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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

New York Film Academy- help

I started as a PA. I beleive in market value, in most fields.
the film industry is all about market value. but i studied film too. and i swear to god... i hardly ever learnt anything from school. all i know is through self research, hardwork and all the gigs ive worked at... ive gone from a production assistant to a 5-10 million dollar film producer (produce that much for a film). worked for 16 different companies to get to where i am. school never really taught me more than 2% of it. (i didnt study at nyfa though)

I'd say go be a PA or get some job at a studio and make enough money in those 4 years... by your 5th year... you'd have enough to make a feature film from your savings + known lots of people and made lots of friends from the industry + learnt a lot from the industry.

I would only reccommend film schools.. for visual effects (but you HAVE to work at a post production company too.. be a freggin janitor... whatever.. do it for free) for that line of filmmaking... and i would also rec. film schools for those guys who just graduated from highschool and in the summer vacation.. they didnt even decide what to study yet.. and it just hit em.. ahhh.. ill do film.. it sounds like fun. nyfa is for those guys... guys who don't know jack about the industry or have never held a prosumer camera before.

vfs.. seems like a better school for an overall learning experience... this is coming from a man who got the NYFA to his country and has a 49% share value of it. If all you want to do is film.. and hands on film... NYFA is not a bad school for that.. you get alotta hands on.you shoot on 16mm cameras from the first week.. and you get to shoot from the first day. That's the only good thing about it.. they beleive in practice more than theory.. they are both there.. but it's practice and critique that makes you perfect.
________
IPOD GAMES
 
Learn something other than film making. You aren't going to make money directing out of the gate. ($3m from the US governement?! Sign me up! ;)) Get a degree where you can earn the money to make your film. Go to college and meet other people. Your connections will be how you get your work. Your demoreel, degree and everything is secondary to having a friend in a position to make a difference.

College is a great time though to be able to take out the loans to not work and focus on your craft. If you go to school and you don't have time to make films. Or you are working part time, forget it you're wasting your money.

You're paying $400 every time you show up for a class. You aren't going to make that back working 10 hours at McD's. Put all of your energy towards school. Take out the loans. Do the work. Make friends with other smart people. DON'T COMMUTE. Live on campus. I saw so many classmates who both worked and lived 30 minutes from school. If you aren't on campus all the time earning face time with your class mates they aren't going to be the one they think of when they start crewing. The same goes for transportation. GET A CAR. Or at the very least be ready and willing to do whatever it takes to show up. If you can't make it to the set you aren't going to get experience. You're spending a LOT of money for your education, saving a few bucks will waste thousands.

You're going to do as well or slightly better than your peers. Try very hard to get accepted to someplace where everyone else is equally motivated. You'll feed off of eachother and push eachother much further than any teacher.

The quickest way to learn the right way to make a movie is to do it the wrong way. No class will teach you as much as showing up to a shoot unprepared.

But HAVE A BACKUP PLAN. You can be all "hardcore" and focused on directing. But when you have to pay rent and you're working minimum wage you're going to be wishing you had even an office job paying $17 an hour to finance your shorts.
 
sky1walker said:
basically, i am working on the (TV) industry as a editor and director for drama. its just that if i have a degree in filmmaking (from USA) the government would give me a grant for $3-10 million to make a feature.
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NYFA is not an accredited American university. An NYFA "degree" is just a piece of paper that NYFA gives you. It means nothing and has no standing in the American educational system.

Since it sounds like you already have substantial experience, your best course might be applying to the American Film Institute graduate program for directing. Beyond that, there are many university MFA programs -- UCLA, USC, NYU and Columbia are probably the most prestigious, but there are many others if what you need is to return to your native country with a [real] degree.

If you don't already have an undergraduate degree from your own country, or you don't have 2-3 years to go to school and the money to pay for it, you might want to look at a non-degree "certificate" program from some place like NYU. Maybe that would satisfy your government.
 
learn something other than filmmaking for your undergrad and then if you really want to go to school for film - do AFI. Stay away from NYFA - waste of money if there ever was one...I went and learned more in my first PA job after the schooling.
 
often times i come across titles like Jon Fauer,ASC. ASC is American Society of Cinematographers right? how do i obtain the title ASC ? do i have to be a american citizen to be ASC? i know ASC is not about directing, i just want to know more about my options.
 
karapetkov said:
Most of the Greatest Film Directors in history never went to film school...
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This is untrue...

