Film school graduates, I need your input.

emretufekci

emretufekci

Well-known member
I have a 16 year old intern for a couple months that I will be training in depth about cinematography, as we speak he juggling our Cookes and learning how to set up our Alexa. But there is a questions I cannot answer to that he is asking: "Should I go to film school?". I started into this business by luck, I got picked by the #1 documentary cameraman in Europe and travelled the world with him for 7 years. He mentored me and taught me everything he knew. Then I moved to LA to work on films and TV shows...And finally stated my own company here in DC.

But I have no real experience to be able to compare how my career would have been if I had gone to film school or what it offers.

I asked a few people and got interesting answers like: If you want to make movies go to UCLA, if you want to make money from movies go to USC.

So I ask you Film school graduates, knowing what you know now what would you recommend to a 16 year old who want to go to film school (from his own pocket)?

Not looking to start a school vs no-school battle. Looking for constructive input. :)

Thanks for your time
 
We had a student go down to Full Sail in Florida for their new Bachelor's degree. He was a good student when he was here, making good projects with our equipment. He went down there for 21 months and graduated. When he would stop up to talk to us, it was clear he learned a huge pile of information that we could have never begun to teach him. HUGE pile. The bad part was that he graduated right when the industry took a huge slump and it was really hard to find a job in film or TV production anywhere in the USA.

So I guess there can be a huge amount of info to be gained by going to a good school, but it also cost our student somewhere above $70,000 to get there. We have another student going to USC right now, she loves it but won't graduate for another year. Maybe in a year I can remember to update this with how successful she becomes straight out of school. We have another student who just graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor's in Marketing coming from our 2 year production degree. She had a few jobs lined up before graduating and makes a pretty decent living already for the area that she is in. Not sure what her final ambition really is, but she is pretty driven.

I guess the short of all this is, it depends. For some people it will be great, for others not so much. The advantage of a diploma can be big when trying to work for other people. And if hollywood is the final ambition, you may not be able to get itno the regular gigs without being in the union and having the apprenticeship behind you. The diploma might help there. I'm not going to lie, there will be a large amount of what I consider needless BS required to get a degree. A certificate from a place like Full Sail might be a better choice for some people, still a hefty expense, but might be worth it to provide a well rounded production person and may open doors to specialist things like animation, etc.
 
I think in modern times...you can answer a question with a question. Do you plan on being a business owner or freelance artist for any period of time....or would you rather work for a larger more established company out of the gate?

You could also explain that being a business owner or freelance artist isn't the end all choice. You "can" use your work and experience to get a job for a much larger company down the road. Its a great way to develop your skills and reel.

If they plan on jumping right in to a significantly larger company roll and have not developed a name, roll, and experience...then film school may be the better method. It depends on the person and the level of ingenuity of their ideas.

For me, I started a company....was very successful for a nearly a decade, then got absorbed by a larger company than mine. Now I work a great position for the company I would have chosen to work for...and they needed someone with "ownership" to all levels of the job.

I was actually a Jazz major in school. Not film though I was working with it back then for my own personal projects.

Just one perspective. There are many roads to success. This was just a method that worked for me.
 
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It's tough question. In one way film school was a waste for me as most knowledge I have came from reading books and forums and watching movies while everyone else was partying. I'm a non-drinker (strongly against alcohol) and I happened to have a bunch of people in my year that wanted to party more than to make films. Not exactly what I expected since everyone told me film school is great for meeting "people just like you". So my experience is really down to bad luck as well. The senior and junior classes was the complete opposite if my year.

But two things was great in film school:

1. Mentorship. I had a wonderful teacher that really took me under his wing and I learned more about myself and seeing things from different perspectives and was able to apply that to filmmaking. One example: We edited a 5 min short for 3 months, we alway ended up along the first cut but he had me cut it as long as possible, as short as possible, without sound, without picture, in reverse. What better way to get rid of tunnel vision? Haha...

2. Time to actually make films as a director, DP or whatever hands on. You're driving the car instead of sitting in the back seat of a pro driver taking notes.

But I had my fair share of "bad luck" in actual productions too as an intern and assistant. So it really comes down to what he wants to do and what environment he likes. Nothing beats real productions and getting into the mix with pros, but film school can really be relaxing and allow you to focus and really learn.

