<p>I have often argued that going to a "prestige" film school does not always guarantee results that will lead you to an industry job. Case in point:</p>
<p>The most prestigious student film festival is the Ivy Film Festival held at Brown University. This fest is unique in that it is student-run and the final judging is by industry directors and producers (rather than some random festival officials). There were 350 student films submitted from 125 universities around the world. Only 22 undergrad and 6 grad films were accepted for showing. Being an "official selection" is a fantastic honor in itself.</p>
<p>The festival was this past weekend, and included advance screenings of several new films not yet released, including the new Star Trek movie in an IMAX version. Industry participation in the fest included Jack Nicholson, Tom Rothman (head of Fox Fim Entertainment), Peter Bart (former editor-in-chief of Variety, the current and former head of Paramount Pictures, and several director/screenwriters. Sponsors of the Ivy include Paramount and Fox Searchlight.</p>
<p>Awards are given in several areas (drama, documentary, experimental, etc), but the ultimate prize is the Grand Jury award - the best film of the festival, as judged by the Hollywood professionals.</p>
<p>The 2009 winner: "The Dying Western," a film by a group of undergraduate students (including my son) from the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University in the Media Arts Department (not the Film Department). This was with competition from the best film schools in the world, and with the highest level of film submissions.</p>
<p>btw, the film also won the Young Filmmaker award at the Appalachian Film Festival on the same night, won an "Award of Merit" from the Accolade Film Competition earlier in the month, and a "Best Student Short" award at the Las Vegas Film Festival several weeks ago. It has been accepted to several other festivals and will next be shown at the Lake Placid Film Festival in New York.</p>
<p>Anyway, the point is that with the right drive and a group of colleagues with similar drive and talent, it might not matter where you go to "film school."</p>
<p>Of course that a school’s prestige does not guarantee that its students will be more successful or more skilled than those of other schools. That goes for everything in life. It all depends on the individual. If you’re a law student at Harvard Law who spends all their time getting stoned or being a lazy bum, obviously you’re not going to succeed. Yeah, it would look impressive on your resume to say that you went to Harvard Law, but chances are that if you’re a really lazy person, you’re not even going to be out there trying your hardest to get a fantastic job anyway.</p>
<p>What prestigious schools offer are more opportunities, but if you don’t take advantage of those opportunities, then of course you’re going outdone by a more driven person who goes to a lesser known college. If you don’t take the time to talk to an extremely intelligent professor at your prestigious school, you’re wasting a valuable source. If you don’t make the best of the technology offered, you’re wasting resources. </p>
<p>However, it’s probably fair to say that a driven person who would have a lot of success going to a not-so-well-known school would have probably had more success had they gone to a school who could offer them more ways to be successful.</p>
<p>It’s all up to you at the end of the day. If you don’t go to a prestigious school, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re a failure or that you’re always going to be less successful than those who go to schools with more prestige than yours. Just like if you’re an Ivy leaguer, it doesn’t mean you’re going to be a hugely successful person (although to be realistic, if you’re an Ivy Leaguer, chances are you’re an extremely driven person who’s going to try their hardest).</p>
<p>digimedia,
I am so happy to hear about the recognition of the film - this is wonderful news! Thanks for posting the info - I will definitely take a look at the website - it’s a great honor!</p>
<p>digmedia, can you provide a few more details about how your son and his colleagues put this film together?</p>
<p>Did his participation in the Honors College play much of a role? Does Ohio have a more significant offering of film courses than one presumes, providing him with opportunities? Or did he and his group really do this pretty much on their own as an activity independent from their academic work and contacts?</p>
<p>…"Anyway, the point is that with the right drive and a group of colleagues with similar drive and talent, it might not matter where you go to “film school.”</p>
<p>Or even go to film school at all! In the arts, UG or advanced degrees don’t tend to get your foot in the door. A great film will. Traditionally, this advantaged kids whose family’s could pay for all that equipment and production costs. Today, some film schools will give kids that shot. If you look at the alums coming from the top film schools in the country, though, you will find a huge number who have gone on to have successful film careers. This may be due to the fact that the brightest and most talented tend to come to these programs in the first place, or they find creative minds with whom to collaborate, or they get the feedback, encouragement, and aid in submitting their films to competitions, internships, whatever. But one should never discount the great professors, equipment, and access to professionals as mentors that are offered in any great film production program. For a career in the arts, not just a few great moments, the bottom line will always be: talent + training + effort + perseverance + LUCK.</p>
<p>Sorry that I did not notice your post until last night. To learn more about the film, Google the name of the film (in quotes) and the number 419. The first link shown is an article about making the film.</p>
<p>As for the school, the Ohio University Media Arts department (part of the Scripps School of Communications) is probably one of the top departments in Video production. The facilities and opportunities for involvement are incredible and I was shocked at how great it was when we visited. “Film” production these days is going all digital anyway, and the techniques these guys learned apply across the TV and Film spheres. My son’s work was not outside of the mainstream at all. While he was there, he participated/led approximately 50 (fifty!) productions (many of which I can give you links to if you PM me so you can see the type of work going on). It is an INCREDIBLY collaborative atmosphere.</p>
<p>HTC is one of the best-kept secrets of college knowledge. They only accept about 55-60 freshmen a year and the perks are really unbelievable. Their philosophy is (rightly or wrongly, depending on your pov) that bringing in exceptional kids and lavishing the full resources of the University on them will bring benefits to the school as a whole. And they do lavish, as in private tutorials (one-on-one instruction with professors in their majors) and monetary resources. For example, when my son wanted to get some instruction not offered at OU, the HTC paid for him to attend the class at Stanford.</p>
<p>In the case of the winning film, their budget was quite high due to the variety of film locations, the fact that they had to recreate the Sixties environment, and because they brought in Screen Actors Guild actors for the roles. And the school contributed over $6500 to help their budget. I think the university also contributed to travel budgets for the film festivals as well.</p>
<p>I think this was the perfect college choice for my son.</p>