hq|education
Search All Schools

Location:
Degree:
Subject:
Program:



Top Ten Searches

Enter your email address to subscribe to Learning & Life, an educational newsletter packed with ideas to enrich your life.
Subscribe


School for Film and Television: FADE IN on New Opportunities

School for Film and Television: FADE IN on New Opportunities By Alan Drummer
alan.drummer@hqeducation.com
HQ Education Columnist
May 18, 2005

A rise in broadband connections, new movie channels, satellite television, growing DVD collections, hundreds of cable channels, an increase in downloaded movies? opportunities for visual entertainment are increasing.

Who will provide new programming for the many evolving new mediums? Graduates of school for film and television will play a bigger and bigger part.

Pros in the TV and film industries are always learning, because the technology keeps changing fast. Television production companies and faculties at nearly every television broadcasting school are scrambling to get ready for the emerging high-definition (HD) standard, which offers far greater resolution and detail. As a result, employers are scanning resumes for HD experience. A school for film and television is a great place to get it.

Budget Challenges Increase in TV

Meanwhile, as the television audience becomes fragmented among more choices, ad dollars shrink, and production budgets are smaller. Employers are eager to find TV pros who can do more with less. One good talent to concentrate on when you go to television broadcasting school is how to use creativity, lighting and camera angles to put more impact into each shot without having to spend more dollars.

Versatility and Creativity Pay Off in Film

There's a similar challenge in film. One great role model in being able to do more with less is Robert Rodriguez, who directed Sin City and the Spy Kids trilogy. He's famous among film students for taking $7,000 and his film school experience and creating his first feature film El Mariachi, intended for the Mexican home video market. When Rodriguez shopped the film in Hollywood, a powerful agent happened to see it and was taken by its raw energy and resourceful creativity. He got Rodriguez a major studio contract and that first improvised feature got a major studio release.

One factor that powers Robert Rodriguez's ability to be creative is that besides directing his pictures, he writes the script, shoots, edits, composes and does the production design for them. Because he wears so many hats, he knows how to cut corners to put maximum value up on the screen for minimal money and time. He's a powerful incentive to students to learn every skill they can. As he tells film school audiences, digital video has made moviemaking technology more accessible than ever. Start shooting, and start learning.

About the Author

Alan Drummer is a writer and video producer based in Burlingame, California. His specialties include outdoor adventure, travel, technology and advertising and marketing. Trained as an ad agency copywriter, his TV spots for children won some of the industry's major awards. His features have appeared in publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Magazine, and online at playstation.com.


Education Columns:

xmlrss




© 2008 HQ Publications. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | California Privacy Policy