<p>I'm a rising senior and Northwestern looks like a great place to study film. If anyone here is in the rtvf department or has graduated from it, what did you think of the program? Did you have lots of job opportunities/internships?</p>
<p>Hey, I'm going to be a sophomore in the program.</p>
<p>So, the general trend in academics with regards to teaching film is to go to one of two extremes: the all-theory approach, where you use very dense language, stuff like russian terminology, to analyze films, often using archaic approaches, and you have NO experience making films (there are a number of programs like this around the country, I guess people think this "legitimizes" the study of film). Then there's the all-production based programs, where you immediately dive in the creation, but not a lot, if any, spent on theory, and more importantly, history.</p>
<p>I do have to hand it to NU's film department in this regard: they do try to achieve a good balance. Core requirements for film majors are comprised of 2 theory/history/writing about film courses and 2 basic production courses. So even if you go in with the mindset, "I only want to write about films," or "I only want to edit films," whatever the case is, you do have to experience both sides. From there you can choose your course: stick to theory courses, stick to production courses, stick to writing courses, or continue a mix.</p>
<p>Our intro production courses, as is the case with most schools these days I believe, do not use film, which I find a horrible shame. So you start out on still digital photography/video, which from a professional standpoint, makes perfect sense, but I do believe something is lost without learning how to really handle film (but this is a whole other post within itself). ANYWAY, my only real complaint my first year was that was the pace was a bit...slow. I think my intro production class could have been more worth my time, but overall, I really did enjoy my courses and professors.</p>
<p>Our student production company, Studio22, is really great. We give out grants ranging from as little as $250 to around $7000 and $8000 a quarter to student director/producers. I did casting for a number of films and we are highly regarded among professional agencies in Chicago in terms of being great experiences for their professional actors. The hands-on experience you learn on set throughout the year is at times more worthwhile than anything you're learning in class. No matter what level you come in at, people are always more than willing to teach you new skills/equipment/etc. We do have fantastic equipment available, too.</p>
<p>In terms of internships/jobs, I think as with any other school, it's what you make of it. People aren't going to hand you internships at Miramax or HBO, you need to seek those out, but that's just what students do, and being at NU will only help you get those opportunities. I had no problem finding opportunities even in Chicago right after my freshman year (though I ended up not taking any) and we have a great online internship database that is pretty regularly updated by the School of Communications with companies in Chicago/LA/NY. Then, once you graduate, we have the "NU Mafia"--the school of Communications graduates whose presence is so big in LA/NY that they made a name for it.</p>
<p>Within the department we have a number of smaller programs/certificates, such as Creative Writing for the Media and Sound Design, which are also great opportunities.</p>
<p>When it comes down to it, you're going to NU, you'll get a great education no matter what. I would have been hesitant to go to a school that only has a good film department and isn't strong in other areas, since this industry is so hard, but I'll definitely feel confident graduating from NU, not only in my education but also the connections I'll have made and will continue to make, and in this day, that's more important than what you actually know.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions or want me to clarify anything.</p>
<p>wow! thanks so much that answered all my questions.</p>
<p>yea nice post juliusmonky. even got me interested in the program. i guess i could triple major in weinberg/SESP/SOC. jk, but great post.</p>
<p>Haha, I know you're kidding, but FYI you can't double major SESP-COMM. You can only double major across schools if one of them is Weinberg.</p>
<p>I had posted this question before on the NU thread, but this seems like a good place to drop it in again.....
NU was definitely my first choice school for its RTVF program, but sadly, I didn't make it. So I was wondering (for the sake of any potential transferring)... what were your extracurriculars like, juliusmonky? In high school, specifically, but anything else will be fine too. I really think I'd still like to end up at NU some day, and going back to this message board and reading things like this definitely gears me up for it again.
Thanks.</p>
<p>To be honest, I did no film/tv in high school (granted my high school had no such programs, though I was involved in a lot of photography/design stuff). I actually applied as Comm Studies and switched the first week (I applied ED and had a minor freak out and changed it from RTVF at the last minute).</p>
<p>If you're interested in transferring just keep your grades up and stay involved in whatever you enjoy doing, there's really nothing special you need to do for this program specifically, since it's not something you submit a portfolio for or anything. Good luck!</p>
<p>juliusmonky- what time of film do you think dominates the program? Is it more artsy or hollywood style?</p>