How To Pick The Right Film School For You

"Acting: An art which consists of keeping the audience from coughing." - Ralph Richardson

Picking a film school can be a very hard decision, and since movie making is always very expensive, not a cheap decision either.

If you’ve clicked on this article title link and you're a budding filmmaker, chances are you want to go to school for it, if you're not already there. And if you're not there yet, but want to get a great film education, there are hundreds of choices to choose from. One is better than other. I will give you my own insight into what I found when searching for a Film School, both online and offline.

First and foremost, you must decide what is your passion and what kind of film you want to make or work in. If you're a die-hard artist and want to work in the independent film scene, or just as a movie artist, there are a so many choices for you.

Let’s start by looking in New York. They have the most developed art scene for film, and great schools to boot. Do some research into the schools, and see how they are rated against others in the field you're looking at. Chicago is also good choices if money is a large factor in your decision. But here you must know the hard reality: a good film education will cost you, it's just a fact of life.

Now, if you want to direct your skills towards Hollywood, there's really only one place to go if you really want to make it: Hollywood. Los Angeles and its surrounding cities have hundreds of two-year film schools for you to take on. They don't cost a lot, and you can get lots of hands on training and project work. However, usually you won't get too far with a two year education. As per my knowledge goes, you often need a 4 plus year education.

The two best schools that I know of in Los Angeles for this kind of in-depth film degree are offered at USC School of Cinema - Television, and Art Center College of Design. USC (University of Southern California) is comparatively easier to get into, but you don't even get to touch a camera until your junior year! Art Center is VERY hard to get into, but you start film work right away.

There is really only one trouble with these schools too: they cost an arm and a leg. But they also have numerous contacts with LA based studios to help you get a job right out of school. That’s more important.

Coming to online film schools, you can find not less than couple of thousands on the globe. Some of them providing very nice video training in the form of DVDs along with lot of textual information. Just search with your requirement on google, it will give you loads of pages.

Well, if you want to get online education it’s very easy and instant. Only question is what will you do after learning all the theoretical education? You need to develop contacts and networking related to your chosen field. It’s not that easy but there are many filmmakers, artistes and technicians who got their basic film education online proved at film festivals as well as bagged awards. Direct film schooling or online, either way it is possible. You must be that passionate in learning things and realize your dreams.

Now... Lights, camera, action!