It taught me how to be a professional, how to conduct myself on a set, the technical details and the logistics. It taught me how not to kill myself and how not to blow up a residential electrical circuit. It taught me how to load a film magazine, how to mount a lens, how to light a green screen, best practices for writing scripts, how to break down a script, how to budget a film, and how to schedule amongst other things. It gave me a great general all-round knowledge of film and the industry, and more importantly taught me the fundamentals of cinematography. It allowed me a platform where I could flash a mag and our group could accidentally lose a whole documentary's worth of footage without losing my job or reputation. It was a place where I could screw up because I was allowed to and that was what it was for. And it taught use the hard lesson of how and why not to do it, with the main repercussion a bad mark. It taught us contingency plans, and that we needed to think quickly to make things work. We had major things go wrong on set and off set, but we had to push through, and we had to come up with ways to push through. Our lecturers also provided a wealth of experience as sounding boards when we had issues, or needed extra input on how to light something, or how to plan something.
It was somewhere I could make great films and not-so-great films and come out with a reel. And I met some great people, a lot of whom are now out in the industry working and I do get calls to work on different sets with them. It was essentially the beginning of my networking.
It allowed me an opportunity to get on the graduate film sets in lower roles to not only observe the talented cinematographers light, but also learn how to conduct myself on a professional set. It meant that when I set foot on my first non-student set, I didn't look like the newbie. I didn't need to be taught everything. It meant I could set foot on my first couple of real sets as a 2nd AC and 1st AC as a professional and as someone who knew exactly how to do my job. It meant that I could hire myself out as a cinematographer and know how to light scenes, know what lights looked like what, and how we would power them. It meant I gained experience using 16mm film, ENG broadcast cameras, high-end digital cameras and even Red.
I think film school is invaluable for anyone. At the end of the day, you get out of it what you put into it and if you don't put much into it it's easy to say 'this is crap' or 'i could be doing this without school' or whatever, but if you make the most of every opportunity, it's great and it builds you a network with fellow students and also the lecturers. And it means that you step out of school with a reel, credits and a network of people you can call up for jobs, or who can call you for a job. I'd rather do that, than walk out of high school with no real clue and have to make 200 calls just to get one 'yes you may come down and watch us film', not to mention the fact that if I were to get into any crew role, as much as I thought I knew coming out of high school I still would have been the newbie and would have had to be trained. And I probably would have been less humble about it, thinking I knew more than I really did.
I walked out of film school knowing how to work most cameras, how to load film, how to conduct myself, how to be an AC and how to be a Cinematographer. I could've also worked as an AD or Editor or even Production Designer or Sound Recordist if I had so desired. I had credits on a dozen short films, music videos, TVCs and even a feature. That's more than I can say for if I hadn't gone to film school. Three years out of high school, if I hadn't gone to film school... well I certainly wouldnt've ended up where I am now. Or maybe I would've, but it would've taken a lot longer.
