New York Film Academy
Why I Think New York Film Academy Is a Questionable Investment
New York Film Academy charges up to $15,000 or more per semester for their filmmaking programs. But is that investment worth it? New York Film Academy appears to spend a hefty amount of its revenue on advertising. New York Film Academy posters and billboards are plastered over many major cities on bus stops, etc. But what about the quality of instruction they provide for the price?
What Do You Think of New York Film Academy Student Films?
Check out this short film shot at New York Film Academy, according to the Youtube credits:
Do you really think you couldn’t make a movie like that using your own video equipment and some friends? You decide. Seriously. Meanwhile, this is a short video shot by a film school drop out who got paid by TBS to shoot it a few years ago. His name is Peter Atencio, and his latest project was a feature film called “The Rig”. Check out this short called “The Freeloader’s guide to easy living.” (Explicit language, great filmmaking).
Pete told me he went to a film school similar to New York Film Academy in Colorado. After two days, he and his friend couldn’t believe what nonsense there was. He dropped out, bought his own Panasonic DVX100 with a quarter of his tuition, taught himself how to shoot, and has been shooting stuff in LA ever since. (This video was shot with his own camera and SOME CRAPPY LIGHTS in about 2 days!) Make sure to check out the “action movie” that starts at about 2:55.
Pete isn’t specially trained, he taught himself, and YOU CAN TOO!
New York Film Academy, NYU, USC: Black and Student Film White Films
Another thing you should know about New York Film Academy, like NYU… is that if you enter one of the film programs you are going to be shooting black and white silent movies like this one (which is actually kind of funny, as it spoofs what it is like to go to a place like New York Film Academy):
Students at NYFA and other film schools are still using ArriS 16mm film cameras. These cameras cost $150 a day or so to rent at nearby facilities in Queens in Brooklyn. But they haven’t been used in the industry for many years, which is why I consider them to be outdated filmmaking equipment.
It’s great fun to use black and white film to shoot a movie, but why are people paying thousands of dollars to do it? Make sure to check out my article on how to make a cheap 16mm black and white film how they do in film schools. (The same article, or a variation therof, was featured on the popular blog Nofilmschool.com completely with comments from other filmmakers about the quality of these student films). You can find that article by clicking here. You can rent an old camera (which they don’t make any more) and buy film stock, learn to shoot it in about 5 minutes, shoot it, and have it developed, then edit it on your Mac like they do at New York Film Academy and boom… you’re done.
According to NYFA’s website they have you do about 5 short black and white films with some variations of voiceover or music tracks, but no synch speaking. This is a fun exercise, but is it really worth $15,000 a semester? That’s up to you.
Evan Meszaros was in a film school, but dropped out when he realized it was smarter to just start working in the business. This is a clip from his first feature “Windcroft”, which has won many awards at various film festivals:
For some reason the entire MOVIE is available on youtube right now on Youtube. You can watch it here:
We did an exclusive interview with Evan and asked him why he dropped out of film school, and why he recommends students at places like New York Film Academy save their money and just start making movies. You can hear the entire interview along with much more inside film school secrets.
A Final thought on New York Film Academy
You’ve probably never heard of Evan or Pete either, but they are both working directors who don’t owe a penny to a film school, and learned their craft faster, smarter, and cheaper without it. Before you sign up for New York Academy and agree to pay them thousands of dollars, examine the course load and equipment closely and ask yourself: why couldn’t I buy this stuff and teach myself? Networking and learning filmmaking is as easy as hopping on the internet.
Hi,
Your article confirms what I have been suspecting for some time. However, do you have any views on what might be a good alternative? I have heard USC is a great place to study film, but I have also heard it is nearly impossible to get into.
I also realize you can make movies without going to film school, but I feel like some initial training (even just a summer camp) would really give me some momentum.
Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you could suggest some realistic alternatives to NYFA.
njfilmacademy.com is a good alternative, or any community college.
I am a current student at nyfa and i really think it’s great. Yu have to be preparez to spend a lot of money and time on equiptments and reeally hard work.it is one of the most intensive programs i the world and i couldn’t agree more. It is really hard finding time for anythibg else but filmmaking which is why i’m here. The teachers are great and i love the classes. But yes, the equipment sucks and that’s just how it is. If you just get over that part, you’d love the school. Nice people, always someone to help you, good and really intelligent teachers -classrtooms suck- but if you think of quallity instead og quantity, i think this school is worth the money. I get to try everything behind the camera and since i want to be a director, I think it’s a great benefit to learn the other roles on a film prodiction as well.
We shoot, direct, edit, produce, write, set up lights and more, find locations, work with actors etc. Give it a try. I know a lot of students start out with the 8 week program just to see what it is.
I am satisfied and busy everyday.
Louise
Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s great to hear from an NYFA student. I’m glad you are satisfied with your experience.
Clearly, the appeal of being immersed in a communal environment, like a big camp or school, has its appeal. For people with unlimited income, it can definitely be a fun time. NYU was fun, but impractical.
Student films at NYU look like the ones at NYFA. They are sad little exercises. They are the kind of practice movies that a beginning filmmaker should be making…on their own, for as little money as possible, to get the hang of making movies. But to pay all that money to make the kind of little itty bitty shorts like the one shown above is just nuts.
The truth is everything you are learning there at NYFA is available for next to nothing. The reason I created this site is because I think the school, and those like it, are capitalizing on the fact that our culture raised people to believe school is necessary for success and disregards self learning. Yet in the film business, most of the working filmmakers from grips to ADs learned the very same things without any school. It’s a very small percentage that paid all that darn money to learn in this isolated school environment.
And it’s interesting that you say the equipment sucks. Everyone in the biz knows this, but to hear it from an actual student is illuminating. It begs the question where the heck is all that tuition money going? That’s what seems off to me.
And wouldn’t you think that if you are paying so much money to be there you would get access to the best equipment?
You may also wonder what you will do after you finish as far as directing goes. Typically film students are financially depleted without funds to shoot their own movies, because all their money went to school. This is insane. If you are really wealthy and have the money available to make a move after school then more power to you, but that is not the case for everyone. And for people who do have some money saved up but are in the middle class, to spend this crazy amount of money using sub par equipment and learning basic filmmaking lessons, just to have the communal experience in a “school” environment is insane.
Just get on one film set or connect with a local filmmaker, as demonstrated in the course, and you will find your own community of working pros.
Also, if you’ve only been on student film sets then you would do yourself good to get on some pro film sets ASAP. They are completely different experiences.
I agree completely with everything that was said above. I just recently graduatd from NYFAs one year program in New York, where we work with less than average equipment, which is never handled properly by the students, mainly because of a lack of education. The NYFA website boasts about how theyre the best, using state of the art equipment, like a crane. In the NYFA NY location, they don’t even own a crane, not to mention they only let the cinematography students use the RedOne, anyone else has to rent it from the school. Yes, on top of tuition, they expect you to RENT the high quality cameras.
As for the tuition itself, as far as I can see, the money goes directly into Brett Ratner’s pocket, a man who states he graduated from NYFA, but really went to NYU and STARTED NYFA. There are many many problems with this school, as well as film schools in general. Everything you can learn, you can learn online at Lynda.com or Vimeo or any site where people talk film. Like others have said, the best method is to teach yourself and to meet other like minded people. Don’t be sucked into the hype of film school, it’s just a method to suck money out of the rich