No Film School No Problem
It’s true. You don’t need to go to Film School in order to become a Hollywood Editor. But before I tell you the reasons why, I do want to say that I personally went to Film School and loved it. Like I said in my YouTube video on this topic, I’m not one sided on this issue because it all depends on the person’s situation and willingness to go to college.
I’m basically saying that it’s OKAY not to go to film school. You won’t have a disadvantage or be looked at as "unexperienced”. However, you must still do the hard work. Right after high school, you must work as a runner, vault position, receptionist, intern, third assistant to a supervisor, logger, transcriber, anything! You must meet post-production professionals working in the industry. This is the only way that you will get “your own college experience”.
Piggy-backing off of that, there are countless of resources online that you NEED to take advantage of. Which brings me to my first point…
You Can Learn Everything and Anything Online.
But wait. Where do I start? Good question. I believe that the best way to learn is by doing, and not watching. So create your own VLOG or Day in the life video. Make it as awesome as possible. You will find that you’ll run into roadblocks such as ingesting footage, transcode settings, editing software errors, basic visual effects, exporting settings, and even creative editing questions. This is a good sign. It means you’re learning and pushing yourself to become a more skilled editor.
Once you hit those roadblocks, look up how to do them on YouTube. If they’re not on YouTube, Google search it. There are a ton of forums online with people who ran into the same issue as you. Speed read and troubleshoot it. This skill by the way is what Assistant Editors do on a regular basis. Exercise how to troubleshoot!
If you’re wondering how I approach learning something new or watching tutorials, I’d say YouTube will always be my top choice because of how detailed everyone gets when they create their videos. I’m learning Photoshop right now and I’m following PiXimperfect’s channel for his incredibly organized and clear tutorials. Find what works with you.
Film School is Theory.
I’d say 80/20 Film School teaches you more about theory than actual on set experience. Don’t get me wrong, learning how film grew from its early days to where it is now is incredibly fascinating. But, most of us want to get on set, make movies, and learn how to use the editing software. The truth is, you’ll still have to do all the learning on your own.
My typical school week looked like this, class Monday thru Thursday learning theory with classes such as History of Film, Film in the 1950s, Experimental Media, etc. Then I’d go on a student organized film set Friday or Saturday learning what all the different positions on a film crew do. I’d sometimes go to the post-production labs to edit a personal project of mine and learn the different editing programs. Lastly, I’d have homework on Sunday. In other words, I still had to learn everything on my own.
No Student Debt.
This is the biggest advantage you have for not going to Film School. You can use this money to buy editing software, go to editing events, or save it for your nest egg. Financially, you will be further than most once you get higher up in your career. This alone is a great reason to bypass Film School.
Well, thanks so much for stopping by and reading my blog. If you want to get my help personally, you can schedule a 1-on-1 mentorship call. If you’d also like to purchase the Adobe Premiere Suite, feel free to use my affiliate link below - catch you on the next Blog!
-Alfonso