@sbjdorlo - UPenn is hard to argue against, no matter what major. My CC name, digmedia, actually came from UPenn’s DMD program when I thought it might be a good one for my son. As for Cinema Studies, does the following sound like your son?
The plan to take the other courses sounds like a good one, but I think he should also get involved in jobs with student films - production assistant, help with writing (or at least reviewing scripts), perhaps editing, title design, or providing animation/visual effects for those films. Also, he should get involved with the “other side” of the film business: volunteer helping organize and put on any student film festivals or competitions. Perhaps have an employable, but related minor like Business. Make a network of people. Plus, you never know - one of those jobs just might become a long-term passion for him.
Sound advice, thank you! I hope he works on projects with other students as a way to explore possible directions he might go.
And yes, he found the idea of the Cinema major to be very interesting. I just wonder what he can actually do with it. As you say, though, the network might play a big part in what he does post grad (assuming he graduates…).
That’s what I’ve been telling him. It’s the skills on the resume that will be important rather than the specific major. Thanks for the links. I will check them out.
fun tip for anyone looking for colleges with good film programs (you probably have already figured this out but just in case): many many MANY colleges have a film studies major. however, very very FEW have filmMAKING courses. be sure the major is what you’re looking for before you apply. for example, boston university has a great film production program, while many liberal arts colleges have film studies majors. but the name of the major is not enough to go by; sometimes colleges, like barnard for example, call it film studies but have many film production courses.
@suzyQ7 Yes, I am planning on majoring in film production. I applied to a multitude of schools, but I’ll list them. USC, UCLA, NYU, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, all of the Ivy leagues, and Stanford. I also applied to CSU’s as backups, but I’m hoping for the best!
@tarantinq That is a good point - its very hard to find specifics (without looking into each individual school, one by one) on which schools offer a more production based program and which schools are more film studies/theory. Have you done some research and can share the schools that are more production focused (sounds like BU and Barnard are 2 schools with that focus). Any others?
@suzyQ7 Yes! I actually made a list a while back, here are the ones that are not “film schools” but focus on production:
Boston University
University of Southern California
UCLA
UC Berkeley
Columbia
NYU (though the film program here is at Tisch, so it would be essentially applying to art school)
Wesleyan
Columbia College Chicago
Loyola Marymount University
Depaul University
American University
Emerson College
That’s all that I can think of off the top of my head, but a good rule of thumb is that if it’s a university with a school of communications, the film program will likely be production-based. My problem in searching for schools was that I was looking for a small liberal arts college, which typically have more “studies”-focused majors. Barnard was a hidden gem.
@suzyQ7 - Definitely not production based. As UPenn’s website summarizes it:
“Cinema Studies is an interdisciplinary program designed to acquaint students with the history and interpretation of cinema and to allow them to combine knowledge of the field with the traditional aims of an undergraduate liberal arts education.”
I would call it more of a trade school than a college. If you want to do film (or TV) and do it on a budget, but are willing to give up the typical “experience” of a traditional college, it’s a great alternative.
This thread has wandered around the essential question, is a prestigious 4 year $200,000 (or more) film school degree worthwhile/useful for a career in the film industry. The other side of the spectrum has been to save your money and just work your way up in the industry, there are lots of entry positions that require little education to get your foot in the door, and your success is built on your performance and network of contacts. That is over simplified, there is a large continuum of experiences between walking onto a set and going to USC, and it is tough to find the right fit. My advice is to spend some serious time researching your options, and CC threads have some great advice.
This is experience with my D, who has known since she was ten that she wanted to make movies. She visited a variety of schools, including Brooks institute and New York Film Academy, Montana State, Cal Arts, LMU and USC. As good an academic student as she was, she strongly considered them (and Full Sail) because they seemed very direct to what she thought she wanted. Interestingly, the advisor at New York Film Academy steered her away from going there and told her she would be better served at a mainstream university. Don’t tell his boss. I think his reasoning was along these lines: it is a tough field, and if you don’t make it in film (lots of talented people don’t, just like music performance) at least your bachelors degree from a real school opens up lots of other well paying job opportunities.
Digmedia has given a lot of good advice in this forum, especially that your worst enemy is large debt if you plan a film career. I have no doubt that a film degree from any of the top 25 schools gives you an enormous advantage, but if you are in major debt you can’t afford to pay your dues for those first years of scrambling for work.
In reality, your chance of having a career in film is most dependent on talent, dedication, willingness to work hard for long hours, and your contacts. Without these you will fail, even if you went to USC or NYU. With them, you will succeed even if you went to Full Sail, Colorado Film School, or University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Our son has chosen the mainstream university route, but his interest is in writing about film or working for an “artsy” type theater. He realizes that he may decide that studying film at the college level may turn out to be less interesting than he thought it would be, so Temple would offer him a lot of alternatives.