FSU Film School

A

Amerikan123

Well-known member
Has everyone heard? Florida State University School Of Motion Picture And Arts is now the #1 Film School in the country.Its also the only private school that pays for your film. They accept 30 people a year, is anyone on here attending it currently? or trying to get into it?
 
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hmmm...i think i've heard of it before. but as for "#1 film school in the country"; i second that opinion. how much film do they pay for? find out the maximum amount of feet they will provide you with. and remember the more feet, the more processing & telecine. but im no film student so i have no idea how the schools work.
 
Amerikan123 said:
Has everyone heard? Florida Southern University School Of Motion Picture And Arts is now the #1 Film School in the country.Its also the only private school that pays for your film. They accept 30 people a year, is anyone on here attending it currently? or trying to get into it?
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Never heard of it. Not sure where you read that, but it sounds like bs.
 
I was at FSU 91-92ish and not in the film program, but took some of the classes.

Its an impressive program and HIGHLY selective. You've got a lot of competition
to get in from both the outside as well as 'crossover' students from FSU's other
media programs. Some do what I did and go FSU with the intent of applying
from within.

For florida residents its the best school for the money. I'd say the only downside...
and its a HUGE one, is the reduction in industry contacts that arent internal to
the school. You're going to have the same strong bonds to your classmate
network, but you're going to have to work extra hard to build up LA/NY contacts.
They do a lot of LA alumni support though.. both officially and unofficially by
grads.

Hehe... its not BS :) Its easily the best unkept secret in film education.
 
Hate to break it to all of you untrusting peoples but i actually learned it from multiple college advisors as im in my senior year of high school
 
Hehe.. the proof is in the number of working pros that are grads.. college advisors
are to an individual, clueless :)

For a 'new' school.. its got a great program and some decent placement. There
is a bit of redundancy with that grad school conservatory program, but altogether,
if you can get in DO IT. You're in Tampa, so you could conceviebly save like
60K compared to USC or Tisch. Spend your summers, minus the one
required FSU summer semester in LA though...
 
Amerikan123 said:
Hate to break it to all of you untrusting peoples but i actually learned it from multiple college advisors as I'm in my senior year of high school
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Of all the film schools out there, this is absolutely, positively, without a single doubt...

...one of them.
 
Ask your advisors on what criteria they call it best. Then do your homework and see if they have their data right. Then decide if the criteria they use are relevant to you. For some people, best = cheapest; for others, best = most successful films made by its graduates. Still others would say best=most networking opportunities. If your advisors know of only one film school, then yes, it's the best they know of. And the worst.
 
i don't know what it is, but i've run into more FSU grads than from any other school lately. they are usually assistant editors i meet working all over town on freelance editing gigs.
 
I have no idea about there film program but I know they have hot Fans and a perty good football team

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AFI or USC have often been considered the best film schools in the country, But i'm sure that FSU has a grate one.
 
As the dean of the FSU Film School, I wish I could say that we are #1. We’re not; no film school can measurably make such a claim. FSU is considered ONE of the top film schools in the country by several reliable sources that provide reasonable measures. Following are a few examples of strong measures: 1) FSU students regularly win Student Oscars and Collegiate Television Academy Awards for their work. In fact, they have won more of these awards in one year than any film school in the nation – total of 7 in 2004. (A fact that is more amazing when you consider that FSU is the smallest of all the top film schools in the country.) Such results provide reasonable measures of program quality based on evaluations made by industry members. 2) Also in 2004, members of The Directors Guild of America reviewed the film programs of approximately 20 top programs from around the country before choosing FSU to recognize for “its distinguished contribution to American culture through the world of film and television.” (This may be where your high school counselor is getting his/her idea that FSU is the #1 film school in the country. Again, we’re not #1, the DGA just chose us as the best for a given year.) 3) We are the only film school that pays for all the productions of undergraduate and graduate film students. The upside: if you’re accepted to the program, essentially all of your production costs are covered. This includes more film stock than a student can reasonably shoot per day, and all the equipment a student needs reserved during all shoot days – no conflict with other students over who gets the dolly, etc. The downside: we can only accept 30 students – that’s all we can afford. With close to 1000 applications each year, needless to say we work very hard to determine which 30 students should be selected for each of our two programs (BFA and MFA degrees). This means, however, that we have applicants who we would love to admit, but for whom we don’t have room. That’s frustrating. The other programs one can reasonably describe as “top” based on strong measures are Columbia University (grad only), NYU, USC, AFI (grad only), and UCLA. Columbia Chicago and University of Texas are on the rise, and so is Chapman University. BTW: There are loads of “for-profit” programs out there that get plenty of press. Be very cautious of these programs. If you’re attending a school that is operating only on the dollars generated from tuition, then you won’t be getting the kind of one-on-one attention from the faculty and staff one needs to receive a quality education in filmmaking. FSU, like NYU, USC, UCLA, etc, is a Carnegie Research I Institution, which basically means to you that the dollars in tuition our university receives from its students cover only a fraction of the cost of the education we provide to our students. Can you imagine a for-profit school paying for all the films of all of their students? We do it so we can provide what we believe is the best film education in the world. Hope this helps. Dean Patterson
 
Thanks for joining in!

I was more than impressed with my time at FSU... you've dedicated a lot of years
into the program and its facilities. I left school altogether, but that was due to
a window that opened in vfx where they needed anyone that knew how to push
a mouse... I also spent some time in a film program at UW:Milwaukee that I can
also credit for a lot of my success. Hehe... If we ever go back to finish what we
started, FSU'd be the place :)

It may be valuable to spend a post even describing how a film program differs
from an actual film school. The extra years of study between most 2 year
programs and targeted 4 year schools may be a deciding factor for someone
considering their choices. Heck, I learned SO much in my Physics of Light and
Color class that directly applied to the craft. The curriculum is truly integrated
throughout the entire credit structure.

Thanks again... now if we could only balance the whole location issue with the
right to work state problems, we could really start something here :)
 
Ack, I wanted to read what the dean wrote but my eyes are bugging out of my head. Kate Turabian must be rolling in her grave.
 
Yep, sorry about the poorly constructed dissertation. Was racing into a meeting and wanted to offer help with a quick response. I got long-winded and sloppy. By the way, Kate Turabin started rolling in her grave long before my frowzy post.:)
 
how did you find dvxuser when this post came up, to join so quick. That is pretty timely and convenient. If you are that tapped in, sign me up
 
Google Alerts sent me the post. I try to keep tuned into the blogsphere so that potential students have accurate info. The old school way of visiting high schools and undergrad programs to find great students just doesn't work anymore. But according to my daughter whose a junior at Texas A&M, I'm hardly tuned in.
 
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