Lee Sumners

Unless you have a full scholarship or 120 grand set aside for a good film school (with good teachers and good equipment), I'd say don't do it. In my opinion, the best thing about film school isn't the school or education, it's the people you meet and the network *you* build for yourself, which is very important and highly valued. But you don't get hired for jobs based on a film school degree. You get hired based on what you've done or who you know or what you've shot. Film school *does* give you ample opportunity to shoot quality projects and meet people, which is incredibly important. But getting out of school with a degree that won't get you hired and a 120k in student debt loans is very daunting, especially when you're starting off, working for probably free or crap rates. You'll learn infinitely more working on set than you will in film school....and you'll eventually get paid for it (you start off interning, or working for free, but you'll eventually be getting decent rates) In leu of film school, I would hussle to work your way up the camera department (loader, to 2nd AC, to 1st AC, to operater/DP...this path takes years...at least a decade, except for nepotism) to see how a professional film crew works...it could be a commercial, feature, TV show, web series, industrial, music video...just take anything that's thrown at you. But you'll see what it takes to block and light a shot...watch the DP doing his craft, see how he/she communicates to his crew and the director, watch him/her stay on schedule...or not...see him/her make mistakes..those are the lessons you don't learn in film schools, but on set, you see it every day, plus you'll be getting paid for it. You'll also be able to see if it's *really* what you want to do before dropping 120k on 4 years of school. Production isn't for everyone. If you love it, you can always go back to get a film degree anytime you want. If you want some good film theory, get a Netflix account and add every single Criterion movie there is...watch them all, then listen to all the commentary track and special features...each of those movies is a classic and a mini film school in my opinion. Criterion puts out some great DVDs. Then go to AFI's top 100 movies of all time and add those. Then imdb's top 250 and add those. Camera gear is so cheap right now that if you want to shoot a project, there's not much holding you back. Buy a canon 60d (body only), a good wide zoom (Canon's 17-55 2.8) and a good telephoto zoom (Canon 70-200 2.8), get a decent tripod and slider, get a basic arri light kit (2x 650s and a 1k fernel or 3 650s), an h4n, shotgun mic and boom pole, very good wireless lav....all that will cost you about 8-9 grand (doing math in my head...just rough numbers). Then (with help from your friends) you can shoot almost whatever you want. Work during the week, shoot on the weekends with your gear. My point is you'll learn more on set and making your own mistakes. If you decide to go to film school, at least wait a few years...get some life experience in you first. Another thing: to save money, take all the 'core' classes at an accredited community college or university...all the maths, englishes, sciences, etc., etc...THEN transfer to the school you want. If you get an AA degree (keep good grades, of course), you'll have a better chance of getting into the school you want. That's my 2 cents. I hope someone else will chime in and prove me completely wrong. With this question, you ask 10 people, you'll get 10 different answers.

Thank you. I will give them a call today. I've been there before. At 150 an hour, is that based on how much footage is on the tape or how long it takes them? I'm new to this. Thanks again. Lee

Hey out there. I'm new to this site and I have an issue that's bugging me. I shot a music video, super-16, and had it telecined at Spy Post, with output to Digibeta. One of my friends works at a news station and was nice enough to let me use the digibeta deck there, but since my drive was mac formatted and they use PCs, I had to bring my laptop and I couldn't capture it in 10-bit uncompressed NTSC. I could only capture at at DV NTSC, which is compressed and the picture is very pixelated and I want to retry capturing it. So, now I'm stuck with this tape without a place to transfer it to Hard Drive to start editing it. I didn't do it at spy post because I'm a student and almost all of my money went to just the telecine (which was totally worth it, by the way. Everyone there really knows their stuff). So what place can I go to where I can drop off my digibeta tape and my Mac-formatted hard drive for a transfer? What does it cost? I'm a student with not much money to spend. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Lee