"Lights Film School", "Online Film School" or something else?

[B.J. Szabicot]

Howdy,

Looking to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, but constrained to online/distance ed. courses only.
Anyone have any experience with either "Lights Film School" or "Online Film School" (aka "Alternate New York Film School")?

Any other courses/seminars anyone can recommend that concentrate on cinematography (i.e. not the specifics of shooting on HDSLRs, but the generals of shaping and capturing moving images)?

Any and all thoughts would be really appreciated.

Best,
BJ

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I'm not from the US, but here's my advice:

for a fraction of the cost of going to film school, buy a professional HD camera (whatever fits your budget that has full manual controls, even if its the 7D or 5D) and learn yourself. Attend a few workshops if you have to. Buy a book. By the time the guys in film school finish their course, you'll know much more than them because you are living and sleeping with your camera, while they just get to play with theirs once in a while.

You can even join forces with local "directors" to make short films to learn. Who knows? You might even get paid doing it. All the best.

[Chris Davis]

I have no experience with the courses you've mentioned, but I loved "How to Set Up, Light & Shoot Great Looking Interviews" from Vortex Media. I try to watch it every six months or so to brush up on the easy but effective techniques.

I've also watched some of Rush Hamden's extensive Digital Cinema Course. While well-done, it is more suited to narrative film makers and not corporate video guys like me. From your brief description, I think you'd like this DVD series.

[B.J. Szabicot]

Thanks for mentioning the Rush Hamden products. The brief look I took was enough to pique my interest.