Film Schools

<p>Hi! Could someone recap for me the available rankings for film schools?</p>

<p>Thanks very much.</p>

<p>That was just ONE of the wrong questions WE were asking four years ago. :)</p>

<p>Do you mean they are worthless?</p>

<p>No, not at all. I think if you are going to film school, you need one that can give you resources and can surround you with other talented students. I just meant that your career will depend more on what you do than where you go to school, as long as the school gives you opportunities to work on many, many productions and you take FULL advantage of these opportunities. Also, these days, finances are important, so you need a quality program for whatever money you can afford.</p>

<p>My son is going to a school which would not rank at all, in terms of “film schools.” But he is in an incredible Department of Media Arts; it used to be called “Telecommunications” (TV and Radio). He is in the video production sequence, but since film is becoming more and more digital, the techniques he has learned have been applicable to the film industry as well. For example, the school sent him to California to learn and be certified on Shake, the industry standard for visual effects (which has since become his specialization). Just recently, his “group” had a short selected for the Skidmore International Student Film Festival and for the Standing Rock International Shorts Festival. Both small, but with quality films. And his group also has a 33-minute film that was selected for the Las Vegas International Film Festival (next month).</p>

<p>So the right question to ask (if you want to make films) is: which set of schools will give me lots of experience and have lots of good people around me? Then choose almost any one of that set, based on other needs/wants/financial limitations you have.</p>

<p>Top 14 Graduate Schools for Film
(Master of Fine Arts)
as reported by U.S. News & World Report
2001 Edition
Rank School

  1. New York University
  2. University of Southern California
  3. University of California-Los Angeles
  4. American Film Institute
  5. California Institute of the Arts
  6. Columbia University (NY)
  7. School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  8. University of Texas-Austin
  9. Florida State University
  10. Northwestern University (IL)
  11. Temple University
  12. Rochester Institute of Technology (NY)
  13. San Francisco Art Institute
  14. University of California-San Diego</p>