what should i major in?

[Christopher Wright]

Just for the record, Robert Rodriguez did go to film school, The University of Texas at Austin, and did graduate. The funny thing is, they didn’t let him in until after he had successfully completed El Mariachi. He had been writing a comic strip “los Hooligans” for the several years I attended UT (’84-’87), and was basically storyboarding in his head even way back then. I feel the film degree was a very good investment at UT because they made you go through all the disciplines, audio production, lighting, video production, and film production, as well as learning how to write well and study the Film Masters. If you complement that with courses in the Drama Department, Music Department, Photography Department etc. you start to be well-rounded in many areas. I was also able to intern, and then was hired, at the PBS station there and was fortunate to have worked on several national programs including American Masters, Austin City Limits and many others. The “real world” mixed with rigorous study really is the best answer. The secret to success is continually upgrading and honing your skills. Many of the people I worked with are still in the same positions they occupied 20 years ago at PBS, and stuck at about the same low pay level. If you want to work and stay on the cutting edge, you need to spend the extra effort and time to keep up with and master an increasingly sophisticated and changing set of tools!

[Tony]

In addition to a college education you need to seriously consider working at a post production facility first.

Start as an intern, work your way up to tape op, assistant editor, junior editor etc. Some of the leading post production facilities are owned and operated by former or current senior editors.

How will you actually gain “insider” knowledge that will be essential to developing a proper business plan for your future business. Anyone who would open up a restaurant without having actually worked in one or had some real world exposure to the business is ill served by not gaining “insider knowledge”.

You might find the post business you are dreaming about today may not be what you expected nor worth the time and money investment. Or you might discover this is what you really aspire to do in life but find that you need to specialize in an area of post such as visual effects.

Learning how to massage clients during a good and bad experience can only be taught “on the frontlines”. Purchasing equipment from vendors and the art of “cutting a deal” are not taught in college. Managing numerous employees and/or freelancers all with different personalities is not taught in college.

I wish you the best of luck in your career.

Tony Salgado

[John Calhoun]

Another vote for being well rounded.

My path was, I went to an art high school and afterward worked in photo labs, did typesetting and data processing. After being laid off 15 years ago at the age of 30, I happened to apply for a position as a Master Control operator for public access part-time. I had no knowledge of TV whatsoever. I worked there for 5 years doing the occasional wedding video on the side. That opened up an opportunity to be a camera op for the (early!) morning news. Then I did some freelance as a video assist for P&G film shoots. Eventually, I was able to land a position as an edit assist.

Being an edit assist and then assistant editor was pretty much like an apprenticeship for me where I could see how the pros go about the process of working with clients, managing projects and editing high quality pieces. I’m now director of production and senior editor for a widely seen television program.

I only got a year and a half of college, and in fact never seemed to conform well to the whole school scene. But I haven’t stopped learning and my university now is my extensive collection of industry and miscellaneous magazines which I devour every month. Staying abreast of technical innovations has been critical for my position as techical guru. I even pick up the occasional Vogue, Cosmo and other women’s magazines to stay abreast of fashion, women’s concerns, color palettes, etc. because sometimes you have to produce content from that point of view. For my youth oriented show, I have to stay current or be ahead of the game.

It is hard to give advice about owning a post house in the future because, with the accelerated advance of technology, we have no clue what a ‘post house’ will be in the future! Did we imagine that we would have HD cameras for $1500 10 years ago?

With all that being said; read, study the pros, practice, learn the rules then break the rules. Learn to manage your money.

good luck!

pxlmvr

[Bret Williams]

[John Calhoun] “I even pick up the occasional Vogue, Cosmo and other women’s magazines to stay abreast of fashion, women’s concerns, color palettes, etc.”

That’s why I look at them too! 🙂

[Steve Courtney]

[John Calhoun] “But I haven’t stopped learning and my university now is my extensive collection of industry and miscellaneous magazines which I devour every month.”

Can you recommend a few industry magazines? “Post”, and what else? It feels like I get most of my news from the Cow these days, but I’m wondering if I’m missing any of the ‘bibles’ of the trade. When I was working in advertising, I had all the free subscriptions I could handle. Now that I need to finance my reading on my own, I need to be a bit more choosy. Thanks.

Steve

[John Calhoun]

Here’s my list of monthlies or semi-monthlies:

Videomaker (really basic, consumer level, but good beginner info)
Cinema Editor (from American Cinema Editors)
Macworld (and other mac related pubs)
Videography
Layers (used to be Mac Design)
Studio
Video Systems
How (on occasion)
Dynamic Graphics
Photoshop User
DV (a favorite)
Post
Cinefex
Broadcast Engineering
Film & Video (now only available online)
TVB
Government Video
e-Media
and various publications from England
https://www.computerarts.co.uk/

Many of these pubs are free to those who work in the industry.

pxlmvr