Scorsese, Stone, Spike Lee, Joel Cohen, Brian Graizer, Richard Kelly, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Ang Lee, Ryan Fleck, Francis ford Coppola, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Eric Roth, Paul Schrader, M. Night....
 
Adrian Correia said:
ldo AFI. Stay away from NYFA - waste of money if there ever was one...
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Especially if your country wants you to have a degree... as stated before, the NYFA isn't really an accredited institution. It sounds like you may be good for grad school, and AFI, NYU, Columbia are all great choices.
 
To school or not to school...

To school or not to school...

I enjoyed film school (Cal State Long Beach)even though I worked 35- 40 hours to support my family(not recommended). My teacher taught Spielberg. Rather , Spielberg taught him. Spielberg never showed up for class. He just wanted to make films.
The greatest piece of advice I never took was from Mr. Prebula in
Theatrical Film Symposium. He worked for the studio and we watched great movies:)(Chucky1 and the director answered questions on stage afterwards.)
Mr. Prebula said, the fastest way into directing a film, was to get a accounting degree and a minor in film(or a double major perhaps). Then go work for the studio. Good luck.
 
Ryan Patch said:
This is untrue...

Scorsese, Stone, Spike Lee, Joel Cohen, Brian Graizer, Richard Kelly, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Ang Lee, Ryan Fleck, Francis ford Coppola, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Eric Roth, Paul Schrader, M. Night....
Click to expand...

one of the reasons i want to go to film school is because i read Steven Spielbergs, george lucas and francis ford coppolas biography. they all went to film school.i want to direct movies for the next 50 years or so, i guess learning how hollywood makes film would be a stepping stone.
 
sky1walker said:
one of the reasons i want to go to film school is because i read Steven Spielbergs, george lucas and francis ford coppolas biography. they all went to film school.i want to direct movies for the next 50 years or so, i guess learning how hollywood makes film would be a stepping stone.
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Here's the thing, though. They went to film school at a time when going to film school was the only way to get film experience. Film stock was expensive, developing it was expensive and there's no way they could afford to buy a flatbed Moviola to do their editing. And no one was writing books because they liked to keep the "magic" and mystique of the industry. Film school in those days made sense because that was the only way to get hands-on experience and get some semblance of a demo reel together.

But today you don't need any of that. A couple thousand dollars and you've got an HD camera and a Final Cut Pro system to cut the footage on. There are hundreds of books available with next-day shipping on Amazon.com, or you can walk into any Borders or Barnes&Noble and browse an entire wall full of them. Professional filmmakers, artists, and technicians have websites, forums, and blogs available to you, in most cases free of charge, and damn near every movie out there has a running commentary by the filmmakers so you can get contextual anecdotes and advice straight from the movies you love. IMO, it does not make any sense to go to film school in this day and age.
 
Ryan Patch said:
This is untrue...

Scorsese, Stone, Spike Lee, Joel Cohen, Brian Graizer, Richard Kelly, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Ang Lee, Ryan Fleck, Francis ford Coppola, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Eric Roth, Paul Schrader, M. Night....
Click to expand...

These are all great, but not the greatest, IMHO. Except for Coppola, Scorsese and Stone.

Lucas is (was) good, not great.

M. Night - not yet... but there's something there.

----

Hitchcock, Spielberg, Gibson, Kubrick, Bertolucci, Wyler, John Ford, Truffaut...

Tarkovsky went to film school but when he graduated, he said in an interview - "I learned nothing in this institution"... then the quote goes that he learned everything he knows by being an assistant to another great Russian filmmaker, whose name I unfortunately forgot... wait... imdb?... no... wiki?... yeah - Michail Romm - tutor of Tarkovsky, the brothers Andrey Konchalovski and Nikita Michalkov, and couple of other naughty boys.

Luis Bunuel - no.

Kurosawa - zilch.

Antonioni - mm..yeah.

Fellini - nein.

Bergman - sorry.

Peckinpah - check.

David Lean - zero.

Karapetkov -.... who the f**k is Karapetkov? :shiftyph34r:

-----

Did I miss anyone? :biggrin:
 
DorkmanScott said:
Film school in those days made sense because that was the only way to get hands-on experience and get some semblance of a demo reel together.

But today you don't need any of that. A couple thousand dollars and you've got an HD camera and a Final Cut Pro system to cut the footage on. There are hundreds of books available with next-day shipping on Amazon.com, or you can walk into any Borders or Barnes&Noble and browse an entire wall full of them. Professional filmmakers, artists, and technicians have websites, forums, and blogs available to you, in most cases free of charge, and damn near every movie out there has a running commentary by the filmmakers so you can get contextual anecdotes and advice straight from the movies you love. IMO, it does not make any sense to go to film school in this day and age.
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I agree in a sense. This is going to sound brutal, but DVXUser has a ton of people with all the tools they need, and most clips posted arent anything special.

