As most of you know by now, I am going to school for film (Not a big shock). But what most of you don't know is the pain and horrible agony that comes with going to film school. Usually college starts you off with a bunch of boring general ed. classes that mean nothing to your degree. Film school parts from convention, and instead thrusts you directly into your major right away.
Most you love to start their major in their first semester, and I have to admit I was excited myself. Before I even enrolled in film school, I had gone to a bunch of seminars and workshops on my own to learn about all the different film techniques as well as to find out what all goes into a film shoot. So when I went class, I found that I was learning the same stuff over again. To make matters worse, the haphazard teachers I had to suffer through knew less than I did and found time to take any kind of motivation out of me.
The best example I can give of my teachers stupidity comes from my Video Production teacher. In this class, I relearned all the basic techniques of video production and script writing. During the portion of the semester dedicated to story and script writing, my teacher decided to give the class an open note, open book test on our ability to write a script treatment (basically a synopsis). The test gave us three characters and a setting to write on, but we also had to identify at least ten parts of story telling and character development.
I took my time on the test and used all the time I could to finish. I come in the following week only to be confronted by my teacher. We asked me if I had used either my notes or my book during the test. I hadn't used either. He goes on to say that I was the only one in the class to pass this test, with an A nonetheless. This gives you an idea about his teaching ability.
Upset that everyone did so poorly, we retaught everything to us again and talks to us as if we are 5 year olds with our fingers stuck up our noses. He asks us to give him a piece of story telling and character development and give the definition. I raise my hand and shout out "Foil." What came next was the last thing I expected to hear. "No, foil is to advanced for this class." A Foil: one that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another, in essence a character that helps move the main character forward through out the story, i.e. Donkey is a foil to Shrek. How in the world is a foil an advanced term for this class. I didn't know I was in 5th grade. Anyways, my teacher hands out the test again, and makes everyone, including me, to retake the test. Not only did I use the same story, but also somehow I did better on the test the second time around.
So you can see why I hated this class and the school. Thank God I'm in LA at a real school now.
Most you love to start their major in their first semester, and I have to admit I was excited myself. Before I even enrolled in film school, I had gone to a bunch of seminars and workshops on my own to learn about all the different film techniques as well as to find out what all goes into a film shoot. So when I went class, I found that I was learning the same stuff over again. To make matters worse, the haphazard teachers I had to suffer through knew less than I did and found time to take any kind of motivation out of me.
The best example I can give of my teachers stupidity comes from my Video Production teacher. In this class, I relearned all the basic techniques of video production and script writing. During the portion of the semester dedicated to story and script writing, my teacher decided to give the class an open note, open book test on our ability to write a script treatment (basically a synopsis). The test gave us three characters and a setting to write on, but we also had to identify at least ten parts of story telling and character development.
I took my time on the test and used all the time I could to finish. I come in the following week only to be confronted by my teacher. We asked me if I had used either my notes or my book during the test. I hadn't used either. He goes on to say that I was the only one in the class to pass this test, with an A nonetheless. This gives you an idea about his teaching ability.
Upset that everyone did so poorly, we retaught everything to us again and talks to us as if we are 5 year olds with our fingers stuck up our noses. He asks us to give him a piece of story telling and character development and give the definition. I raise my hand and shout out "Foil." What came next was the last thing I expected to hear. "No, foil is to advanced for this class." A Foil: one that by contrast underscores or enhances the distinctive characteristics of another, in essence a character that helps move the main character forward through out the story, i.e. Donkey is a foil to Shrek. How in the world is a foil an advanced term for this class. I didn't know I was in 5th grade. Anyways, my teacher hands out the test again, and makes everyone, including me, to retake the test. Not only did I use the same story, but also somehow I did better on the test the second time around.
So you can see why I hated this class and the school. Thank God I'm in LA at a real school now.