colorado film school

<p>Does anyone have information on colorado film school? ANyone who has visited or is going there. We live in CA and were looking at local schools, but this school caught my eye due to price and hands on opportunites. I wonder about the location and internship chances.</p>

<p>As a former student I can say that the Colorado Film School is one of the best values in the country for learning film and video tech. With the focus of the program resting on hands on experience, you’ll have access to professional level equipment within your first few days in attendance, and opportunities to work on real functioning sets within your first few weeks. Graduates within the last few years have worked on the Avengers, the Amazing Spider Man, Captain America, the Muppets, and many other well known film and television projects. Internship opportunities have included positions on AMC’s the Walking Dead, and apprenticeships with noted cinematographers such as Mauro Fiore(Avatar) and Eric Steelburg(Juno, Up In the Air). Located close to central Denver, the school is a well loved part of the community and the Colorado Film Commission. This place is like home to me, and I wouldn’t be the filmmaker or person that I am without having been a student there.</p>

<p>Thanks I will pass this information on to my daughter.</p>

<p>Colorado Film School gets about 225 applicants per year, many as transfers from out-of-state universities. They have an open admissions policy and have approximately 500 students. 65% of entering students identify the BFA as their path, but not all make it through the full four years.</p>

<p>Programs include BFA degrees, a one-year Advanced Immersion Program and a variety of other certificates in a rigorous professional training environment.</p>

<p>Students make a lot of films. Over the course of a year a student may work on as many as 15-20 films. Over four years a smart student will have worked on half a dozen large-scale shoots and over 30 smaller ones. The students own the rights to their films, but the school retains rights for promotion, etc. CFS has a Fall and Spring show in large public theater venues. It’s a big celebration but very competitive. CFS budgets festival submissions and have a faculty committee that recommends festivals and films to support. Production majors have thesis projects. Internships are available, many in Hollywood.</p>

<p>Very interesting approach to student films: All film school equipment has real world rental pricing associated with it. Each production level is given an equipment budget. (Production III & Advanced Production: $10,000+). The student creates a project, and uploads an associated script. The professor evaluates the script/doc project according to our 20 standardized criteria and ascribes a score in each category and additional comments. A score of 80% and up gives the student a green light and ability to reserve equipment. But if their script score is 83%, then they only get 83% of the budget. They can rewrite, incorporating critiques, raise their score and then raise their budget level. The process mirrors the real world—projects are funded by script quality. To take out the equipment, they need to upload location releases, talent contracts, fill-in crew lists, upload shot lists, etc. Students who plan ahead can reserve equipment as soon as they get script approval. The school provides equipment budgets and equipment rentals, and location insurance certificates. The student is responsible for the rest. Student out-of pocket expense ranges anywhere from $50 to $15,000. A high quality 20 minute film with high production value will generally cost the student around $1500.</p>

<p>Notes From Colorado Film School: </p>

<p>The Colorado Film School was identified last year by International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) Magazine as one of the “superlative” film programs in the nation. Hollywood Reporter recently named CFS as one the top 25 film schools in the world.</p>

<p>What we are looking for: Students burning with a passion to tell their stories as writers, producers, directors, cinematog-raphers, and editors. We are looking for actors who live to bring life to characters.</p>

<p>We have an excellent faculty of working professionals with impressive industry credentials and connections, many of whom have terminal MFA degrees from the finest film schools in the world.</p>

<p>The low cost of tuition at the Colorado Film School is realized by a two-institution partnership between the Community College of Aurora and Regis University. As a taxpayer-funded state institution CCA has access to tremendous resources such as our current state-of-the-art physical plant, as well as federal Perkins grants that give us new equipment funding each year. Regis University is a private institution that gives us a stable partner as state budgets fluctuate in difficult economic times. The Colorado Film School is able to rise above current economic challenges as many of our students come from outside of Colorado and their tuition dollars flow directly to the school insulating us against state cutbacks. Student fees bring in new cutting-edge equipment, production insurance for student shoots, and constant updating in labs and computer equipment.</p>

<p>As a professional training program CFS finds having specific emphases at the undergraduate level is highly important to creating successful careers. To be able to cover the breadth of the film/video/media industry a number of skills and content areas must be covered with a high level of rigor. As media has infused itself into all forms of global communications we are able to deliver significant portions of a liberal arts undergraduate education within the film/video/media context and content areas.</p>

<p>For students who are not looking for a four-year undergraduate BFA, but need intensive professional instruction for quick entry into the industry, we recommend the Advanced Immersion program, a favorite of many of our foreign students. This program has the same number of credits as a graduate MFA program at a much lower cost, and a much tighter time frame.</p>

<p>Finally, the cost of CFS is very low for Colorado students and even low for out-of-state students. </p>

<p>Four years of tuition at CFS:
Colorado Resident: $26,900
Western University Exchange (from other Western states): $29,100
Non-Resident: $59,300</p>