Something that hasn't been discussed much on the site.. thought I would bring it up.

What do all you lovely folks know about building movie sets? Anything to backdrops to altering rooms etc. Do you know if there are any courses, and what kind of stuff should you be getting certificates in (what type of trades, welding, carpentry etc).

A friend of mine informed me that he was interested in it, but I realized I had no answer for him?
I guess us student filmmakers don't really have the budget to higher contracters etc, but I know somebody on here has an insight or two for me.

Thanks

If you don't look I'll force you to _=_

I'm in an Art class and the drama A-holes had us build a f****** set/backdrop for their stupid f****** interpretation of "The Wizard of Oz" called, "The Wiz" (stupidest f****** sh** BTW) After we were done we didn't even get f****** free seats at the POS, instead a dollar discount. Cheap ass bastards....what does this have to do with building sets? It's boring and most likely will turn out looking like crap. I strongly suggest against it unless your dad or friends dad is a "guy who builds sets for Hollywood Big Actions & is willing to build you a set for free"

TACO WAGON PRODUCTIONS©


"Violence in Movies? It's much more interresting to see a car exploding, than to see it parking" -Quentin Tarantino

Do you enjoy masticating with hot girls?

I went to Full Sail for film, and they have 2 classes for it. One is Set Design and the other is in Final Project. You learn alot in it and there is a high demand for set design people in florida.

Hope that helps.

Cammo

my friend is at north carolina film uni of the arts, majoring in set design. That is the way to go. He loves it

Funny, despite the fact that I DESPISE Full Sail, they do have a program that teaches you how to build sets. AND NCSOTA does as well (as mentioned)

There are sevral positions within set design. Pretty much the same as regular construction, although a/c is rarely needed. You need carpenters, drywallers, electricians, painmters, ect. These are all under the control of the art department. Hope this is some vague help. LOL
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Definately thanks guys, I kinda figured that it would be the same as building a house, just the contractor would be a big name in a Art department.
I'll give him this information, it should be enough to get him started thanks!

If you don't look I'll force you to _=_

Tizzy, why do ya despise Full Sail?? Just curious.

Cammo

quote:

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Originally posted by cammo407:
Tizzy, why do ya despise Full Sail?? Just curious.

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Ahh.... where to begin.

Let me just say, that if anyone went tere, or if you are planning to go there, this is ot a direct atack, and is simply my opinion, but the program is awful, and the faculty scumbags.

I have known, and meet alot of people who went there, and I have seen TONS of BTS footage from various semesters of shooting.

The problems I have are these. One, it looks to me that a good prtion of the students are rich kids, who decided last week that they were going to become filmmakers. They paid the OUTRAGEOUS tuition, and came aboard. Later, when they werent selected to direct the main project (as only one person can) they get pissed, and do anything they can to undermine the director. Thast not all students mind you, but a handful.

Then there is the faculty, and their "teaching techniques" Funny, the two best shorts I have EVER seen come out of this school, are on this site. "The Body" by Gabe Sanchez (which has some beautiful cinematography, Lighting, and set design) and "Porcelian Malice." which is just good old stupid fun. I have had the opportunity to speak to Gabe about his experience, which wasnt a great one. They selected his script, then mad him try and trim the 25 pages down to 15. They did even more triming while in production, and then told him he had to loose all the cursing in the film. The film has some plot holes, but thats because he had to dump whole chunks of the script.

Im not sure exacly how everything works there, but I would much rather attend say, FSU, then Full Sail. You have to put in more time, but FSU actually provides your budget (and/or film stock, cameras, and developing) They select 5 senior projects, and give them a $25,000 budget to work with. Thats almost as much as people drop at Full Sail, and they give it back to shoot with.

So there you go. Why I hate Full Sail. LIke I said, this isnt a personal attack. If you went there, i hope you made the best of it, and Im sure you learned something. if nothing else, you can learn how back stabbing, and unproffesional many in this bizz can be.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Tizzy,

Some of your points are indeed valid, but Full Sail is not nearly as bad as alot of people make it sound. I can only speak for myself and my class, but I can assure you that most of the people there are not rich kids, but middle class kids who are now scraping by trying to pay back the ludicrious student loans you mentioned earlier. Like Gabe, I was picked to direct our final project and I had none of the problems he had, granted it was not my script that was chosen. I had final say over everything and our crew was better than I could have ever imagined. This may just depend on the class though, but my class were people who are serious about making films, and I'd work with 99% of them again in a heartbeat.

Florida State was actually my first choice for film school, but the simple fact is that they only accept like 10 people per semester. With Full Sail, you get what you put into it. Simple as that. And while I am certainly no Full Sail appologist, because I butted heads with teachers occasionlly just like Gabe. I am certainly better off for having gone there and if your a self motivator Full Sail isn't a bad place to be.

Cammo

Thats all thats important Cammo. Everyone might as well throw their cash in a trash can, if they are going to pay for film school, and then not put their all into it.

What you say of FSU is true, and I hate that they dont even look at applicants Reels. I have a friend who was at FSU, but couldnt get in to their program. He was accepted at UCF though, even thought they claim you will have to do 2 years, and then MAYBE get into the film program. They watched his reel, and said, "Your in."

Im glad you had a better experience then what Ive heard, and seen. I just hate that a school with so much potential is held back by small minded faculty. Oh well.
R. M.

"Luck, is when opportunity, meets preperation." "There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, mine, and the truth, and none of us are lying" -Robert Evans

Tizzy,

How does your friend like UCF??? Everyone I know that went there for film didn't much care for it. After Blair Witch came out it was like the trendy film school, despite the fact that in truth it was pretty substandard. I know they have been trying to make it better.

Cammo

I spent two years at a god awful college learning how to make bad tv programmes.

I now wish i'd taken my tuition fees and the £4k GBP student loan i'd taken (about £5.5k GBP in total) and made a film with it.

Richard Purves
One Man Band
omb@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.omb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

KYLE...f*ck man...you cus like a truck driver...but so do I, so f*ck it.

Yeah, I've heard "many men...many,many,many men" say they wish they spent film school money on a film instead of school.

I for one, might be paying 30g's to go to Chapman's film school next year...but this is so I can one day be a film teacher, which I wish to do very very much. I want to teach at Chapman too, because they are in the process of building a studio on campus...a "NY street block" and "Italian street block" and I think 2 sound studios, plus a grip of class rooms.

The day I show up to work and I'm standing on a studio, I'll be a happy man.

Besides filming, the only other thing I ever did good was filming.

Yep, i'd wished i'd listened to those out there when they said they shouldn't have gone to film school.

But I didn't and here I am.

Richard Purves
One Man Band
omb@blueyonder.co.uk
http://www.omb.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/