I am an accepted student into the CALARTS film school starting in September. I too was basically deciding on Chapman a while back. Then I found Columbia, which seemed to be a much cheaper and much more liberal approach to a well rounded art school rather than a film school preparing students for the Hollywood studio system like chapman, in my opinion. I thought If I were to go to Columbia I might have more of a chance to work on more artistically driven projects, rather than the down to earth/easy to follow/ heavy FX narratives that for some reason I started to associate with Chapman after touring the campus.
I was days away from applying to Columbia in Chicago, when my younger brother introduced me to CALARTS. We looked at the acceptance rate and said, "Yeah there is no way we are getting in" but we both decided to apply, still thinking that we stood no chance.
I was accepted but he was not. We had both figured that if one of us was going to get in it would be him, being that we thought he was much more cut out for a Uber-liberal art school with the majority of educational style focusing on the critical and analytical practice and studies of filmmaking rather than the technical conservatory approach which I had already been fundamentally taught from at SCC.
Now I have moved to Valencia (last Sunday) and I am getting prepared to start classes at CALARTS.
I hope to take the same approach to CALARTS as David Mulllen. I was so glad to see this post and read what he said about the school. Because of its very anti Hollywood film school technical style of teaching I am apprehensive about going there, especially when the student body in the film program is sooo small! I was one of the 25 somthing accepted students into the film/video program this year.
But reading Mullen’s words have helped me to-- at least for the moment-- realize that it’s probably a perfect place for me to go while I attempt to shoot everyone’s projects. Also, by going to CALARTS rather than Chapman I feel that I have a better chance of winding up shooting something like the next Pans Labyrinth or Moulin Rouge with a cal arts education and resulting experience rather than the next Mean Girls or Knocked Up with a Chapman education. (Forgive the crude analogy, that most likely is unfair, wrong, and makes no real sense—but that’s how I feel.)
I guess in the end its just as David Mullen said, “In terms of future work, where you went to school doesn't matter much, what matters is your experience and knowledge, so go wherever you can get both.”
Hopefully I’m going to one of those places.
-jon