<p>I am planning on moving to California to pursue a degree in Film. Preferably somewhere near San Francisco. I really wouldn't want to end up in SoCal unless it's absolutely my best option. I will be attending a year or two of community college before possibly going to one of the schools below, so I want to relocate to a place where the college is located. The schools that I have so far are:</p>
<p>San Francisco State University
California College of the Arts
Chapman University
University of Southern California
CSU Sacramento
Humboldt State University</p>
<p>Can anyone please tell me anything about any of these colleges and which would be the best option for me? If you have any schools not listed above which you would think would be a great option, please let me know. I'm looking for the school that would offer me the best education in Film. Thank You.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you are looking for a degree in film production or film studies. USC and Chapman are two of top film schools in the country for production. And very tough to get in to. Both are located near Los Angeles. Cal Arts is also near LA and is just a shy less tough for admission. They are very interested in an applicants artistic ability and creativity-also a focus on production including a great animation program. I believe San Francisco State has a film studies department, but not a film production one. (Although I might be wrong about this-you should call and ask them). It is easier to get into that program than the others. I really don’t have much info on Humboldt but I think they only have a communication major, not one in film production or film studies. Three of your choices above are near LA not San Francisco. If being near SF is important, you might need to look harder. Read some of the other posts here on the differences between film production and film studies to see what interests you.</p>
<p>Paying OOS tuition for community college is crazy.
Stay in your home state for cc to take advantage of in state rates then apply to your CA college.</p>
<p>I think SFSU has production, probably best bet in northern california,worth a look. Look at de Anza as a community college, kmazza was touting it last year as a great 2 year film production route. Are you planning on getting residency for in-state tuition purposes, that is tricky.</p>
<p>This is based on what I’ve picked up from cc that have some level of film prod school:
NorCal:
SFSU (also called SF State)(this is a Cal State school )(in SF) public
DeAnza, a junior college (near San Jose) public per Kmazza
California College of the Arts (in SF) private
Not sure about Humbolt State (way northern CAL) or Sac State (in Sacramento). Haven’t really heard about them in terms of production both public</p>
<p>SoCal:
CalArts | California Institute of the Arts (near LA) private
USC (in LA) private
Chapman (in Orange Co, near LA) private
Loyola Marymount University (in LA) private
Cal State Long Beach (near LA) public
Cal State Los Angeles (LA) public
Cal State Northridge (LA) public
Los Angeles City College, a junior college (in LA) public</p>
<p>If you choose a public school you would have to live in Cali to get residency, or else the price tag is very high. Private schools may offer financial aid.</p>