Film majors

<p>SUNY Purchase has a great Film program. It's a conservatory and is insanely difficult to get into though.</p>

<p>I'm 99.99999% sure that Northwestern doesn't require a portfolio to major in film. I just got in ED as a prospective theater major, and am thinking of doing a film minor. Who knows what'll happen though. Anyway, a friend of mine got accepted ED into NYU as a film major. He also did a summer film program there last summer and LOVED it. I don't know what it's called, but those of you who are juniors might want to look into it.</p>

<p>i've read somewhere that USC's film major is really really hard to get into (a very good program though). I have a friend who's applying to it, and she had to sent in a bunch of supplamental material just to apply. crypticism, im thinking about minoring/doubling in film too at northwestern , but im not really sure if that'll work out with my journalism major. =/</p>

<p>I'd think that a journalism major and at least a film minor would go very well together. I hope it does work out!</p>

<p>USC is probably the most competitive program for film due to its connections to the industry and famous alum. I want to be a film major (or media studies) and would love Northwestern. Some other good schools are boston university, UMICH, UCLA, CalArts, UTEXAS, FSU, NYU, Syracuse, and Drexel (more for media studies than film though)</p>

<p>USC and NYU have almost identical admit rates for film...hovering between 4%-6% is what my friend at nyu says. I wonder what NU's is...</p>

<p>i want to major in film also .. i've always been interested in the technicalities of filmmaking so i was thinking of maybe branching out into cinematography. i live in CA too so i'm hoping for maybe Chapman or Cal Arts but USC is my ultimate goal.. =X</p>

<p>Hello. </p>

<p>Facility wise, Academy of Art University is great. They have so much crap, it's insane. They have so many computers, editing suites, sound editing suites, lighting equipment, and film equipment. </p>

<p>Surprisingly, they actually give you a solid education (even though they are a for profit school, the quality in what students have put out has gone up drastically). I took some classes there (just because), and they teach you everything you need to know for the industry (my personal favorites: Editing 1, History of Film 1&2, cine 1 ...). </p>

<p>So, AAU can always be a last resort school for the lot of you. It doesn't carry a lot of prestige (because of their open enrollment), but if you want to be spoiled rotten with equipment, they are it. And most their teachers are actually great people (the ones that are bad, are realllly bad. But you can always transfer to another class, easily. The school knows this, and I think every semester, they have you evaluate the teacher, and if the majority evaluated bad, sometimes they terminate the instructor on the spot) . Since northern california is home to post-production filmaking, a lot of the instructors (are working professionals and) know what the hell they are talking about. Oh oh. and they also have a telecine (which converts your super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm film into video format). Once you get to film school, you will understand the importance of telecine.</p>

<p>North Carolina School of the Arts, Emerson, Ithaca.</p>

<p>USC has multiple undergrad film majors, production, critical stduies, writing. You have to state which is your first choice. I know the production and critical studies do not require a portfolio.</p>

<p>Well thats half true-tsdad...usc does require a portfolio, just not a film reel. I had to send in several examples of writing, and a resume (which acts in place of portfolio)...it was the quiet long.</p>

<p>Right. They require you to list your portfolio, not present it.</p>

<p>delete message</p>

<p>Right. They require you to list your portfolio, not actually to send in tapes or scripts.</p>

<p>is going to a film school really necessary in order to get into the industry?</p>

<p>Do you need an amazing portfolio full of like 300 million shorts to get into the most competitive of schools? what if you have 5-6 that are of superb quality and writing samples? Is it better to have more films or higher quality films?</p>

<p>USC does not allow you to send in films, and NYU requires that portfolios be under 10 mins. So, higher quality by far. One of the best shorts I every watched was 2 min...time has nothing to do with it (they actually don't care that much about production value in general, as long as your shorts are visually strong and tell a story). </p>

<p>As for mwink's question- no. Look at the amount of increibly talent working today, and I would say most of them do not come from film school. However, film school can help shape your craft (sorry to get cheesy). </p>

<p>Many people say film school allows you to break into the industry easier, however, not that much easier. The reason I am considering film school is to work within a collobrative environment and hopefully find a producer, cinematographer, and writer that I want to work with when I produce my first feature.</p>

<p>I do not know Northwestern's admit rate. I do believe there are approximately 40-60 kids in each year of their film/radio/tv program.</p>

<p>I'm a Freshman film major at Northwestern now. It's a good program; in terms of classes it has its ups and downs. However, the extracurricular film production opportunities are huge, and that's overwhelmingly the way I've learned most of what I've learned this year. And there is a lot of really great equipment (maybe not as much as USC). I'm just a Freshman and I'll have worked on maybe 10 or 11 films by the end of the year. If you're interested in the technical aspects of film production, you'll have plenty of opportunities out of class to really grow and learn a ton. And if you're just interested in theory, there are plenty of classes for that and some really great professors. </p>

<p>You don't need a portfolio to apply. Also, the film "minor" is really called "media studies", and you won't get a lot of hands-on experience, i'd guess. But whatever your major is, you can still participate in the extracurricular projects; there's a kid in my dorm who's an engineering major but he's pretty huge in the film scene here cause he's a visual fx expert.</p>

<p>Also, USC may have an amazing program, but it's also true that you can't throw a rock in LA without hitting a USC alum. If you're planning on going to graduate school for film, that's when you should look into USC, or AFI or the like, but get an education first.</p>

<p>I'm in a hard place right now. I have to choose either USC, NYU Tisch, or Northwestern...</p>

<p>Yeah, I have so far gotten into Tisch, Vassar and Hanpshire (all great film programs) and waiting to hear back from Columbia. I think Tisch is where I will be at.</p>