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<li><p>Love it. I get to talk about movies, write about movies, learn about movies, and make movies, and I get to do it with people who are having as much fun as I am.</p></li>
<li><p>Very. With freshman year Film/TV, the class is split in half. Half take the visual semester, half take the audio semester (it’s split alphabetically by last name, top half is audio first semester, bottom half is visual). With visual, you get a high-end DSLR camera to fool around with, audio gets a high end marantz (microphone). You have to share it in groups of 3, but since it fosters teamwork and film by nature is a collaborative medium, it’s better than if you were on your own. People tend to view the visual semester as the best (since you make 3 films, 1 experimental, 1 group doc, 1 final narrative), but you can only use still photography. It sounds annoying but films always come out better when you have to work with some limits. I just finished visual and had a ton of fun, but I get the sense the audio semester is underrated. Most people underestimate how much power sound has in films. You also take Storytelling Strategies in the audio semester, which I’ve heard is very illuminating. Visual gets Language of Film, which is your standard watching, talking, and writing about films class, but its execution is very classy.</p></li>
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<p>Additionally, it’s ridiculously easy to crew on student films. Listings are sent out weekly. You could very easily crew every weekend (though I’d recommend always in moderation). As a freshman you really can only start out as a production assistant, but I have friends who have crewed a lot and built enough experience to be grips. 99.99% of the time, you will not be paid. However, number 1 rule of student filmmaking: If you can’t pay your crew, you damn well better feed them.</p>
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<li><p>I don’t believe freshman films (from Frame and Sequence) are eligible for entry into First Run. Even if they were, they’d be running against senior and graduate level films. They wouldn’t stand a chance. There is a smaller festival for freshman work (including both Frame and Sequence and Sound Image); however, it’s going through a period of transition and may not happen this year. Even then, the app process varies from professor to professor. Some have the class vote (reverse pirate king: can’t vote for yourself), some professors choose themselves.</p></li>
<li><p>I live in 3rd North. It’s one of only two dorms (the other being UHall) with a kitchen and common room in each suite. It also has a dining hall which I’d say is tied with Downstein for best buffet style dining hall. It and UHall (which used to be an upperclassmen dorm, so it may not be an option for you next year) are also the most expensive dorms (I think it’s like 1.5K-2 more expensive than the next one down). The rooms are usually nice but very inconsistent as no two rooms are alike. My common room is extremely small, while I’ve seen others (including a low-cost room) that had common rooms twice the size of mine. I’ve used our kitchen several times, but only a couple concoctions required more than a mini-fridge or microwave to make. Vibe-wise, 3rd North can also be a bit snooty (3rd North being the dorm voted most similar to Slytherin should illustrate that). My advice, skip 3rd North and save the money. You won’t have time to use the kitchen, and most people can last until late spring semester before getting sick of the dining halls and forcing themselves to cook more. I’ve also been in several upperclassmen dorms, all of which are apartment style and most have kitchens, and they all put 3rd North to shame, in addition to having the same price.</p></li>
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<p>As for freshman dorms, I believe Founders is the best. The rooms are ridiculously spacious and consistent between floors, and the building has 26 floors so there’s a solid chance you’ll get a great view. Weinstein can be accurately described as a cinderblock prison, but the vibe there is one of the friendlier dorms. Rubin’s pretty much the buttmonkey dorm, but it’s surprisingly nice if you can look past it not having air conditioning. I can’t, but there are those who can.</p>
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<li>I’m just coming out of finals week so it’s tough to remember what free time is, but I recall having a decent amount of it. It’s college in NYC, so there’s almost always something to do. I do get the sense non-tisch people have more free time, but that’s not because I have none. As for PT, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with it, but I know a couple people who are making it work. You never get paid crewing on student films, but you always get free food, and crewing’s easier to work into the inconsistent schedule of tisch life. There’s also work-study, which would give you the least amount of hours and I know several people doing it.</li>
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