How's the social climate of film school?

L

Liv

I'm planning on going to college this upcoming fall. While I'm not going to major in film, I do plan on taking a few film production courses (or even minoring in film) so I can efficiently work on my filmmaking part time during college, because film is still my number one interest. Even though when it comes to a degree I'd like to take a more practical route, I still want to utilize some of the resources offered by a film program without directly being in said film program (such as networking and friendships with like-minded individuals).

I was just wondering what the 'social climate' of film school is like (or in my case, individual film classes). Is it really this magical place where you make lifelong buddies? Or do you collaborate on a few shorts with your fellow classmates, part ways, and that's about it. If you make friends during a film course, is it true that there's this unspoken rule to help each other out after graduation? Or do people, for the most part, loose touch, look out for themselves, and move on (like in high school).

Yes, I know it's all up to the individual at the end of the day. You get out of it what you put in. I was just wondering what it's generally like, or what your personal experience was with taking film classes in college. Generalizations are good here - I'm kind of just trying to figure out what I should expect. If I do take some film classes or minor in film, it would most likely be at the state school level.

Thanks!
 
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Liv said:
I'm planning on going to college this upcoming fall. While I'm not going to major in film, I do plan on taking a few film production courses (or even minoring in film) so I can efficiently work on my filmmaking part time during college, because film is still my number one interest. Even though when it comes to a degree I'd like to take a more practical route, I still want to utilize some of the resources offered by a film program without directly being in said film program (such as networking and friendships with like-minded individuals).

I was just wondering what the 'social climate' of film school is like (or in my case, individual film classes). Is it really this magical place where you make lifelong buddies? Or do you collaborate on a few shorts with your fellow classmates, part ways, and that's about it. If you make friends during a film course, is it true that there's this unspoken rule to help each other out after graduation? Or do people, for the most part, loose touch, look out for themselves, and move on (like in high school).

Yes, I know it's all up to the individual at the end of the day. You get out of it what you put in. I was just wondering what it's generally like, or what your personal experience was with taking film classes in college. Generalizations are good here - I'm kind of just trying to figure out what I should expect. If I do take some film classes or minor in film, it would most likely be at the state school level.

Thanks!
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You are correct; it's up to the individual at the end of the day.
Some people make life-long friends in college, many lose touch
after a few years of promising to call and keep in touch. Some
people who graduate from film school go on to admin jobs or
production jobs. Some may become producers or exec's who can
help. Some leave film altogether.

There is no unspoken “rule” to help out each other out after
graduation but many people help out their fellow graduates. I know
YOU will help out people you meet at school but that doesn't mean
others will help you.

There just isn't an average or a generalization that will be at all
meaningful. People are so different and even the location of the
school come into play. You may attract life-long friends and meet
the next “big thing” in cinema who will help you after graduation.
YOU may be the one who goes on to an amazing career in film and
help those you met in school. But there is no way to know before
you get into school because as you said; it's all up to the individual
at the end of the day.

It would be interesting to know if Spielberg ever helped the gaffer
or any of the uncredited people who helped him out on "Amblin'".
Did he ever offer the lead actors parts after he made it big? I wonder
how many Morehouse students Spike Lee helped who helped him
on his first student film.
 
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Liv said:
I was just wondering what the 'social climate' of film school is like (or in my case, individual film classes). Is it really this magical place where you make lifelong buddies? Or do you collaborate on a few shorts with your fellow classmates, part ways, and that's about it. If you make friends during a film course, is it true that there's this unspoken rule to help each other out after graduation? Or do people, for the most part, loose touch, look out for themselves, and move on (like in high school).

Yes, I know it's all up to the individual at the end of the day. You get out of it what you put in. I was just wondering what it's generally like, or what your personal experience was with taking film classes in college. Generalizations are good here - I'm kind of just trying to figure out what I should expect. If I do take some film classes or minor in film, it would most likely be at the state school level.
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You're right - it is totally up to the individuals at the end of the day. In my personal experience with film school, we did help each other out, and in many cases still do!
Its more about making good connections. I've made connections with people who I never went to film school with, but have still helped them out on their projects for next to nothing.

Re: film school friends, at least in the camera department, we used each other as crew after we left film school because we knew each other and were used to each other and could trust each other.

Eventually it evolved into getting each other paid work, and referring our friends for work we were unable to do.

This all depends on how much YOU help out others as well. The less you help, the less likely they will be to help you. If you help out a lot, you'll have a lot of people who will owe you favours, and if you do a good job will ask you onto their sets when they finish, and will also be someone you could ask to help you out.
 
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When I was in school it seemed like everyone crewed everyone else's projects at some point - it was a small department at the time though, maybe 75 students total. We also hung out quite a bit socially, and formed & ran a film club.

I've only kept in touch with a couple of people at this point (~15 years later), and primarily just through facebook. Most of the people from my class did continue to work together on projects after graduation, at least for a few more years, but I wasn't really involved. I was one of the only people in my class who didn't move straight to LA after graduation - I stayed in the bay area because I didn't want to work in hollywood. So I crewed on a couple music videos for one guy who came back to the bay to shoot them, and hung out with some of them when I was visiting LA, but that was about it for me.

I actually ended up living and working with friends from high school after college for years, and have more 'life long' friends from there than film school. I do have college friends I've kept in touch with from outside the film program, actually - mostly people I lived and worked with at the school. And, of course, my wife and I met in college; she was a business major though - we met on a summer job on campus. So you obviously can meet people that'll stick with you for years after, but a lot will depend on you and your circumstances after you leave college.
 
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