Film School/College

A

Artorius

I am a 17 year old high school student planning to enter a university in the fall. Whether or not I attend college is not even a question- I will go to school. However, I would like opinions on the schools I am looking at. I have a special situation wherein I am to receive generous financial aid no matter which institution I choose, as well as federal financial aid. So cost of attendance is not a factor. These are the schools I am most likely to attend-

1. CalState Fullerton
2. CalState Northridge
3. CalState Long Beach
4. Loyola Marymount(CA)
5. The University of Arizona

If any of you have any feedback or experience with these universities, it would be much appreciated. Even word of mouth on these would be great. I've heard some good things about Northridge, but practically nothing about Fullerton, or Loyola. So, I'd really appreciate some help here. Thank you.
 
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MileCreations said:
I've heard good things about Full Sail. I know next to nothing about it ought because I am in Australia, and I have no idea if it is near you
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I am attending Full Sail online. It is expensive. Including in the tuition for the online Digital Cinematography degree is a Macbook Pro with Adobe CS6 Master Collection and FCPX and misc software for school. When you finish your first year you receive another package with a 3 point light kit, a Sony NEX FS100 and accessories for it. The total tuition is around 65k though which is way more than a traditional college.
 
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Jsthompson79 said:
I am attending Full Sail online. It is expensive. Including in the tuition for the online Digital Cinematography degree is a Macbook Pro with Adobe CS6 Master Collection and FCPX and misc software for school. When you finish your first year you receive another package with a 3 point light kit, a Sony NEX FS100 and accessories for it. The total tuition is around 65k though which is way more than a traditional college.
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Yeah I looked at the online course myself but the $60k that was quoted to me at the time is far in excess of my budget. Is it time consuming? The main issue I would think is there is less networking which is why I'm still trying to pursue a course which is on campus in Australia.

I was unaware that anything to the level of the Sony was part of it though. Interesting
 
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MileCreations said:
Yeah I looked at the online course myself but the $60k that was quoted to me at the time is far in excess of my budget. Is it time consuming? The main issue I would think is there is less networking which is why I'm still trying to pursue a course which is on campus in Australia
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The courses aren't overly time consuming and we have plenty of networking with other students. We have a special site similar to Facebook specifically for the school. Ryan Connoly of Film Riot went to school on campus at Full Sail. They also help with finding a job after graduation like most colleges. The online program is still very new and is constantly changing. To my knowledge no class has graduated from the online yet. I am in the 2nd academic year of three.
 
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Jsthompson79 said:
The courses aren't overly time consuming and we have plenty of networking with other students. We have a special site similar to Facebook specifically for the school. Ryan Connoly of Film Riot went to school on campus at Full Sail. They also help with finding a job after graduation like most colleges. The online program is still very new and is constantly changing. To my knowledge no class has graduated from the online yet. I am in the 2nd academic year of three.
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Oh right, interesting. Yeah I heard about it first through Ryan Connoly then did my own research and stuff, until I found out the price
 
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If you're looking at CalState Fullerton, you have Chapman University just a few miles down the road.

I've worked on several Chapman film projects, as both an actor & crew, and have been pretty impressed with the caliber of student there. Actually, I just wrapped a 4-day shoot with some tonight. I was the token old person on set. Everyone else was either at Chapman uni, or had just recently graduated. There's some solid filmmakers coming out of there.

Anyways - just mentionin' another college closeby. :cool:
 
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Zensteve said:
If you're looking at CalState Fullerton, you have Chapman University just a few miles down the road.

I've worked on several Chapman film projects, as both an actor & crew, and have been pretty impressed with the caliber of student there. Actually, I just wrapped a 4-day shoot with some tonight. I was the token old person on set. Everyone else was either at Chapman uni, or had just recently graduated. There's some solid filmmakers coming out of there.

Anyways - just mentionin' another college closeby. :cool:
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Interesting, my girlfriend has applied to Chapman University so she'd be glad to hear your suggestion! :lol: I will definitely look into Chapman tuition wise. The big deal here, and why I want to go to a state university is, if I get accepted to one of them, I'll receive financial aid equal to my tuition for four years- meaning no loan debt. That is a big plus to me. I am willing to look at private colleges, though reluctant to attend for fear of getting caught in that Quagmire of student loan debt.

As for Full-Sail, I'm looking to mostly stay in the State of California, for the reason mentioned above. Plus, I like where I'm at for meeting and getting in touch with film people. Thank you both for your input on that end and while the programs and equipment sound exciting I'm already the owner of a Macbook Pro(2010) and I own a license for FCP already. Looking at FCPX I'm not too excited about it. It looks like a glorified iMovie to me. As for that camera, it certainly would be nice, but I just invested in a GH2 this week, which I know is not equivalent to that camcorder, but nonethless will be my personal camera going forward.

