Often this question lingers around the aspiring young filmmaker: “Should I or should I not go to film school?” There’s no definite answer; it is all based on preference and personal situation of the individual.
I am currently a college sophomore. I am going to school planning on graduating with a Screen Studies (film) major degree and a Communications minor degree in 2017. Primarily, I want to work in full-on film production or with a firm producing online content. Since I am currently in college, I would mostly argue for schooling but of course, there are some pros and cons to both choices.
Why go to film school?
When I was applying for schools during my senior year of high school, it was stressful. I narrowed down my schools to two choices; it was either I go to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York or Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. There’s a difference between these schools however; Pratt Institute is actually a film school/art school and Clark is a liberal arts college. Based on my financial situation, Clark University was the better deal for me and chose the liberal arts route over traditional film school.
One issue about going to Clark I ran into at first was that I expected the film program here to focus mostly on production and hands-on types of courses. Yes, there are some courses like that here, but not as much as I was hoping for. The program has a strong emphasis on film theory and genre over production, hands down. The plus to this was that I felt I entered the school with a decent knowledge on film production and being able to learn the theory behind various films contributed to my prior knowledge extensively. You may learn material that can be further applicable to production techniques like I did.
I have often heard while I have been going to school is that the grades do not matter; you fail if you have not made one single connection once you leave school. In the film and communications industry, networking and connections is absolutely KEY to getting yourself out there. The Screen Studies program at my university is incredibly small and I have had classes with pretty much every professor in the department. I have gotten to know the professors to an extent where they have asked me to suggest equipment purchases for the department and to even teach multiple hands-on production workshops for classes. I have been recommended by the faculty for positions on campus for video work and surrounding studios as well. I feel that a few others and myself have made an impact on the faculty and surrounding area here where we can be offered some work. If you’re thinking about going to film school or studying film at a liberal arts college like myself, please make a tremendous effort in establishing connections that could lead you somewhere in the industry like professors and fellow classmates.
Why not go to film school?
One big reason: schooling is EXPENSIVE. It is clear and cut; not everyone has the finances to go through school. Plenty of students take out loans in order to get an education and degree to showcase their experience. Yes, I will be in debt like millions of others, but it would have been worse if I went to an actual art school like Pratt Institute where I was guaranteed to be one-hundred thousand in the red.
Another reason could be that you made connections elsewhere and have gotten opportunities to work with other collaborators on projects. If you are getting sustainable gigs working in the industry and your workload is not slowing down anytime soon, chances are you may not need film school after all. Your classroom is on set learning from others and your surroundings.
If there is something I have learned about the industry is to make connections, network yourself, and promote yourself and your content. People will tie you in with your own work and will want to hire you if your portfolio is rich.
What do you think? Leave a comment down below or tweet me @MitchGFilms on Twitter!