advice for future film majors and future film school students

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

i decided to make a master post for kids who want to study film in college or just go to film school in general because a year ago, i could’ve really used this post.

first off, you need to create a lot of content. you’ll go to some schools where everyone knows how to do the whole process and some schools where some students have never even touched a camera before. from experience, it’s best to start now. if your school has a film club, join your school’s film club. they have a class? take a class. if they don’t, do your own research. learn as much as you possibly can. if you write, write tons of scripts. if you direct, make as many projects as you can. if you’re an editor, make a reel. we’ll get into that in a bit.

next, you need to start looking at schools. do you want to go to a four-year school, or a two-year school? how far are you willing to go? how are your grades and gpa for this school? do you have an impressive set of activities and extracurriculars to add to your application? (p.s colleges love extracurriculars)

when you find your schools, some will ask you to send materials. some will not. either way, it’s good to have a film portfolio ready for the next step in your journey as a creator. for those of you who are a little confused, a film portfolio is a compilation of every project you’ve ever worked on. it shows people what you can do. a reel should be no longer than five minutes in my opinion. keep it simple. keep it short.

while you edit your reel, make sure you stay on top of your applications!! make sure you schedule your interviews at the right time when you’re free and make sure that you send your scores because that could really guarantee whether or not you’ll hear back from that school sooner than later.

finally, here’s the hardest part: the choice. which school will you go to after getting all of your acceptances back? for this, there’s three rules: internships. financial aid. and your gut. internships will help you get jobs in the future. if you don’t have the opportunity to get some amazing internships and make some good connections, your film career could be over before it begins. next, financial aid. let’s be honest- film school is expensive. your college’s financial aid department could lighten your load. the less debt you’re in, the more money you can put towards your next film or screenplay. finally, trust. your. gut. meet with admissions counselors and learn everything about the school. sure, the department may teach their students 16 mm film along with digital, but will you be happy there? will you make friends? or will you shut yourself in your room the entire time? trust your gut. go to a school where you want to go. not one that you think you have to attend.

i hope this was helpful to some of you looking to apply to for film majors or for film school. if you have any questions, feel free to message me.

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If I want to go into film, but just decided that at the beginning of this year and haven’t really done much, do you think I’d still have a chance of getting into film school?

When I was younger, my sister and I made a lot of imovie trailers, and I recently entered a local contest where I made my first film, and I didn’t do super great, but I didn’t do bad either…I also got an internship with a local production company, but besides that I don’t really have a portfolio or know a ton about college. Would it be worth it to apply to film schools?

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@collegebound478 I don’t think it’s too late to apply to film school, personally… But it might depend on the film school you apply to though. Remember, the more prestigious the school, the harder it is to get in. Do you have any film schools in mind?

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I was thinking about USC, UCLA, Chapman, NYU, and then schools like Northwestern where I don’t need to fill out a supplemental app to apply to film school. Also, I’ve been looking at schools where I can double major in film and something else, right now probably either psychology or cognitive science.

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@collegebound478 At my college, some kids have never even picked up a camera! It’s totally fine, don’t doubt yourself- some kids learn right off the bat, others are total newbies

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@mirandaallen Thanks :slight_smile:

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are those newbies incredible writers? how did they get in?

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@giantoctopus ithaca doesn’t require a film reel to be accepted into their program. however, lots of other schools do

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Here’s an out of the box answer regarding choosing the right film program:

  1. Professional teachers. They've worked in the business and made their living solely doing what they're teaching. Maybe they're in "director's jail" (look it up) but they'll be out sooner or later. I'm not talking about 1 or 2 hot shot faculty members - most, if not all, should be professionals. Avoid schools with faculty members that mainly have PhD's UNLESS you definitely want to get a PhD in film someday.
  2. Cost. A college education is 4 years, but student loans are forever.
  3. Internships are overrated. In all due respect, I think people emphasize internships too much. While I think everyone should intern, it's just a small blip. It rarely leads to a job, but it's a neat thing to put on your resume when you apply to be someone's assistant. Listen: nobody interns, pitches jokes, and gets hired as a new staff writer. Instead, they get sent home. (Again, this is just my opinion).
  4. Instead of internships, seek a school that demands work from its students. Don't go to a school unless it explicitly requires each student to makes his own short film, write a full length movie, AND a TV pilot. Personally, I think every film major should be required to take an acting class as well.
  5. New York or LA. I know this narrows the pool, but you're going to have to move soon anyway. And to be honest, I hate to say this, but it's mainly LA. Get a car!
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@filmprof you’ve given me great advice in the past (via email). Thanks again!

Regarding locale. There aren’t many solid (non-art school) film programs in Georgia, but the market there is booming. What about taking BA Film Studies (Emory?) while taking advantage of the locale?

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So I have written a bunch of screenplays and my best screenplay which I want to submit is kind of an auto-biography of sorts and it includes sexual/ drugs+ alcohol scenes. Is it ok to submit this? I feel like the scenes are kind of important to the work as a whole because I try to paint an accurate picture of high school experiences, but I don’t want it to affect my chance of getting into a school.

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@mgb1111 I’m not exactly sure, depends on how graphic the scenes are, but I would be careful. And also, if you want to, you could always cut a scene or two out, since those aren’t essential to the high school experience. I know plenty of people, me included, who haven’t experienced those things during high school at all. Can you give more detail about what your screenplay is about?

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@mgb1111 I think mentioning a high school party would be fine, but anything illegal should be dangerous territory.