Brian Merlen
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 3,185
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- Age
- 40
- Location
- Stamford CT
- Website
- vestadalux.com
M Most, while I can appreciate education is more then just a simple financial investment (grew up with a teacher as a parental unit), many schools market themselves as such investments, and many students take on 30k plus in debt with such investments based on wage statistics about success rates of such investments and the weak economy giving little other non minimum wage opportunities. My community college had a slogan "Get you there faster". Clearly such marketing isn't derived from the consumer student end, its created by the state and film schools as a marketing tool (in addition to parental pressures for income). If a dense understanding of art and the greatest films of all time is all it takes to excel, then school is even more irrelevant because you can read the same books and watch the same clips without shelling out thousands of dollars every few months to do so. I am lucky to only owe in the tens of thousands, some people I know owe over a hundred thousand because they wanted an Ivy League brand name on their piece of paper and attended outside their state of residency.
I think its important to let people know what they are getting into financially. The first part of my thread at the very least showed him how cheap software can be obtained as a student, so that surely was helpful, and the middle part reminded him of the schools own vast inventory of gear, which can help him avoid needing his own for probably his entire time as a student if he used the labs he has access to effectively. Personally my professors didn't sit around telling us how great the industry is, they talked about all the bad clients, the long hours, the time the director made them work 18 hours without a lunch break and they quit espn. Maybe its because I am in broadcast and not film, but I see my technical knowledge as more of a trade then an art. I know computer ports, how to use a Kayak Grass Valley switcher, took reducation, an emphasis on the technical side of stuff, etc. I am just trying to pay off debt but considering the economy and the fact that entry level positions tend to be unpaid for months on end I think its good to warn people of the bad parts too. You can always make art on your spare time, but working in broadcast (or film) when you start out is a far cry from making art. We answer phones and get coffee for free, we aren't even allowed to use equipment unless we're on staff and unionized at most broadcast firms. Students should be aware of how terrible the market is and how non glorified entry level positions are, otherwise they might as well make a living doing something else and can do film on the side as a hobby, the way most artists simply cannot derive an income based on their artistic goals/talents.
Perhaps the financial issues are no concern to his family, and I shouldn't worry about someone else's stafford loans. These days though I hardly know any students that didn't take on at least some financial debt to get an education and wanting to purchase a super high end system while probably making little to no return on the system as a student is probably not the wisest of financial moves when free school equipment is available to him. The technology progresses so quickly its darn hard to get a return on your gear as a student before the gear is so outdated its not necessarily useful or compatible with the newer gear. Even with two college degrees I am still struggling to pay off my gear with CL jobs that never seem to pay good enough and for my real "job" I get paid 0 while needing to take credits as a graduate simply to qualify for the unpaid internship(s). Not everyone makes art in this industry, especially entry level people in the worst economy in years. I would venture to say if you can find an entry level position where you get to touch more then a phone or a coffee machine you are doing better then most unpaid interns are.
Most of my views are based on broadcast though, so perhaps the film industry is a little better. I like consistency in pay and need consistency in health coverage due to pre existing conditions, so film freelancing isn't my priority unless I can use it to pay my rent and health insurance, which so far I find impossible to do so. I want to have the newest NLE computer just like he does, but truthfully there are far better investments to be had then the best computer of that month, like for one, just keeping your electricity on to use your current NLE gear is a good start.
Both the schools I attended (state schools) are still using SD cameras for most classes excluding a couple HDV Canon's and one DSLR. Finding out what gear his school shoots on, what NLE software they cut on, and either utilizing what he has available for free (actually its not free, its costing him thousands to have access to that gear), or buying a system based on having compatibility with what they use at the school should be the priority. Schools are essentially rental houses that also teach courses, if your going to shell out all that money; try to get your moneys worth and use their gear as much as possible is all I am saying. Truthfully the schools have enough gear so that the poorer students don't need to buy even a laptop or a computer these days, they have labs with literally hundreds of terminals on campus.
I think its important to let people know what they are getting into financially. The first part of my thread at the very least showed him how cheap software can be obtained as a student, so that surely was helpful, and the middle part reminded him of the schools own vast inventory of gear, which can help him avoid needing his own for probably his entire time as a student if he used the labs he has access to effectively. Personally my professors didn't sit around telling us how great the industry is, they talked about all the bad clients, the long hours, the time the director made them work 18 hours without a lunch break and they quit espn. Maybe its because I am in broadcast and not film, but I see my technical knowledge as more of a trade then an art. I know computer ports, how to use a Kayak Grass Valley switcher, took reducation, an emphasis on the technical side of stuff, etc. I am just trying to pay off debt but considering the economy and the fact that entry level positions tend to be unpaid for months on end I think its good to warn people of the bad parts too. You can always make art on your spare time, but working in broadcast (or film) when you start out is a far cry from making art. We answer phones and get coffee for free, we aren't even allowed to use equipment unless we're on staff and unionized at most broadcast firms. Students should be aware of how terrible the market is and how non glorified entry level positions are, otherwise they might as well make a living doing something else and can do film on the side as a hobby, the way most artists simply cannot derive an income based on their artistic goals/talents.
Perhaps the financial issues are no concern to his family, and I shouldn't worry about someone else's stafford loans. These days though I hardly know any students that didn't take on at least some financial debt to get an education and wanting to purchase a super high end system while probably making little to no return on the system as a student is probably not the wisest of financial moves when free school equipment is available to him. The technology progresses so quickly its darn hard to get a return on your gear as a student before the gear is so outdated its not necessarily useful or compatible with the newer gear. Even with two college degrees I am still struggling to pay off my gear with CL jobs that never seem to pay good enough and for my real "job" I get paid 0 while needing to take credits as a graduate simply to qualify for the unpaid internship(s). Not everyone makes art in this industry, especially entry level people in the worst economy in years. I would venture to say if you can find an entry level position where you get to touch more then a phone or a coffee machine you are doing better then most unpaid interns are.
Most of my views are based on broadcast though, so perhaps the film industry is a little better. I like consistency in pay and need consistency in health coverage due to pre existing conditions, so film freelancing isn't my priority unless I can use it to pay my rent and health insurance, which so far I find impossible to do so. I want to have the newest NLE computer just like he does, but truthfully there are far better investments to be had then the best computer of that month, like for one, just keeping your electricity on to use your current NLE gear is a good start.
Both the schools I attended (state schools) are still using SD cameras for most classes excluding a couple HDV Canon's and one DSLR. Finding out what gear his school shoots on, what NLE software they cut on, and either utilizing what he has available for free (actually its not free, its costing him thousands to have access to that gear), or buying a system based on having compatibility with what they use at the school should be the priority. Schools are essentially rental houses that also teach courses, if your going to shell out all that money; try to get your moneys worth and use their gear as much as possible is all I am saying. Truthfully the schools have enough gear so that the poorer students don't need to buy even a laptop or a computer these days, they have labs with literally hundreds of terminals on campus.
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