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Film School Directory

Enrolling in a Film School is one of the best ways to get an entry into the Special Effects industry. There are a number of Film Schools in the US and Canada and in various countries throughtout the world, offering great courses on Film-making. This page is a compilation of many film school directories which you can use to locate a good film school near you.

Los Angeles Film School

Vancouver Film School

New York Film Academy

London Film Academy

U.S. Film Schools

International Film Schools

IMDb Film School Directory

Filmmaking.net's Directory

How to Choose a Good Film School

Different people have different criteria for deciding on a particular school, but one of the main things to remember while choosing a school is its location. If the school is located near a major studio, or preferably inside one, that will provide one of the best exposures to the film industry, the professionals and technicians who work in it, the look and feel of a motion picture studio and generally all major aspects of film-making. If you plan to work in this industry, why not land up there much earlier, learn all the techniques within that environment, and later go to work there. You will not get this kind of exposure if the school is located within a university campus or elsewhere.

Another major factor to be given due consideration is the faculty. You need people who are in the industry to teach you, not professors who have just theoretical knowledge. It would be great if the school has a steady stream of film industry technicians visiting the school and sharing their experiences regarding their latest projects with the students. Again, if the school is located near or within a studio, this becomes all the more feasible. Being in touch with the industry and its people (not celebrities, but the immensely talented technical crew) is one of the most important factors while learning the tricks of the trade. It will go a long way in helping you establish a stable career.

Careers in Movie Special Effects

Animation: Animators use traditional methods as well as computers to create drawings and paintings that would eventually become an animated movie.
Art Direction: Art directors design a set to reflect mood and circumstance as dictated by a script. An art director is also responsible for working with costume designers, make up artists, and hair stylists. Computer artists are increasingly being used to fulfil this function.
Compositing: Compositors are used to superimpose one footage over another. A vast amount of special effects work in any movie involves compositing.
Film and Video Editing: Editors compose the final production by selecting the best shots and splicing them to most effectively capture the mood, pace, and drama of a particular production. Most of this work is now being done on computers.
Set Design: Set designers recreate the time period and location established in a script by designing, and possibly constructing, a set that projects the time and place through architectural and other visual details. Many of the sets on major blockbusters are never built physically. They are elaborate 3D sculptures created within a computer. Computers are being used extensively in creating elaborate sets that wold be almost impossible to create physically.
Sound Engineering: Sound engineering technicians are responsible for all the recording of sound during filming.
Special Effects Direction: The Special Effects Director is required to provide the strategy for creating all the Fx shots in the script. They should also keep in mind the available time, the budget, the manpower, the technical resources and the capabalities of the current technology before coming up with an effective solution.