# A day in the life of a film grad student?



## LATexan (May 6, 2007)

What is film school like? Is it a regular schedule of daily classes or is it less structured? As an English major I'm used to the college setting, but I have no idea what to expect next year. Especially because I'll be at AFI which is supposedly a completely different learning format all together. Anyone know that the typical day of a film student (especially AFI) is like?


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## yc1911 (May 6, 2007)

Hi Clark, have you ever read about  this?  It's life of USC, and of production students. I guess that of professional SW students is a bit different, maybe quieter, slower and more coffee shop favorite spot writing...ha! I really don't know.


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## Jayimess (May 6, 2007)

LATex...

Did you read the Boot Camp PDF they emailed you when they chose you for an interview?


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## LATexan (May 6, 2007)

Never got it. I'll have to email a request.


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## Jayimess (May 7, 2007)

It's unreal.  I might just copy and paste it....


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## Jayimess (May 7, 2007)

Here you go, Clark.  I apologize for the format, it's a CTRL/V from the PDF Scott Hardman sent me.



AFI Conservatory Overview
Each year AFI admits: 28 Directors
28 Cinematographers
14 Editors
28 Producers
Up to 14 Production Designers
28 Screenwriters.
Students enrolled in the Conservatory Program are referred to as Fellows,
which enforces the fact that AFI is modeled on the European Conservatory
model of learning from a mentor.
The total number of Fellows in the first year is 135 to140. As a result, class
sizes are small.
Bootcamp
The first five weeks of the First Year Conservatory program consists of the
Introduction to Narrative, popularly referred to as "Boot Camp". Boot Camp
kicks off with an initial teaming - Screenwriters, Directors and Producers have
prepared two story ideas prior to coming into the program. They pitch their
ideas to one another and collectively agree upon the first project they will
adapt for the screen as a group. Early in the Boot camp process is an all day
screening of previous works by enrolled Fellows, so that teams can form with
some knowledge of each Fellow's work and sensibility. The goal is to assemble
a complete team to develop this creative material and prepare for production.
Boot camp culminates in the shooting of a scene from the script that is being
developed for the First Cycle project. Boot camp shoots are one day with a
day and a half editing time. Casting of the actors is from headshots only,
therefore there is no rehearsal in these shoots. These projects run about five to
seven minutes.
First Year
At the core of many First Year classes are Cycle projects - a series of narrative
exercises shot on digital video that are developed and produced in a process
of collaboration in teams with members from all disciplines. All 28 teams will
each create short films during the three different Cycles of production over the
course of the year. Critique and evaluation of these Cycle projects follows,
from Faculty and other Fellows.
A Cycle includes 28 projects, each project made by a team that includes a
member in each discipline.
Between September and May, 84 Cycle projects are produced and screened
for analysis and critique. This number does not include the number of other
projects including MOS exercises, classroom exercises and Second Year Thesis
films, which brings the number to over 120 short narrative productions created
in an academic year by both First and Second year Fellows.
Cycle One begins immediately following the Bootcamp weeks. Cycle projects
are a series of narrative exercises that run from fifteen minutes to twenty-five
minutes. These shorts are shot in four days (Saturday though Tuesday) with up
to two weeks in Post-production, including sound editing. Editors get first pass
at cutting the footage together and the Directors are brought in for their input
after four days. Together they will create the Director's cut, which test-screens
in Edit Analysis (class with editing Faculty and Editing Fellows). There are two
days to edit the sound in Pro Tools, add sound effects, music etc. Every Cycle
project will screen in a class called Narrative Workshop in front of an audience
of all First Year Fellows, some faculty, staff and a critical discussion of the
project follows. For the past few years Narrative Workshop has been led by
Frank Pierson.
Screenwriters are required to write the First Cycle project regardless of who
originally pitched the ideas. Screenwriters may choose to collaborate with
Directors and Producers on subsequent First Year Cycle productions as either
sole screenwriter, co-screenwriter, or as story editor. In addition they are
developing and writing original scripts with their Mentor and the core group of
writers in their own script development workshops.
Fellows are not allowed to team with the same collaborators on more than one
project (Editors and Production Designers being the exception). As these
projects are never publicly screened, the workshops are designed to allow the
filmmakers to refine their storytelling skills and experiment with different genres
free from public scrutiny. Fellows leave the first year with a wealth of
production experience and a valuable awareness of the stories they wish to tell
and a working relationship with a team that share a common aesthetic and a
common goal.
Concurrent with their work in the narrative workshops during first year,
Directors and Producers are in development for their thesis projects, and by the
end of their first year they should have a final draft of the screenplay they wish
to submit for their thesis film.
There are required classes that complement the on-going production in
discipline-specific topics as well as screenings and seminars that bring working
filmmakers to AFI to discuss their work and career.
Second Year
During the second year, each Fellow will participate on a thesis film, a project
produced in collaboration with a team consisting of members from each
discipline. While there are a number of different formats a team may use to
shoot their thesis film, last year 75% of these teams chose to shoot their films
on 35mm.
Also during the second year, Directors and Producers are in development
working to complete a feature-length screenplay.
Equipment
The AFI Conservatory utilizes a state-of-the-art post-production facility that
include 15 Avid Symphony editing systems networked by the Avid Unity media
storage system, and 2 ProTools suites. The Editors will also have opportunities
to work with the DS Nitrus editing system for HD Online and Finishing.
Cameras - The first year projects are all currently shot on any of five DSR-450
camera (large format DV camera capable of a simulated 24p).
There are three HD cameras available to the Fellows'- the Sony HD-F900
upgraded to the "slash 3".
35mm camera packages are available to Cinematography Fellows through
Clairmont Camera for their 35mm MOS shorts, as well as for thesis
productions.
Budgets
The Education and Production materials fee of $2,200 (see the "How To
Apply" Section of the AFI Conservatory Catalog) from each enrolled Fellow
helps toward the given budget of $3,500 for each Cycle project, as well as
access to a copy machine and all of the available programs and systems in the
computer lab.
.
During the Second Year, there are opportunities to receive production awards
to help defray the cost of thesis projects. These awards are granted on the
basis of the scripts and can range in amounts from $7,500 to $25,000.
The budget cap for thesis projects is $65,000 (regardless of format).
AFI provides funds of up to $12,000 for each thesis film. Thesis films may need
to raise funds to complete their budgets. Producers spearhead much of the
fundraising for thesis productions, but fundraising is a team responsibility. To
fundraise, thesis teams will create websites or four-color brochures that outline
the plot of the film, have images that suggest the look of the film, biographies
of the filmmakers involved and also be specific about what they need for their
productions. The teams will seek discounts and donations of film stock and
equipment as well as cash donations for screen credit.
AFI provides to each thesis film:
- a lighting and grip package
- access to a camera (format specified by team and money raised)
- production insurance
- a deferred SAG (Screen Actors Guild) contract
- access to an AVID editing system
- donation acknowledgement letters that can be used for donors' tax
purposes
- both creative and production mentoring
AFI owns the copyright to all finished thesis films. AFI does not hold any
underlying rights to the material. AFI currently has a distribution contract with
Shorts International. Thesis films are given 18 months to play the festival circuit
and then are delivered to AFI's distributor. Any license fees from distribution
are split 50% to the actors (to pay a portion of the deferred salary), 25% to
the filmmakers and 25% to AFI.


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## LATexan (May 10, 2007)

Sorry for the belated thank you! Haven't had my computer for a couple of days while it was off getting fixed, so I'm just now catching up. 

The program does sound daunting, but I'm ready for a challenge.


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