Thanks a lot for this. Is this coincidence that I regularly run into someone with the same passion I have?
I plan to go full time into film making in four years time.
Victor Truter
South Africa

I mean, I’m personally for a lot of social and fiscal reform in the states that would be considered left-leaning, but we need to stop just straight up lying about the facts. Rich people do pay most of the taxes.

At any rate, I enjoyed my experience in film school and think that I learned a lot, but there’s no replacement for actual on set experience. You need both.

Cheers.

David

I’m currently Attending the MHCC Integrated Media Program and loving it. Thanks for the shout out!

Your experience just goes to show, that there are many paths to making it happen, but what it most important is the application of skills / knowledge, and the drive to make it happen for yourself. Congrats!

As for the detailed listing of resources, you can find them on my blog- the post is already up: http://www.ryanewalters.com/Blog/blog.php

I think there are a lot of things that schooling gives you that are hard (not impossible) to replicate else where. (Exposure to differing views, reasonable interaction with other view points, ability to try and fail in a more limited public fashion, peer review, professional review …) So going to school and getting any degree helps for sure.

Although I don’t think that not having formal education limits you to wedding videos. (And shooting wedding videos can be a rewarding pursuit.) It is more about life experience, and the ability to tell stories well. I have met people who live and breath higher education, who do not have any life experience, and who cannot tell a story to save their life. To me, formal education is just a part of the puzzle …

As for film school students “knowing everything”- that can be a big downfall of all of that schooling. Lots of knowledge, and little experience tends to make us all “experts”. I have heard some slang on set that takes the initials of some of the most respected film programs and turns them into a pejorative due precisely to what you have mentioned. Cameras are tools, and should be used accordingly. I can’t agree more. :)

Networking can be tough. There are ways around it, but going to school surrounded by people of a like mind, sure does help. No denying that … Darren Aronofsky & Matthew Libatique are a great example of that …

Because of the way my school was set up it allowed us to write our scripts in screenwriting class, do pre production in production class, shoot in our “lab” classes, cut in editing etc. We were even encouraged to use students from the acting course that ran at the same time.

It was expensive, but that experience helped me greatly. 2/3 of the way through I had shifted my interest from directing to lighting and began shooting and gaffing everyone’s films. After graduation I took the steps to establish myself within the local industry and have been working steadily since.

Last year a film school friend and I decided to use our industry experience to start a film blog that caters toward doing various jobs on set and we have been far more successful than we ever imagined. This was all thanks to my experience in film school.