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Read This Before Spending a Lot of Money on Film School!

By: William Schwarz

Every passing year sees the completion and release of more new movies, and every year skilled people are required to make them. To fill this need, many good (and not so good) film schools have sprung up during the last few decades. Many successful artists and technicians are graduates from these schools.

But what about the aspiring filmmakers for whom film school is too expensive or far away? Are these people out of luck or is there another way to realize their dreams? Is film school even worth the time and money in the first place?

It's up to the individual enthusiast to decide whether or not film school is the best way to gain entry into the field, but it's always good to examine all of the available options.

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.

Paul was informed that he would be the beneficiary of a small inheritance. This money had to be used to further his education and Paul's mother was assigned to make sure that this stipulation was adhered to. Naturally, she asked Paul what he wanted to do with his life.

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.

This is the offer that Paul made to John: John would gather some of his fellow special effects professionals together and they would put together a list of the effects that their dream project would contain. These would be all the things they had wanted to create but had never had the opportunity to do so. Paul would take this list and compose a script that would contain as many of these effects as possible and they would all work together on the film that was produced from it. He couldn't pay the technicians for their work, but all of the necessary materials would be supplied.

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!

Article Source: Main Articles

If you're interested in a career in the film industry and are wondering what the best way is for you to get into the movie business, take a look at Flashfink's Squidoo page to see if going to film school is right for you.

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