Tomas Koolhaas Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Shari, This is a hard subject to weigh in on with judgments because we dont know your son, but I will share my experiences of film school and maybe it will help. for the record I have NO ulterior motives at all, I have NO connection with my film school anymore. I went to the los angeles film school, it was a one year course with a professional certificate (it has been certified now so offers an associate degree in film now). It cost around 20,000 when I went. I didnt do any essays which was good for me, I like practical work, it sounds like your son does too so a practical school might be better than a degree course where he'll have to do other subjects/essays too. At LAFS I just shot from the first week to the last. On the whole I didnt really enjoy my experience at the school, but I did make the most of it...I left with a pretty strong reel (for a student) using which I got work immediately after leaving school....I have done well since then with work, but as other people have said its not that simple. Because work can be sporadic and unpredictable there is no straight trajectory in terms of success. One year you may have an awesome year and make a lot of progress shoot only 35mm features and win awards at festivals etc.. and the next year you might be back to shooting shorts on mini DV scraping by....not to say that's lightly but it happens a lot. Personally I think paying $70,000 for a school and having your son come out knowing the technicals but still having very little practical/professional experience seems to me to be a pretty big gamble. only 3 people (including me) from 30 in my film school class still work in film at all. I really do think if you are willing to spend $70,000 you may be better off buying him a sony EX3 camera and buying him many good cinematography books and sending him to a cheaper shorter more practical film school, that way he will have shot some projects and have a camera to keep learning with and to use on paid jobs when he leaves school. It all depends on your son, I just feel a degree doesnt really help when getting film jobs, as a DP personality/talent and demo. reel/past work speaks louder than any degree. Doing essays doesnt prepare you for film work, and it seems the schools that cost the most concentrate the least on practical experience. Hope this helps....good luck, and respect to you for supporting your son's dreams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Webster Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Has anyone thought of opening a film school in Michigan? I think we are starting to get a larger chunk of the business, and it would be nice if we could support the production requirements of the films shooting here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Dzyak Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Has anyone thought of opening a film school in Michigan? I think we are starting to get a larger chunk of the business, and it would be nice if we could support the production requirements of the films shooting here. There are already two University level programs in Michigan. One at Michigan State and the other at the University of Michigan. There have also been a few "workshops" to pop up as the Detroit area economy slides into oblivion. The tax incentive program has brought a number of projects to Michigan, however not many of them are "big" movies that most people would be able to sustain a career on. Michigan may seem to be quite busy as "Hollywood" in the midwest, but that seems to be more hype than fact... plus with around forty other states plus numerous other countries around the world offering production tax incentive programs to attract projects, Michigan could (and likely will sooner or later) find itself wondering where the movies went. For information about the current workshops being offered in Michigan and elsewhere, go to http://www.realfilmcareer.com and click on the "Training and Schools News" link on the right side of the home page. For the most comprehensive list of worldwide filmschools available anywhere, click on the "Filmschools" link at the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inga muller Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 can anybody here tell me the best place (filmmaking school, college, university) in berlin for cinematography? not private ones... :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inga muller Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 i have found the following schools for cinematography in Berlin: 1 www.hff-potsdam.de (Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen ''Konrad Wolf'') 2 www.dffb.de (Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin) 3 www.kameraschule.de (technische Fachhochschule) has any of you heard about them, how popular is it to study filmmaking in Belin, should i search for other place?????? (Vien, Prague...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I've noticed that people have so many different opinions about film training. What one person loves the next person absolutely hates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 What would be the best approach as far as getting into film work. University, apprenticeships/ internships, film school, pounding the pavement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryans Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 (edited) On a lot of forums there seems to be much ant- film school feeling. What is the general consensus of opinion here? Are all film schools as bad as some people like to portray or is there merit in the mentor / apprentice program? Edited November 23, 2010 by soundmanred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 It's like what some posters say in other forums. It boils down to the mentor, if he/ she puts him/ her self out to really train the apprentice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Dzyak Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 It's like what some posters say in other forums. It boils down to the mentor, if he/ she puts him/ her self out to really train the apprentice. Just don't turn to the Darkside! (and underexpose) ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted November 28, 2010 Share Posted November 28, 2010 Just don't turn to the Darkside! (and underexpose) ;) But there is milk and cookies on the Dark Side :D . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 People who went to fancy universities are always going to look down on folk who went the part time course/ music school route. They will always see themselves as a cut above the rest. Whether the studios that hire see things the same way is debatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Dzyak Posted November 30, 2010 Share Posted November 30, 2010 But there is milk and cookies on the Dark Side :D . That's either really good Craftie or really bad Craftie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Good craftie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 How does somewhere like Full Sail compare with film connection? Do they do a mentor/ apprentice program? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I would like to know how the different film schools compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Dzyak Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 I would like to know how the different film schools compare. One person's experience won't necessarily be someone else's, so while you should gather alumni opinions, for curriculum specifics as they relate to what YOU want, you really should contact each school/program that interests you and ask specific questions. Naturally a school is interested in getting you to join them so it's up to you to discern what is "marketing" and what a school actually can deliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 One person's experience won't necessarily be someone else's, so while you should gather alumni opinions, for curriculum specifics as they relate to what YOU want, you really should contact each school/program that interests you and ask specific questions. Naturally a school is interested in getting you to join them so it's up to you to discern what is "marketing" and what a school actually can deliver. Agreed, just wanted to know if anyone here had been on any form of training and how it compared with mentor/ apprentice programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Like I said previously, I wish I had gone to film classes straight from High school. But didn't really have much clue what I wanted to be. Now I know I would like to get into film making, I also work so my only option is part time film school. Learning in my spare time works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryans Posted December 14, 2010 Share Posted December 14, 2010 At the end of the day where you learned the craft is not important. The fact that you DID learn the craft and are willing to continue to learn is what is important. People don't care about what fancy college you attended, what they do care about is that you can do the job at hand and pull your own weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 15, 2010 Share Posted December 15, 2010 Soundman, apparently some folks do care what diploma you have on your wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Hulnick Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 And of course where you got it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryans Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 A guy in another forum actually stated that he would make a point of NOT hiring anyone straight out of university as he found that they tend to have a very blinkered view of the film industry and expect things done just as their tutor instructed them to do. No flexibility, no compromise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted December 21, 2010 Share Posted December 21, 2010 A guy in another forum actually stated that he would make a point of NOT hiring anyone straight out of university as he found that they tend to have a very blinkered view of the film industry and expect things done just as their tutor instructed them to do. No flexibility, no compromise. You need to use your real name, it's one of the forum rules. Both views are probably blinkered, it really depends on the training they received at the university. Also depends if the guy had weak practises of his own. I know one 1st AC who wouldn't take on a trainee camera assistant during their first year out of film school, he wanted to see if they'd still be around after the first year. Sort of tough, but I can see where he was coming from when there were a large number of people after that position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryans Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 Sorry Brian, Name is Ryan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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