Film School
- Thread starter ryanfea
- Start date
I was going to go to film school right after high school....
due to the fact that its about $100,000 including living costs, i had to join the military to be able to pay for film school once I'm out.
I plan to attend to NYFA in LA. I had already gotten accepted, but due to the fact that i couldn't pay, i'm gonna have to sit this next two years out..... well in the army.
haha
due to the fact that its about $100,000 including living costs, i had to join the military to be able to pay for film school once I'm out.
I plan to attend to NYFA in LA. I had already gotten accepted, but due to the fact that i couldn't pay, i'm gonna have to sit this next two years out..... well in the army.
haha
Here's the deal with film school, and This comes from my personal experiance along with others in the industry from those who have and have not gone to film school.
I wanted to go to film school. I couldn't. Finacial Reasons.
Most people agree that Film school is not needed, in some cases say it's actually a waste of money. (From people who go to film school)
They say the first 2 years are helpful if you know very little or nothing about the industry.
They say if you go, go for the right reasons. Make contacts. Learn everything you can.
The film indusrty is a hard industry.
Having a degree will only help to a certian point, sometimes doesn't help at all.
It's all about connections.
I learned by getting on sets, and working my ass off, it works just the same as school, you just have to push yourself to get there.
I wanted to go to film school. I couldn't. Finacial Reasons.
Most people agree that Film school is not needed, in some cases say it's actually a waste of money. (From people who go to film school)
They say the first 2 years are helpful if you know very little or nothing about the industry.
They say if you go, go for the right reasons. Make contacts. Learn everything you can.
The film indusrty is a hard industry.
Having a degree will only help to a certian point, sometimes doesn't help at all.
It's all about connections.
I learned by getting on sets, and working my ass off, it works just the same as school, you just have to push yourself to get there.
I have a question....also lacking the money for film school and still wanting to learn how to get things done...what should I do until I get the right sum for a camera....and the equipment ...?...I wanna learn or get the basics of using a camera ...right shots angles and so on...what lenses to use....you know stuff like that ...so how could I start this process?...are there certain courses you can take to learn this?....and are these expensive?
I agree with Costa here. I had no interest in school and find that the style of films that I shoot, school wouldn't have done anything to hep me out. I get off my butt and make conatacts every day, so there was no need for me to go. If you want to learn ANYTHING about filmmaking... make some ****ing films. Get on set with other filmmakers and make contacts if you want to learn technical details.
I'm in a Two Year Program. I think this is probably all you need, as long as you remember to learn the technical stuff and the legal stuff, meet some people. No reason this should take four years. Also, you learn more on the set.
www.craigslist.com is a great site to find really crappy movie jobs where you spend 23 hours in a cold stairwell in December (indoor, but no heat) because the director is a moron. And you do it for no pay. You'll be overworked and underpaid, but guess what? You'll learn more than what any film school will teach you.
I'm also studying Animation, and I found out that most jobs are open with an Associates degree. More than that, I was warned that a four-year degree makes you overqualified for most entry level jobs. Granted, the animation industry is different. It's much larger, and much broader. That I would say DEFINITELY go to school for. But if you don't get into "CALarts" a four year degree means nothing. People usually look over your diploma and right to your portfolio. Or, at least that's according to the many lectures I've attended for that one point of extra credit.
www.craigslist.com is a great site to find really crappy movie jobs where you spend 23 hours in a cold stairwell in December (indoor, but no heat) because the director is a moron. And you do it for no pay. You'll be overworked and underpaid, but guess what? You'll learn more than what any film school will teach you.
I'm also studying Animation, and I found out that most jobs are open with an Associates degree. More than that, I was warned that a four-year degree makes you overqualified for most entry level jobs. Granted, the animation industry is different. It's much larger, and much broader. That I would say DEFINITELY go to school for. But if you don't get into "CALarts" a four year degree means nothing. People usually look over your diploma and right to your portfolio. Or, at least that's according to the many lectures I've attended for that one point of extra credit.
I never went to college or film school. I dropped put of high
school and moved to Los Angeles to work in the business. I wanted
it that bad.
I have no doubt you can meet people in film school. I met working
professionals while on set. I’m the type who learns better by
doing than by sitting in a classroom listening to teachers. And I
figured I’d learn faster by watching working professionals than
by working with other students who had the same skill level as
me.
I also figured the contacts I made working on professional sets
would be better in the short term than the connections I would
have made at film school.
Now that I’ve been in the business for a while and have met
hundreds of people who went to film school, I know I made the
right choice.
While my high school friends were finishing their high school
diploma, I was paying my dues, doing free gigs. While my high
school friends were going to film school I was working my way
from the free gigs to the paying ones. When my friends got out of
film school they started paying their dues working the free gigs - I
was a working professional.
My film school was on set.
school and moved to Los Angeles to work in the business. I wanted
it that bad.
I have no doubt you can meet people in film school. I met working
professionals while on set. I’m the type who learns better by
doing than by sitting in a classroom listening to teachers. And I
figured I’d learn faster by watching working professionals than
by working with other students who had the same skill level as
me.
I also figured the contacts I made working on professional sets
would be better in the short term than the connections I would
have made at film school.
