Comments on: Film skool CONFIDENTIAL

By: Film and Digital Media @ Messiah » Blog Archive » Graduate School for a Filmmaker? What’s that about?

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 04:58:25 +0000

[...] Well, here’s some very insightful reflections on Graduate School for filmmakers (not film studies folks) by a friend of mine who’s become a successful filmmaker in the Asia-Pacific region, Tan Pin Pin. Here’s a link to her blog entry on FilmSkool CONFIDENTIAL [...]

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 04:37:03 +0000

Greetings. That was a really good commentary on the value of film education. My background is in architecture, and the debate between apprenticeship and formal training is no different. I expect it to be the same in any creative field of work.
I can’t agree more about the importance of exposure in the formation of a creative identity.
The idea that rules and formal teaching methods can hamper a creative mind is self-contradictory. Creativity itself is, after all, knowing how to make these same rules work for you.
I just did a summer course at NYU myself in 2006, and am thinking of going into editing (major shift in career since I’m in my 40’s). TPP, I’d love to continue the discussion on breaking into the industry, if you’ve got the inclination to do so…

By: Pin

Pin — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 05:03:00 +0000

It was a JCCI Singapore Foundation Scholarship to Musashino Art University, also check out the Takashimaya NAC Scholarship

By: Shijie

Shijie — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 17:00:19 +0000

Hi,

stumbled upon your blog and what a find it was~ I’m fresh out of University and I think I wanna be a film-maker. All you talked about I’ve considered, and it really is a tough decision that I’m struggling with. I’m kinda encouraged, hearing your opinions; I have one question though: where did you get your scholarship opportunity for the japanese film school? Was it for the Tokyo Film School? They have such great directors as lecturers and it would be awesome if I could head there not worrying about cost.

By: Ruok

Ruok — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 03:57:07 +0000

Thanks for sharing this. I’ve been musing over the idea of going to film school, and this has definitely shed some light.

By: zan

zan — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 11:44:40 +0000

Hi TPP. How are you doing? I don’t know if you remember me (Zan Azlee from Malaysia) but we met briefly during the 2004 Asian Film Symposium at the Substation. My film was shown under S-Express Malaysia, titled R.A.H.M.A.N.

Anyway… I was just surfing around and stumbled upon your blog and I’ve been quite entertained reading your entries! I don’t remember when or where I saw Singapore GaGa (i think it was in KL), but I thought it very nice. The tune that lady selling tissue (one dollaaaarrr!) was singing has been in my head to this day!

So (here it comes! heheh!), I’m working on personal documentary project right now. It’s about east-coast Malaysian women… anyway… if you’re interested… I’m documenting the making of via a video blog (http://www.fatbidin.com).

Good luck and thanks for the inspiration.

By: Pin

Pin — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 03:07:35 +0000

Sumgai, not knowing much about you here\\\’s what I think, if you aren\\\’t sure what you want to do, take a course that requires you to think and write clearly eg history, law, maths, engineering etc etc. This skill is useful for anything you decide to later, filmmaking or not. Of course, history, literature also need you to re-interpret and mine texts/data for other meanings which is even more useful when working with the arts.

By: Sumgai

Sumgai — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 17:52:10 +0000

Hopefully you can write about how you decided to become a filmmaker in the other post at undergraduate level. I am studying something that I do not really like and it seems that I do not know what else to do about my future.

By: Swifty

Swifty — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 02:16:22 +0000

Thanks for your insight. I’ve personally been dabbling with filmmaking in the past two year and a half, but didn’t actually receive any formal training until I went to do this one-year postgrad diploma course in filmmaking at Murdoch University, Perth. It was a fine experience for me because not only was I allowed to develop upon the self-taught skills I had (acquired when I was making my own short films for fun), I was also exposed to other film students of other countries (okay, mostly Australians) and study the culture that influences their styles and voices.

So yeah, it can really be frustrating to see some who are less passionate in films doing film courses (it makes you wonder why would they want to do this if it’s only a job they’re searching for, and it’s not their passion), but often, it’s fascinating to run into people who share your dreams and see how they intend to forge their own path.

By: strangeknight

strangeknight — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 06:54:20 +0000

This was a fascinating post. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I’ve been wondering which path to take too — go be an apprentice or to save up for film school.

One of my biggest regrets was not watching enough film when I was studying at Chicago. Doc Films was on campus! I never even went to the Gene Siskel Film Center On hindsight, I should’ve studied less.