There is no interest, it does move with inflation though.. Well my plan is once I finish this course, I will do more study. I mainly plan on doing more main stream courses like IT and electronics and some short courses like retail management stuff... There was another diploma I was going to do about two years ago, something like Windows network management (something like that), I might re-visit that... I think a diploma in anything looks better on a resume than nothing at all, at least it shows I stuck too something
Because people his age and my age are targeted by these places, they pray on those who think they're doing good by just "studying/learning" when actual fact you're just paying the price of well known college with proper teachers without both of those two things that make a class worthwhile. They advertise all the time on the radio, and TV. There's courses out there that don't even have jobs for, like multimedia. You certainly wouldn't be employed after a years worth (making up probably 3 weeks of each topic) "study" from. I believe when it comes to programming, animation or any arts it's all self taught with a portfolio. Funny fact is that, the two friends I mentioned earlier are working on their "portfolio" currently, with no such work or techniques they're suppose to be learning. They've also been making logos with pencils and markers, then slapping them in a portfolio. It's just laughable that way.. I'd expect a lot more for 22k debt.
I spent the last three years at university, going into it straight out of high school. I never got past first year papers, of which I passed a grand total of two. I wasted my time. Then they kicked me out at the end of last year. None of this was because I'm not smart enough. I was lazy (with plenty of reasons/excuses for why, though), and I didn't enjoy it, even though I like subjects I took (or, at least, I should have). University wasn't for me - it's far too theoretical, and far too time-consuming for someone as laid-back as I am. That may or may not be a good thing, but at the end of the day, I learn better with hands-on experience. In the past few months, I've taught myself as much as I've learnt at university in the past three years. Next year, I plan to go to film school. It's a 12-week course with a certificate at the end. I don't think it's a diploma. Still, I've heard good things about it, and it's only NZ$3000 in total. It's all practical stuff. I guess I'm just posting this here to say, well, uni isn't for everyone, but there are other options. I still wonder if I should be trying to get back into university, though, but I figure it'd be a huge waste of my time (and money). Besides, I've already racked up ~NZ$30,000 on my student loan, so I'm already screwed from the get-go. Still, all I want is to get out there and start making films, explore the world - that kind of crap. All university did was make me write about horrible movies I was forced to watch, with God-awful time management. My time management skills suck, sure, but trying to keep track of a million submission dates and a bunch of different subjects at one time just drives me crazy. Everything you learn has to be applied in your own time, and therefore, you get no free time. I ended up just doing the "free time" part and not so much of the "application" part, which was a mistake, but not being able to relax after ten hours at university is ridiculous. Even weekends and holidays aren't break time. Ugh. For example, I was majoring in Japanese (and Media Studies, but screw that horrible course), and as much as I liked it, our interaction as far as speaking and writing was limited to classmates for half an hour a day, three days a week, and time alone by ourselves. The recommendation was to go along to the Japanese club, which is a nice club, except all the Japanese folks want to speak English instead. Nice people, but too keen to make everyone speak in English instead of Japanese. If you didn't study during holidays, then you were definitely screwed, because you'd forget things and need a refresher. I failed the second part of the first-year course and had to repeat it the next year, but by that time, I had forgotten a bunch of stuff, which made it even more difficult. In short, I hate study. I want to go back because I LIKE the university environment, but I can't handle the commute and the workload. I want to make films. I've learnt a lot on my own, and I hope to learn more next year. I have no idea how it'll turn out. In the meantime, I'm going to work on my shitty blog and YouTube channel, and see if my stomach gets much bigger. Well, that sure got out of control. I don't know what the point in writing all of that was, but I just did it, so um.... Hopefully that is interesting to someone, and hopefully I didn't just hijack LeHaM's thread. Sorry dude.
What can you learn in 12 weeks? Sounds just like a 'place them in, pump them out' situation. You must do your research with these places, every where you study research the place. A lot of these 'private' places are scams.
Harsh reality check for you, here. Snap out of it. The film industry is NOT laid back. It is hard work. That's fine. Uni isn't for everyone and on-the-job training is great if you can get it. And 20 years ago, you might have got that in the film industry. Today... it depends on who you know. Sounds like a scam. Well OK, perhaps not a scam per se, but one of those "introduction to" courses or a focused course. You will DEFINITELY not learn enough about the film industry in 12 weeks. Another harsh reality check for you. THE FILM INDUSTRY IS NOT FOR YOU. It's hard work. It's long hours. It's doing jobs you don't necessarily enjoy. Because you need the money. No, you won't get much free time. You might be working away from home for months on end. And, guess what - you HAVE to work to a deadline. Got a permit to film for two days? If you are too relaxed and don't film enough - tough shit. Filming is over - you're screwed. As for those boring movies you were forced to watch - oh boo hoo. If you want to do something artistic, STUDY. Study other people's films. What did they do well? What didn't they do well? What would you have done differently? You end up watching a film in a completely different way - don't concentrate on the story - look at the lighting, the camera angles, the music. You can watch even the most crappy film, in a genre you absolutely hate, and get something out of it. If you can't discipline yourself to do that, you'll never be a good film-maker. You've just contradicted yourself. Making films IS a stressful workload. It IS long commutes. It IS long hours. And it IS all about disciplining yourself and time management. Hex, yeah - it's a shame such places exist. And those that just sell diplomas. Do you guys not have college? Here in the UK, we go to secondary school until 16. At that point, you have two options - college or continue to sixth form to take A levels. If you want to go to university, you take A levels. If you want to do something generally not taught at school - a trade, like being an electrician, plumber, hairdresser, mechanic etc. - you'd likely go to college. Get a BTEC instead of an A level. And you can also do night courses at many colleges. University is indeed all about managing your time yourself - go to lectures, make notes, study yourself, write paper. College is more like school - go to a class, take lessons.. although you also get garages, salons, workshops, recording studios etc. where appropriate. Also, do you not have careers advisors in school? They'd tell you those courses aren't worth it, surely?
We have colleges, but these places we're talking about pass off as colleges but really they're just small buildings in a scummy area. So after high school, you can either go to TAFE (college) or University. There's careers advisors all over the place, I get calls from "advisors" every week. Telling me to do a 3 week course in forklift training, or to become a building inspector etc. Major scams, and sadly many get conned into them. "But it's good to learn!" probably the most in denial sentence ever.
This is true. Filmmaking is hard work. Looking at it from an outside perspective it doesn't seem all that complicated, but it really is. It requires a lot of hard work from a lot of talented individuals. It's not so different from other jobs, but the hours are often longer than most other jobs. It depends on what you're doing on a film, though. There are a lot of different jobs that need to be done to make a film. Like you said, it can be hard work, but it can also be really fun. It all depends on how much you enjoy working with the medium and if you're able to do the work.
