The Evergreen State College

"This is a very interdisciplinary film and video making program. There's no guarantee you'll get into the film classes you want to, so you are taking somewhat of a gamble by going there without an idea of who the professors are and what kind of programs they offer (mostly experimental and avant garde forms of media making)--to see if they will match with your interests. My freshmen year I was able to take some photography classes that were good and video production classes that were very basic. I took it upon myself to take Super-8 filmmaking classes at a local non-profit called the Olympia Film Ranch that I highly recommend (and classes are beyond cheap, almost free). There is a lot of cool stuff going on in the community and I was able to screen my short films around town at different festivals and screenings. The town as a whole has a very punk rock and DIY aesthetic. My sophomore year I was accepted into the year-long film/videomaking intensive program, Mediaworks. It's like experimental/underground film school in ONE jam-packed school year. Mediaworks is HIGHLY recommended, but you have to be a junior or a senior (which is silly since it teaches you EVERYTHING), submit an essay about yourself and a research paper about a film that you like. Mediaworks is a great program. This is a school that does not teach 35mm filmmaking though. The most you can do is so hand drawn and scratch animation on 35mm film. My Junior year I did independent studies in filmmaking and if you want class-like structure to your independent studies in filmmaking, you can take SOS which is where you actually meet with other filmmakers to get feedback and from a professor and peers. I also took a screenwriting class where we turned our very short screenplays into very short films. This was an enjoyable class as well. I took a summer long experimental animation program that was truly amazing. Evergreen is a great place to go if you want to work with animation. My senior year I did a film senior thesis which would have worked better had I been more disciplined. If you think the film professors at TESC seem like people you would want to learn about filmmaking from, then go for it. If you want to make Hollywood films, this isn't exactly the place for you, but you may be able to make it work as long as you plan to leave Olympia after you graduate. A lot of people think going to a non-traditional school can be bad for your future, but with a BA from Evergreen, I was able to get into 6 different film MFA graduate school programs and get lots of good scholarships/grant/aid packages."