Film schools
Learning curve
Oct 25, 2005
After attending the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for two years, Jonathan Wald packed his bags and headed overseas to attend the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. His decision was based on one simple fact: At the Australian institution, Wald could devote all of his time to perfecting his craft.
"At UCLA, for most of the time you're there, your fellow directing students serve as crew members for your films, so you've got directors who are acting as gaffers, assistant directors, designers and sound recordists," he says. "At AFTRS, students were very clearly differentiated: The directors directed, the writers wrote, and the designers designed."
Wald is one of many American film students who are turning to institutions around the globe to find the best educational opportunities and value for their dollars. International film schools might be located thousands of miles from Hollywood's bustling sets and studios, but they nonetheless boast high-quality facilities, big-name instructors and opportunities to network with industry professionals -- and, in sharp contrast with most U.S. universities, most charge little or nothing in the way of tuition.
What's more, as the movie business becomes increasingly international, studying abroad can help make young filmmakers more comfortable with other nations and cultures -- and that can only help later in their careers.
"I can't think of any other experience that can more readily give students that sense of international perspective than living abroad," USC School of Cinema-Television dean Elizabeth Daley says. "Quite simply, if you're going to be in a global industry, then you need to see things though global eyes."
Of course, students traveling overseas still must find institutions that best fit their needs. Those looking to break ground in the independent-film sector might consider attending Germany's Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin: With a motto of "low budget, high energy," the school accepts fewer than 50 students a year, including only 12 for its directors program.
Professors include Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and auteur director Werner Herzog, and with the exception of its screenwriting class, which costs €1,200 ($1,447) a year, the DFFB does not charge tuition.
"We look for devotion to filmmaking, talent and originality," says Irene Schlunder, head of legal and business affairs at the DFFB. "We make no difference between German and foreign students -- we are just looking for the best."
Schlunder adds that the graduation project for DFFB students is a short or feature-length film, in most cases a co-production with a German movie or television production company. Completed projects are released in theaters and entered in events including the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Canadian Film Center, founded in Toronto in 1988 by renowned filmmaker Norman Jewison, also allows students to make low-budget movies before graduation, and its Feature Film Project offers guidance and financing for the development, production and marketing of first-time films.
CFC students are allotted as much as CAN$500,000 ($425,500) apiece to make their films, and completed projects have screened at major events including Berlin, the Festival de Cannes, the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Recent CFC alumni include David Ostry (Class of 2004), who is directing the upcoming Kevin Spacey comedy "Mr. Gibb," and Brad Peyton ('02), who is writing and directing Universal's upcoming animated feature "The Spider and the Fly."
CFC communications specialist Sue Holland cites a couple of reasons why U.S. students should study film in Canada. "Our industry network is smaller and more accessible," she says. "More than 90% of our students go on to work in their respective fields."
Likewise, AFTRS officials claim that more than 95% of the school's full-time students secure industry jobs within a year of graduation. Alumnus Sejong Park is shooting a feature in South Korea following his Oscar nomination for the 2004 animated-short release "Birthday Boy," and screenwriting grad Michael Lucas is working with director Baz Luhrmann following a successful internship.
The AFTRS accepts only Australian residents for its full-time program, but shorter courses that do not exceed limits of the nation's tourist visa are open to students the world over.
he opportunity to obtain important real-world experience plays a large role in choosing a film school, and public-relations officials at Mexico's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematograficos claim that 100 production companies enter into contracts regularly with the school's graduates.
Mexico's first film school and the alma mater of director Alfonso Cuaron, the CUEC admits only 15 students a year -- two slots are reserved for foreign students -- from more than 270 applicants. Prospective students who demonstrate general knowledge of film and audiovisual aptitude are preferred, and tuition is $50 a semester.
Spain's Escola Superior de Cinema y Audiovisuals de Catalunya, affiliated with the University of Barcelona, also touts its ability to tap into the industry. "Our prestige is known all over the world," ESCAC marketing and communications director Aritz Lekuona Alonso says. "We belong to CILECT, an international association which (includes) the best film schools in the world. Moreover, the audiovisual area in Spain recognizes us as the best film school in Spain."
