Hey Garrett,

The type of program you should do really depends on what your goals are.  Different programs have different advantages/disadvantages.

If you go to a shorter program like NYFA of LAFS you will be finished in a year and you can get out there and start working or putting together your own projects right away.  You can (hopefully) start making money sooner, and you don’t have to spend money on tuition/expenses over the course of a full degree program.  These types of programs will get you the technical skills and practical experience so you know how to use the different equipment, but they are pretty light on the theoretical stuff.

If you go to an actual college or university to do a film degree you will have to wait a while before you finish, and it will be a while before you start actually using any equipment.  They will give you a much more intensive theoretical background on film theory, story structure, literature etc.  An advantage here is that there are lots of alumni connections available compared to shorter more technically oriented programs.  Costs are a major concern with this type of program, and the duration will keep you out of the workforce for quite some time.

You need to be clear with yourself what you want to achieve in film, and whether this is really something you want to do because unless it’s something you are really passionate about, there are other professions with more security, better pay, and a lot less stress.  If you’re in it for the money, quite frankly you have a better chance of becoming rich studying business and entrepreneurship.  If you’re not deterred by the ridiculously rigorous work you will inevitably have to do for little to no money at times, then you’ll want to look at these places as options (I have listed just a few, there are of course many many more):

Shorter, more technical schools:
-NYFA (New York Film Academy)
-LAFS (Los Angeles Film School)

Longer, degree programs:
-NYU
-Columbia
-USC
-UCLA
-UofT (Texas)
-FSU (Florida State University)

Another option of course is to just teach yourself by doing it, pick up Robert Rodriguez’s book “Rebel Without a Crew” for inspiration.

There is no easy answer to this unfortunately.  This business more than almost any other actually, is about grinding it out if you want to be a success.  If you are willing to stick it out longer than the other guy, and continually improve yourself, you have a good shot.

All the best,

Emmet Gibney
FilmSchoolStudent.com

Film school is an interesting question for most, especially if you are interested in becoming a part of one of the largest, and most illustrious businesses in the world. Is film school right for me? What school do I attend? Or do I even need to attend film school to be a filmmaker? Well all the answers to these questions are circumstantial to your situation. Paul Thomas Anderson dropped out of NYU film school to go on to be nominated for an Oscar. While Eli Roth used his time at NYU to build relationships and go on to make multi-million dollar films. I can’t answer those questions mentioned earlier no more than you can, nor can I speak on an experience at NYU, but what I can do is speak about experience at an alternate film school and my experiences starting out in this business.

Being Canadian, and more so being from the middle of nowhere Canada I needed to venture to a larger market to encourage the filmmaking habit. After attending a mediocre Canadian film program that I will leave nameless, I ended up in New York at the New York film Academy. The four year more expensive alternate New York film school was not an option for my bank account. So there I was learning hands on filmmaking as the poster says. Now I know Nyfa has had received a bad rap in the past, and I am here to give my opinion (not right nor wrong just a opinion). Now NYFA has things wrong with it like any other school or business. I guess that is the question school or business? It says school in all of there adds and has a course calendar, but don’t be fooled it is run like the cash grabbing business that it is. I’m sure with the emerging times where everyone wants to be a filmmaker the wise owner thought, “Shit this is a great way to make money”. He was absolutely right and money he makes. With that said, there is part of the problem. There is zero screening process to attend other than a bank statement. This leaves your classmates up to chance. You may get a dedicated filmmaker, or just a rich kid who needs an American Visa and wants to fuck off for a couple of years. To be honest with you and whoever is reading this the school is filled with more rich kid fuck-offs than not.

The administration is run very business like as well. It is very hard to get a straight answer for whatever you need when you need something. A lot of people are there for their paycheck and paycheck only. It is a very chaotic place, where you have to have a repoir and personality to benefit or get any of your needs taken care of. Now don’t let me paint this awful picture because I enjoyed NYFA and it has been very beneficial for me. Not all admin are awful. Some are the most helpful people I have met in the city and I have become good friends with many of them. It is this handful of people who make things a pleasant experience and a good place to be. Take into mind though you have to build relationships with people in order to get anything you need. Let’s say it is good training for the real world where you have to sharpen your social skills. This business is all about relationships and ability to Network and NYFA in a backwards kind of way prepares you for that.

The teachers in my opinion are your most useful asset. Like anywhere else some are morons and are there for the paycheck, but others are working professionals who are getting a paycheck between gigs. It is these working people who have helped me and made me a better filmmaker as well as gotten me work. I’m a believer in latching on to people who know more than you, and NYFA once again has a handful of teachers who are the perfect people to learn from.

I have heard complaints about equipment in past reviews and yes once again your not working with top-notch gear. But let me ask you this; are you ready to use a techno crane? The equipment they have are excellent starting tools to show you the basics and to help you learn. Now yes like everything else in life, if there was only more to go around it would be a better place, but I think making do with decent supplies helps you get started and this is what NYFA is; A starting block.

Now like I have said earlier everything is circumstantial. There are some awful things about NYFA and some truly amazing things. It is a gamble when you enroll if you will hit the jackpot or lose all your money. It is what you want to get out of it, if you work hard and are smart, and use the opportunities the city and school gives you like I did then you’ll be fine. But if you’re a floater you can join the rest of the pack and best stay away to let the real serious people work  (trying to help you dedicated people . I can say my experience was not perfect, actually far from it, but it did give me the opportunity to build relationships with professionals, as well as to learn. I would not say it was bad because I still got a lot out of it and it put me in a better position today. I am still far from where I want to be, but coming from the middle of Nowhere I am a lot better off because I attended a film school.

