaum (Purdue University, USA)
Spatial Cinematography: Immanent Space and the Emergence of Narrative in Experimental Fiction.
Cinematography is repositioned as a generative force: space, movement, and material qualities actively create narrative rather than merely illustrate a pre-written script.
Pavel Prokopic (University of Salford, UK)
Depth of Field: As used in Mother of George (2013) to create an identity for the ‘Other’
Shallow focus is reframed as an expressive narrative tool that conveys subjectivity, intimacy, and displacement.
Yao Joseph Edem Homadji Ladzekpo (University of Media Arts and Communication, Ghana
11:00 – 11:30 Networking - Coffee break
11:30 – 12:45 Session 2 (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
History, Archives, and Research
Moderator: Jayne Sayer
Cinematographic archives: reading beyond the film
Raw, unedited archives hold richer educational and historical value than the finished film; the presentation calls for systematic preservation of these materials.
Mehluli Masuku (Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi)
Exploring what constitutes documenting and archiving: The perspective of directors of cinematography in Ghana.
Using interviews with Accra-based DPs, the study investigates how cinematographers perceive the archiving of both tangible footage and intangible creative processes.
Joshua Paa Yaw Otabil (University of Media, Arts and Communication, Ghana)
Beyond the shot: Analogue workflows and collaborative creativity
How analogue and digital workflows shape collaboration and creativity in contemporary cinematography. It synthesizes research and creative practice to show how analogue processes function as systems that structure creativity. Focusing on features such as material constraint, interdependence, shared artefacts, and timed decision-making, it examines their impact on collaboration and reasoning, and how these dynamics evolve within digital production contexts.
Manca Perko, University of Bristol, UK
Cinematography in Process: The Role of the Image in a Film in Permanent Reconfiguration
A reflection on the role of cinematography in a feature-length film project developed over several years through successive versions of the same film.
António Costa Valente - CIAC, Universidade do Algarve (Portugal)
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14.00 - 14:30 - Invited Speaker: Ines Gil, Lusofona University
This talk presents the history and origins of the Pontes Collection, now housed at Universidade Lusófona’s Cinema das Pontes. It covers the collection’s content, its future prospects, and its active role in education.
Students of Film Heritage gain hands-on experience with the materiality of cinema through direct work with original prints and archival materials. The presentation also explains key concepts: what film preservation and restoration truly mean, and the importance of programming in bringing archival films to new audiences.
Moderator Tony Costa
14:30 – 16:00 Session 3 (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Cinematography as Art & Practice II
Moderator: Stefan Grandinetti
Illustrative Cinematography in Poor Things (2023)
The film translates late-20th/early-21st-century fantasy and gothic illustration aesthetics (non-naturalistic colour, distorted space, grotesque bodies) into live-action cinematography.
Zeynep Kocer (İstanbul Kültür University, Turkey)
Dashboard Cinematography as a Space of Witnessing in Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015)
Fixed dashboard camera creates an unmediated reality and participatory observation, turning the taxi into a microcosm of Iranian society.
Mustafa Orhan Göztepe (İstanbul Kültür University, Turkey)
Beyond the Lens: Reconsidering the Cinematographer’s Role
Through the Jarmusch-DiCillo Collaboration Tom DiCillo’s minimalist black-and-white aesthetic profoundly shaped Jim Jarmusch’s authorial voice and later reappeared in DiCillo’s own directorial work.
Elpidio del Campo Cañizares and Francisco-Julian Martinez-Cano (Universidad Miguel Hernández, Spain)
16:00 – 16:30 Networking - Coffee break
16:30– 17:45 Session 4 (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Cinematography as Art & Practice III
Moderator: Zdravko Ruzhev
Visualizing Masculine Power: Cinematography and Gender Hierarchies in Postwar Japanese Cinema
Framing, camera movement, and spatial composition in Mizoguchi, Hani, and Imamura films inscribe masculine authority into cultural memory.
Prof. Ria Taketomi (Kindai University, Japan)
Framing Without Borders:
Rethinking Cinematographic Control in 180° Immersive Cinema
Jayne Sayer (Salford University,UK)
From Camera Operator to Conceptual Architect: AI and the Reconfiguration of Cinematographic Authorship
AI expands the cinematographer’s creative control across all stages while raising new questions of authorship and labour.
In Sun Jung (Kunsan National University, South Korea) and Professor Hyun-joong LEE (Kunsan National University, South Korea)
17:45 - 19:15 Session 5 – (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Moderator: Marten Jehle
Documentary View
A film essay for a documentary as cinematography is a key element.
