Thanks to the many resources geared towards would be filmmakers and film students which are now available, there is an alternative to lengthy, expensive film school programs - namely, making your own online film school. If film making is a career path which appeals to you, you need to decide if a conventional film school is the right choice for you.
The first film school was started at the University of Southern California in 1929, largely at the urging of major film studios who wanted to find a way to make prospective employees pay for their own training; this and other schools were aimed at training students for some of the lowest paid job in the field and not much has changed in the decades since.
However, the most important skills you need to have to work in the industry aren't difficult to learn on your own. Along with this fact, consider than most film school graduates end up in jobs which don't pay enough to repay their student loans. This is something you need to consider before deciding to enroll in film school.
When the early filmmaking schools were founded, we didn't have access to all of the websites, DVDs and books which are available now; today, everything you need to know is readily available and professional grade filmmaking equipment is cheap enough to be affordable to most aspiring filmmakers.
The film industry began to attract more interest in the mid to late 70s when George Lucas and others created blockbusters which made an unprecedented number of people look into film school in the hopes of making their mark on the industry. At this time university education was more or less the only way to enter the field, though newer directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez decided to do things their own way and never spent a day in movie school and have definitely found success as filmmakers.
Becoming a filmmaker requires:
* An understanding of the basic skills required to run filmmaking equipment
* An understanding of the business of filmmaking
* Practice making films from conception to distribution
* Networking to build relationships with other filmmakers
In short, the knowledge and skills you need to make it as a filmmaker aren't things which you'll actually learn in college - but now it is easy and inexpensive to teach yourself from websites, DVDs and books.
In the film industry, you're only as good as what you worked on last and having a degree doesn't mean you'll get a job in the movie industry - if being a filmmaker is your goal, you are better off assembling the necessary resources and creating your very own virtual online film school. Combined with your own hard work, ambition and talent, that's what you really need to become a success as a filmmaker.
You will find a complete reference to the filmmaking process and links to all the best resources at 4Filmmaking.com. Click here to find the best online film schools at 4Filmmaking.com.
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