23 July 2008
Is Film School Worth the Time and Money?
Posted by William Schwarz under: Entertainment .
Every year there are lots and lots of new movies produced and released throughout the world. If you’ve ever sat through the end credits of any of these films you have a good idea of the large number of people employed by this industry. Several film schools have opened in recent years to help supply studios with new technical and creative talent. Many of the graduates of these institutions are now enjoying successful careers.
But what about the aspiring filmmakers for whom film school is too expensive or far away? Are these people out of luck or is there another way to realize their dreams? Is film school even worth the time and money in the first place?
It’s up to the individual enthusiast to decide whether or not film school is the best way to gain entry into the field, but it’s always good to examine all of the available options.
It’s with the hope that it will help future movie makers decide whether or not film school is the best route to take that I’m offering the following story about a friend of mine and how he got into the business. This friend travels around quite a bit so I haven’t been able to ask him if it would be alright to use his real name, so I’ll call him Paul.
One day Paul learned that he would be receiving an inheritance. It was his mother’s job to decide the way this money was to be spent. The only condition was that it was to be used in the furthering of his education. She asked Paul what kind of career he wanted to go into.
His reply was that he hoped to get into the movie industry. In his estimation, film school would be the obvious way to get eventually enter the business. This career goal suited his mother just fine, but she had another idea about how Paul could learn the necessary skills.
It seemed to her that if he used the money to make his own short movie, wouldn’t that be a good way to learn how it’s done?
Paul liked the sound of this idea, so he got to work. The first thing he did was look for a local special effects technician to get involved with this project. He found one who also happens to be a friend of mine. I’ll call him John.
This is the deal Paul offered to John: John was to contact some of his special effects colleagues and together they would compile a list of effects that they had always wanted to create but had never had the opportunity to do. Paul would write a script that used as many of these effects as possible and a short film would be made from it that they would all work on together. The technicians wouldn’t be paid for their work, but Paul would supply all of the necessary materials.
The effects crew enthusiastically agreed to this offer and the result was a very slick looking short film. Everybody involved had a lot of fun and Paul learned how movies are made. He also had a nice portfolio piece to show when looking for work in the future.
Paul’s story is by no means unique. Although there are a lot of successful people working in the film industry, there are also plenty of self taught filmmakers who are doing very well.
There are quite a few directors(Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, John Waters and Robert Rodriguez are just a few examples) who have been known to publicly state that they learned filmmaking on their own and that in their opinions this is the best way to go.
Video equipment and movie-making software are now relatively affordable and easy to find, making it possible for just about anybody to get started making independent movies. Once they’re completed, these films can even find an audience when uploaded to the internet.
Once again, there are many paths to success in the motion picture field and it is in the best interest of all who plan to enter it to consider as many of these paths as possible. Best of luck to all of you in the future!