Yesterday I decided to withdraw from the NYFA. I came to the realization that anything I can learn here, I can learn on my own with books, and doing my own shooting back home. There are a few things that the NYFA program offers you that you will have trouble getting on your own.
1: An environment where you are surrounded by other filmmakers, even though the majority of them are extremely amateur
2: A structured program that will force you to actually go out and make some films
3: Access to some actors, even though they say that they will not excuse actors from class for student films
You can get these things without NYFA, if you are willing to really get involved back home. Any decent sized city is going to have some sort of local film scene you can get involved in. So get involved in it. If you need a structured program to make you actually do some work, then chances are you don’t have the drive required to break into this industry. Getting access to talented actors is probably the best thing that NYFA and New York City in general has to offer filmmakers.
If you know absolutely nothing about film, I would consider taking an 8 week film workshop here, but not the 1yr filmmaking program. Unless you just want to come to NYC and have a good time for a year, but I am here to learn, and quickly. I don’t have the time to waste hanging around having a good time. I wanted to come here to get something that I couldn’t get back home. After being here for 3 weeks I realized that there isn’t really anything I can get here that I can’t get back home, and for a year that would end up costing close to $50,000 US, I just can’t justify it.
I’m disappointed that I didn’t end up getting what I was expecting to get out of the program, but if I was to take something home from this it would be that I now know what I need to go home and learn, and I know that it really isn’t as hard as I thought it would be to learn all this stuff. In fact I think it is safe to say that I was the most knowledgable person in my class, and maybe that is why the program just wasn’t worth it for me.
I will continue updating the site with news about what I’m learning back home, and if I end up going to film festivals or anything like that I will let you know how it goes. Also, I will try to get my footage from last weekend’s shoot so you can see what it looks like. Thanks for reading.
Did they refund part of your money? What do your parents think of your decision. Were you committed to a lease on your apartment? If so, were you able to get out of it?
I’ve had the idea of going to the NYFA in the back of my mind for a while, and I appreciate you sharing your experience, albeit brief. btw, about how much does the 8 week film program cost?
Left by jb on October 11th, 2006
Hey, came via your DV Guru comment (10 reasons…). Sounds like it was a hard choice, but will probably pay off in the long run.
I decided to make the jump to video production after 10 years in design & multimedia. I sure learned a lot about the business side of things, as well as being creative on demand - things I didn’t learn in art school. Good luck to you!
Left by Allan W. on October 16th, 2006
hai …im also looking for filmaking …im from india …im considering one year filmaqking course plz do advice me in this aspect and how abt the classes at lafilm school and so …how the living costs come around at la universalstudious nyfa and will be grtting time to work as a partimer …tc
Left by shashank on April 14th, 2008