Filmmaking, more than most of the other arts, focuses on human beings and
their interactions. It is for this reason, more than others, than many of
the finest films have been made by persons making their first film, but a
film with whose characters they have lived in their imagination for many
years; and also why so few of them are able to make a second film of any
worth whatever, for their understanding of human nature is so restricted.
The school you choose, in my judgment, will depend upon whether you have
the courage to take the long over the short view. A technical school will
give you immediate practical gratification, often exceeding that possible
within a university context. If, however, you wish to begin the long
process of learning about human beings, what they have done and what they
can do, then there is no shortcut: one must undertake the slow, hard task
of acquiring something like a 'liberal arts' education - even at the
expense of delaying film work for awhile. It won't payoff quickly, but it
will at least give you some chance of looking back, when you're 65 or 70,
at a life hopefully spent at filmmaking, and a life, unlike so many now
wasted in the industry, of which you can unashamedly say 'I did as well as
I could have done with what I was given'.
Evan William Cameron Telephone: 416-736-5149
York University - CFT 216 (Film) Fax: 416-736-5710
4700 Keele Street E-mail: [log in to unmask]
North York, Ontario
Canada M3J 1P3
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