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I think I want to go back to school
Reznik
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So earlier this year I graduated from a 3 year college program with an essentially useless diploma and a very mediocre skillset. The stuff that I want to do now is not anything that I learned in school so I'm self-teaching while trying to make a couple bucks freelancing. This is... not really working out. There's no market for this stuff in my shitty small town. I'm pretty sure I should go back to school and learn stuff related to what I want to do but I don't know where to go. So. Here are the pertinent details:
Stuff I like/want to do:
- Visual effects/compositing
- Motion graphics/titles
- Basically work with After Effects a lot
- Cinema4D is also cool though I don't want to get too heavy into the 3D end of things
- ...but honestly I'll learn whatever programs to do what I have to
Goals:
- Move to Vancouver, where everything is
- Work on some of the awesome things filmed in Vancouver (specifically I'd really like to work on the 'genre' shows that are filmed there, the kinds like Supernatural and Stargate
- Be a part of some kind of studio and not a freelancer because freelancing sucks
Problems:
- Vancouver is really expensive
- I have heard very mixed things about Vancouver Film School, which is way too fucking expensive
- I don't know anyone in Vancouver
Now, I'm not saying I have to go to a school in Vancouver. I want to go to a place that will give me a good education and help me make a super kickass reel. But if the school happens to be in Vancouver that would be a bonus because Vancouver is ultimately where I want to be.
So please suggest some schools with awesome teachers and good reputations. I would very much like to stay in Canada. However if there is some super amazing school in the States or elsewhere that won't bankrupt me then I'll at least look it up.
And also any other advice pertinent to my situation would be much appreciated.
Stuff I like/want to do:
- Visual effects/compositing
- Motion graphics/titles
- Basically work with After Effects a lot
- Cinema4D is also cool though I don't want to get too heavy into the 3D end of things
- ...but honestly I'll learn whatever programs to do what I have to
Goals:
- Move to Vancouver, where everything is
- Work on some of the awesome things filmed in Vancouver (specifically I'd really like to work on the 'genre' shows that are filmed there, the kinds like Supernatural and Stargate
- Be a part of some kind of studio and not a freelancer because freelancing sucks
Problems:
- Vancouver is really expensive
- I have heard very mixed things about Vancouver Film School, which is way too fucking expensive
- I don't know anyone in Vancouver
Now, I'm not saying I have to go to a school in Vancouver. I want to go to a place that will give me a good education and help me make a super kickass reel. But if the school happens to be in Vancouver that would be a bonus because Vancouver is ultimately where I want to be.
So please suggest some schools with awesome teachers and good reputations. I would very much like to stay in Canada. However if there is some super amazing school in the States or elsewhere that won't bankrupt me then I'll at least look it up.
And also any other advice pertinent to my situation would be much appreciated.
Do... Re.... Mi... Ti... La...
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Reznik on
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Posts
1. Experience trumps schooling in almost every single case. In the few excepted cases, the schooling is a "mere requisite" that can almost always be earned while "on the job", and in some cases can be provided for you by a willing employer. Only inexperienced MBAs, bad corporate leaders, academics, and elitism-perpetuators care about where your degree is from and what it's in. Everyone else who actually does work only cares about how much you know about your job and how well you do it (and how much you expect to get paid while doing it).
2. In the current economy, any job is better than no job (this in no way, shape, or form is an endorsement for staying in a shitty job or for allowing your employer to take advantage of you). There is a huge glut of recent grads from the past several years who have decided to "stay in school" and "build their resumes" because of the current job market. You will be competing with these people for spots they probably already have, for credentials that (due to increased supply and demand) are becoming increasingly worth less.
3. If you are unhappy with the job market where you are, then moving would be a good idea. However, as you've mentioned, money can be an issue. Try to build your resume by doing as much work in your relevant field as possible, even if it's "bitch work". If you do it well, and keep asking for more opportunities, something will hopefully come along.
I'm going to say it again because it bears repeating: More schooling is not a panacea for your, or anyone else's, personal job issues. At best, it's a delaying tactic that might provide you a slightly better opportunity at the expense of real-world experience and tuition. At worst, it makes you look like someone who couldn't or wouldn't hack it outside of school and is now asking for a higher wage even though you have no actual job experience. Once you have achieved the bare minimum (which for the vast majority of jobs is either high-school or undergraduate certification), the real issue becomes "getting your foot in the door" to your desired industry and then gaining the requisite on-the-job experience. Any secondary education or certification that is required can be obtained later. Very, very few jobs expect you to go in knowing everything. Even the most extreme example, medicine, basically builds in the "on-the-job training" as part of the requirement to obtain licensing in the first place.
Anyway, that's my two cents. Hopefully someone with more direct experience in your industry can offer you more specific advice.
Reznik, don't go back to school. Continue learning the things you need to know by doing them yourself at home. Get books, read tutorials, etc. What you need to do is work your ass off and save money so you can move to Vancouver. Then work your ass off there being a 2nd or 3rd assistant in the field you desire and work your way up the ranks.
