I chose to go to Temple University for their film and media program, yet I have only seen schools such as USC, Chapman, & UCLA on this board. Is Temple a very good school?

I got my undergraduate degree in film from Temple. I enjoyed my experience very much. What do you want to know?

Temple is supposed to have a really good program. A few of my friends are going there for film. I just didn't want to live in a war zone, haha.

What do you mean war zone?

quote:

Originally posted by Philly:
I got my undergraduate degree in film from Temple. I enjoyed my experience very much. What do you want to know?

I just wanted to know if you got a good response after getting your degree as far as getting a job in your field. Is it good to show for applying as a director?

I got a job as a DP at a production company about two months after I graduated. Just to keep the record straigh however I had about a few years experience under my belt even before starting at Temple. A lot of my friends moved out to L.A. after graduation and the one thing I heard over and over again was that there were Temple grads everywhere out there.

Temple has a great intership program. Just like any college program however, you get what you put in. They have an amazing equipment room complete with a full stedicam rig and dolly...super 16mm and 16mm, HD and of course DV.
The faculty is knowledgable and helpful.

I DEFINETELY don't want to move to Hollywood, but does that mean that there are many oppurtunities or less than opportune? How do I apply for internships?

This business exists in LA and NY. Sure there are plenty of location shoots elsewhere but you have to meet people and it's hard to do that living in say Minnesota. The summer intership program takes students to LA for the summer and gets them internships at the major studios and what not for the summer. As far as other internships at Temple...you can get them, but Philadelphia isn't the mecca of filmmaking, at least not yet. You will meet great peers and have great equipment to use, but if you really want to be in this business you should consider moving to LA or NY at some point...at least until you gain some experience through a decent job or plenty of sets. It really depends on what you desire to end up doing. Do you want to edit? write? direct? produce? ??

Direct. I don't mind NY. I just need to direct. Is it relatively easy to find an internship after Freshman year?

It all depends on how much you know, how good you are, and how much you want it. If you want to direct I would suggest getting a job in the equipment office at the school and work over the summer. You get to intimately know all the equipment and you also know who is shooting and what. The equipment office is the heart of every film school...If you are there you meet everyone. That's what I did I would write my butt off and shoot every chance I get. No intership is going to get you on the path to being a director. The only way to get there is to make films and submit them to festivals. Shoot, shoot, shoot!!! Write, write, write.

I heard temple really only does like indie films and whatnot. that true?

I'm currently enrolled in my second semester at Temple. I'm in my Junior year (transfered in).

So far I feel that it's a decent school, but overall don't think I'm learning very much. I'm basically being forced to take a ton of random electives, the film classes usually seem to fill up super-fast, and most of the professors don't usually have the time of day for you.

I've made some good friends and contacts there however, and it gives you access to a pretty good equipment room. If you can resist the brainwashing attempts of the Film Studies type courses and you work hard in the production classes you'll get a lot out of it.

I realize this sounds very negative, but I'm sure it's a similar experience at pretty much every other school. Personally, I'm just here to make contacts and get a degree - but I also have working experience in the field so this could be far more useful for someone like yourself.

Just make sure you meet people, and work as hard on your productions as you can. Find people who are working on senior films and try to get on crews - this is great experience and gets your name out there if you're good. You wont get college credits for this, but it's invaluable and people almost always need help.

HTEXXX - my impression so far is that they definately have a stick up their ass for indie drama and experimental film. I actually have a studies class in which the professor told us that we are not allowed to apply any personal taste to the films that we watch and that the only viable definition for art in the course is what is in our class text book - a book in which the author states flat out that he's going to completely ignore 3 massive outlets for films in which many filmmakers begin their careers for no given reason (I assume that the author just doesn't like the genres, as most of these artsy-elitist types look down on certain things).

Like I said in my last post though, if you can ignore the brain-washing tactics of the studies courses, you can get a lot of of the production courses.