Film School vs No Film School

[Abdo332]

Hello yet again guys! I have another question.

I've been confused lately as to whether I should go to Film School or not. There are many Pros as there are Cons: Equipment (Pro) Connections (Pro) Money/Debt (Con) Employment (Con)

Now,I really do want to be a filmmaker. It's the ol' cliched heart-given speech again,ain't it? Oh no,I'm that guy,aren't I? It is a passion of mine,a passion I will develop into making short films and applying to film schools. A passion that's been with me for awhile,only recently taking toll on.

I've been left dead-spirited however,upon countless readings of unemployment,film schools being a joke...etc. Now,quite honestly,I'm scared. I'm scared what my parents might think of me. They've always had the highest hopes in me. Always predict great things for me in the future. I just don't want to disappoint them.

Another idea has come to mind after being scared shitless... Going to university and studying a really good subject that will give me something to land back on if the whole film dream does not work out. Maybe doing it all part-time. Question is,will I even have time to pursue film as a hobby if I'm in Uni? Probably not.

Other subjects that semi interest me are: Humanities,Psychology,Sociology and Neuroscience..all of which require Graduate school which will take away my film dream.


I know this is not a "Help me with every problem I have" forum,but,I've met some really great people on here. Any advice anyone? Have any of you been in my shoes before? Help.

 

[Firm1]

Eh, personally I think film school is overrated. I'll put it to you like this. One way or another you're going to have to learn how to sustain yourself through film. You're going to need to know how to network and outsource so whether you throw an institution thousands of dollars or simply go to that institution to recruit and expand, you're still making films.

Its incredibly easy, especially if you're young to advertise a short. Students love jumping on just about anything for practice and opportunity. You really just need a good idea and a solid plan of action.

 

[jax_rox]

Jax Rox, you said, "Going to film school sets you up in a better place to find financing for your feature film". How so? You're still an untested commodity on the market.

You leave with 1-3 (or more) decent completed shorts under your belt. You leave with contacts within the industry, and friends who will soon be industry contacts. You leave with experience in your chosen field - be it Directing, Writing, Producing, Cinematography etc. You're in a much better position to secure financing for a film than if you attempt to approach investors as essentially a wannabe Director with no credits.

As an example, a good friend of mine at film school landed a job as a Producer at a production company less than 2 years after leaving film school, and was soon producing $100k+ budget television commercials.

You need some sort of training in this business. It doesn't necessarily have to be within a school environment, but you need to get on sets, make friends with those who are doing what you want to do and learn from them.

If there's one thing that's great about film school, it's the opportunity to learn from those who are better, more experienced and more skilled than you in an environment where it's okay to make mistakes, and your reputation in the industry doesn't necessarily suffer as much. You learn how to be a professional in the film industry, which enables you to step out onto sets, and Direct your own sets and departments (in whatever position you want) as a professional, and in the way that a professional does.

Assuming you put in the work and do what you need to, and swallow your ego and perform in lower positions as PAs or assistants for a while.

A lot of the films I helped out on, or shot, during my time at film school were only a couple of little details away from being just as professional as any other shoot. And we shot on REDs, Alexas, film etc.

Compare any of the graduate films from a half-decent film school to those of an amateur/wannabe Director who has never been on a professional set and uses amateur/wannabe crew, but has been making 'films' for an equivalent amount of time.

 

[sfoster]

Compare any of the graduate films from a half-decent film school to those of an amateur/wannabe Director who has never been on a professional set and uses amateur/wannabe crew, but has been making 'films' for an equivalent amount of time.

Sure, I'm an amateur wannabe. I'll take that challenge.
I'm completely self taught and I've been making films for a year now - I have two shorts as dual writer/director.

My second: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo5Yl9kyn8k
When I create my super hero action comedy in another year or so, it's going to be a masterpiece of cinema.

How long until I would have graduated, were I a year into a curriculum ?

This whole film school / no film school thing happens in a lot of fields. On slashdot they argue a lot about programmers who have degrees or not. Personally I taught myself how to write code. I would reverse engineer what other people had done and learn from it. I would make little games for myself at 12 years old, and play my own games. Later I went to one of the top 10 public colleges in the US for computer science and fought through a really challenging curriculum.