All the above generic advice would make sense if your premise was "i am super talented but have an unprestigious degree." If you have an unprestigious degee and no skills their generic advice is less applicable. I know nothing of the art/digital production/movie world outside of Los Angeles, and I can't evaluate your knowledge base or talent.
It may or may not be true. If your diploma and skillset is really useless then it does make sense to bolster your credentials and get skills. People are like "education doesn't matter blah blah" and then say "people only judge you on your skills." If you didn't get any skills from your education and need more skills, then do it. You can try the auto-didact route, but i'm skeptical of doing so in your chosen profession.
Vancouver is expensive, but you could also move further east and skytrain in.
You could look into Simon Fraser's Interactive Arts program too, which has the majority of their classes at the Surrey campus. You could find a place around Surrey Central for pretty cheap, and therefore be within walking distance of school and the skytrain.
One of the reasons I'm not content just to keep self-teaching is because I feel like I'm missing out on half of what I need to know. I'm not sure if I can explain this properly. But I don't know if I'm following the right workflow. I'm not getting any experience working on a team. I don't know if the files I'm rendering out are even rendered properly so they can be used in the next stage of a project, etc. I'm still going to pick up a few books and go through them and see how much that helps. But I'd still like to at least get a solid list of schools to consider if I find the books aren't enough.
As far as working my ass off to save up goes: there is no work in this field in this town. I've made maybe a grand total of $2000 in six months. The people who have work for me are film grads with no money. The people with money think all I have to do is press a magic computer button and the work is done and they can throw me $100 and that's that. Even then, both groups amount to like ten people. The little work there is is simple and easy and I wouldn't even bother to put it in a reel because a monkey could do it.
I've got a camera and I've been planning to build a green screen to shoot my own stuff but even then I don't have the space, I don't have the lights, I don't have the people to use, and I'm not good with a camera in the first place. At least if I went to a school they would have good equipment for me to use and some people to help me shoot some stuff to work with.
And my small town is Thunder Bay, Ontario. We've got a college with a film program and a multimedia program and no jobs in those fields at all. They're training us to move away (except they're not even training us well. I only know two people from my graduating class of like 30 who actually have real jobs in the field and one of them moved to Calgary).
I'll check out Simon Fraser. Thanks for the suggestion.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
For schools there is also Emily Carr
http://www.ecuad.ca/
I think Emily Carr is more for the...indie type artist, where Simon Fraser is more for the business type artist (if that makes any sense).
Is there no work in this field in Toronto? I know Thunder Bay is still pretty far from Toronto, but the move may not be as drastic.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
I couldn't be lazy about it, but I was freelancing by the end of year 1.
Year 2 I have a job at a top agency.
Going back to school will have you coming out with no experience, which unfortunately is what most employers want to see. The only thing school makes easier is finding an internship through either the school's connections, the friends you'll meet and their connections, or by randomly applying, because it is actually illegal to work for free, and most people looking for interns only want people in school for that reason.
While I agree with most of the above statement, I've salmoned one part that I disagree with.
Higher education isn't something that should be entered into blithely, and if you enroll for the wrong reasons you're likely to end up with nothing more than what you had going in (oh, and tons of debt). HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that on-the-job experience always trumps going back to school. It really depends on the industry.
I have a friend who is working in foreign policy in Washington D.C., with only a B.A. in Music to his name. While he's been pretty successful due to his work ethic and ambition, he tells me that he a) never gets taken seriously enough because he doesn't have a degree in Political Science, Sociology, or the like and b) he hit a glass wall pretty quickly because he didn't have a M.A., J.D., or PhD, and everyone and their mother has at least an M.A. in Washington D.C. (many from super-prestigious places like Harvard.) He's going back to school for his PhD now, and he tells me that he wishes he had done so sooner.
It's important to know exactly what you're going to school for and how it will directly help you. Higher education gives you four big things: 1) theoretical education that will be helpful in your chosen field/craft 2) prestige, especially if you graduate from a highly-regarded program 3) an alumni network and career placement programs that can help you get your foot in the door, and 4) contacts among fellow students and professors, who may come in handy as you try to make a name for yourself. As long as you maintain a clear set of goals and work hard in and out of the classroom, going back to school can be very rewarding. (And if you actively pursue internships in the summers and even during the school year, you'll still get "real-world experience.")
I can't really give you any advice as I'm not a film student, though my film student friend who went to Emerson College seems to have done pretty well for himself and you should probably check that school out if you're willing to go to school in the U.S. I'd caution you against going back to school purely because you think it'll get you a better reel and a better job, because chances are you can teach yourself most of the stuff you need to know and going into school without a clear direction is almost always a bad idea. You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you want to do with your education, though, so don't let our warnings discourage you from applying altogether.
Only quoting this part the rest of ChopperDave's post is good. In the film/video/effects industry nobody cares where you are from, only what you can do. For example, Pixar or Sony or whoever will 100% hire a kid straight out of highschool who can do amazing work over a guy from a fancy college with a fancy degree but whose work is not as good.
Vancouver is an expensive city to live in on the whole. How much money have you got saved up, roughly?