Back to Education - or plunder forth?

Ki-Ki

Ki-Ki

Veteran
Left College with no qualifications aged 18.

Got some advice from a producer when I was a teenager, to spend my cash on a camera and learn the trade by hand instead of film school. It's the advice I followed. But now I'm not so sure. Almost 22, can't attend Uni. Would need to go back to College for two years. Then to Uni for three years. Which will allow me to get opportunities on the film ladder. I'd be 26. Even if I for some miracle didn't have to attend college, that's three years. Is it worth going back to education to try and get on the ladder?
 
It's unlikely schooling will directly help you develop a film career, but it will give you more opportunities for jobs outside of that. Which you'll need, since even media employers like to see a reasonable work history. And if you ever decide to pursue a different field for any reason, either you change your mind or can't find work, you'll be screwed if you don't bother getting some kind of education. Life working in Wal Mart isn't a good goal. I don't want to sound like an ass here, but my professional development took a lot longer than it should have due to lack of bluntness. An associate's degree barely gets you anywhere, a high school diploma gets you washing the dishes. You can never have too many certificates.

Even in the film side of things, education gives you opportunities for higher end jobs without the same experience you would need otherwise, and the potential for internship connections and contacts within your school that you wouldn't have had otherwise. I don't know what the financial aid situation is on your side of the world, but I would think you're in the perfect position for subsidized education. If you wait you may not have time later.

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Another thought: don't think of it as school or work. Both is entirely possible, especially with the lower division colleges. Less so at Uni but still doable.
 
You can never go wrong when expanding your knowledge base about the world, and college is a great place for that.

Dillon
 
If you've already been to college, then you will have already used up a chunk of your funding - so even if the LA pay for college, nothing left for uni leaving you to pay full cost - and that is really expensive.

I'm surprised you can't find a uni who will take you as a mature student? Often they will give your credit for what you will have learned working - AND you will be older than their under-grads. However - they also need to think you are a good risk. Dropping out of college they view as VERY bad, unless it was for a great reason like somebody gave your work. That's usually positive.

Why do you want a degree? Keep in mind 3 years uni is essentially self study, with only a few hours a week of classes with tutors. They are facilitators - offering you the chance to work on your own. Paying umpteen grand a year seems to be difficult. You sound as if you are not a typical uni student.

Education does NOT put you on a higher rung of the ladder. It allows you to perhaps choose the best ladder, and may introduce you to the people who own these ladders. Nothing more is guaranteed - especially in media where there are so many graduates with no work already!
 
With the above reply, which essentially is sound, I'd like to point out that the information only applies to working in film. It does not apply to any other industry, including some related media services. I don't recommend a film degree unless you're pretty sure on its use.
 
With College over here it's free to go to. You just have to have the right qualifications from (Highschool? We call it GCSE exams from Comprehensive School) in order to get into a certain level of college degree, and if not, they do an entry level course which takes a further year. It's when you hit Uni it costs, and it costs tonnes.

I'd want the Uni qualification, naturally for a qualification - but when you complete Uni here in film, they put you no the base of the career ladder. Give you an option into an area of media. Friends who are just leaving now are getting trainee assistant producer jobs at the BBC, others on Doctor Who. Then others, who will go back to mc donalds perhaps.

It's just a massive chunk of my life, and perhaps in the time it takes me to get into education and come out the other side I might have been able to establish a life for myself already in the industry by going Indie and trying to get noticed? I'm not sure if there are -any- success stories, behind the camera, about people who tried to go down an alternative route than education to make it into media.

I can't comprehend how much any advice & feedback in your replies helps, so thank you. I would really appreciate a variety of opinions.

The problem is when I went to College I ended up telling the tutor how to use the editing software, and coming top of the class for rushing 5 hours of nocturnal work. It shouldn't be like that. I should have been learning things. I went to two colleges before deciding to quit it all together.
 
While you're welcoming opinions from this side of the pond, I wonder if our different systems/levels of education (your Comp/College/Uni, our High School/ College/Grad School) could make giving advice even more difficult in what is ultimately, a very personal choice.

As Dillon said, college is a great place for getting both a broad look at the world of subjects, but also for specializing in the area of choice. But then again, we don't exit with "qualifications", which I'm guessing is different from a "major" here? Or not?

But if you're giving a College tutor advice, how different would Uni be? Is the level of teaching/learning that much higher that you wouldn't be stagnating there?

And as Cassius said, here, internships (and the relationships they establish) are a valuable part of the higher education process. Are internships offered there?

Lastly, what sort of program would you enter, what sort of qualification would you get, with what sort of specialization/career track in mind.
Are you willing to be a small fish in a big pond, gradually working your way up? Or would you ultimate goal be better served by trying to do it on your own?
Only you can answer those questions. Best of luck.
 
One of the Universities here runs a summer course in Steadicam. It goes for about 2 weeks.
In that time you are expected to learn the basics of a very specialized skill... how far you take
it is up to you. That goes to show that some skills in the film industry are more about experience and
practice than classroom learning. Practice may mean several months or even years developing one
particular set of skills. But as far as qualifications in the film industry.... it never hurts to have some,
I just think is better to focus on experience, and developing your skills through working in real projects,
not student projects.
 
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