Kevin Smith, the director most known for the indie movie Clerks, has always said that there’s really no such thing as a list of the very best film schools that teach the use of green screen and green screen background; simply because motion picture schools can’t actually coach you on how to end up being a good director; you either already have it, or you don’t.

 

I do think there’s an element of truth to this. Directing is definitely an art, and if you do not possess a natural talent for it, then you will not become any good at that. The top flick schools and education cannot change it. It’s not different than painting or sculpting; if you cannot get it done, you can’t get it done. What I learned during my time in a motion picture school was that a movie release date can let you know a great deal regarding the film release itself. Agencies do not actually launch movies - studios do - but they have a few say in it. And it’s really merely bad news for an agency if ever one of their star’s films is released in January or February. Mainly because it means the studio believes the flick is going to bomb, and no one would like their celebrity to end up being in a bomb.

 

Nevertheless, what the top film schools are capable of doing is teach how to get whatever latent skill you may have and apply it to the best of your ability. Of course this is simply not an assurance - even the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles, and New York University, mostly considered the 3 greatest movie schools in America, can’t promise that you will be an abundant and successful filmmaker. But the things they can do is give you the tools in order to get there.

 

What are the tools that film schools should give upon their students? The very first is a knowledge that, while movie direction is definitely an art, it’s also a business. And that in business, it is never a very good strategy to burn connections. Any individual you meet, any contact you earn, is possibly someone who can, either now or down the road, help you realize your dream to become a professional filmmaker. The very best film schools don’t actually teach courses in networking; the very best movie schools are networks. If, however, you enter a USC or a UCLA or an NYU, then you have the opportunity to become acquainted with a generation of folks who will be running the flick industry in the years to come.

 

Then there’s imparting a knowledge of motion picture itself. Many motion picture schools do not require film criticism/cinema studies classes, but they really should. If the idea of making a flick is to either capture or subvert a given medium (and that is exactly what all films plan, it is either one or the other), then it’s essential to understand all aspects of that medium. Think of it like Picasso - he didn’t only sprinkle random things on the canvas from the time he was a child. He instead mastered and understood the techniques of previous masters, then proceeded to go in his own path (which in his circumstance was largely subversion).

 

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