#11 Reason I Hate Film School . . . I'm Not Even Sure I'm Learning Enough

Imagine this, a huge classroom, a small blackboard, sixty other students trying to catch the attention of your teacher. And this teacher? I doubt he's even made a film in the last five years. I don't really want to learn how to make a film that would have been a hit if it was still 2004.

In this fast-pacing industry, who even remembers what was big in 2004?

My point exactly.

And I'm dreaming big, I'm not holding myself back; I want to really make it in this industry. And I want to be able to make the best use of the person who's teaching me. One who wouldn't be too distracted from the other students who are also doing their best to do the same thing. And I want to be taught by someone who's done something in this field, someone who's been in it for a while and is still in it. He knows exactly what the current audience needs so our films can reach out and touch as many people as we can. Film is a great way to say something, and we need to know that we can get people to listen.

And how can we do that if we don't even know how to make them listen now?

# 10 Reason I Hate Film School . . . I Spend So Much Time in a Classroom!

I know that film-making is not just about lifting a camera and making sure the record button was pressed On, though that is still very important. But I don't think that Steven Spielberg won all those Oscars because he spent all his time in classrooms, trying to stay awake along with his classmates, copying information written in a blackboard that's already in a book.

To be better, even the best, at this, we need to be out there and experience it ourselves. There's only so much we can do inside the four walls of a classroom, watching films and trying to figure out what makes it the best. I mean, of course I love watching films and finding out what makes them tick. True, it's my favorite thing with studying film, but I'm studying to make films, not just watch them.

And in a classroom, there's just too many of us in a room. I think it would be better if I was being taught by someone who wouldn't be distracted by too many people vying for his attention, trying to get them to answer their question. Knowing that the person teaching me has less distraction to deal with makes me more confident in our lessons.

# 9 Reason Why I Hate Film School . . . They hinder my creative juices from flowing!

Seriously? I hate film school. It's like overly priced tuition fees and a lot of "theory" and less practice. Film studies offered in universities are probably the most boring studies ever. Students are probably learning more theories behind film making than actual film making experience themselves.

I mean, I've been there and done that. And the only thing I really enjoy about film studies in a university setting are the classes wherein you are supposed to watch one film after the other and try to dissect them. Seriously, that's a lot of fun because you're combining two things that you like: watching all the movies that you want and learning about films at the same time. The only other thing about film studies in the university that I like is the fact that we are given the opportunity to play with different kinds of music in order to find that auditive, radio connection that we find in most film soundtracks.

Think about it in this way. If there was only some way, some practical means, a more hands-on kind of film school out there, studying films and film making would probably be as much fun as it really is... It would probably be as interesting as it really is...