<p>Does anyone go to film school at NYU or USC? Or want to go? I really want to be a director. What schools are the best for starting a career? NYU? What school is also the nicest for a film program? Thanks.</p>
<p>I have heard that NYU and USC are highly competitive to become a director. You might also want to check out Loyola Marymount University and Chapman University; both are well-known in the film industry. For a complete listing of film schools, please check out the following link: <a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Film_Schools/College_and_University_Departments_and_Programs/%5B/url%5D">http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Movies_and_Film/Film_Schools/College_and_University_Departments_and_Programs/</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>By far the best film school for theatrical production is Southern Cal. USC has more connections with the Hollywood film industry than any other institution, and a curriculum that emphasizes dramatic production.</p>
<p>If you're interested in directing, however, you will find it very competitive. Best to bring a BIG personality and a BIG vision coming in. You'll need to have some special leadership qualities to compete.</p>
<p>If you're more interested in "independent" production, or quirky filmmaking, there are a number of other places: NYU, UCLA being the prime alternatives.</p>
<p>From a former SC grad....</p>
<p>pfbloom, what do you especially need to compete there for directing do you think?</p>
<p>Students are admitted to USC without specific regard for what aspect of filmmaking they are adept at or aspire to. But once in the school there is a natural gravitation toward individual areas of interest: cinematography, sound, editing, writing, directing.</p>
<p>Grad students and undergrads (having met entry level course prerequisites) mix together to form production teams for the advanced production courses. Given the level of student talent there is fairly stiff competition for lead roles on these team-based productions.</p>
<p>Because directing requires creativity, leadership, and the vision-thing, this is an especially competitive role. To become director of a student production you need to convince 4 or 5 other students that you have a great idea, a vision for realizing it, and the leadership to get everybody to work together on a complex project... a combination of abilities that is a bit rare.</p>
<p>I suspect the key will always be whether you can find the 4-5 student cohorts who see things the way you do, and believe in your ability to carry it off. The faculty at USC function more as guides and advisors in this context -- it is very much a student-directed effort.</p>
<p>When George Lucas was a studnet at USC he fell in with a group of guys who were sympatico with the way he saw filmmaking. This group tried out a number of ideas in short form which were realized more fully in his feature work. It's actually quite interesting to look at some of the student films that came from people like Lucas, to see how they viewed the world as film students... Many went on to work together professionally.</p>
<p>USC and NYU are pretty much tied...most will agree (unless you are in either of the respective camps which it seems pfbloom is haha). NYU is generalized has more for independent cinema over USC as Hollywood, but I don't believe that at all. NYU has much more experimental and animation based students, but they are more NYU film students then USC (I think 50 per class at USC compared to 120 at NYU). </p>
<p>If it helps, I just got a likely letter at NYU, and got into USC's general school (still waiting on the cinema school). So, I have to decide which school I'm more interested in. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Two words: EMERSON COLLEGE. Their film program is supposed to be excellent. Competititve, but excellent.</p>
<p>The various different film schools have different styles and oriientations...and really their location is one of the main determining factors. USC, because of it's location and alumni has by far the best connection to the Hollywood film industry... and in many ways tries to model it's curriculum in that direction.</p>
<p>UCLA benefits from some of that same location/connection business as USC, but as a public institution (unlike USC or NYU) seems to have always encouraged more independent, personal filmmaking, albeit with a lean toward the dramatic bent.</p>
<p>NYU reflects the New York city industry -- more hard-nosed, more independent, more edgy, and more accepting of the documentary tradition too. Think of the kind of professional filmmaking that goes on in NYC, and what the cultural orientation of the city is, and you have an idea.</p>
<p>Emerson, in Boston, is an excellent school, though maybe more for televison than film -- their drama school is very good. Boston is not the movie production hub that NYC or LA are, however, so you are not going to see quite the same connection to the "big-time" industry that you would in the NYU/USC/UCLA group.</p>
<p>All that said, if mainstream dramatic filmmaking is your interest, USC is by far the best choice as the school best connected with the Hollywood industry.</p>
<p>If the more independent, more risk-accepting, iconoclastic production style appeals to you more, then USC is not as good a match, and other schools may be a better choice. Likewise if you intend to pursue documentary production, or animation, or live television production then there may be better choices then USC.</p>
<p>boston... actually is the home-land of documentary film making (i know mor eabout the imax people there). the producers who run PBS's nova program on TV and who produced Island of the Sharks, and Shackleton's Antarctic adventure are based at WGBH there.</p>
<p>Here's my big-picture perspective, as someone who worked as a producer, production manager and executive producer for over 15 years in the business... film studies can be either pre-professional (many programs) or academic and scholarly (many other programs).</p>
<p>First of all, I think there is no substitute for a good quality liberal arts education. That liberal arts degree will stand you in better stead than anything else when you go out into the job market.</p>
<p>If you think, however, that you just have to learn all that you can about filmmaking as fast as you can, and land that first foot-in-the-door job in film -- and especially if you aspire to work at the high end of the business with talented, brilliant people -- then the logical choice is to try to go to LA. </p>
<p>You can enroll in USC, which I think has the best connections for networking with the professionals, or UCLA, or perhaps CalArts if you're interested in animation. But you might do just as well enrolling in LA City College, hustling up some kind of paid or unpaid internship at a studio (an advantage you'll have as a college student) and learning your chops that way. The reality is that Los Angeles is the film capital of the world (Bollywood notwithstanding) and if you're eager and adept enough you'll hook up with one of the many hundreds of productions that are going on at any one time in the LA area, from doing NASCAR documentaries to working on low-budget (as in unpaid) features. No other city comes close -- though I would concede that NYC has a fair amount going on too. I worked in the business in Boston, and there are great things going on there too -- but nowhere near the variety and range that you'll find in LA.</p>
<p>Here's the film school hierarchy I'd give, talking as someone who's read a lot of student resumes from those looking for their first or 2nd job... in roughly descending order</p>
<p>Pre-professional dramatic film production: USC, NYU, UCLA (USC is out in front for the alumni connection)</p>
<p>Pre-professional television schools: Syracuse; BU; Emerson (again, Syracuse has the stongest alumni network, very important) </p>
<p>Pre-professional documentary: NYU first, then a whole range of second place candidates including BU, UCLA, USC, MIT, Stanford, SF State, etc. etc. -- and frankly any place that has at least 1 or 2 really good faculty members who can teach from real-world (as opposed to academic) experience.</p>
<p>If your love of film is more of the academic or scholarly nature -- film history, film criticism, or personal expression -- then the lists above do not necessarily apply. There are quite a number of schools that provide great programs, or great courses, in these areas.</p>