Now that I’ve been in the business for a while and have met
hundreds of people who went to film school, I know I made the
right choice.
While my high school friends were finishing their high school
diploma, I was paying my dues, doing free gigs. While my high
school friends were going to film school I was working my way
from the free gigs to the paying ones. When my friends got out of
film school they started paying their dues working the free gigs - I
was a working professional.
My film school was on set.
I never went to film school (I have a degree in accounting and make a living as a software engineer, I know long story) but I have always had a passion for the industry. I have learned a great deal from this site (and others like it), meeting groups, books, magazine subscriptions, DVDs, seminars and now I am about to put that knowledge to the test and make my first short (from soup to nuts). To reiterate what has been quoted above, the best way to learn is to put the work in and make a movie of your own. Will you make mistakes? Of course, but you learn from them.
I live in Harrisburg, PA and besides sites like these, I don't have ready access to real pros in the business (yet). So I sponge-up all I can from all places. For books, DVDs and supplies I frequent The Writers Store (www.writersstore.com). They have some really awesome books and DVD seminar series for reasonable prices. I have also purchased DVDs from Video Maker (www.videomaker.com) and subscribe to their magazine. Their stuff is not as detailed but it's a start and information that you can put into practice almost immediately. For a step above check out the training materials at VASST (www.vasst.com) - though most of their stuff is targeted towards NLEs (like Vegas) or specific cameras they have some general topic courses (lighting, directing, audio) that are pretty good for value (they are a bit more than the stuff from Video Maker though).
At the end of the day, no matter how you gain the knowledge (school or self-taught) or how much you can fit into your head it all comes down to execution. Make a movie. Enjoy it, learn from it and then make another one, and more after that.
I live in Harrisburg, PA and besides sites like these, I don't have ready access to real pros in the business (yet). So I sponge-up all I can from all places. For books, DVDs and supplies I frequent The Writers Store (www.writersstore.com). They have some really awesome books and DVD seminar series for reasonable prices. I have also purchased DVDs from Video Maker (www.videomaker.com) and subscribe to their magazine. Their stuff is not as detailed but it's a start and information that you can put into practice almost immediately. For a step above check out the training materials at VASST (www.vasst.com) - though most of their stuff is targeted towards NLEs (like Vegas) or specific cameras they have some general topic courses (lighting, directing, audio) that are pretty good for value (they are a bit more than the stuff from Video Maker though).
At the end of the day, no matter how you gain the knowledge (school or self-taught) or how much you can fit into your head it all comes down to execution. Make a movie. Enjoy it, learn from it and then make another one, and more after that.
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Good question.
I went to a four year film school and I enjoyed it. I saw and discussed films that I would never have seen and talked about otherwise.
I don't think I ever saw it as vocational school, a place where I would learn to be a big director although, for some people, it works out that way.
Is it necessary to go to film school? No.
If you are really into film and you'd like to deeper you exposure to the world, why not? Still, you can manage this without going to school.
On my first film job as a PA, I suddenly found myself thrust into the camera department when my boss (who 20 years later went on to be nominated for an Oscar as Executive Producer of "There Will Be Blood", said, "Hey, what do you know about cameras?" Anything I knew about cameras, I got from film school.
Today I am primarily a screenwriter and I can firmly say that absolutely nothing from my college screenwriting class applies to me day-to-day work as a writer.
The Oscar-nominated writer of "A History Of Violence" was 2 years ahead of me in film school (and grade school for that matter) when he decided to drop out, move to L.A. and just starting working his way up the production ladder.
Now, that said, I am also a teacher at in two film departments and, from what I can see, it really looks like a lot of the students really benefit from their coursework and their internships.
There are no guarantees. Of the people I was friendly with in film school, less than a handful ever went on to really working in the industry.
Check out the book "Film School Confidential" which was co-written by the head of the film department at one of the schools where I teach and, coincidentally, this author was in my college graduating class.
I went to a four year film school and I enjoyed it. I saw and discussed films that I would never have seen and talked about otherwise.
I don't think I ever saw it as vocational school, a place where I would learn to be a big director although, for some people, it works out that way.
Is it necessary to go to film school? No.
If you are really into film and you'd like to deeper you exposure to the world, why not? Still, you can manage this without going to school.
On my first film job as a PA, I suddenly found myself thrust into the camera department when my boss (who 20 years later went on to be nominated for an Oscar as Executive Producer of "There Will Be Blood", said, "Hey, what do you know about cameras?" Anything I knew about cameras, I got from film school.
Today I am primarily a screenwriter and I can firmly say that absolutely nothing from my college screenwriting class applies to me day-to-day work as a writer.
The Oscar-nominated writer of "A History Of Violence" was 2 years ahead of me in film school (and grade school for that matter) when he decided to drop out, move to L.A. and just starting working his way up the production ladder.
Now, that said, I am also a teacher at in two film departments and, from what I can see, it really looks like a lot of the students really benefit from their coursework and their internships.
There are no guarantees. Of the people I was friendly with in film school, less than a handful ever went on to really working in the industry.
Check out the book "Film School Confidential" which was co-written by the head of the film department at one of the schools where I teach and, coincidentally, this author was in my college graduating class.