Hey i got in and am going to film school next year, so dont think i am so reject against learning, but if you want you dont need it. It is not going to make or brake you. This is not the 40's info on film is easy to find at any book store or online. Everything you will learn in school you can do outside of school if you have the drive. If you need to go to school to learn anything and you cant go out and do anything on your own, i'll tell you right now your not gonna make it. Film school is nice so that you can meet people who like and want to mak films, but aside fom that dont hold your breath. Because the people teaching you, if they were any good they would be in the industry. But hey what do i know

Kyle,

quote:

Everything you will learn in school you can do outside of school if you have the drive. If you need to go to school to learn anything and you cant go out and do anything on your own, i'll tell you right now your not gonna make it.

What you're saying is arguable for Film School's. It is simply not true for 'school'/education in general. However, Film School is not just about theory/watching movies. It's about working with like-minded, talented people and exploring everyone's vision together. This is something you can't get by doing things by yourself or with your friends. Btw, the faculty at most film school's (at least the ones I know of) are working professionals.

quote:

If you need to go to school to learn anything and you cant go out and do anything on your own, i'll tell you right now your not gonna make it.

With that, I wholeheartedly agree.

-----------Because the people teaching you, if they were any good they would be in the industry.------------

that is something I hear every day at NYU and its just wrong. A good teacher is not automaticallly a good director but might know a LOT about his craft. Many teachers are film makers just not very good ones and that does not matter because they on't teach you how to make a masterpiece anyway. They teach you the basics of filmmaking.

And as far as I remember, I had classes with some very successful professors (spike lee teaches at NYU and many other who made good films, indies, hollywood and what not)

Also, don't forget the technical profs like in Cinematography and writing...mostly all of them are working professionals (my DP teacher just finished the action sequences on Mr and Ms Smith).

So please, give them a LITTLE more credit

As a transfer student into Tisch for film, I have been able to pick up a couple things in terms of applying to the program.

When applying as a freshman, your grades and SAT scores will count 65-70%, the rest is the portfolio review/essays/etc

When applying as a transfer student, grades are roughly 50%.

Basically, grades still reign supreme. NYU recieves hundreds if not thousands of good portfolios each year, so they still need to use grades as the major deciding factor. Is it fair? No. Is that life? Unfortunately yes.

Keep in mind that transfering after spending a year somewhere else is a viable option too. I went to Syracuse for a year to build up my grades, and then was able to transfer to NYU. Transfer students also come into the program a semester ahead of the kids that got in freshman year in terms of taking certain classes, which is a plus.

I've been told many things about what kinds of projects to put in the portfolio. The theory I stuck with was to use a piece that demonstrated your ablity to tell an interesting story with a beginning, middle and end. Here's mine:
"Theory of Love" http://www.theoryfilmsinc.com/media-2.htm

jdunn has a very good point there. For me, transfering in as a sophomore was the best move. I only had to take one more gen ed at tisch and was ahead of the tisch kids in terms of 16mm filmmaking (most other colleges offer 16mm courses as freshmen).

as with the portfolio, I don't think they want to see beautifully shot but dull landscape stuff (unless you want to be a DP, but even then, storytelling is mmore important). If you are able to tell a story extremely well, then you are basically in (with decent grades)

hey hoeks, I sent you a message back in June, did you ever get it?

Aside from my portfolio and essay, what do you think of my chances of getting into Tisch?

GPA: 4.0, first in class of 536
ACT: 30
Play 2 sports
Student Gov't
French Club
Took nearly all advanced classes available
NHS
WLNHS
Not much work expirience except a few videos for people
Quite a bit of volunteering
Not many art classes taken in school
Been doing film for 4 years

Just curious of what to do... paying for college isn't gonna be that easy, not impossible, but hard so im just wondering bout my chances. Nice to hear of any statistics of others.