On an unrelated note, how do you like FCPX Jsthompson79? I haven't actually used it, so my judgments may be premature.

@Zensteve So you've heard nothing about Northridge?
 
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Your assumption of it being like iMovie is pretty spot on. It is easy to use and operates a lot like iMovie. I never used FCP 7 so not sure how much it has changed from that. I am in the process of learning Premiere at this time because the school wants us to learn both.
 
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Come to school in Canada. The average tuition in 2011 was $5300. Most education is funded by government which is why it is so cheap. Not sure if it works if you aren't a citizen, though. Toronto has a lot of good film schools.
 
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Marshall_Tyler said:
Come to school in Canada. The average tuition in 2011 was $5300. Most education is funded by government which is why it is so cheap. Not sure if it works if you aren't a citizen, though. Toronto has a lot of good film schools.
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Same in Australia, in fact our courses are about $5000 a year (the government funded ones).

Jsthompson79 said:
Your assumption of it being like iMovie is pretty spot on. It is easy to use and operates a lot like iMovie. I never used FCP 7 so not sure how much it has changed from that. I am in the process of learning Premiere at this time because the school wants us to learn both.
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I learned on Pinnacle Studio through to Premiere, and found it really easy to adapt to FCP7 from Premiere. Premiere even has a preset for FCP keyboard shortcuts
 
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MileCreations said:
Same in Australia, in fact our courses are about $5000 a year (the government funded ones).
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Us too ;) Sorry America...

I have to say that doing a 3-year online course seems like a nightmare. Part of the point of university is to be living with other people studying at the same level, socialising and having fun- as well as working, obviously. I think I would just hate to do an online course...

I don't know anything about US state unis, but go to the best school that you can get into and worry about any other specifics later. Most people would enjoy any uni, so why not go to the academically strongest?
 
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Marshall_Tyler said:
Come to school in Canada. The average tuition in 2011 was $5300. Most education is funded by government which is why it is so cheap. Not sure if it works if you aren't a citizen, though. Toronto has a lot of good film schools.
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Could you elaborate on the best film schools in Toronto? Or preferably in Halifax, if you know anything about that. I would be international though, I live in the states.
 
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NickClapper said:
I have to say that doing a 3-year online course seems like a nightmare. Part of the point of university is to be living with other people studying at the same level, socialising and having fun- as well as working, obviously. I think I would just hate to do an online course...
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Advantage is you could have a full time, or near full time job at the same time and hours are potentially much more flexible, but of course networking and socially is equally important as money
 
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MileCreations said:
Same in Australia, in fact our courses are about $5000 a year (the government funded ones).
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$5,000/year? Maybe more like per semester..

And technically they're not government funded, just that the government essentially gives you a no-interest loan with unlimited terms, where repayments only kick in once you hit the designated threshold

NickClapper said:
I have to say that doing a 3-year online course seems like a nightmare. Part of the point of university is to be living with other people studying at the same level, socialising and having fun- as well as working, obviously. I think I would just hate to do an online course...
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I have to agree here, I'm not really sure how you do an online film course - IMO the only way to learn is by doing things practically. Plus, nothing beats face to face communication with your peers and lecturers.
 
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jax_rox said:
$5,000/year? Maybe more like per semester..

And technically they're not government funded, just that the government essentially gives you a no-interest loan with unlimited terms, where repayments only kick in once you hit the designated threshold



I have to agree here, I'm not really sure how you do an online film course - IMO the only way to learn is by doing things practically. Plus, nothing beats face to face communication with your peers and lecturers.
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We do have practical things to do. This last course we had to create and film a 30 second spec commercial. We also recently had a 6 hour film contest and there have been other projects to film. That is why we have a camera and a computer to edit with. They are standardized among all students online. And we have face to face time if we choose via online lecture groups using web cams and go to meeting software. As I stated before we also have a site similar to Facebook for interaction.

As for face to face social interaction I have no need for it. I am going to school to learn a trade to give my family a better future. I am not there to socialize with others or hang out. I am much older than most college attendees since I started late due to serving my country first. You can still network and make connections with people in the industry regardless of if you go to school online or offline. I have met several like minded people in my local area by attending local events such as our zombie walk.
 
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I guess if it works for you...

I just am not really sure what the point is if you're using your own 'standardised' equipment - you may as well just do it yourself. The biggest benefit I found to film school was to be able to crew on other people's sets, and to use really expensive equipment for free. Plus you don't get to network with the others in your year level, and as much as you may think you have no need to network with those people, they can prove to be invaluable connections, and much more beneficial than those you might meet at a zombie walk.

But I suppose it also depends on your long term plans as well.
 
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Well, I have some good news! I got accepted into CalState Fullerton! I'm very excited about that. I'm waiting to hear back from San Diego State and CalState Northridge, then I have a decision to make!
 
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