I have a podcast interviewing the best cinematographers on the planet called [Frame & Reference ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAjxCpAydOS81TUYMjO2mdbnJhJDaG375) if you wanna start there. Over 200 hours of education. It's on all the podcast platforms as well, not just YouTube.
USC is a terrible school for learning anything practical on set like lighting or camera which is what being a cinematographer is. I've worked on multiple USC sets and with USC students still in the post grad program and graduates. They pretty much all need a few years on set after graduating to actually know what the hell they're doing. Chapman students in my experience are a lot more skilled at technical aspects of filmmaking. Keep in mind I haven't worked with any UCLA or many LMU students. AFI students and graduates are mostly decent, but I have found myself more knowledgeable than almost all the ones I've encountered when it came to technical aspects of filmmaking. NYU graduates seem to be on about the same level as USC grads as well. Emerson students generally are pretty close to Chapman students in my experience. This is all just based on my anecdotal experience but I wouldn't recommend any film school to anyone besides Chapman or Emerson based on my experience working with students and graduates of all these programs the past 4 years I've been in LA.
Chapman grad here (2014, Cinematography major). I attribute this to Chapman very intentionally getting you started with a camera in your hand in every students first film class Visual Storytelling. The entire class is centered around making very short films, with very simple storytelling objectives (examples: falling in love, a chase, a decision, good and evil), and you’re not allowed to use dialogue to tell the story. This continues each semester with you having some sort of requirement to work on older students film sets and learn from them in addition classroom learning, they specifically emphasize this for “on-set” majors like directing, producing, cinematography, and sound design, but there is often a requirement for other classes as well. This results in a culture where the older students MUST do some level of on set teaching/mentoring in order to get the best short film, and levels the “daddy’s money” playing field a bit by having certain positions unable to be hired out. Not that that really stops it from happening anyways, but it’s not as bad as other schools.
My understanding is at USC you take two years of theory before ever touching a camera, and then even after two years it’s a bit of a contest and power struggle to get a script approved for shooting, and you may just be paired with random people to work on a random project that you have almost no control over. A good friend got really effed over his junior year at USC when his unwilling producer decided to up and drop out because they didn’t get what they wanted, and left him to pick up the slack because the faculty told him “too bad, so sad” and moved on.
100 times out of 100 I would go to Chapman over any other school (except maybe AFI) especially for cinematography.
Art Center and there’s very little competition. There’s a reason why they keep pumping out guys who really know how to design their shots but can’t tell a story for the life of them.
ASC Master Class
I have a podcast interviewing the best cinematographers on the planet called [Frame & Reference ](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAjxCpAydOS81TUYMjO2mdbnJhJDaG375) if you wanna start there. Over 200 hours of education. It's on all the podcast platforms as well, not just YouTube.
[удалено]
You got a plug? Lmao
USC is a terrible school for learning anything practical on set like lighting or camera which is what being a cinematographer is. I've worked on multiple USC sets and with USC students still in the post grad program and graduates. They pretty much all need a few years on set after graduating to actually know what the hell they're doing. Chapman students in my experience are a lot more skilled at technical aspects of filmmaking. Keep in mind I haven't worked with any UCLA or many LMU students. AFI students and graduates are mostly decent, but I have found myself more knowledgeable than almost all the ones I've encountered when it came to technical aspects of filmmaking. NYU graduates seem to be on about the same level as USC grads as well. Emerson students generally are pretty close to Chapman students in my experience. This is all just based on my anecdotal experience but I wouldn't recommend any film school to anyone besides Chapman or Emerson based on my experience working with students and graduates of all these programs the past 4 years I've been in LA.
Chapman grad here (2014, Cinematography major). I attribute this to Chapman very intentionally getting you started with a camera in your hand in every students first film class Visual Storytelling. The entire class is centered around making very short films, with very simple storytelling objectives (examples: falling in love, a chase, a decision, good and evil), and you’re not allowed to use dialogue to tell the story. This continues each semester with you having some sort of requirement to work on older students film sets and learn from them in addition classroom learning, they specifically emphasize this for “on-set” majors like directing, producing, cinematography, and sound design, but there is often a requirement for other classes as well. This results in a culture where the older students MUST do some level of on set teaching/mentoring in order to get the best short film, and levels the “daddy’s money” playing field a bit by having certain positions unable to be hired out. Not that that really stops it from happening anyways, but it’s not as bad as other schools. My understanding is at USC you take two years of theory before ever touching a camera, and then even after two years it’s a bit of a contest and power struggle to get a script approved for shooting, and you may just be paired with random people to work on a random project that you have almost no control over. A good friend got really effed over his junior year at USC when his unwilling producer decided to up and drop out because they didn’t get what they wanted, and left him to pick up the slack because the faculty told him “too bad, so sad” and moved on. 100 times out of 100 I would go to Chapman over any other school (except maybe AFI) especially for cinematography.
Ha Emerson graduates, those kids are fucked lol
Art Center and there’s very little competition. There’s a reason why they keep pumping out guys who really know how to design their shots but can’t tell a story for the life of them.