In this article I discuss my thoughts on film school and its place in the film industry. There is, and always has been a debate on this topic from those who have gone and those who haven't, the fact is that both have valid reasons!
How kickass would it to be able to go to school for making movies! Man, I felt just that way when I was starting to hate life as a Computer Science major at ASU. The fact is my friend, film school is in many ways unique to the normal major, if there is such a thing.
Unfortunately a couple factors came into play preventing me from going to film school when I was tackling my other career path. Well, it was really myself that was the main preventative factor in going to film school, I will not blame it on the world. There are a couple things that could make or break your experience with film school, and well that's exactly what I am going to discuss in this article.
First thing is first, and this is something you will see me stressing heavily in all of my own recommendations to friends who have the interest, you must also have the passion. Sorry if I am beating a mildly injured horse here, but man most people don't get it! This is indeed different from selecting a cool sounding elective in high school, this costs SERIOUS money too. I would ask you first how much film has played a role in your life so far, I mean besides owning all 7 seasons of Seinfeld so far. If you can honestly say that this is something you have been interested in, seriously, for a while now then great! If your like the other 98% of high school graduates who think, "oh crap, time to make a decision and fast". Well who knows how it will work for you, but I am not going to give a very bright outlook.
I mean I guess you could go to film school just to get a degree and then after graduating go work up the ladder at Office Depot, and while there is nothing really wrong with corporate Office Depot, just think about all that knowledge you just acquired, what are you doing with it?
Ok, so you may or may not have the passion in film, but none the less want to go to film school! Awesome you have made a good choice, well that too depends. First thing is first, a degree in film is not really something colleges have for the most part? Crap! Yeah that's how I felt after finding out that the closest thing ASU had to a film degree was Journalism. While I would have had the chance to get in a mock film studio and work with cameras, it would be to record people talking about news and to be completely honest I couldn't force feed interest in that.
Now if you find yourself luckily living in California, or New York or by some random college somewhere that does have a film program then your options are better. Also if you find you don't mind moving away from home, and if your parents have the dough to support that then fantastic X2. These states are more than film friendly, especially California. Unfortunately for me I was never a straight A student, and most of my extracurricular activities included my Playstation. That hurt me because I found out that film school is blasted expensive man! Sure there are cheaper degrees, like for Cal State Fullerton and what not, but still we are talking big bucks.
I never wanted to be the guy paying for his degree into his mid thirties, so I was a bit SOL. But don't let that stop you if you're really interested, because if you're academic enough about it you may be able to sport a scholarship and that would be totally sweet especially for the mega-expensive schools such as USC, the school George Lucas went to.
Then on to the kick in the pants part of this whole deal. Do you really need a film degree at all? Well the short answer is definitely a NO. The fact is that if you want to make a movie, well who is stopping you? Even more so, if you want to be a production assistant on a big budget feature film you will find that most of the people working on it in fact did not go to film school, imagine that.
Even more so, I can most definitely recall spending time with my boss reviewing resumes for prospective production assistants on a feature I was working on. Ever time we got a resume that was full of Producer and Director credits we would just chuckle and move along. Hey if you have produced and directed your own feature length short in college then great, but unfortunately I don't give a rat's ass! I want to know how much experience you have had as a production assistant, and if you don't have any I want to know why we should hire you. Unfortunately we don't hire people so that they can stand behind the Director and give him pointers, we hire production assistants to work and work hard!
Alright now that I have most certainly gone over why you don't need to go to film school, maybe I should make a stand from the other point of view. Well for one if you want to learn the technical side of film making and get real hands on experience with 35mm film cameras, lighting equipment and everything in between then you're in the right place.
You will most certainly get a chance to make some movies, and learn a lot about how to make them look nice. Not only that but you will get to network with a group of like minded individuals who also want to become the next big timer in Hollywood. This is very much an awesome thing and will help you in your quest. Keep in touch with these people and you could very well have free help in making the movie that separates you from the crowd of cookie cutter film directors.
Unfortunately for the production assistant crowd, not many are really passionate about making movies. On top of that, your going to get a chance to learn about filming, but your going to be working so hard half of the time your probably going to be to brain dead to take away any solid gems of information.
I guess in the end, going or not going to film school is okay. One route is not intrinsically better than the other, and you can most definitely work in the industry sans a degree. Is one really worth it? I don't know I don't have one, and I have done just fine. It sure sounds like it would have been fun though.
1.Infrastructure ? The first thing that separates a good film school from run of the mill film schools is the infrastructure. The classrooms, the studios, editing rooms, sound mixing studios, outdoor shooting facilities, library, computer labs and film screening facilities are the primary requisites of a film school.
2.Faculty ? Of course the quality and experience of the faculty members are important for any educational institution and there is no exception in case of the film schools. Efficient faculties will always make the difference as you will be learning the art and science of film making from them.
3.Equipments ? Film making is a craft where you need hands on training for effective learning. That is why the equipment like camera, sound systems, editing machines, everything should be available with a film school.
4.Comprehensive Course ? The courses at the film school should take care of every aspect that is important for film making. It is not that the acting schools will teach only acting for the aspiring actors and camera techniques to those who are studying cinematography. The course should cover all the areas of film making that will give the students a comprehensive idea.
5.Options of Courses ? The film school should have different courses for different functions of film making. The courses should include film direction, film acting, film editing, sound engineering, art direction, cinematography, script writing and so on.
6.Contemporary Curriculum ? The curriculum of the institute should be in tune with the best film schools around the world. The courses should incorporate contemporary style of film making and latest techniques that are being used globally.
7.Association with Industry ? The institutes should have close ties with the film industry. Thereby the students will get the chance to learn from the people who have the first hand experience of making film.
8.Diploma Films ? The diploma films produced by the film schools is another deciding factor of the quality of education that the institute provides. So before selecting a film school one should carefully study the diploma films and the chances of making films at the institute after successfully completing the course.
9.Alumni ? The alumni of any institute speaks a lot about the standard of learning facilities at the institute. So, you should try and find out how the past students have done after leaving the institute.
10.Film Archive ? The film archive of the film schools are very important as that will give you a chance of seeing as many films as possible. When you enroll with a film school that has well stocked film archive you get a comprehensive idea of the world cinema.
11.Production Facility ? The production facility of the film school should be of professional standard equipped with latest and finest machinery. It will let you learn the fine points of film making right at the school and you will ready to work professionally right from the first day after you leave the institute.
12.Short Films ? The institute should have proper infrastructure and ambience for making short films and should promote the films at different film festivals that will eventually help you showcase your work.
13.Further Studies ? The institute should have scope of further studies in the fields of film making and acting. The acting schools should have the advanced courses like master degree and PhD courses that will eventually help you make it big in the field of film making.
14.Student Exchange Programs ? The scope of student exchange program with other acting schools and international film schools will give you the much needed exposure to international film education and technologies.
15.Career Opportunities ? The institute should have proper infrastructure and network to help the students in their career. Whether it is promoting the diploma films of the students or arranging campus interviews, the film school should provide a platform to launch the new talents.
Author bio ? Asian Academy of Film Education is a premiere film school in India. For more than a detail the institute has been providing quality film education and produced thousands successful film technicians and actress who are successfully working in entertainment industry.
Contact Us ASIAN ACADEMY OF FILM & TELEVISION Marwah Studios Complex FC-14/15, Film City, Sector-16A NOIDA-201301 Uttar Pradesh India. Ph. : 95120-2515254, 2515255, 2515256. Fax. : 95120-2515246 Website ? www.aaft.com
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