Professional Advice for student of film

[Adam La Prade]

Originally Posted by James Jackson

Pretty fair. What do you mean by full sail student rep? The industry has a high opinion on full sail students. Plus you get out of there in 21 months and you're not gonna get a entry level position flapping your gums about film theory and knowing what year Georges Méliès trip to the moon came out.

From the people I've been asking, the industry used to have a high opinion of Full Sail students. Not necessarily the case now. I hate to generalize, because not everyone is like this but some current Full Sail students tend to have the "I can do anything because I went to Full Sail" mentality. Several people in the industry told me this and when I work on local film projects, I've seen it first hand. Again, not to say that everyone is like that - not by a long shot actually, but it only takes a few people to give something a bad rap. Trust me when I tell you I considered Full Sail for a very long time about my Film education. I have great respect for that school, but I just don't think it was for me.

You're correct- you're not going to get an entry level position yapping about theory, but you might if you -understand- film theory and learn how to apply it to whatever you're working on. That's the part that Full Sail fails to teach you. On the other hand, UCF fails to teach you how to light a scene properly...so I guess it's a lose lose situation, eh? :-P

[Ryan Paige]

Even though it might sound counter-intuitive, I would add screenwriters to the list of people who could benefit by owning and shooting with a camera. Even if you never make an entire feature (or even a complete short), using a camera can help a writer see how his words can end up on screen and, after some experimentation, help the writer write better movies (writing movies, rather than writing scripts, being the goal of screenwriting).

[James R. Leong]

According to bios, Spielberg used his father's 8mm camera.

See Stu Maschwitz's DV Rebels guide...Stu says owning a 24p camera is essential if you want to incorporate non-staged footage into your movie ie fire trucks racing down the street... also now that the 24f Canon HV20 is so cheap, even your dog or cat can shoot second unit stuff while you operate the XH-A1 !!

[Jerome Marot]

Originally Posted by William Becker

I was talking to a professor and his opinion is "spielberg doesn't own a camera". His advice was to just rent a camera and get sponsors.

I think that many more directors started their careers without a film school diploma but with hand-on camera experience than the opposite. Actually, I'll challenge your teacher to cite ONE name of a famous director who did NOT practice with a camera as an amateur.

[Bill Pryor]

Lots of regular colleges and universities have good film schools. I think these are much superior to a trade school approach. You don't want to grow up to be a guy who knows how to shoot a film but has no education about the world, culture, history, science, etc.

[Gary McClurg]

Originally Posted by William Becker

Gary, yes it is Brian Lewis at OCC.

I wasn't thinking about him... I was thinking of another teacher...

But you're telling me now that you have to rent the equipment at OCC... it was always free before... but its been a while...

So that explains why he tells you not to buy the camera... the school pays for the cameras by you renting them...

Is Bill Hall still there... he's the best of the teachers...

So have you seen "Diary of A Surfing Film"...

[Gary McClurg]

Originally Posted by Bill Pryor

Lots of regular colleges and universities have good film schools. I think these are much superior to a trade school approach. You don't want to grow up to be a guy who knows how to shoot a film but has no education about the world, culture, history, science, etc.

That can be true... but also... they don't teach about the business of filmmaking... that its having a fat wallet as much as having talent...

But again... I keep seeing great stuff out of guys here who do great work with hardly any money...

That's why I think its great to purchase a camera... you can play with the camera every weekend shooting different things... learn lighting... even with home depot lights...

Then still go to college and learn the things you're talking about as well... back in my day... you had to take at least two still classes before you could get into the film department...

Which was the basics of learning about f-stops, lighting, framing, etc...

[William Becker]

Bill Hall... yes hes still there and a favorite amongst film students. i have tv production with him this summer.

they only make you take one photography class lecture/lab combo at occ.