JJ Abrams nor Spielberg Ever Went to Film School

So often in the film school “debate” the same names get brought up over and over again. Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, etc. But I recently went to check out “Super 8”. This was, by the way, a really fun movie. And it was exactly what you’d expect from a Spielberg/Abrams collaboration. You had the childlike wonder of “ET” mixed with ...

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MacGyver Filmmaking: An Exercise to Stimulate Your Imagination

It seems like every day a new technical innovation impacts the world of filmmaking. The cameras keep getting better, the software keeps getting faster, the CGI keeps getting more realistic. New toys are great, but sometimes they can make you lose sight of the essence of telling a visual story. To that end, there’s a fun filmmaking exercise I came up with ...

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Beware of Any New York Film School

Here’s a formula for making a lot of quick cash: open a New York Film School. All you need to do is give your school a name with the word “New York” in it, such as ***Academy or New York University. Buy a couple of crappy digital cameras, some boom poles, and then start advertising to young people who don’t ...

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98% of Film School Grads Regret Going

I was at a premier party in Hollywood for a friend’s sitcom pilot last week. This guy is incredible, for the last 2 years he’s been hustling in LA trying to make it as an actor but wasn’t getting any parts he liked. So he went ahead and produced his own sitcom, 1 camera style. And in a packed theater, ...

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Is This Really What a $40,000 Film School Film Looks Like?

NYU and USC are considered to be the most prestigious film schools in the entire country, if not the world. At $42,000 a year in tuition alone, its costly to be a student at one of these film schools. What specific instructions are students receiving at these schools, and what are they producing? Most people are floored when they find out. ...

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$40,000 to Learn What a C47 Is?

If you’re applying to film school, be prepared to wrap your brain around some obscure, technical terms unbeknown to most laypeople. Just like a doctor, civil engineer, or rocket scientist, you are paying for a high quality and in depth education on processes, systems, and technologies that would elude almost anyone else who has not received such training. The first ...

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Luis Bunuel: The Original Quentin Tarantino

In the early 1990s, Quentin Taratino shocked audiences by having Michael Madsen’s character cut off on a ear in the movie “Reservoir Dogs”. Since then Q. has made his bones in Hollywood by shocking audiences and pulling together great stories. But almost 100 years ago the originial shock dog was not only shocking audiences, he also managed draw protests from ...

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