Rolf Coulanges
Cinematography as Art & Practice IV
Meta Data Enables Data Driven Workflows - Updates on Industry Wide Metadata progress including Open Track IO, Open Lens IO, CamDkit, the CLF (the Common LUT Format) and much more -
David Stump, ASC, BVK, AIP, ITC
Key Speaker
“Cinematography as Art”
“Cinematic Thinking: A Videographic Approach”
Maarten Coëgnarts (LUCA School of Arts / University of Antwerp)
19:15 STUDIO F
Homage to late EDUARDO SERRA
NAMING THE STUDIO EDUARDO SERRA STUDIO
Host by Tony Costa
Guests from IMAGO, ASC, AIP Eduardo’s family, Magdeburg Institute
20:00 - IMAGO CONFERENCE DINNER
Jardim Mário Soares - Campo Grande
Thursday 25 June 2026
09:00 – 09:15 Coffee, Tea and snacks (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
09:15- 09:30 - Round table discussions (parallel): (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Distribution of groups
Explanation of the methodology.
Participants are divided for two rooms Z02 and Z03
09:30 - 10:30 Round Table 1 (Room Z02)
Moderator: Pavel Prokopic
Authorship and Ethics in AI-Assisted Cinematography and The Future Syllabus: Reimagining Cinematography Education in the AI/Virtual Era
This roundtable debates questions on AI’s impact on cinematography authorship, the posthuman gaze, student assessment, curriculum design, and teaching authentic “seeing”.
09:30- 10:30 - Round table 2 (Room Z03)
Moderator: Manca Perko
Analog: Heritage Craft or Essential Resistance?
This roundtable debates why it is important to keep or not teaching analogue film
10:30 to 11:00 Networking - Coffee break
11:00 to 13:00 - Session 6 – (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Virtual Production & Hybrid Workflows
Moderator Katja Schmid
The Lies We Tell When the Virtual Meets the Physical Cinematography in Virtual Production Filmmaking
Using their LED-volume short film, the DoP/Director team analyses the emerging “LED VP aesthetic,” colour-matching challenges, and the dual traditional/digital skillset required.
Dr Levi Dean, Dr Filippo Gilardi & Prof. Helen Kennedy (University of Nottingham Ningbo China)
Practical Observations on In-Camera-VFX and Hybrid Workflows in “Tokyo at Night” Work-in-progress insights into real-to-virtual transitions, AI rotoscoping, temporal diffusion models, and screen-compositing alternatives to LED volumes.
Malte Schulz (HFF Munich, Germany)
Seeing through Touch:
The Language of Hands in Luca Guadagnino’s Cinema
Pietro Bonfante Bocconi University Italy
Embodying War Zone:
Following the Ukrainian Actress in Fiction, Documentary and Hybrid
Goda Januskeviciute (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
13:00 to 14:00 Lunch
Round table discussions (parallel)
14:00 to 15:00 - Round Table 3 (Room Z02)
Moderator: Stefan Grandinetti
Virtual Production: Empowering or Deskilling the DP?
Does VP expand or constrain the cinematographer’s creative control?
14:00 to 15:00 Round Table 4 (Room Z03)
Moderator: Manca Perko
Sustainable eco-conscious practices in the film industry and education
Can we teach eco-friendly workflows without sacrificing artistic impact?
15:00 to 16:00 - Session 7 – AI, Colour & New Technologies I (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Moderator: Cristina Angers
Digital Urban Archaeology in Video Art: Cinematographic Aesthetics of Oddviz’s Inventory (2018–2025) and Contextures (2017)
Photogrammetry turns urban objects into 3D point-cloud archives, shifting cinematography toward data-driven, post-human, gravity-free aesthetics.
Prof. Duygu Nazlı Assoy (İstanbul Kültür University, Turkey)
When form dissolves: Color as an event in the optical image
Colour emerges as a dynamic, embodied perceptual event when form breaks down through glare or motion.
Rimvydas Leipus (Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
Montage synergies, image complexes, and the terror of techno-apathy: A case study of Harmony Korine’s Baby Invasion
AI and XR push cinema beyond linear narrative into multilayered, sensory image complexes.
Isak Okkenhaug (Volda University College, Norway)
16:00 to 16:30 Coffee Break
16:00 to 19:00 - VR WORKSHOP (Room Z03)
With Francisco Julián Martínez Cano and Miguel Hernández. BIP Students
16:30 to 17:15 Session 8 (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
AI, Colour & New Technologies II (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Moderator: Cristina Angers
Defining the “Look” in Contemporary Color Practice
The “look” is a collaborative aesthetic contract governing contrast, hierarchy, skin tones, and texture in digital workflows.
Katja Schmid (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
The Magic of Cinema
Cinema’s unique enchantment lies in captured movement, camera movement, and especially the dynamic, programmable movement of light itself.
