I havent ever been to one but I would emagine its similar to college (Which I graduated from) where you sit down with a teacher who runs you through the basic principles of making a film through to the editing phase. Personaly I doubt theres much that you could learn from film school, that you couldnt already learn from here. I once thought about going to university to get a degree, but come to the conclusion that theres not much point in me wasting large sums of money as well as years of my life going over things that I can already do now. Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

thanks for reply

A decent film program is like a technical school with lots of hands on the equipment and a lot of projects. There will be classes on film theory and screenwriting etc but the important stuff would be the chance to work with thousands of dollars worth of equipment and an entire crew. Also, most film programs expect you to create a few shorts during your time there and most still insist you use film so be prepared to spend ten thousand or more above and beyond the tuition.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I totally disagree wit Clearly. In film school you learn many usefull things. You get together with many people and make films, then you study them look at your mistakes and learn from them and then I'd imagine you go to lots of classes like rjschwarz said. I would pesonally say that film school would be a great opertunity to learn about filmmaking.

H.A.

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Originally posted by Henry701

I totally disagree wit Clearly. In film school you learn many usefull things. You get together with many people and make films, then you study them look at your mistakes and learn from them and then I'd imagine you go to lots of classes like rjschwarz said. I would pesonally say that film school would be a great opertunity to learn about filmmaking.

H.A.

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Cleary mate not Clearly! I suppose one advantage of film school might be (depending on what school it is) that they might set you up with a network of useful contacts. As for learning from your mistakes, it dosent take a course at film school to figure out where your going wrong. At least not if you willing to sit down and be honest (Brutally even) and look at your work and question your self as to where you could improve it. Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

Sorry about that, Cleary. I agree that sitting down and looking at your mistakes isn't something you learn at a film school,film school just makes you see more mistakes. Like one time I read a big book about camera angles and then I watch my old films and noticed that I made so many mistakes that made the film a bit worse.

And another thing is that they provide you with real profensional equipment, that is a big plus.

H.A.

I would suggest that a film school might help you see your mistakes because you'll have teachers and other students tearing your films apart in viscious grade competition level detail you might not get otherwise.

I would also add that this might create a sort of comformist thinking/way of creating film as some of the younger avant-guard directors seemed to have semi-skipped film school, so it's a double-edged sword.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

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Originally posted by Henry701

I agree that sitting down and looking at your mistakes isn't something you learn at a film school,film school just makes you see more mistakes. Like one time I read a big book about camera angles and then I watch my old films and noticed that I made so many mistakes that made the film a bit worse.

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Can't you do that without going to film school?

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Originally posted by certified instigator

quote:

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Originally posted by Henry701

I agree that sitting down and looking at your mistakes isn't something you learn at a film school,film school just makes you see more mistakes. Like one time I read a big book about camera angles and then I watch my old films and noticed that I made so many mistakes that made the film a bit worse.

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Can't you do that without going to film school?

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The film school would give you all the material, plus the experience of the teachers and that would help you a lot.

H.A.

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Originally posted by certified instigator

?quote?Originally posted by Henry701

Can't you do that without going to film school?

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Ive reacently gained access to profesional quality filming equipment myself: Cameras, lighting, sound recording studios and ovbiously professional non linear editing softwear. So its just a matter of getting out there in the comunity and seeing whats available to you . Mines free of charge as its a community facility that any one is welcome to use, I also have the help of a former BBC editor which really helps in terms of spotting the mistakes as you say. Persoanally I would advice you to contact your local careers adviser in order to find out whats readily available to you if professional equipment is what your really interested in going to film school for. It sounds like om saying dont go to film school, but thats my own personal opinion. How ever if you want to pay a shit load of money for stuff that you probs alreay know, then well its your money an you do what you want with it. Just that that money could be used towards a budget for getting out there and doing things your way. Cleary.

www.myspace.com/b31_film_productions

For me i have a couple of opposing points of viev. I think that film school can help immensely,

i.e, Aaaaah, thats how they do that,
Well, if i take what theyre doing, i can then expand on that.

What im trying to say is that film school can help but also hinder you. They taught me some stuff (i only did a short, 8 week, but intensive course), but some of the stuff, i never knew about at all.

From being at school 18 years ago i wanted to get into media but never knew how. I had access to cameras etc, but the editing system had all changed, in media studies it was linear (video-video) and now its all done on Avid or Fcp.
I would never have known how to do either of these without doing my course. I got used to FCP and went out and bought a Mac, which id never used before the course. This was on teachers recommendations.

I think I may have made a lot more mistakes if I hadnt have gone, but I would probably still be in the same place too.

Film school holds you back in some ways because you cant really touch on diverse subjects, that may be a bit risque. But thats only a small thing because you can work on that in your spare time. Then use the equipment for it at school when its free.

If id have had the cash years ago i probably would have gone to film school, you can still do your own thing on your own time but it is a good solid foundation. But then again, so are showreels

http://filmind.meetup.com/296/?gj=sj3