FilmMaking Major- Where to go

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dylanpipe

New member
Im a senior in high school and have gotten accepted to a few schools in the north east and am pretty late to realize( my family included) that I can't afford the dream school I wanted, Champlain College, its just so expensive for what it is. But they have a pretty good creative media/film making major which is what I am really interested in and have a passion for. I have options, community college then go there, etc. But what about the Art Institutes? There is one in Boston that has a Digital film making major which looks very appealing but as a "chain college" is it looked upon as a shitty school in the industry? I also haven't thrown out the idea to just live life for one year, get an internship at a local media company and go from there.

Im in Vermont BTW

any input?
 
Emerson and NYU are the best film schools in the northeast. NYU is expensive as shit though and hard to get into
 
Academic credentials mean nothing in the film industry. What matters are your skills and who you rub elbows with. Speaking of that last point, either go LA or NYC - or don't bother.
 
12973040:lIllI said:
Academic credentials mean nothing in the film industry. What matters are your skills and who you rub elbows with. Speaking of that last point, either go LA or NYC - or don't bother.
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I have to partially disagree. If you go to school for film and intend on working in production the most important thing you can do is ensure you're going to a school that advocates hands on experience. College is an allotted four years of your life where you're surrounded by people thirsty for knowledge and experience. Where you're able to experiment, learn and grow as a filmmaker. It's a time to find your voice. Your classmates are your crew and they'll invest their time for free to help you with your projects (assuming you return the favor). Finally you'll be able to explore different departments of filmmaking and figure out what you want to do. You may love grip work, or camera, audio, you could even be cut out to direct. Film school has an undeniably important role in developing skills and making connections, those people around you are the future of film.
 
I went to a community college in Minnesota you've never heard of and got a one year Media Studies & Productions degree. Then I sat through generals for 2 years to get my AA. Now I'm a full time videographer. In my opinion it's not worth getting jerked around for 4 years and racking up thousands in debt just to land an unpaid internship where they don't even trust you enough to log footage.

The name of the school on your diploma isn't as important as the experience you have.
 
12973152:.Max. said:
I have to partially disagree. If you go to school for film and intend on working in production the most important thing you can do is ensure you're going to a school that advocates hands on experience. College is an allotted four years of your life where you're surrounded by people thirsty for knowledge and experience. Where you're able to experiment, learn and grow as a filmmaker. It's a time to find your voice. Your classmates are your crew and they'll invest their time for free to help you with your projects (assuming you return the favor). Finally you'll be able to explore different departments of filmmaking and figure out what you want to do. You may love grip work, or camera, audio, you could even be cut out to direct. Film school has an undeniably important role in developing skills and making connections, those people around you are the future of film.
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I don't disagree, I just think you're missing the point.

Skills ≠ quantitative measure of achievement expressed by your degree.

You don't go to film school because people respect that bullet point on your resume (for 90% of jobs, the major doesn't matter so much as the fact that you have a degree at all). You go to film school to learn skills and network, which is really all that matters anyway.
 
12973407:lIllI said:
I don't disagree, I just think you're missing the point.

Skills ≠ quantitative measure of achievement expressed by your degree.

You don't go to film school because people respect that bullet point on your resume (for 90% of jobs, the major doesn't matter so much as the fact that you have a degree at all). You go to film school to learn skills and network, which is really all that matters anyway.
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Absolutely, it's just unfair to discredit any programs outside of NYU and UCLA.
 
Its very true that going and getting a BFA in Filmmaking is important for the networking aspect as well as learning techniques, but you can not go to college and network on your own but it will be much harder. The name of the game is to get as much experience as possible and as much hands on work that you can so when you reach that internship they trust you with certain jobs and you can begin to work your way up. Now about the college it really doesn't matter where you go (what is true is that some colleges may have better access to gear and connections) its what chances you take while in said college that count. Take as much hands on work as you can get and work on your own to find opportunities in filmmaking. Employers really don't care what college you come from, they care how much experience you have.
 
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These two got ya, decades of experience
 
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