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Link: http://wise.billboardmomma.com/2011/11/17/the-issue-with-new-york-film-schools/

Outside Los Angeles, you could find quite a few New York film schools in New York City being that they are considered the biggest center for filmmaking. A lot of them are world-renowned, and a few have waiting lists many years long. Getting a film education in schools like New York Film Academy, Columbia University, New York University and plenty of others may give a little doubt on the quality aspect however, you'll find flaws of this schools generally that unable film school student from becoming their dream film career. Before signing up for one of these film schools, let us take a brief look at the inherent problems with film schools in New York.

TUITION FEE
The cost of tuition for most film programs is exorbitant, to the point that one could actually fund a movie for what the school requires in tuition! Even if you have the connections to launch a film career after you graduate, starting out with massive amounts of student debt is no chance to get started.

NOT ENOUGH REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE
New York film schools and quite a few of the others are apt to have an education employing "student film" projects, classes and simulated environments for their students. This sort of approach is actually inadequate to your preparation of students to prove themselves from the film industry as well as not set for the accumulated body of work and knowledge for the dynamics of a real film shoot. Thus, many graduates from film schools have trouble finding work in the film industry, because the industry itself does not count film school as real-world experience.

NOT ENOUGH CONNECTIONS
This aspect may just be the worst flaw many traditional film schools fail to recognize. The film business runs on industry connections-you simply don't get work if you don't have them-and because film schools use separated, isolated environments, most students graduate these programs without having connections whatsoever. A diploma in film school is useless whatever be the quality of education- it's like being "all dressed up with no place to go."

THE SOLUTION: MENTOR-APPRENTICE LEARNING

A forward thinking approach to film education referred to as "mentor-apprentice" approach is now setting out to bridge this gap for film students, helping them get real-world experience and industry connections along with a quality education. Film schools applying this approach place students in actual film production companies being apprentices whereby one can learn directly from their mentors who are film professionals coping with real film projects instead of just planning simulated environments for them. This offers the students the opportunity to become industry insiders while they are learning, which makes it much easier to search out work upon graduation-plus, the cost of education is usually a fraction of what most film schools charge for tuition.

You need to take the Mentor- apprentice approach into great consideration in selecting your film school. Some New York film schools haven't determine this out yet.

Link: http://wise.billboardmomma.com/2011/11/17/keeping-up-with-tv-and-movie-business-by-dennis-coleman/

You got your foot in the door - you've got a job in the movie business. What's next? To begin with, don't blow the job you have. Most of the people start at the bottom and here's what's expected people when you're a runner or a gofer or a PA: don't complain, simply do it. There may be personal errands you'll want to accomplish like picking your boss' kids from school and don't say you can't do that because you'll be an ear quicker than you might say "Action" to be out. If in case you have plans to venture out at night nevertheless , you suddenly have to work, you cancel those personal plans.

For me, it meant stuff like being forced to copy a script page by page because the boss was too cheap to get a copier that you could feed multiple pages into. Another was obtaining the right flowers for his wife's dinner party that I drove around supermarkets and florists I can find. The boss felt like hanging out at his Palm Springs place one time that I was to drive three and a half hours to get there and get a check signed because he don't feel like coming to the office.

At one in every of my first jobs, I was always given the package to get at FedEx around 4:45 when they closed at 5:00. After all, just about every day. I don't understand why I was the one racing just like a madman to the dropoff when there are more PAs and gofers around. I came to a point where I asked the production coordinator why I always got to do all the run. And he told that it was I among other runners who gets it done at all times. I still remembered those exact word until now since it never made me feel prouder. So be certain you're the person who will get it done.

However, there is that danger of job typecasting in the movie business. In case you are one of us and you would like to move into the editing room or maybe a job in the camera crew, what should you do? As you are a gofer, a runner or a PA, everybody thinks hardly of you to be competent at other tasks. First: you have to ask. Before getting the new position, you really need to ask. Actually, it is important to ask nicely like, "I currently have no runs now, do you mind if I hang around in the editing room and see how things work there- I really am inquisitive about those." As long as you get your job done, they'll permit you to. It'll mean long hours, overtime that you won't earn money from - but it pays off big time. You could shoot something after hours or cut a sequence together and show your superiors on the work afterwards.

At some point, someone's going to grant you that chance to progress up. You simply have lay the groundwork for it. Boasting that someday you are going to be a big producer or director may not work. Maybe you are, but no one wants to hear someone who just got in the door mention how they're going to own the entire building. Take small steps, just ask for the next thing. Eventually, you may be closer to your goal film career in the movie business.

Link: http://wise.billboardmomma.com/2011/11/17/los-angeles-film-school/

Do you wish to take Hollywood as the next biggest filmmaker? Longing to see your name in the marquee like Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Christopher Nolan or Martin Scorcese? Then this Film Connection Los Angeles film school is your own personal launching pad for the film career of your dreams. No classrooms, no professors, no costly tuitions - a world class one-on-one apprenticeship acting on real film projects with a highly experienced filmmaker!

Taking notes and paying attention to long-winded film professors in a classroom won't get you nor prepare you for film profession. Using numerous unnecessary classes in history, math or perhaps science or competing with other students for the professor's time is definitely not going to let you learn filmmaking. If you are paying tens or hundreds of thousands for filmmaking for a piece of paper, it is impossible to kickstart your career in film. Take effect in film to break to the industry.

