Cape Town Film and Television School, Johannesburg

There are many filmmakers who didn’t go to film school – Quentin Tarantino didn’t even finish high school, German director Werner Herzog went to the Munich Film School only so he could ‘relieve’ the college of a 35mm camera which he would use many years later on his spectacular debut feature “Aguirre, Wrath of God”. Locally, filmmakers like Darrell Roodt, Khalo Matabane and John Barker never went to film school, but Gavin Hood did. You can learn some of the nuts and bolts of film and TV production just by being on set; but you won’t have the chance to make your own short films, to experiment and fail, you wont have the chance to hone your talents alongside your peers and you wont have the time and luxury to realise exactly what you want to specialise in – after all not everybody wants to direct. Most filmmaking – beyond the technical stuff – is storytelling, so anything you study, read or watch that improves your storytelling ability will help you as a filmmaker. Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez (“From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Spy Kids”, “Sin City” etc.) made a famous video called ‘The Ten-Minute Film School’ where he claims you can learn anything about moviemaking in less than a quarter of an hour. He says the moment you think you are a filmmaker you are one, “Do you have experience in movies? You do, right - you WATCH movies. Now you need to have movie experience - you're not going to learn from just watching movies, you'll learn some things, you'll learn more picking up a camera, making your own films, making your own mistakes - mistakes don't have to be mistakes, everything is subjective - a mistake to one person is actually a piece of art to someone else.” You can check out his anecdotal advice at: http://www.exposure.co.uk/makers/minute.html No writer or director has ever been denied the Oscar because he didn’t finish his master’s thesis and a film degree isn’t a prerequisite for any job in the film industry from actor to gaffer to executive producer. The Industry is one of the last bastions of apprenticeship, perseverance and pure luck. All that really matters is whether you can do the job. However a film school can give you the tools and the confidence to prosper. You can learn the specifics of any trade on-the-job but film school can give you a broader perspective. Film theory can help you figure out how to compose a shot and how to create a style and of course film school is a place to make contact with peers, experts and people who you can work with or whom may ultimately hire you. In the last few years there’s been a major surge in training institutions that focus on film and TV production, with the introduction of new broadcast channels the need for production talent seems at an all time high. This series will profile the many places around Gauteng who train people in film and TV production.

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