ESCAC's annual tuition is about €6,000 ($7,221), and the program takes seven semesters to complete. Prestigious alumni include editor Bernat Vilaplana, now at work on a project with director Guillermo del Toro, and line producer Aintza Serra, whose credits include the 2003 U.S. release "Gaudi Afternoon."
Even amid the proliferation of quality film schools abroad, though, top American universities -- including two leading institutions located in Los Angeles -- have plenty to offer prospective students. Larry Turman, an esteemed professor and chairman of USC's Peter Stark Producing Program, says deans of prestigious institutions the world over call him seeking advice as to how to improve their programs.
USC, the nation's oldest film school, has sent numerous heavy hitters into the industry, including Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Walter Salles and Robert Zemeckis. The school is comprised of six academic divisions: animation and digital arts, critical studies, interactive media, producing, film and TV production and writing for screen and television. Its undergraduate program takes four years to complete, master's programs in writing and producing take two years, and master's programs in interactive media and animation and digital arts take three years.
"Other programs tend to specialize in specific disciplines," Daley says. "Europe, for instance, has fine national film schools, but they tend to be conservatories centered on feature films. The USC School of Cinema-Television offers the entire spectrum of media production."
That said, a USC film degree is pricey: Each undergraduate unit costs $1,059 a year, and each graduate unit costs $1,127.
USC's closest competitor, UCLA, offers courses in theater, film, television and digital media and boasts its own roster of alumni that includes the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Rob Reiner and Tim Robbins. Annual undergraduate tuition for California residents is $5,819, and tuition for nonresidents is $20,027; for graduate students, annual tuition is $6,317 for residents and $18,807 for nonresidents.
Although Wald completed his education in Australia, he speaks highly of UCLA. He notes that he learned separate skills at each institution and believes that attending both prepared him best to tackle professional challenges.
"I'm happy I went to film school both in the U.S. and here in Sydney," Wald says. "I learned very different things at both places: UCLA emphasized individual expression; AFTRS stressed mastery of the craft. It's the combination that makes me feel like I'm ready to make my first feature."
"At UCLA, for most of the time you're there, your fellow directing students serve as crew members for your films, so you've got directors who are acting as gaffers, assistant directors, designers and sound recordists," he says. "At AFTRS, students were very clearly differentiated: The directors directed, the writers wrote, and the designers designed."
Wald is one of many American film students who are turning to institutions around the globe to find the best educational opportunities and value for their dollars. International film schools might be located thousands of miles from Hollywood's bustling sets and studios, but they nonetheless boast high-quality facilities, big-name instructors and opportunities to network with industry professionals -- and, in sharp contrast with most U.S. universities, most charge little or nothing in the way of tuition.
What's more, as the movie business becomes increasingly international, studying abroad can help make young filmmakers more comfortable with other nations and cultures -- and that can only help later in their careers.
"I can't think of any other experience that can more readily give students that sense of international perspective than living abroad," USC School of Cinema-Television dean Elizabeth Daley says. "Quite simply, if you're going to be in a global industry, then you need to see things though global eyes."
Of course, students traveling overseas still must find institutions that best fit their needs. Those looking to break ground in the independent-film sector might consider attending Germany's Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin: With a motto of "low budget, high energy," the school accepts fewer than 50 students a year, including only 12 for its directors program.
Professors include Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and auteur director Werner Herzog, and with the exception of its screenwriting class, which costs €1,200 ($1,447) a year, the DFFB does not charge tuition.
"We look for devotion to filmmaking, talent and originality," says Irene Schlunder, head of legal and business affairs at the DFFB. "We make no difference between German and foreign students -- we are just looking for the best."
Schlunder adds that the graduation project for DFFB students is a short or feature-length film, in most cases a co-production with a German movie or television production company. Completed projects are released in theaters and entered in events including the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Canadian Film Center, founded in Toronto in 1988 by renowned filmmaker Norman Jewison, also allows students to make low-budget movies before graduation, and its Feature Film Project offers guidance and financing for the development, production and marketing of first-time films.
