New York Film Academy

I went and checked out one of their open houses a couple years back.

FWIW I'd suggest putting the money into a project of your own.

YMMV.
 
I don't know their program, but I do hate their stupid black NYFA sweatshits, shirts, bags, etc. that they wear all over LA.

It makes me want to punch them in the face.
 
I've met a few students who went there. I tend to notice your can find the following in certain schools:

A) Great faculty, helpful and insightful professors who actually still work, coupled with excellent equipment; students tend to be more motivated.

B) Decent faculty, will help when necessary. Students tend to be less motivated, though the equipment is still stellar, so it helps if you can assemble a good crew.

C) Mediocre faculty, only teaches you abstract ideas at best without any real demonstration or elaboration. Some may say that "learning yourself" is ideal, and it is for some things, but simply placing a person in front of an NLE for their Film 101 class (rather than requiring an actual editing class beforehand) is not a recipe for success. Equipment is outdated, and the few "newer" pieces they have, they are ultra protective of. You can tell where I go! Man, did I feel bad for those who have never seen a timeline before.

Anyway, I can't give a real statement on NYFA. Judging from the fact that they were willing, but not quite able to work well, I'd say they fall in group B. In Summer 2009, they were telling me about a Red One workflow at school, since the school owned one of them. I don't know how the classes are taught, or how connected the students and professors are. Consider your options if you really want to go to a film school.
 
It's pricy, and you're not going to get anything more out of it then if you had just taken that money and networked here and made a film yourself. Save that money and put it towards a project.

Also, it's a for profit program that takes everyone unlike more standard film schools that do some weeding out in the application process. My point is that not everyone should be making films, and I think a standard film school will at least do some filtering and put together a group of peers that can hopefully influence and help each other grow.

Robbie your skills are also pretty advanced for NYFA. You don't need it.
 
I toured two schools, LAFS and NYFA. I thought the tour was so bad at NYFA, and the school so bad, that I was seriously considering asking my dad if he had any openings in his company. It was that bad. When I toured LAFS, it seemed great and I was excited. It ended up being a piece of s**t and I quit, but I know NYFA would have been even worse. A black and white 8mm camera to start? Are you kidding me? That is totally useless, but sure enough that is what they made you use on your first film. Totally ridiculous.

That school is a joke. I would never have considered going there, what a total waste of money. You can get into the film industry without anything invested but time, if you just move to L.A. and start getting on sets. Granted, you may have to support yourself but that is NOT money spent on film, that's money spent on living, no matter what you do.
 
Less than 1% of graduates go on to work in film and there are way to many resources online. Save the money and invest in making your own film. You will learn from the crew and here on DVXuser. Good luck. Cheers
 
NO NO NO. Do not go to NYFA. It is a scam. I know many people who went there who regretted it. The other scam school in LA is Los Angeles Film School. The woman who runs the cinematography program there is younger than some of the students and has no real work film experience at all. It is a mystery how she got to be a film school teacher. One or two of the cinematography teachers are OK but none of them are what they should be. None of them is really qualified to be teaching cinematography -- certainly not for what the school charges, which is a HUGE amount of money.

LAFS will give you a real razzle-dazzle tour and show you all these tours then send you a DVD. You have to ask yourself -- why do they need to sell so hard? USC doesn't have sales people/recruiters -- they have an admissions committee that turns people down if they are not qualified. LAFS takes any idiiot who walks in the door as long as they can get a student loan (which everybody can).
 
Isaac_Brody said:
It's pricy, and you're not going to get anything more out of it then if you had just taken that money and networked here and made a film yourself. Save that money and put it towards a project.

Also, it's a for profit program that takes everyone unlike more standard film schools that do some weeding out in the application process. My point is that not everyone should be making films, and I think a standard film school will at least do some filtering and put together a group of peers that can hopefully influence and help each other grow.
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Very true.

Good schools are hard to get in, but also, being hard to get in is one of the things that makes them so great. I have a couple of friends who did the course in london. The equipment they had access to was an arri 16S and a three open face kit. Most professionals can take up to 50 years of experience to make something decent out of that! :)

Limted time (1 yr) with anybody who pays tuition will lead to a very bland and superficial coverage of film making. Besides, you'll be shooting your shorts in standard 16mm with a crew of unexperienced students. Not a good deal, IMO.
 
I have a friend who went there 15k, he worked on other student's films at Universal studios as part of the curriculum, he never finished his short, he learned about lights, lenses focal lengths, and how to operate a DVX all of that for a swift 15k. He ended up being an extra on call.
 
According to this review I found by a student, Mi-Hyun Park, it should be!

After taking my first program at the New York Film Academy, I wanted to study more about the camera and then I heard how great the 1-Year Cinematography program is. I continued with this school because it was familiar and I liked the hands-on approach.
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I went to a similar school in Florida that also had a "hands-on approach". I learned a thing or two, but mostly it was because I actually picked up a camera and made a movie. I could have done that myself. You could do that yourself.

I don't know how old you are, but going to New York and networking with actors and other aspiring filmmakers might be a great experience. Personally, I would just save my money and make an epic full-length film.
 
I worked at the NYFA In Soho and Union sq in NY for a time as a TA when I had just graduated college. The one thing I will say about the school is that they get you out and shooting from day one. There is in-class instruction, but for the most part they try to get you out and shooting as much as possible. Which is great, when I went to school I learned pretty much everything by leaving the classroom and getting on peoples shoots.

There are some GREAT teachers there, and some pretty meh ones. So it's the luck of the draw. I don't think any of their programs are accredited either. If you're going to pay big money for college, might as well get a degree out of it I think.

Also when I worked there it was all Arri S, and SR for the year long students. They had a 35mm camera as well, but I never pulled that once for a class or student. I'd imagine now they have a few Epics at their disposal.
 
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