Werner Herzog MasterClass: Learn Filmmaking from a Legend

By Alex Ferrari | June 2, 2016 |

Werner Herzog, Werner Herzog Masterclass, Masterclass, Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed, Rogue Film School, filmmaking, Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Into the Abyss, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Fitzcarraldo, Little Dieter Needs to Fly

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Werner Herzog’s Teaches Filmmaking MasterClass

Most of what we’ve heard about Werner Herzog (for a FREE 90-minute masterclass see below) is untrue. The remarkable number of false rumors and outright lies disseminated about the man and his films is truly astonishing. Yet Herzog’s body of work is one of the most impressive and important in postwar European cinema.

At the ripe age 72, Werner Herzog remains as prolific and revolutionary as he was when he stole a camera and made his first movie at the age of 19.

Without a doubt, Herzog is a renegade, in the truest sense of the word. As a youngster, he taught himself how to make films. When no one would fund his movie-making habit, he started his own production company at age 17. When he needed to get through the Peruvian jungle for filming Fitzcarraldo, he forged official-looking documents for safe passage (they worked).

For every film, he did a thousand things to get the shot. He once won a poetry contest four times by entering under five different names and directed major operas when he couldn’t read music.

Over the course of his career, the legendary filmmaker has done it all, both as a documentarian and a director of fiction films. He has built a reputation for himself for his ability to have a distinctive voice in each of his films.

Courtesy of Lionsgate Films

French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog:

“The most important film director alive.”

American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog

“Werner has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting.”

His international breakthrough came in 1973 with his film Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in which Klaus Kinski played a crazed Conquistador. For The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Herzog cast in the lead a man who had spent most of his life institutionalized (yes you read that correctly), and two years later he hypnotized his entire cast to make Heart of Glass.

He rushed to an explosive volcanic Caribbean island to film La Soufrière, paid homage to F. W. Murnau in a terrifying remake of Nosferatu, and in 1982 dragged a boat over a mountain in the Amazon jungle for Fitzcarraldo.

More recently, Herzog has made extraordinary “documentary” films, such as Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Werner Herzog said:

“Film School is way too expensive. You can learn the essentials of filmmaking, on your own, in two weeks.”

And with that, he started a frenzy among indie filmmakers everywhere. So when a legend like Werner Herzog holds a masterclass where he shares his knowledge of filmmaking and storytelling, it’s most definitely a class worth paying attention to.

Dissatisfied with the way film schools are run, Herzog decided to team up with Masterclass.com and teach an Online Filmmaking Masterclass.

For the students, Herzog has said,

“I prefer people who have worked as bouncers in a sex club, or have been wardens in the lunatic asylum. You must live life in its very elementary forms. The Mexicans have a very nice word for it: pura vida. It doesn’t mean just purity of life, but the raw, stark-naked quality of life. And that’s what makes young people more into a filmmaker than academia.”

Herzog has over 70 films and 50 awards to his credit and now he is teaching documentary and feature filmmaking.

You’ll learn storytelling, cinematography, locations, self-financing, documentary interview techniques, and how to bring your ideas to life. By the end, you’ll make uncompromising films.

Class is now in session: Werner Herzog’s Filmmaking MasterClass

If this class is anything like past Masterclass’ you are in for a treat.

Screenwriting/Filmmaking MasterClasses:

Acting MasterClasses:

Writing MasterClasses:

Music / Performing MasterClasses:

Cooking Masterclasses:

Other MasterClasses:

Gain Access to IFHTV Here

A must read for any serious filmmaker is Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed: Conversations with Paul Cronin. This edition of Herzog on Herzog presents a completely new set of interviews in which Werner Herzog discusses his career from its very beginnings to his most recent productions.

Famous for his frequent collaborations with mercurial actor Klaus Kinski – including the epics Aguirre, the Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo, and the terrifying Nosferatu – and more recently with documentaries such as Grizzly Man, Cave of Forgotten Dreams and Into the Abyss, Herzog has built a body of work that is one of the most vital in post-war German cinema.

Below I’ve included over 9 hours of videos and interviews.

Werner Herzog’s Masterclass – TIFF

Werner Herzog’s 90 Minute Masterclass – Locarno International Film Festival

Herzog held a 90-minute masterclass at the Locarno International Film Festival back in 2013 and the full video has started making the rounds, and it’s a must-watch for fans of Herzog as well as aspiring filmmakers.

In Herzog’s masterclass, the director primarily takes questions from the audience, and this Q&A session gives us a fascinating glimpse inside the filmmaker’s craft, with the conversation leaning heavily towards his documentary work.

If you like Mr. Herzog’s style then definitely enroll in his new and all-inclusive Filmmaking Masterclass.

HUNGER TV: WERNER HERZOG – ROAD TO NOWHERE

Cinema Café: Werner Herzog and Joshua Oppenheimer @ Sundance Film Festival 2016

Join Joshua Oppenheimer and Mr. Herzog live at Sundance Film Festival’s Cinema Café.

Jonathan Demme interviews Werner Herzog

An Evening with Werner Herzog

One of the most distinctive filmmakers of our time, Mr. Herzog has been called the “romantic visionary” of the New German Cinema movement. His edgy, larger-than-life films fuse the epic with the intimate, redefining the scale and scope of filmmaking to include more than 60 works shot on every continent. He appears in conversation with acclaimed author and essayist, Pico Iyer at UC Santa Barbara.

Werner Herzog & Errol Morris at TIFF 2010

Werner Herzog talks Kos, Crete, Homer, Thucydides, Linear B, Wrestlemania

If you liked Werner Herzog’s Filmmaking MasterClass, then you’ll love:
How to Produce an Oscar Nominated Film with Michael Gottwald

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13 Comments

Justin Kietzman on June 2, 2016 at 2:37 pm

His discussion about Grizzly Man was very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Alex Ferrari on June 2, 2016 at 2:38 pm

Your welcome! Can’t wait to take his course!
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