People keep saying "skills are the only thing that matter" in this thread. That may very well be true short term to get things done. But if you want to step up to the directors chair or writing, know-how skills wont count for much ultimately (note, im stressing the word ultimately). The only thing that truly counts is your ability to conceptualize and think outside of what is technically possible and the ability to socialize and handle people. Of-course knowing all the technical stuff is important so that you can manage teams and know how to accomplish certain things to tell your story. But by no means is it the most important thing. If you are stuck in the technical wonderland of filmmaking, youd need to learn to discard that as primary mode of thought all together when working above the line.

If your going to go get an tertiary education, make sure its in theory and writing, and conceptualizing and that sort of stuff. Because you just cant get that from anyone else.. No one has the patience or gives a damn to "Develop your mind" besides teachers at a university or learning place. Forums and books would be more than happy to dispense technical know hows. So make sure your spending the big bucks on learning the rare things. Not the common things. If that makes sense. I also believe, your education will be worth little if you aren't milking it to the bullshit. Ask your teachers about everything, organize students groups for extra curricular projects, ask your teachers for connections, work experience.. just use the hell out of it. So if you do consider a university or equivalent education. Make sure you do all those things.

Of-course you don't need to go to university, but at the same time dont think that learning how to make films is the answer to making films. Its ultimately not. Immerse yourself in reading literary works, philosophy, visit art galleries, follow the news alot, surround yourself with quirky people. Oh and get to know successful people. All these things are key. 101 stuff. Forget the gear. The technical stuff will be on a need to learn basis if anything. And ofcourse, experience. Find a mentor.. work around people you look up to. Thats half of the equation.
 
acehole said:
Immerse yourself in reading literary works, philosophy, visit art galleries, follow the news alot, surround yourself with quirky people.
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i've read a few books about filmmaking too.

1. film scheduling- RALPH S. SINGLETON
2. High Definition postproduction- STEVEN E. BROWNE
3. The Guerilla film makers handbook- chris jones & genevieve jolliffe

and i read blogs like HD4ID,Fresh dv,creative cow everyday and occasionally read American Cinematographer about how to light a scene.
 
Acehole, I agree. Sky1walker, filmmaking books are good, but what ace is talking about is more like...

Hero with a thousand faces - campbell
The Watchmen - miller
Anything by Dostoevsky
Anything by Dennis Johnson (so good)
Aristotle (esp. poetics if you want to write)
heart of darkness - conrad

My brain is running dry now, but you get the idea.

Also, as far as technical books, check out "Rebel without a crew" - rodruigez, and "what they don't teach you in film school".
 
I say if you have the means and the chance to attend a film school, then do it. It appears to me that most people who get a BA in Film production end up working in the biz somehow. It certainly isn't a guaranteed entry, but I'd say it would keep you on track if anything.

You can argue about not going to film schools all day long; we've all heard of the legendary Tarantino/Spielbergs who never went to film school; well that also is a minuscule amount of people in the industry. On the flip side, I'm betting there are a lot more people who tried the same thing yet became nothing after they spent every last dime to make their dream movie; would kind of suck to be that guy rather than the guy who spent that money on an education.

My point is that you can go the rebellious-digital age-guerrilla route if you want, but it COULD be a much more lucrative rout to just go to school, have fun, and learn as much as you can before you get dumped into the real world. Of course, if you are already surrounded by experienced people and are in a good environment for making movies, then you might have a better shot at the non school rout. Plus gotta take into account that some people simply have more natural talent. Others may need to unlock that creativity in a film school environment. Just depends really on the individual. I personally feel that I could learn a lot in a film school environment; clearly others feel they don't need that and thats perfectly fine. Basically, I'd say go with what YOU feel you need to do.

And for choices; I chose USC and Chapman..I will find out USC in April. Yes I am losing sleep. That application was one of the hardest thing's I've ever done since I tend to over analyze everything; "Favorite movie of all time: *is this a trick quesiton?? :usd: Anyhoot.
 
AHHH I KNOW WAHT YOU MEAN, what was your favorite movie? I put Dr. Strange Love or How I learned to Love the Bomb...
 
haha, yeah I ended up doing the whole "look at me I'm so clever" and put down "I'll let you know once I've seen them ALL" :innocent:
 
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