Doing work in real film production is the oppurtunity provided by the Film Connection Los Angeles film school for you to learn filmmaking. Forget crowded classrooms and professors who have never worked on a film themselves (but they've watched quite a bit!). In conjunction with the Film Connection, students are assigned a professional mentor, an operating filmmaker with at least a decade of experience under his belt. All things in filmmaking will be taught including techniques, software, equipment, modern film tools as well as the movie business and many types of things going on there.

You will see real film production that you will find yourself employed in together with your mentor. Start your resume by beating a college that gives you real film production work experience. Beat the experience of working in a real film set both from a professional standpoint and experience in addition. While you come across and meet with filmmakers, it is possible to make invaluable professional connections in the business who may help you in enabling a job soon.

From an extensive training program, real world experience, unbeatable expertise, and invaluable professional opportunities - the Film Connection Los Angeles film school gives every student one of the most possible bang for their buck. But that's not all! Every graduate also has the help of a high notch job assistance program that other schools simply can't match - all for no expense!

Link: http://wise.billboardmomma.com/2011/11/17/the-los-angeles-filmmaking-school-to-pick-out/

When you're an aspiring film producer or film director trying to decide on a Los Angeles filmmaking school, you've got a bit of a challenge. L.A. stands out as the worldwide heart of the movie making industry, with more film school choices than you will discover probably anywhere else on this planet. How would you decide which program meets your needs? To help you narrow down the options, we prepared here a short introduction to the different kinds of Los Angeles film schools for you.

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY FILM PROGRAMS
Many young filmmakers value more highly to enroll in one of the prestigious university film school programs found in Los Angeles, for example the School of Cinematic Arts at USC or School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA. Knowing that these schools have delivered producers and director who are now famous, needless to say these programs costs around $100,000 before completion not to mention the connections you should gather since this is essential in the industry specially in Los Angeles.

STAND-ALONE FILM PROGRAMS
With the "trade school" variety of the numerous Los Angeles filmmaking schools are specialized training in filmmaking offered over the trade school or college level. Amongst other includes AFI Conservatory and the Los Angeles Film School. These programs vary in quality from mediocre to top-shelf, from certificate programs to master's degrees. While a stand-alone film school could be a good Los Angeles filmmaking school to attend, the down sides are still to make industry connections and gaining real-world experience-plus the costs can nonetheless be quite high.

AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: THE MENTOR-APPRENTICE METHOD
The fact remains, despite all the film schools accessible in Los Angeles, probably the best place to learn filmmaking is on a actual Hollywood film production, or in a Los Angeles film studio, learning one-on-one from a film industry professional. The simple truth is, many Hollywood experts now did not attend film school by learned it this fashion instead. This idea is known as the mentor-apprentice method. Other than place students in a classroom or simulated film studio, the mentor-apprentice school arranges for students to apprentice in real Los Angeles film production companies, learning the skills directly from actual working filmmakers, producers, directors and other film professionals. Besides providing students those quality education traditional schools do, this method also presents them with insider connections and real-world experiences. Additionally, it truly is one of the most affordable options available, with tuition generally ranging from $7750 to $14,000. Film Connection may be a film school currently utilizing the mentor-apprentice method in Los Angeles.

Whether you choose a university program, a stand-alone film school, or the mentor-apprentice alternative, the above information should allow you to better understand your options in terms of selecting a Los Angeles filmmaking school.

Link: http://wise.billboardmomma.com/2011/10/17/shooting-films-on-location/

Filming on location is the way to go in Hollywood when you shoot a movie. Why do such a thing? How about utilizing a studio soundstage to film a movie that would reduce the costs of filming? In many cases the answer is no.

While there are big studios who preserve a "New York" street from decades, it's not the equal to the actual place when you are filming. If you pay close attention, you can probably tell when a studio has made use of its fake streets for a movie or television show. People who go to watch movies are getting more discerning and harder to please.

When you try to fake out your audience too often, they will go elsewhere to spend their entertainment dollars.
The answer is filming on location. A quantity of movies will look too fake if they are shot at a soundstage. For example, scores of films with outdoor settings will never appear genuine if you don't film them outside.

This may lead to some issues such as attempting to find a realistic location to represent woodland setting from a couple of centuries earlier. Filmmakers have gone to North and South Carolina to double for Colonial locations for the movies "Last of the Mohicans" (1992) and "The Patriot" (2000).

However, when using such locations when filming outdoors come with teething troubles. Anachronisms can slip in when filming time periods set in the past. In the movie "Last of the Mohicans" wherein it was set during the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763), a chain link is visible.

Location filming is good for the local economy in the area you plan to shoot a movie.It is for the reason that film productions require many people and a number of them can be hired locally. Also, people who are making this film need to stay somewhere and have mealsas well. They will also spend their money on merchandise as well.

In addition, local background actors are crucial.To hire them locally is so much trouble-free compared to paying to transport Hollywood extras. Having local talent appeases many filmmakers and occasionally supporting roles are casted from among the locals.This came to pass for a handful of lucky folks in Minnesota, which doubled for the titular "Fargo" (1996).

Dallas, Texas has in recent times become inundatedwith TV shows filming on location. Among these is a FOX comedy set in Dallas called "The Good Guys", and two other programs, FOX's "Lone Star" which is set in Houston and Midland, Texas although filmed in Dallas, as well as a new action series by Jerry Bruckheimer titled "Chase" which is set in Houston. A notable location to sub for other Texas cities is Dallas. Use an establishing shot of Houston, and you have it made.
The expense of filming in Hollywood is alleviated by shooting on location.