There certainly are a number of different approaches, and opinions, albeit the term "Film School" apparently does seem synonymous with "Someone else's employment program, and it ain't yours, you're one of the many people paying for that someone else's employment program.". Also, the bit about "Paying for it" does tend to be a sensitive subject.
Here at The Collective MacAvity, we spent most of our time while in "Film School" going to A Lot Of Movies and then hanging out in the Theatre department. In fact we spent so much time in the Theatre department that one student in the acting program went momentarily ballistic when finding out that of the costume lab hours that were required of all Theatre students, not only did we have more costume lab hours than that student did, but as film students, we didn't even have to have any costume lab hours at all . . . .
Several years later, our main personal regret regarding our classes remains that we did not think to also take the lighting classes that were offered by the Theatre department---but not offered, as we possibly erroneously recall, by the 'Cinema" department. Several years later, our main institutional regret regarding our classes remains that of scholastic focus: Any "Film Schools" that do not have their own entire degree program in the accounting, production, and distribution of making movies, taught there on site, continue to fail any and every one of their students.
But of that last sentence, the context assumes that such "Film schools" actually expect a student of theirs to actually make a movie. The definite and repeated impression that keeps leaking from behind the "Film Schools" advertising states that the post graduate destination remains a place in the film crew of someone else, making the movie of someone else. We don't have any certainty of that understanding, but the thought does come to mind.
So, several years later, our reaction to someone asking about a film program has become "Film program? Oh **Hell** no." A possible exception may include consideration of film history and analysis. If so, then A) that describes history far more than light levels and costume budgeting, and B) that remains the point of watching metric buttloads of all sorts of DVDs checked out, rented, or bought from everywhere. After all that live movie watching of actual movies, you then write up what comes to mind that you notice. If you need to, you can submit papers to assorted film related studies journals. If any journal you submit a paper to demands a "cinema" "degree", then submit instead to an actual journal that reads the paper, instead of the fake "journal" that does not.
In turn, if you're looking at actual filmmaking, we welcome you to The Collective MacAvity School Of Making Movies.
When you complete this program, you will assuredly not have a degree in "Cinema" issued by TCMSoMM. Equally so, your "Film" "Career" will not center upon general hopes that someone has a space on a film crew. When you complete this program, you will have completed at least five movies of at least ninety minutes length, starting from general notes and going all the way to cranking out DVDs available for sale or distribution.
Of your tuition, it will cost whatever you pay for it. We of the Collective MacAvity remain very happy to receive donations of money---see back on that front page for details---but then we also keep having to pay rent and buy food and do other things like that.
Your equipment also will cost whatever you pay for it, but with this approach, one round of buying The Best covers many subsequent rounds of use of the same one set of tools.
Of filmmaking ideas . . . they will have to turn up where ever they can get dreamed up. We can't help you with that, we're digging up our own. Of our own ideas, we do note that while a number are original, a number of them do involve starting from someone else's ideas. No, not George Lucas' ideas, to name one possible starting point, but rather the ideas from someone(s) else.
As a note; the following does call for access to and use of PC hardware running MS Windows XP. We are indeed aware that Unix remains the superior computer operating system, but some of the specialized software cited below has yet to get ported to Unix. We are aware that such porting will happen sometime in the future, rather like knowing that the sun will come up in the morning, but that still remains the future and as of yet devoid of coherent detail. For those not yet familiar with Unix, BSD Unix is the core of the Macintosh OS X, and probably later, operating system, and The Collective MacAvity personally recommends FreeBSD, and recommends PCBSD as a reliable introduction to Unix.
Have fun . . . . . .
Making Movies 1a: Introduction to making movies
Exactly as with the advice given to those interested in analysis of movies, and particularly if your interest in making movies is to add to the metric buttloads of all sorts of movies, then yes, included in your ongoing studies is entirely the same watching metric buttloads of all sorts of DVDs checked out, rented, or bought from everywhere.
Coursework:
Read, play with, and otherwise assimilate the course material.
Making Movies 1b: The background of making movies
Course Material:
Related books that turn up in or connected to the Amazon.com pages that make up Film 1a.
Coursework:
Read, play with, and otherwise assimilate the course material.
Making Movies 1c: Introduction to writing movie scripts Prerequisites to Making Movies 1c: Completion of Film 1a at least three times.
There are no waivers for the Making Movies 1c prerequisites.
Non-completion of the Making Movies 1c prerequisites guarantees failure of Film 1c.
Coursework:
Read, play with, and otherwise assimilate the course material. Write at least two movie scripts. One for a five to twenty minute movie, one feature length, using whatever it takes to get the scripts cranked out.
Making Movies 100: Adapting video game technology, or, Introducing The Unreal Engine
Coursework:
Read, play with, and otherwise assimilate the course material.
Making Movies 200: The Unreal Engine III
Making Movies 200 is where everything Gets Interesting.
Making Movies 200 is more than an extension of the Making Movies 100 series coursework, it is the application of what to do when things go wrong.
Prerequisites to Making Movies 200: Being able to fully acquire and make use of the Making Movies 200 course material.
The problem inherent here is that while UT III was released in November 2007, the first book became available in July 2009, with the second and third yet to release, where both and then all three books have had ridiculously ever extending promised publishing dates. As the succeeding books become or became available, they can get used for the Making Movies 200 coursework.
Always keep an eye on other sources. If necessary, for the course work for Making Movies 200, substitute the material for Making Movies 100, Keep Moving, and make up any missing material as soon as it may turn up, at some vague time in some future.