Zdravko Ruzhev (NATFA, Sofia, Bulgaria )
17:30 - 18:30 Session 9 (Studio F)
Moderator: Dr. Martin Jehle
Aesthetics of Higher Frame Rates in Cinematic Motion Pictures as a teaching method Test footage demonstrates how HFR reshapes motion clarity and storytelling possibilities.
Stefan Grandinetti (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Case Study:
Influence of local frame rate differences on the perceived salience and presence of a foreground object
Ferdinand Kubiak (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
18:30 - 20:00 - Guest speaker - (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
David Mullen ASC
Still Photographer and Cinematographer.
Friday 26 June 2026
09:00 – 09:30 - Coffee, Tea and snacks
09:30 – 11:00 Session 10 – (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Pedagogical Approaches
Moderator: Maarten Coëgnarts
Every Second Day
Feminist visual strategies for respectful portrayal of violence against women.
Katja Schmid (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Reversing the Process: When Sound Leads the Image in Film Education
Students create images from pre-recorded audio to develop non-illustrative, mood-driven visual language.
Tonje Louise Finne (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences)
Teaching How to Be a One-Person Documentary Filmer
Pedagogical strategies for solo documentary filmmaking, intimacy, access, gear, and addressing ableism.
Danielle Beverly (University of Texas at Arlington, USA)
Technical skills, imagination, and photographic approaches in the age of artificial intelligence: an educational experience
Two-year experiment using cross-cultural audiovisual message exchange to ignite imagination against AI-driven standardisation.
Cristina Ángeles Huesca (Universidad Nebrija / Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
11:00 – 11:30 Networking - Coffee break
11:30 – 12:15 Session 11 – (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Student Practice-Based Research I
Each Student has 10 minutes of debate, 10 minutes after the third presentation
Moderator: Tony Costa
The unconscious choice of looking at others: a cinematographer’s conscious documentary practice
Alicia Corpas (Aalto University, Finland)
The Role of The Camera Operator
a case study in operating Steadicam…
Patrick Gregg (IADT, Ireland)
Framed Feelings: The Interplay of Film Format, Camera Proximity, and Viewpoint
Sachin Sarma (Lusófona University, Portugal)
12:15 -13:00 - Session 12
Student Practice-Based Research I
Moderator: Katja Schmid
Practice-Based Research Presentation from Lusofona University (Exercise 3)
Cinematography, Childhood Perspective, and the Ethics of Representation in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Cristina-Mirela Manea (University of Bucharest, Romania)
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:00 SESSION 13
Student Practice-Based Research III
Moderator: Manca Perko
Case Study: “Burnout” – Unreal Engine as a storyboard and tech-viz tool
Luca Saalfrank (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Practice-Based Research Presentation from Lusofona University
Exercise 1
A Psychological Study of the Media Research Lab on the impact of a digital set in a mockumentary
Jule Pussinen and Teresa Friedel (Stuttgart Media University, Germany)
Practice-Based Research Presentation from Lusofona University
Exercise 2
15:00 - 16:00 - SESSION 14
Student Research essays
Moderator: Cristina Angers (Cinema Fernando Lopes)
Invicta Film: An Historical Analysis of the First Portuguese Production Company
This paper examines Invicta Film’s collaboration with Pathé in the early 20th century and its role in building the technical and artistic foundations of Portuguese national cinema amid political and economic turmoil.
André Sousa - Lusofona University
Beyond the other: cinematographic discourse and the perceptual positioning of shaoshu minzu in early socialist Chinese song-and-dance films (1949-1966)
How cinematography participated in the construction of Shaoshu Minzu (ethnic minority) identity in eight song-and-dance films produced in mainland China between 1949 and 1966.
Yuxin Yan (Free University of Brussels & University of Antwerp, Belgium )
Burnout among film producers.
A study of producers’ working conditions in Lithuania
National Film School (KIMO) of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre - Lithuania
Valdemar Lovcik
16:00 – 16:30 - Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:30 - Reports from Round Table Discussions
Each moderator from each round table discussion presents their conclusions.
17:30 - 18:15 - Student report on BIP participation, projection of pictures, street photography.
Moderator: Tony Costa
18:30 - 19:00 - Opening BIP PHOTO EXHIBITION (Studio F)
Presentation by Emilia Lloret, Marie Sordat, Christine Couvrer, Paula Lourenço, Diogo Bento
19:30 - 19:45 - Closing Conference
Tony Costa
19:45 - 22:00 ARRAIAL
PORTUGUESE POPULAR SUMMER FEST. Barbecue with drinks, sardines, roasted meat, salads, beer, etc.
