Greetings,


This feature ran in the NY Times today, and I thought it might be a 
good discussion starter with regard to the relevance/importance/cache of 
film schools, especially the "elite" schools. Hope this is of interest 
to you all ... 

Harper Cossar
Georgia State University

PS. Contrary to either the author's assertion, Walter Murch has never 
been a cinematographer. :)


The New York Times
January 31, 2006 Tuesday  
Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section E; Column 1; The Arts/Cultural Desk; Pg. 1



HEADLINE: At U.S.C., A Practical Emphasis In Film



BYLINE: By SHARON WAXMAN


Twenty-seven-year-old Rain Br!
 eaw is
 determined to become a movie 
director, so despite the prevailing wisdom, she is going to film school. 

 ''The general opinion is if you want to be a filmmaker, you'd be 
better off taking a production assistant job, and learn by doing,'' Ms. 
Breaw said during a break from classes at the University of Southern 
California's School of Cinema-Television, where she is in the final year of 
the three-year master's program. ''But if you're not a child with 
connections or have parents who can fund you, your only choice is film 
school.''

 More than a generation after film schools here and in New York nudged 
and nurtured a group of young artists including George Lucas, Martin 
Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola toward cinematic greatness, the focus 
of academic strongholds like U.S.C., whose film school is the oldest in 
the country and one of the best, is squarely on the practical. 

To read !
 the
 fulltext, click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/movies/31film.html?_r=1&oref=slogin



Harper Cossar
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