I've known what I have wanted to do for quite some time now (cinemetography), but almost done with my junior year in high school, i'm finally faced with the decision of where to go from here. I think a quick summary of what i've done so far might help out.
I first realized that I loved film/TV when I worked on my middle school TV show in 6th grade in MD. I moved to western MA, where there isn't much of anything. Our school is on the verge of being taken down and built again, so our classes are limited, but i've taken pretty much anything involving film (still photography, and video). Essentially, with the position i'm in, there isn't a whole lot that I can do without dishing out tons of money.
Back to all of my questions about schools to go to after high school. I've had tons of questions to ask for a while now, and it looks like I finally found a great place to ask them. Feel free to answer as many or as little as you want.
1. Is a 4 year University even worth it? I've heard from some people in "the business" that most people don't care whether you've gone to school or not, they just care about the knowledge that you carry.
2. How do I get into a tough school like NYU or USC? One thing that has constantly boggled my mind is that how do people aspiring to work with cinematography get into great schools like these. I don't think that people in film are dumb, but certainly they can't all be extremely smart to get into schools like these.
3. How much "previous knowledge" should I have (or did you have) when going to school for cinematography? I have very little knowledge itself of cameras used in the industry, or other things of that nature because there aren't many places in my area to find these things out. One thing that I do think will help me is my tech theater experience working with lighting, sound, prop building, etc.
4. How interchangeable are working with TV/Film/Live Theater? If I dive a bit deeper into cinematography and realize that it may not be right for me, how easy it to change over to TV Broadcasting, or something else like that?
5. Is Hofstra University a good choice? I've been looking at Hofstra for a while now, but i'm realizing while browsing around the forum that I don't see them mentioned much. I only have around a 3.0 in high school, so my options are somewhat limited.
Well, i don't want to write more questions as this point, so the amount of writing turns people off from reading this thread, but i'm sure i'll come up with more as some of my questions get answered. Thanks!