CFC students are allotted as much as CAN$500,000 ($425,500) apiece to make their films, and completed projects have screened at major events including Berlin, the Festival de Cannes, the Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Recent CFC alumni include David Ostry (Class of 2004), who is directing the upcoming Kevin Spacey comedy "Mr. Gibb," and Brad Peyton ('02), who is writing and directing Universal's upcoming animated feature "The Spider and the Fly."
CFC communications specialist Sue Holland cites a couple of reasons why U.S. students should study film in Canada. "Our industry network is smaller and more accessible," she says. "More than 90% of our students go on to work in their respective fields."
Likewise, AFTRS officials claim that more than 95% of the school's full-time students secure industry jobs within a year of graduation. Alumnus Sejong Park is shooting a feature in South Korea following his Oscar nomination for the 2004 animated-short release "Birthday Boy," and screenwriting grad Michael Lucas is working with director Baz Luhrmann following a successful internship.
The AFTRS accepts only Australian residents for its full-time program, but shorter courses that do not exceed limits of the nation's tourist visa are open to students the world over.
he opportunity to obtain important real-world experience plays a large role in choosing a film school, and public-relations officials at Mexico's Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematograficos claim that 100 production companies enter into contracts regularly with the school's graduates.
Mexico's first film school and the alma mater of director Alfonso Cuaron, the CUEC admits only 15 students a year -- two slots are reserved for foreign students -- from more than 270 applicants. Prospective students who demonstrate general knowledge of film and audiovisual aptitude are preferred, and tuition is $50 a semester.
Spain's Escola Superior de Cinema y Audiovisuals de Catalunya, affiliated with the University of Barcelona, also touts its ability to tap into the industry. "Our prestige is known all over the world," ESCAC marketing and communications director Aritz Lekuona Alonso says. "We belong to CILECT, an international association which (includes) the best film schools in the world. Moreover, the audiovisual area in Spain recognizes us as the best film school in Spain."
ESCAC's annual tuition is about €6,000 ($7,221), and the program takes seven semesters to complete. Prestigious alumni include editor Bernat Vilaplana, now at work on a project with director Guillermo del Toro, and line producer Aintza Serra, whose credits include the 2003 U.S. release "Gaudi Afternoon."
Even amid the proliferation of quality film schools abroad, though, top American universities -- including two leading institutions located in Los Angeles -- have plenty to offer prospective students. Larry Turman, an esteemed professor and chairman of USC's Peter Stark Producing Program, says deans of prestigious institutions the world over call him seeking advice as to how to improve their programs.
USC, the nation's oldest film school, has sent numerous heavy hitters into the industry, including Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Walter Salles and Robert Zemeckis. The school is comprised of six academic divisions: animation and digital arts, critical studies, interactive media, producing, film and TV production and writing for screen and television. Its undergraduate program takes four years to complete, master's programs in writing and producing take two years, and master's programs in interactive media and animation and digital arts take three years.
"Other programs tend to specialize in specific disciplines," Daley says. "Europe, for instance, has fine national film schools, but they tend to be conservatories centered on feature films. The USC School of Cinema-Television offers the entire spectrum of media production."
That said, a USC film degree is pricey: Each undergraduate unit costs $1,059 a year, and each graduate unit costs $1,127.
USC's closest competitor, UCLA, offers courses in theater, film, television and digital media and boasts its own roster of alumni that includes the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Rob Reiner and Tim Robbins. Annual undergraduate tuition for California residents is $5,819, and tuition for nonresidents is $20,027; for graduate students, annual tuition is $6,317 for residents and $18,807 for nonresidents.
Although Wald completed his education in Australia, he speaks highly of UCLA. He notes that he learned separate skills at each institution and believes that attending both prepared him best to tackle professional challenges.
"I'm happy I went to film school both in the U.S. and here in Sydney," Wald says. "I learned very different things at both places: UCLA emphasized individual expression; AFTRS stressed mastery of the craft. It's the combination that makes me feel like I'm ready to make my first feature."
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