5 Reasons To Go To Film School And 5 Reasons Not To

1. It Stifles Creativity

One of the most wonderful things about film school is that it offers equal opportunities for people from all walks of life and boasting a wide variety of backgrounds and upbringings to try a hand at something they are passionate about. NYU's admission process emphasizes that applicants do not require a background in film in order to get in - students have the option of submitting other expressions of art as part of their creative portfolio, not just film work (and many other film schools do this as well). As a result, you end up with a very eclectic group of people, some of whom have directed dozens of short films and won countless awards at international film festivals while still in high school, and others who have never picked up a camera before in their life. This is both a blessing... and a curse. On the one hand, people with non-film backgrounds have their own unique set of skills they can contribute to film work: in my grade we have everything from painters to dancers to musicians and writers, all of whom use their prior artistic strengths in their work. Understandably, the school needs to offer everybody equal opportunities, which often times leads to an excruciating lowering of expectations and demands to the "lowest common denominator". Early projects can be very restrained and limiting, something that can lead to understandable frustration among students with more ambition, skill and experience who feel they are ready to move on to bigger and better things. It doesn't help that most film students' lack of experience makes things extremely difficult for those who have a better grasp on what they are doing. Fact of the matter is, film students are so poor at planning, being aware of safety and showing care for equipment and locations, it's near impossible to get insurance for student film shoots, or locations that agree to allow student shoots to film. Due to safety and security measures, many schools are forced to impose a strict set of production restrictions, some of which seem almost arbitrary. At the end of the day, you would hope that film schools could trust certain individuals who can prove they are mature and aware enough to properly execute more complex filmmaking scenarios, but unfortunately, due to the "level the playing field" philosophy, all students must be offered equal opportunities. Therefore, there are certain things that, sadly, you can only really do when making a film outside of the walls of the film school.