Do I have the right approach towards my education or am I just focussing too much on equipments?

[Varun Chaphekar]

Hi all,

 

I’ve been having some serious doubts in my mind for the past few weeks. Need some of your valuable advice – I’ve applied at a film school recently for a masters course in cinematography and got selected. However, am yet to acknowledge my selection as I have a few queries to sort before I send them my response. Even though I’ve had couple of years of experience as an assistant camera-man working mostly on 5D and occasionally working on Alexa or Red One, I still consider myself almost a beginner.

 

Is it right when the school tells me that they’ll be emphasizing more on framing, composition, lighting, etc. i.e. mostly on aesthetics, by using 5D and some standard HD cameras and not high-end cameras like the Red Epic or Alexa or 16mm / 35 mm film cameras? I agree, aesthetics are important but, I am seriously confused. I don’t want to spend my time at the school learning MASTERS in Cinematography on 5D. If I am investing a fair amount of money, I’ll expect the school to teach me A-Z of cinematography in terms of lighting, camera, grip, framing or composition, etc. etc. I know it's impossible for a school to provide everything under the sun but I applied to the school so that I could practice on high-end equipments.

 

Sorry if I am sounding wayward but seriously need your advice guys.

 

Thanks a bunch for reading