My shoot took place Monday morning at a restaurant on Bleeker and McDougal called “Le Figaro Cafe”.  I was extremely worried the entire time that the manager was going to toss us out of the place at any moment, but we managed to get it done without any real problem.  Although at one point in time the manager was hinting at the idea that I should be giving him some “compensation” for using lights, but I managed to get by without having to pay them anything.  We did stay for a big lunch however.

I had to shoot extremely quickly since I was worried about getting in the restaurant’s way too much so I made sure to have a very organized, and detailed shot list prepared ahead of time.  We arrived at 10:00am, started shooting at 10:20am, and finished at 12:20pm, just in time for a nice lunch (expensive too, $120).  I will get my footage back in digital form tomorrow, so only then will I know if things really turned out the way I had hoped.

So far I have to say that my biggest concern about the school is that I really feel like my tuition is actually more like a contracted agreement to rent equipment only from NYFA, instead of tuition at an actual school.  The equipment is really crappy too, and you can’t take anything out unless it is for your projects.  I’m starting to feel like I’d be better off just buying a bunch of books on film, and spending money to rent the equipment on my own and doing my own tests.  The in class sessions are somewhat useless, but more on that in my next posting.

This film can be made up of several shots, 10-15 is the guideline they have given us, but isn’t set in stone.  We then take these shots and edit them together to make up a short film that is somewhere between 90-120 seconds long.  We still do not get to use sound, but I’m sure we could add music if we wanted to.

I wanted to try use a real location this time, but it was REALLY difficult to get one.  My story takes place in a restaurant, and not in my apartment.  I tried to get this one restaurant secured, but I couldn’t even get a hold of their manager.  I walked in at night when it was quiet, and they told me to come in the next day when the manager would be in.  Then when I arrived the next day they were busy, and told me to come back later when they weren’t so busy.  Then the manager wasn’t in again, so they gave me a card and told me to call the next day.  I called the next day, and they said the best they could do was take a message for the manager to call me back later.  As you might have guessed, I am still waiting for that phone call (and don’t expect to get it).

In the end it was one of my crew members that helped hook me up with a location.  Ironically enough he was also one of my crew who got drunk on my last shoot, so in a small way he managed to redeem himself.  Although not fully.   Now I need to find three actors (2 guys and a girl) by Monday morning.

My advice to you all, HAVE NO SHAME when trying to get locations.  DO NOT BE SHY, or you will end up shooting all of your films in your apartment or a friends apartment.  NETWORK as much as you can, MEET AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE so that you can call in favours when needed.  You get very little time to do your pre-production for your films (just so you know, pre-production is all the preparations that go on BEFORE you actually start shooting or production, in case you didn’t already know).  Make sure you have locations and actors ready to go BEFORE YOU NEED THEM, not when you need them.  Have a huge list of back-ups too, that way if (when) something goes wrong, you will be good to go.

After production is finished I’ll let you all know how it went, and I’ll post links to the film when it is complete as well.

Video#1

Video#2

We ran into some problems when we were checking out our equipment, we had to trade in our camera twice because they had something wrong with their lenses.  Then when we began shooting the battery they gave us started to lose power in the middle of our first take.  Luckily we just happened to be shooting in the school so we could change it, otherwise we would have been pretty much screwed.  At the end of my team members shot, we weren’t even fully sure if we got the entire shot because we ran out of film as a result of losing a couple takes (because of the battery running out).  We’re hoping that we got the whole shot.

Next we went to my place and dropped off the equipment, then headed out for dinner since my shot needed it to be dark out for the lighting to be right in my apartment.  We finished dinner just before 6:00pm, and started to head back to my apartment, but since it was early and one of the other guys lived nearby I asked if they would mind coming back at 8:00pm instead so I could take a quick nap before we shot my film.  After I took a nap I called the guys to see if they were coming over, but they said they were gonna finish off some beers they had started before they came back.  They ended up coming back at 8:45pm… drunk.

Needless to say they weren’t in the best shape when they got to my place.   I had already set up all the lights since they were 45 minutes late, and had set up the camera and practiced the shot.  After numerous rehearsals with my semi-drunk cameraman, I decided I would shoot the first shot myself to make sure I got it.  I think I got it the first time, so hopefully it will come out alright, but I won’t know until next week when we get the footage back.  After that I let the cameraman do it.

So, it was definitely an interesting night, and should tell you one of the things you need to keep an eye out for if you decide to go to film school.  Watch out for moron classmates.  I think the first real warning sign was when they started talking about getting stoned for the shoot tomorrow, and how one of the guys was going to hook us up with someone who could get us “blow”.  I think it was definitely a good choice to take over and do things myself to make sure I got what I wanted by doing the lights myself, and shooting it myself too.  All I had to rely on was my semi-drunk actor, who did a good enough job.

After lunch we came back to the SOHO location (where we will be spending the majority of our time this year) for our first two classes, screenwriting and directing. Each class was 2 hrs 30 mins, and were pretty decent introductions to the course, but the same sort of stuff was echoed to us as before (inspirational stuff, common sense tips etc). After these classes we had yet another orientation at 6:00pm, finishing at about 6:45pm.

So far I have a pretty good impression from the school, but after completing an undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta, I got the impression that things here are not quite as structured or organized as my previous program, I still don’t know what I am expected to figure out for myself for my first shoot (which is Saturday September 23rd, 2006). However, I think this could be a good thing in an industry where things are so competitive and you need to make things happen for yourself. If you come here, and you feel a little overwhelmed, or confused as to what is expected of you, don’t feel like you are on your own.

Well I guess the next time you hear from me I’ll be in New York City, going to film school. I’ll let you all know how it turns out.