Are you kidding? Assuming your portfolio and essay are even half decent you've got it made.

thanks for the confidence,
i;m just reluctant because i don't have any theatre or drama classes to back it up- and im applying to the tisch. I didn't mean to brag, i hate when poeple brag about high school credentials cause high school doesn't mean much in terms of intelligence. But thanks for the reply.

Anyone here go to the tisch school?

Wait, are you applying for Drama or Film & TV?

If it's for film I don't think your lack of a drama/theatre record matters at all... though it can't hurt to have one!

And, dude, you didn't brag. We have to be forthright about such things when we're discussing admissions - and you just so happen to have a very good high school record! I wish you the best of luck. When are you applying?

Well thanks for the confidence titanium. I am applying regualar decision this year, so if I get accepted I'll be a freshmen in fall of 2006.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Does anyone here have expirience in the NYU Tisch Film program? If so, any comments about it would be very helpful.

im senior there...u are in if your portfolio and essay are just half as good as your grades

heck, a friend ofmine got in with a 2.8 GPA (transfer though...with great portfolio)

Thanks all for the confidence!

Hoeks, do you feel that NYU was worth the cost of going there for the film? Any regrets or benefits that stick out?

Also, I'm interested in how Tisch, and film schools in general, grade. It seems awkward to grade art, but maybe they do.

Thanks again everyone.

no complaints so far, I loved every second of it. You just have to be open minded and listen to those teachers "who never made it"

a lot of pretentious people though...but also a lot of great ones.

Grading: dont worry about that. They usually grade your attendance, how much you put into the class and if you did all the assignements...they dont really grade how good you are as a filmmaker.

as soon as you enter NYU, grades become secondary...high school was WAY harder I can tell you that much (I am talking about film classes not Gen Ed)

That sounds great.

NYU really sounds like a dream place for me. A film haven. My true life aspiration is to become a successful filmmaker/director. When I say successful, I don't mean by wealth but by having important films. I would love nothing more than for my films to make it to the box office.

My only concern, and this is because throughout my life, everything i have achieved has been through hard work, is that I'll spend the entirety of my life trying to get recognized. I the meantime i'd be some worthless waitor.

But hey, we got to chase our dreams, right? We live in America.

Hey! I actually was in the Fresh films thing also. I am in the Nashville crew so we are going to L.A. in 8 days, I am soooo excited!!! I guess I will see you there! I cannot wait! But, newho about NYU... that is where I would LOVE to go too. I have always done the acting stuff, but after doing the behind the camera stuff, Ive learned that I really like it a lot. I am not sure which one I like better. When I get old enough to apply for colleges I am gonna apply to UCLA and NYU (Tisch) first off. I really want to get in to one of those. That would be a dream come true! Well, I will see you in L.A. soon! Talk to ya later!
-Cory

Just so you guys know, going to NYU in no way gaurantees success. It is possible to go to college somewhere else and still be rich and famous.

That is all.

Josh is right. In fact, to soften the blow for 99% of us, the faculty is constantly reminding us that we should not assume we will be famous directors, or even directors at all and that there are plenty of great, rewarding, and well paying jobs in the film world besides directing.

I still wanna direct though!

Also, drama kids are crazy... totally crazy. My roommate is one, and so I've been hanging out with him and another from our floor and they just burst into random songs and quotations, and appear to have memorized every play ever written.

The film scene here on the Appalachian State campus is pretty mediocore.

It exists, but too only a sligh-degree. It's shocking since the Blue-Ridge Highway and the sorrounding Appalachian Mountains are such great places to film.

I'm about fainting from lack of filming so far up here, since:

A) Even at a highly accelerated double major track like I am on, I won't be able to take video classes until most likely my third or fourth semester.

B) Video department only lends out the equipment to the Junior/Senior level video students, so that means no XL1 on loan. Fine, but they are stingy even with equipment :|

C) I've only found one other major production group on campus, and it's more like a guy trying to make a film with some support of students. Not a true "production company".


Morale: Attend Film School if you want to learn about Film :P