"Filmmaking is like sex" - Is film school necessary?

 Yesterday on Indie Wire an interesting article was posted which saw multiple independent film makers give honest and assertive opinions on the viability of attending a film school.

 With the excessive costs, is it wiser to pay for tuition or just use that money to make your first independent film? Is there a creative repression to which is potentially a controlled learning environment? 

  Personally, I did attend film school, or at least a film school of sorts. For my time there I did learn how to use some elements of many types of software and built a familiarization with Mac's, but for the most part, I learned that my fellow students were unreliable and prone to plagiarism and the tutors unable to truly function in the real world; the old idiom "Those who can't teach" rang ever true. I found it a port of call to gain access to gear and, at the time, expensive software, but the majority of my education was hands on and a lot of Google searching, this led to me helping several of my peers to complete projects, while also completing my own. Although the course was only a year, in that year I completed well over 20 assignments and for the most part I was, almost always, top 2 in marks. I graduated with honours and was granted an additional award on top of my Diploma. I made some good friends, some who are now no longer with us. I had a nemesis in whom I encountered a startling amount of plagiarism, drive and equal dedication, which pushed me harder and further than I thought possible.

  But, having attended film school, and looking back on that time, would I do it again? I think the answer would be yes, although at a more reputable institution, or at least an institution dedicated to film. I went back and taught for a year, and thankfully my contract expired and was not renewed, I enjoyed teaching, as well as a ready access to gear and equipment, but there is the constant feeling, not unlike that of feeling like a fraud.

  I think for each and every person it's probably a very different situation, some people find creativity in a classroom environment, others are likely to have their creativity stifled. But all in all, one of the best ways to gain access to gear at an affordable and alarmingly easy frequency is to attend a film school, granted, go with the one with the best, most well stocked and accessible gear locker!

 The article on Indie Wire can be found here: 

Is Film School Necessary? Top Indie Filmmakers Respond

"filmmaking is like sex, there's no one way to do it, and the only way to learn it is by doing it." - Ana Lily Amirpour

R.I.P. - Jackson Horn
12 January 1972 - 03 December 2008