How To Get a Film School Education for Free - Part Four - Watch 1000 Movies
This is Part Four in a series. You can read Part One here, Part Two here, and Part Three here.
Film school, or no film school? That is the question. It's the question for many of us who have dreamed of making movies since we were kids, but haven't known where to start. It's a question for those of us who have been to film school and haven't found it particularly helpful. It's a question for those considering film school who don't really have the money for it and don't know if they'll be able to make a living from it afterwards, anyway.
Well, I've got good news for you. In the 21st century, you can get a film school education for practically free.
Because: The Internet.
I went to film school for a little while. I have often asked myself if it was really a useful experience or not. The truth is that, though I think film school gave me the initial push into the film world that I needed, ultimately I have learned far more just by reading articles, books, and blogs and by watching tutorials, interviews, and movies on my own.
So I decided to share with you some of the most useful wisdom I have found. And here's the good news: most of it's free.
Watch 1000 Movies
Quentin Tarantino said, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.' " He famously worked in a video store for 5 years, shooting on weekends with his friends, before he got his real break with the Sundance Institute.
If you consistently watch good movies, you will slowly absorb into your consciousness what a good movie is--film language, story structure, effective editing, great acting.
When I was in film school, I had a friend who used to come over to my flat every evening to watch movies. We would write down the names of movies we learned about, try to find them, and watch as many as we could. Sometimes on weekends we watched as many as 3 or 4 a day! But then we realized we weren't really able to contemplate them sufficiently at that pace, so we slowed down.
Even after film school, I've continued building my list and watching movies on my own. The list never ends--it only gets longer--but that's okay, because I love watching movies! That's why I got into this business in the first place, after all.
So what is the all-time, definitive list of movies that every would-be filmmaker should watch? There isn't one. And there never can be. You know why? Because every filmmaker is different. The movies I like may be very different from the movies you like. Some movies are must-sees for cinematographers but not necessarily for directors or actors. So here's my suggestion:
Start with a generic list, such as IMDb's Top 100 Best Movies Ever Made. You don't necessarily have to watch all of them. Watch the ones that are interesting to you.
After you watch a movie, give yourself some time to think about it on your own, or to discuss it with the person who watched it with you. This will help you to form your own opinions rather than just depending on what you read about the movie afterwards.
Look up the Wikipedia article on the movie, scroll down to the "Production" section, and give it a read. You will learn a lot about the process of movie making by doing this.
As you watch more and more movies, you will start to notice that you like certain actors, directors, producers, and cinematographers. Look those people up too. Read what else they've done. And watch some of those too.
Make your own list. You will already have started doing this during step 4. Try following Taste of Cinema on Facebook. As you see their lists in your newsfeed, click on the ones that are interesting to you, and from there write down the titles that are interesting to you on your own list.
If you watch 5 movies per week, which is not difficult to do, you can easily watch 250 movies in one year, and therefore easily watch 1000 movies in 4 years. Four years is how long film school usually takes. Except by doing it this way, you will save a ton of money and will focus more on the films themselves than on passing exams and writing papers.
I would encourage you to have as much fun with this as possible. Don't be pretentious about it--it's not about being able to drop movie references into conversations to show off how cultured you are. Take your time to really watch. And don't just analyze--let the stories speak to you, think about what they mean, notice which moments stay with you long after the movie is over, and ask yourself why.
