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Thinking of Going to Film School? Read this First!
But there are a lot of people with plenty of desire and potential who don't have the financial resources to attend film school. Should these people give up on their dreams and get into some other line of work, or can the enter the business by some other means? Is it even possible that film school might not be the best route, anyway?
Only the future filmmaker can decide whether seeking training at a school is the best way to get in the door, but it's a good idea to check out the alternatives.
It's with the hope that it will help future movie makers decide whether or not film school is the best route to take that I'm offering the following story about a friend of mine and how he got into the business. This friend travels around quite a bit so I haven't been able to ask him if it would be alright to use his real name, so I'll call him Paul.
One day Paul learned that he would be receiving an inheritance. It was his mother's job to decide the way this money was to be spent. The only condition was that it was to be used in the furthering of his education. She asked Paul what kind of career he wanted to go into.
He said that he hoped to someday build a future in the movie industry and that he thought going to film school would be the best way to get started. His mother figured that his goal was reasonable, but she had a suggestion for a different route to take.
It seemed to her that if he used the money to make his own short movie, wouldn't that be a good way to learn how it's done?
Paul liked the sound of this idea, so he got to work. The first thing he did was look for a local special effects technician to get involved with this project. He found one who also happens to be a friend of mine. I'll call him John.
Here's the deal that Paul and John made: John would go out and find a bunch of his fellow special effects people and ask them if there were any effects that they had always wanted to create but had never found a project that needed them. A list would be made of these effects and Paul would put together a screenplay that would call for as many of these effects as possible. They would then all collaborate on the film that would be made from this story. There wasn't enough money available to pay the technicians for their time, but Paul would pay for all of the building materials.
The effects crew enthusiastically agreed to this offer and the result was a very slick looking short film. Everybody involved had a lot of fun and Paul learned how movies are made. He also had a nice portfolio piece to show when looking for work in the future.
Of course there are a lot of people who went to film school and are doing very well, but Paul's story is certainly not unique. Many of the top professionals in the industry learned their skills by making their own films.
Stanley Kubrick, John Waters, Quentin Tarantino and especially, Robert Rodriguez are just a few of the many directors who have publicly stated that producing a film on your own is the best way to learn how it's done.
With the availability of affordable video equipment and helpful software, just about everybody has access to all of the resources they need to make independent films. They can even get their movies seen by uploading them to the internet.
Once again, there are a lot of people who have found success in the motion picture business by going to school to learn their skills. At the same time, plenty of folks have made it to the top via other routes. Check out as many options as you can before making up your mind. Best of luck to you all in the future!
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About the Author
If you want to embark on a career in the film industry and want to know what the best way is for you to get into the movie business, visit Flashfink's Squidoo page to see if going to film school is right for you.
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