I'm in school right now at a community college in south florida. PBCC, my school has a film program for an associates degree thats actually pretty nice for a community college film progam.

The question is, should I be looking towards a traditional university for a degree such as USC, NYU, FSU, etc, or should I be looking towards any school that has a film degree? Does a degree really matter that much?

Full Sail, the art school has has massive recognition in film in the past two years and has a film program that is half the price of NYU or USC (72,000) and it only takes 21 months to get your bachelors in Film. Less than two years!

The only difference is it doesn't have any pre requisites you have to finish to get your degree.

So the major question, yet again is, should I be looking towards a traditional Uni or an art school, specifically Full Sail because it has the highest recognition of any of them?

I just dont want to make the wrong choice when working towards anything in the motion picture entertainment industry as far as paper degrees and schools

I would go to NYU if i had a scholarship. I cant afford a 150,000 Bachelors Degree and I also dont have grades anywhere near amazing. I am a B-C student and I dont think I would ever make it into NYU, thats the problem. Thats why I weighed out only the options of Full Sail and my Community College

I assume you work there or went there?

Hey Derek, thanks for your comment on my film, 

I'm sorry I can't help too much with the American schools. I myself am finishing an MA in Film directing at the University of Hertfordshire in England. It's the closest in format and quality to the National Film School.. UK's equivalent to NYU I'm thinking. It's also half the price, and am so happy I did it.. I feel I have a lot more confidence to realise my film dreams. 

I guess the point I want to make is that I've been taught the production process in-depth and experienced it (in digital short form) and what I do now with it is up to me. I mean, it's the work we put in, the passion, the drive. Like the TV ad short competition I posted here. It didn't take me long and could get me exposure! Now onto the next project! 

I'm not sure how much I'm helping.. but I'm pretty sure it's not pieces of paper that get you anywhere in the industry... it's the quality of your work. ..and the cache your name has (win an award). Of course make sure the course tutors have good experience and 'weight' in the industry... this will obviously help. Communicate with them before choosing.

I just woke up, I'm rambling not sure where I'm going with this, lol. But good luck with whatever choice you make. Trick is to be confident in everything you do.. as a film maker. Pick up a camera, watch Trier, Karwai, Moodysson, Bergman (some of my personal favourites) A good story, well told is everything and could get you into any film school on the planet I'm sure. forget the Bs and the Cs.. Passion and drive will get you everywhere. 

Peace,

O

i've been looking for art schools and unis....and stuff....found smth interesting SAE Institute...don't know how good it is...they seem to be ok i mean...the stuff they have...but i've read some..negative posts on the internet...which kinda...created a bad impression...anyway.. if you ask me...Full Sail (as far as it's the one i also know about...the one from apple's site)...looks promising

It all depends on where you want to go with your filmmaking career.  To "learn" filmmaking you don't have to go to film school.  If you do, however, you will make many contacts with pillars of the industry (if your film school is a good one) and it will help open doors for you in the future.  Also, pedigree (diplomas) does make a difference if you want to go the studio route or try to get high profile jobs.  If you want to stay independent, then the best way to make it is to do amazing work.  You will be recognized sooner or later, as even though there are thousands (or millions) of filmmaker wannabe's, the cream does rise to the top, and true talent does get recognized.  It is a longer and more difficult road, but you can do it without spending $150k for your degree.

One thing to remember, talent is not a result of schooling.  However, proper schooling will allow talent to bloom more quickly than without it.  Something to think about.

Even though I haven't used Edius for too long (just for fun and for a school project), I think it's a nice Editing Program, if all you want to make is montages. It recognizes lots of formats, can easily split audio from video, audio which can be edited afterwards, and Canopus ProCoder is an useful tool for downloading via FireWire things from camera, and can even put on a DVD the RAW files – but I like using Vegas for those stuffs. Also, Edius doesn’t consume much resources, but it has little effects…I mean, you can’t do Color Correction, or Masking in Edius.