College gave me advice: Don't go

P

Phil_UK

Well, i had my college interview and they didn't really want me, as it would be way to easy and too boring for me.
He said its the same thing with every other 6th form college. I cant really do anything else than that at the moment!

I am 17 in July, already asked filmschools and all that, you have to be 18 at least.. So what do i do now?
 
Work for a jear....thats what I didt...Also i have seen joure short movie woodcutter....Jou would be bored as hell. There is not a new thing jou could realy learn in this school....joure camara work is perfect...
 
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Unless it's stopping you from doing something amazing, I think it'd be foolish to turn down two years of free education. I'm sure much of the practical side of a Film Studies course would be beneath you, but learning about the history and theory of film would be both useful and interesting (and is something I slightly regret not doing at college). You'll have far more free time than at school, and a willing supply of people wanting to help you work or act.

Even if you'd just be studying more traditional subjects, if it makes you into a better educated and more rounded person - with plenty of application when it comes to film. For example, I know that studying English Literature has been hugely helpful when it comes to analysing scripts and working out how to try and capture that emotion in a shot.

Lastly - have you researched the entry requirements for film schools? Two good friends of mine started degrees in Film Production last year, and the vast majority of the courses they looked at required A-levels or equivalents to do the course. You may be shooting yourself in the foot by not going.

Tl;dr version: education's always useful; if you haven't got a clear idea of what to do otherwise it's worth going; you might not be able to go to film school without it.
 
I thought you HAD to do your A-levels before university in the UK. You have to get an A-levels equivalent if you want to go to university (college) in the US. I had to take them.

Your work is great by the way Phil. I almost wish I were 17 with your skills. But like Chili said, if you get the chance to go to school, I'd go. It doesn't matter WHAT you major in. No teacher will be able to teach you what you learn on your own. You might as well learn writing or psychology or something so you can write something cool.

I'll give you an example. I don't know if this story is true, but I worked with a guy who told me he went to school with Chris Nolan's brother. He said that his brother got the idea for Memento when a Psych prof told them something like "imagine that you only had short term memory, which had no relation to long term memory, write what your life would be like." That gave birth to Memento, and Christopher Nolan made that movie his brother wrote. My colleague was telling me (this is 2004) how this guy was now hired for 400 grand to write "anything" and 'they' paid for his hotel to stay in LA for 6 months. I didn't check at the time if it were true, I was too busy, but I was just checking out IMDB and it seems that it very well could be.

So go to school and major in something other than film. Do film on your own time (for your classes even), which there will be plenty of in school.
Cheers,
Aveek
 
Not sure how your college system works... but one thing I know that every film major and/or freelancer wishes they had done is to learn about business. If you have a lot of the camera stuff down, a year learning about taxes and strategies and business plans and what not will help you a lot down the road.
 
At 17 you're old enough to die for your country but not old enough to attend university classes. Hmm. Interesting.
http://www.army.mod.uk/join/20145.aspx

PaulGriffith said:
Not sure how your college system works... but one thing I know that every film major and/or freelancer wishes they had done is to learn about business. If you have a lot of the camera stuff down, a year learning about taxes and strategies and business plans and what not will help you a lot down the road.
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Excellent suggestion.

I'm only a few weeks away from completing my business administration degree and of the classes most relevant to filmmaking "Project Management for Business" would be the single most germane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_project_management_topics

Yeah, the subject may look boring as dirt, but it's wildly practical.
(This single class may be good for most any filmmaker. Or at least buy a coursebook off the internet.)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...=stripbooks&field-keywords=project+management

Invest in your education and ask if you can audit a class for no credit, or even ask permission from the office to ask a professor for permission to "sit-in" on a class (or two).
For lecture hall classes with immense attendance you can likely sneak in scott free, but don't tell anyone I suggested such.



chilipie said:
Just thought I'd clear up the British education system… the university/college thing makes it all a bit confusing.
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Thank you, Chilipie. ;)
You did.
 
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Just thought I'd clear up the British education system… the university/college thing makes it all a bit confusing.

Compulsory education ends at the age of 16 (for now) - the final qualifications are called GCSEs (the stage I believe Phil is at). You can then choose to go on to sixth form/college for two years, where you usually study three to five subjects, giving you A-level qualifications when you leave at the age of 18. Without A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) you won't be able to go to university.
 
I will attempt to translate further. Correct me if I'm wrong.

chilipie said:
Just thought I'd clear up the British education system… the university/college thing makes it all a bit confusing.

Compulsory education ends at the age of 16 (for now) - the final qualifications are called GCSEs (the stage I believe Phil is at).
Click to expand...
These are your OWLs
You can then choose to go on to sixth form/college for two years, where you usually study three to five subjects, giving you A-level qualifications when you leave at the age of 18.
Click to expand...
These are your NEWTs
Without A-levels (or equivalent qualifications) you won't be able to go to university.
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a.k.a. you won't be able to work at the Ministry of Magic or St. Mungo's.
 
PaulGriffith said:
Not sure how your college system works... but one thing I know that every film major and/or freelancer wishes they had done is to learn about business. If you have a lot of the camera stuff down, a year learning about taxes and strategies and business plans and what not will help you a lot down the road.
Click to expand...

This is really good advice. It will be boring but worth it. Classes in personal sales could be helpful, too, if you lack those skills (though somehow I get the impression that you're good at this part, Phil.)
 
Ah, yes, the eternal debate...

I think it's a difficult one but I'd definitely stay in school until the end of A-Levels. Then you can see whether you want to go straight into filmmaking, go to film school, go to university and do filmmaking as a hobby or just go to university, get a career and live your life. I think it's pretty tough at 16 (or maybe any age) to make this sort of decision.

I'm at university doing English, Dr C Pie is at university doing Politics (unless I'm very much mistaken), doesn't mean we can't and won't make films.

But at the same time it's 3 years and a lot of money. I'm always inclined to say get a non-film related to degree as life insurance but, now that I'm doing it, it's really boring. So I don't know ;)
 
You should continue your education. However, continuing your education takes many forms.

If you want to continue on to a formal film school education you should definitely complete the qualifications that are required of you.

If that leaves you with "time on your hands" you should pick something else to study that will enhance your career. You can volunteer/intern on indie projects. You can, as ChiliPie mentioned, study literature. Take a business management course, or a computer/technology course, or even a basic law seminar. Take a truly "artistic" type of course/seminar like painting, drawing or (still) photography.

The whole point is to expand your thinking. If you are also a writer you could do volunteer work; there's nothing better than hearing all types of people telling stories about their lives - you'll have all kinds of "reference" material and a better understanding of how real people talk (dialog).
 
Wow, that UK educational system is confusing.
Easy thing is move to LA, enroll at Santa Monica City College.
Weather is better.
 
I think you should continue your education, but only because you'll miss out on all of the best parties if you skip it.

That, and I think chilipie's advice makes a lot of sense (not that everybody else's didn't).

P.S. Can we trade education systems? Or, could you maybe send some people over to take our system over? Ours is broken, and yours sounds a lot better. K, thanks!
 
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