who here studied film in school?

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(ie went to film school or majored/minored in film studies or some relevant field.) Just curious.

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

And the answer for me is I didn't besides a couple crappy courses and one good one in silent film.

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

(And I think I'm sometimes insecure about it)

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I majored in film, but at Penn State...so I'm not sure it counts.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Took a couple classes in college, that's it.

Why do you feel insecure about it, slutsky? Do the people you make movies with have all sorts of film degrees?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I am working on an MA in English right now, but with a "concentration" in film. Planning on going into film studies for PhD

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Where at, Ryan?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:39 (twenty-two years ago)

(I once thought of doing this myself, but I've got mixed feelings about academia lately.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i have the same feelings, to say the least. Where am i know? Or where do I want to go? I still looking around at different schools. Emory seems to have a cool program where I could do both film and lit, and that would be nice. i hate abitrary divisions in the humanities.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been thinking of going back to school and doing a religious studies degree actually.

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:44 (twenty-two years ago)

i have an almost childish love for movies, and i worry that studying them will deprive me of one of my great pleasures.

I've been thinking of going back to school and doing a religious studies degree actually.

that sounds kick ass to me. ever read Unamuno?

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

nope! what it is?

― slutsky (slutsky), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

not sure it would apply. Spanish Catholic, wrote The Tragic Sense of Life, which i just love. im not a believer, but that book has always been one of the fundamental prisms through which i see the world. The other being Cioran.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i hate abitrary divisions in the humanities.

That's my main problem, too. The kinds of things I'm interested in studying -- aesthetics and culture -- tend to cross disciplines. When I graduated from college, I thought for sure I'd start a Ph.D. in English within a year or two. But then the longer I was out of school, an English degree, and all its attendant expectations, started to seem so narrow -- even though it's one of the broadest disciplines around. I have contemplated doing the M.A. in Humanities at U. of Chicago, but I'm not even sure what I'd do with that.

Also -- I meant, where are you going to school now, Ryan?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

University of Kentucky - yeehaw. (Thought I was gonna be an Americanist, thankfully they have a fledgling film program, though i hear the main dude is taking off.)

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 2 May 2003 21:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I majored in film, but never studied.

― jm (jtm), Saturday, 3 May 2003 05:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been thinking of going back to school and doing a religious studies degree actually.

Are you being serious, slutsky?

I think I've already said in my intro - I was an undergrad in Film (mostly theory), a good way to learn your film history and hopefully understand how to construct an argument, but otherwise useless. That said, I went to college when the UK government still paid for higher education, so it didn't cost me (or my parents) a thing. Then I did a practical filmmaking programme in the US. The latter cost me a fortune (still paying it off), but I got to learn the nuts and bolts of cameras and lighting, and make a couple of 16mm films. I am thinking about doing a postgrad when I move back, but I'm not sure if I can afford it.

So, it's not for everyone. I saw a lot of people coasting, and a lot of people who were just wasting their time. The theory stuff is inessential, brain food if nothing else. I still find it strange that, every time I go out to see a movie with my friends, they all turn to me first for an explanation - as if the movie contained some aracane code "just for the film students". You didn't miss out, slutsky!

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Saturday, 3 May 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

i had the course hours accumulated for a film minor but put off declaring until it was too late (walk to the admin. building? no way!). the department was tiny with only one full-time professor, so options were pretty limited. the program was mainly "cinema studies", although i did a couple of super-practical classes in super-8 filmmaking. i also had a film concentration within my english major that amounted to me writing lots of silly papers on things like homoeroticism and performance anxiety in lawnmower man (i am NOT kidding). i wouldn't call the experience a waste of time since i enjoyed most of it, but i also don't think that as a result i'm more skilled in my interpretations than anyone else with good critical thinking abilities.

― lauren (laurenp), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

i've learned way more about school from films than vice-versa, but i only took one film class during my very brief aborted attempt at higher education. it was dull.

― jones (actual), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

(i hear they get better as you go along tho. stay in skool kids!!)

― jones (actual), Saturday, 3 May 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I took a few appreciation classes as an undergrad, and a few production classes after, and that' s it. The two survey courses I took were just about ideal, a passionate and idiosyncratic professor and an extraordinary collection of films (about 50 in all) all on 35mm.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 4 May 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I have one art history course in film. It consisted of watching movies once a week and writing a few papers. We watched:

part of Birth of a Nation
8 Mile (I kid you not - the professor brought in his Oscar review tape, he thought we'd connect with it)
Nosferatu
It Happened One Night
Citizen Kane
Kiss Me Deadly
Wild Strawberries
The Graduate
Goodfellas
Man Without A Past

I might have missed a couple. Really a waste of time, other than getting to see some interesting movies.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 4 May 2003 01:50 (twenty-two years ago)

If I can fit it into my schedule this fall, I'm going to take the intro to film class - four or five projects shot on mini-DV. I think that and any further courses will be better. One night a week, four hours at a time just isn't enough to do much.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 4 May 2003 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I majored in film, but at Penn State...so I'm not sure it counts.

Huh. What years? I was a journalism major there 87-91, but I took a bunch of film courses (all theory stuff) as electives. Some interesting stuff, some less so. Saw a lot of good movies, though. And since I mostly steered clear of lit-crit classes, my film classes were really my introduction to postmodern criticism and a whole range of critical theory.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Sunday, 4 May 2003 23:42 (twenty-two years ago)

98-02 myself. I saw a lot of good movies, but only one professor actually made us THINK about them. I won't give the prof's name, so that if any of my profs ever see this, they'll assume its about them.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

and I learned a LOT more about film from reading Pauline Kael's books which Penn State let me check out by the semester.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha! I will name names, because I really liked my professors, I learned a lot in their classes, and I wish them the very best: Bob Smith, Richard Slotkin, Akós Ostór.

I liked Pauline Kael a lot until about the time I went to college, then I began to see her as glib and meanspirited.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

there are various movies I think she's overly dismissive of or overparised, but even in those reviews I'll find more sentences that actually relate to what I can actually see in the film than from any other writer. Plus she's glib and mean-spirited (but only to those I usually think deserve it. Plus I'd rather big legendary critics were more cynical than me. I mean, they're older!).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 May 2003 22:40 (twenty-two years ago)

As I have said elsewhere, my best grade in law school was for a film criticism class.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 08:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Right now I'm in electrical engineering, but I want to study the more technical aspects of film in the future maybe for grad school. I've taking a few classes now: one on using Primere and I'm taking one next year on Japanese film. (side question: How easy is it to get a job in a technical position in film, and what school would be good for that. I'm thinking NYU, but that may be too optimistic. I would need some backup choices)

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 6 May 2003 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I went to Bard undergrad where I tried to be a film major but they would not let me (long story)so I got a BA in Lit and now I am finsihing an MA in media Studies. I think people who want to get into film should take film classes and major in something else. Unless you want to be a cinematographer or something I am not so sure school is all that helpful. I love film so much I always want to know more.

― Eve, Wednesday, 7 May 2003 01:19 (twenty-two years ago)

i did two Filma nd Media Studies papers at Otago Uni. i don't know why you need to know this, as i probably will just lurk here anywhere. unless you plan to talk about musicals.

― di smith (lucylurex), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 05:29 (twenty-two years ago)

i took three film classes near the end of my undergraduate career: Experimental Cinema, Documentary Film, and Cult Film. they made me want to major in film studies, but it was too late. perhaps i will go to grad school.... or even get a second undergraduate!

― j fail (cenotaph), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Di we can talk about musicals!

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah I'm up for that!

― slutsky (slutsky), Wednesday, 7 May 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

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