I am contemplating on whether or not I should go to film school or not, but I'm leaning towards going. But whenever I look on the interent, theres tons of people saying that you shouldn't go because its unnecessary and too expensive. I want to go to Columbia College Chicago but I don't know if I could afford it, so student loans might be a possibility.

What do you think and what have you done?

Thanks a lot, Jonathan

Hey Jonathan,

Have you taken film courses before? Worked making your own films? Or helped with film productions? I was unsure of whether or not going to school for film would be a good idea for me because those kinds of courses were not available to me in high school. However, I decided to go to a less expensive state school and take film as my major to make sure it was something I was interested in. Turns out, it is definitely what my heart beats for and now I'm looking to transfer into UCLA's BA film program.

There are SO many different aspects of film. If you don't have much experience with it I would recommend that you go to a less expensive school to make sure it's for you, and explore the different areas of cinema.

Once you decide that film is your thing and narrow down what you'd like to focus on, you could look into transferring to a more expensive school that is best for your specialization (if you so desire when that time comes).


Hope that helps,
Christa

christah is correct.follow her suggestion
to be more precise, go to community college first.

what film school gives is not only the lesson, but also connections to the industry. That is why, I think going to film school is still an important factor to be successful in the industry, especially if you go to Hollywood.

In Hollywood, what matters is not only your talent, but who do you know (your connection).

If you want to make this as your career, film school has the answer. What you read in the internet is not totally wrong. Some film schools do similar like you might have read (expensive but basically don't teach you anything). That's why it is important to carefully select your film school. Pick the ones that have good reputation (unlike NYFA or LAFS), so what you give is what you get

I interned at UNO(University of New Orleans)'s film program over the summer if you can call that a course. I learned a lot of technical stuff, like about lighting equipment and some camera stuff. Yea, I've been told that a lot that its who you know, not necessarily what you know.

Well I've made a couple of videos but thats when I was around 12 so I don't count those. And I've been working on a couple scripts so I'll see how that turns out. I'm 90% sure that film is the right thing so I might do what you say and go to a state school for a semester or 2 and see if that helps me out at all. Thanks thats an awesome idea.

That helped a lot.

Thanks again,
Jonathan

What also matters is what you want to do and what you currently have access too. It sounds like you want to write/direct so unless you have a script that you can make and the means of doing it, you might be better off going to some sort of school for film. A good film school will give you opportunities to make films so you can get better and make more. If you have the ability/access now don't bother going to school I feel.

I would suggest you should go to film school.The techniques and other things what a film school teaches can never be learnt unless you go to a film school.In addition to that your basics should be good and for that you would require a film school.I know most of the schools are expensive but you should do the course.Visit www.dafilmschool.com .One of the good schools i have ever been.It has a great infrastructure and good premises with a good faculty.Try visiting there site and enquiring about them you will come to know by yourself.

I warned you against spamming in postings and a private message. I'm now moderating all of your comments. Please follow the forum rules.

Also I go to CCC so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

I've seen this question before on here. While I'm new as a poster, I've been on this site reading past posts. All I can say Jonathan is that it can't hurt you to go to a film school especially with no previous experience. Well let me rephrase it. It can't hurt as long as you get something out of it. You definitely don't want to waste money.

you should watch interviews from Tarantino and PT Anderson.