If I started over today and wanted to be a DP I would skip film school and put the money into a good beginners camera and a few decent lenses and some lights and make my own short films (for experimenting) and work on others' projects to try to create what someone else wants. Just get as much time behind the lens a possible and mix that with being on sets and build a network there.
 
I think it's important to separate cause and effect. It's very easy for a film professor like Richard Walter to put on his book: "Students of Richard Walter have done X, Y, and Z," as if he and the UCLA film program are the reason for the students' success. But of course talented people interested in film are likely to stop through USC or UCLA film school, whether or not it did them any good. And on the flipside, think of how many successful people in film never went--or, like Spielberg, were rejected!

I went to UCLA, not as a film student, and took several classes in the film department. In the introductory screenwriting class, to an audience of several hundred, the professor said flat-out: Most people who come to UCLA film school will not end up working in film.

Of my personal friends from UCLA who fifteen years later are actually working in film, one was a film school reject and one was a psych major who never applied to the film school. They both just had the personal passion to make it their career. And I think both would tell you that the film school is more of a fantasy camp for kids who think they will graduate to become Coppola.

In sum: I don't think it hurts anybody, aside from the $$ and years invested. But I don't think it's what makes anybody, either.
 
I originally planned to go to FSU in Florida for their film program, yet never got considered because my high school never sent my transcripts. So I was just out of high school and only accepted into one other college. I did take 4 years of TV production in high school however and dedicated a lot of time self teaching and studying (especially in my senior year, I spent almost ever lunch period and actually skipped classes to study film). I ended up going to school for a little bit trying other things as my parent's wanted me to get a degree and have something as a back up plan but I tried getting my AA and even tried an EMT program. Trhough this time period I also started practing photography since it wasn't to far of a jump from cinematography and what I learned could play a role in both of those industries.

I ended up dropping out (Not before signing up for beauty school for one day then dropping out to get my money back and be a beauty school dropout) and taking a job at a car dealership as their in house photographer. I have been there for almost a year and a half now but will be leaving soon as I start to freelance full time (mostly in photography but that's because there is little video work compared to photography work in my area, however I am debating on moving to another state to get closer to places that have more work in the industry). Over the past year I have attended a few workshops and been shooting constantly to get actual hand on experince to go with all the theory & "Book knowledge" I gained over the past few years, and while I know I still have a lot to learn I feel confident saying that my work is better than a lot of the people I compete with (but there are still those who are better than me for sure) but as a 21 year old I wont complain.

If they are self motivated, and really want to work in the industry and are willing to put in the tons of hard work, then no I don't work film school is worth it. For the money they save they can buy a cheap camera and lights to practice with, or work on other film sets and learn from there. The main thing I feel like i missed out on from film school was a lot of networking but I have still been able to network with others, I just have to go out of my way more to do it. I've shot a few films as the DP for film school grads and worked on a few student films and that has helped a lot.

So in the end I know for me film school was not worth it, and if they are self motivated and willing to put in the tons of hours of hard work with a little luck (which you wont get from film school anyways) he should be fine. I mean I still have a lot to go but I am currently in the journey of the no film school route and I am much happier that I chose that route.
 
No, don't go to film school. I think it means next to nothing to employers. It's also inefficient. The learning-per-dollar and learning-per-hour is much less than just getting out there, making stuff, reading books, watching how-to videos, and building relationships.
 
combatentropy said:
No, don't go to film school. I think it means next to nothing to employers. It's also inefficient. The learning-per-dollar and learning-per-hour is much less than just getting out there, making stuff, reading books, watching how-to videos, and building relationships.
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While I find this to be completely true - the opposite way 'can' work as intended.

I grew up around Michael Mann as he is close with my family, and his path was one of SERIOUS education PRIOR to venturing in. He did both New York and London for both film school programs. That's a lot of years invested.
And while he's pretty much a 'genious', I think maybe he might not have been if not for that huge immersion in formal study before hand, because the industry can have a way of pulling you off of your path if your learning has to come from being on that path.

That said - I think it is also of huge importance to identify what ASPECT of film making you want to be involved in because it has become SO advanced and complex. You could spend a whole career just doing CGI, or lighting. Heck PRODUCERS are essential but their job is so different most of the time from directors and DPs.

Dp and Director are paths that I suspect most benefit from Film School. The incredibly complex world of modern grip and rigging seems to be better served by skills you get at a trade school.

When we look under the hood of who actually gets paid to work on films year after year after year, it's mostly people with the tough craft skills.
 
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