With another school year just around the corner, I felt it might be fun to mention my own schooling.
I recently graduated from Grand Canyon University with a degree in Digital Film Production. Film students are a bit of a different breed. In fact, there are some things that only film students can attest to throughout their schooling, cardinal rules that we dare not break, and aspects of our lives that will never be the same again.
1. Watching Movies Is Forever Changed
Once you pull back the curtain and see what goes into to making a film, it’s hard to undo what you've witnessed -- it’s hard to turn that mindset off. Whenever I’m watching a movie or a show, I think about where the lights probably are, how many people are probably off camera, or the simple continuity inconsistencies between shots. I also try to spot a reflection of the camera. In The Dark Knight, in the shot that zooms in on the building, you can see the helicopter that the camera is in at the end of the shot, just before a cut to the next shot.
2. Auto Focus Is A Sin
For everyday people, auto focus is the most practical option. Cell phones use it, and a lot of point-and-shoot cameras utilize it. Film students are constantly reminded to not shoot with auto focus, and we get kicked in the shins if we present a project with auto focus shots in it. While a lot of people rely on it, I tend to cringe when I see the focus rack. It’s not a judgment I’m passing, it’s simply imprinted in my mind to avoid.
3. Don’t Fix It In Post
Any film student worth their salt doesn’t try to correct a mistake in editing. Sometimes a mistake can be corrected, but nothing major. If you find yourself with an overexposed shot, you simply have an overexposed shot. It’s hard to remove enough light to make the shot blend with the others or remove a boom pole that’s hanging too low in the frame. I have a shirt now that says “fix it in post.” Simply a joke, but it only resonates when I come across people that know what it references.
4. Casting Is Based Off Contacts
Purely out of convenience, film students always ask their friends to act in their short films. Sometimes it’s because their friends have acting capabilities, and sometimes it’s just because no one else was available. The worst thing that can happen is having talent back out at the last minute and scrambling to find a replacement. In a humorous way when the original actor/actress cancels, the creator knows it's becausethey're interrupting their friends’ plan of sleeping till noon or watching an entire season on Netflix on a weekend.
5. Shooting Schedules Are Just A Theory
When I was in school, I rarely used a shooting schedule and rarely worked with someone who did. Not to say that shoots became disorganized . . . but they did )only kidding, that rarely happened). Fortunately, the students I worked with knew what they wanted to shoot in a day, and only strayed from the plan if there were legitimate reasons. Shooting schedules are an industry standard, and in retrospect, I should have been more attentive to a schedule, and not just winging it before the shoot became exceedingly long.
Film school was a very memorable experience. Though I may not be able to view movies the same way as the general population, I’m glad that I chose the field I did. Film is a fantastic method of storytelling, and there’s endless possibilities for what people can do with it.
