Photo courtesy of Talbert Communications Before his critical and financial success with films such as "The Godfather" and "Patton," Coppola studied filmmaking at UCLA.

Francis Ford Coppola needs no cliched introduction about how he's the godfather of modern filmmaking. But less well known is his affiliation with UCLA, where he graduated with a master's in filmmaking.

That's right, the director of "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now," and "Bram Stoker's Dracula" was a Bruin and helped to create UCLA's reputation for experimental, avant-garde films. The marriage of academia and art was somewhat whimsical for Coppola, who originally wanted to study theater at Yale.

"A haphazard opportunity to see 'Ten Days That Shook the World' changed that. (For me) the cart that was theater broke, and the driver fell into cinema. I changed my mind and went to the UCLA film school instead," Coppola said in an e-mail interview.

According to Michael Schumacher's biography, Coppola's older brother had already gone to UCLA when young, and Coppola decided to do the same. It was 1960, a time when film schools were beginning to become strongholds of future talent. George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma all matured through universities around this time.

Coppola's UCLA stint included several student films, such as "The Two Christophers" and "Aymonn the Terrible." Discontented with merely taking classes and talking about film theory, Coppola was intent on making as many films as possible and using his UCLA colleagues as his production crew for his directorial projects.

To this day, Coppola maintains a proactive stance toward filmmaking. Hoping to free filmmaking from the big studios, Coppola founded production company American Zoetrope for independent voices.

"I like art best when it's an amateur form, as in the past when doctors were composers, and stock brokers poets. I love that William Carlos Williams wrote his poetry on the back of prescription pads. I like that it's done for love and not for money," Coppola said.

Important to Coppola's personal and filmmaking evolution was when he met Roger Corman, the B-movie master, through UCLA professor Dorothy Arzner in 1961 and later worked for Roger Corman productions on his first full-length film, "Dementia 13." During the shoot, he met UCLA art graduate Eleanor Neil, who he later married.

Coppola withdrew from his UCLA education after winning the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Award for his screenplay, "Pilma, Pilma," a reworking of "The Two Christophers." The award led to job offers from the major studios. Coppola ended up working on scripts for Seven Arts Productions, where he directed "You're a Big Boy Now" in 1966. He submitted the film as his graduate thesis, and it earned him his degree.

His meteoric rise, including his Oscar win for the screenplay to "Patton," continued with producing Lucas' classics "American Graffiti" and "THX 1138" with American Zoetrope. Coppola's power would then be solidified in 1972 when "The Godfather" was a major critical and financial success.

An icon of the film world today, Coppola nostalgically remembers his early days at UCLA.

"I feel much wiser now, though perhaps that's a negative in that it makes one less likely to plunge into areas as wildly as youth tends to. Also, not being as financially destitute could mean that I have less of the 'what do I have to lose' attitude and that might make a difference," Coppola said.

Now Coppola thinks about the future of filmmaking and all the tools that he didn't have growing up. He cites computer programs Final Cut Pro and HD24 digital sound as major advances in allowing anyone to make a professional-quality film. In addition, his recent release of "The Godfather" trilogy on DVD with deleted scenes and commentary allow for a greater degree of interaction between filmmaker and filmgoer.

"Movies have always been the marriage of art and technology, so the grand advances happening today continue to make the cinema more adventurous and even promiscuous – and for less money each day. This is wonderful," Coppola said.

Coppola would certainly be pleased if he were a student today to find that the film and television department now includes digital media as well. As Coppola himself says about the demise of film and the rise of digital media, "Film is dead. Long live cinema."

Hard at work on his science-fiction epic, "Megalopolis," Coppola maintains his independent spirit, even with such big-budget fare. At age 63, Coppola continues to push the limits of what he can do and urges young filmmakers to find their own smaller paths.

"Certainly, 'Megalopolis,' is ambitious and probably above my means in many ways, which in the past never deterred me," said Coppola.

"I would tell (young filmmakers) to avoid big conglomerate Hollywood, where the 'M' stands for money and not movies. ... Weave your work on whatever level you can afford, with stills and little audio recordings first if necessary," Coppola added.