So I believe I have a view on it both ways in the computer industry. Here is my opinion.. Nothing replaces raw talent. No amount of education will ever turn someone that is not meant to program into a fantastic programmer. But having gone to college, it did make me better. Although most of what I learnt has no practical application in the business world.

 

[SkyCopeland]

Sure, I'm an amateur wannabe. I'll take that challenge.
I'm completely self taught and I've been making films for a year now - I have two shorts as dual writer/director.

My second: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo5Yl9kyn8k
When I create my super hero action comedy in another year or so, it's going to be a masterpiece of cinema.

How long until I would have graduated, were I a year into a curriculum ?

This whole film school / no film school thing happens in a lot of fields. On slashdot they argue a lot about programmers who have degrees or not. Personally I taught myself how to write code. I would reverse engineer what other people had done and learn from it. I would make little games for myself at 12 years old, and play my own games. Later I went to one of the top 10 public colleges in the US for computer science and fought through a really challenging curriculum.

So I believe I have a view on it both ways in the computer industry. Here is my opinion.. Nothing replaces raw talent. No amount of education will ever turn someone that is not meant to program into a fantastic programmer. But having gone to college, it did make me better. Although most of what I learnt has no practical application in the business world.

I in no way want to bash you with anything I'm about to say....

1st. Up to the challenge? You want to compare your 1 year of practice short with a 1 year student of film school's shorts? You lose. Horribly. Students in their sixth month of Full Sail have far better shorts, and sadly I don't have the rights to share them with everyone here.

Does that say something about you? No. Not at all. These students have been taught by people who have been successful within at least 15 years of the industry (and a few teachers which are members of the Academy). Also they have access to equipment, props, and workshops that are equivalent to industry standard hollywood films.

2nd. How long would it be after a year until you graduate? 9 months. Less time than when you create your film, which you could be making during that second year of film school (with better equipment, actors, costumes, props, etc).

3rd. Statistically speaking the programmers for Call of Duty are far better than the ones for EYE or Natural Selection 2. They have been professionally trained to code. They know C++ and other languages better than someone who simply learned it by reverse engineering (STATISTICALLY SPEAKING). Sure some people are better at programming than others and have no education, but was that knowledge learned within the same amount of time? Most likely not.

Note: I've played a good bit of Full Sail's Game Programming Degree Final Projects.... Most of them are pretty bad, but still a lot better than people I know who have been self-taught programmers for many more years. A small amount of these games are gems though, and I assume the programmers will already have jobs lined up before graduating.

4th. Talent? Crediting talent is like crediting a Magician for being Magic. I'll leave it at that.

 

[sfoster]

1st. Up to the challenge? You want to compare your 1 year of practice short with a 1 year student of film school's shorts? You lose. Horribly. Students in their sixth month of Full Sail have far better shorts, and sadly I don't have the rights to share them with everyone here.

Yes isn't that what this thread is about. I'm trying to get a concrete example on the table for discussion, it's a shame that there is no 1 year short that can actually be shared.

I guess we will have to take your word for it that they are all so much better than what I have done. Good for them, bravo.

I will accept my retarded pace, that's okay. The important thing is that I keep getting better
Lets see what I have in another 9 months when I would have graduated.. 3 more episodes of criminal bounds.

Episode 3 will be a very special one. But my real masterpiece won't happen for another 15 months at least

 

[SkyCopeland]

Yes isn't that what this thread is about. I'm trying to get a concrete example on the table for discussion, it's a shame that there is no 1 year short that can actually be shared.

I guess we will have to take your word for it that they are all so much better than what I have done. Good for them, bravo.

I will accept my retarded pace, that's okay. The important thing is that I keep getting better
Lets see what I have in another 9 months when I would have graduated.. 3 more episodes of criminal bounds.

Episode 3 will be a very special one. But my real masterpiece won't happen for another 15 months at least

It's a bad example but a film that started during their final project and went past after graduation and later released in limited theaters and Redbox is Blood Widow... It's not the best... I think the six month shorts I've seen are higher quality..but it is what it is haha