BFA films can cost students thousands
Film majors, BFAs, spend $1,000s out of pocket to graduate
Alison McCall
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: News
The original budget for Thomas Goodwin's thesis project was $40,000, the rough equivalent of a year of Emerson tuition, room and board.
After some creative trimming and financial sponsorship, Goodwin and co-producer, senior cinematography major Nick Melo, still had to shell out $3,000 each of their own money.
Yet their film, Hands of the Nocturnal Clock, a gangster story about two brothers, sits idly in a film processing lab in Los Angeles.
Goodwin and Melo must raise additional funds before they can complete their prized final project.
Including processing fees that are keeping their film embargoed, $5,000 is needed to finish the short film.
Their woes began after shooting, when the company they rented equipment from took $4,000 in missing or damaged equipment directly out of the film's account.
The setback halted the production, and put the two producers in $1,700 worth of debt.
"It's been three months and I haven't seen the film we shot," said Goodwin, who began the project over the summer. "I'm taking a hit. This was a learning experience, but an expensive one."
Dropping $6,000 in pocket money on a final project is fairly routine for courses among Emerson's visual and media arts students - a major that claims roughly 32 percent of the undergraduate population.
Like most BFA film seniors at Emerson, Goodwin said he expected to pay significant out-of-pocket costs to produce his film. As early as "Film II," a class usually taken by sophomores, students drop between $350 and $1,000 on a three-minute movie, said VMA junior Malika Moro-Cohen.
Moro-Cohen just spent $1,000 filming her own Film II project, and felt her professor, Gautam Chopra, low-balled his $350 estimate.
Costs like these make film one of the most expensive majors on campus, requiring large sums of cash to produce what are essentially homework assignments.
"There are significant costs involved with being a media production student," said Rob Sabal, an Emerson VMA professor who teaches Film I and II classes. "But I think it's expensive to be a filmmaker anywhere."
After some creative trimming and financial sponsorship, Goodwin and co-producer, senior cinematography major Nick Melo, still had to shell out $3,000 each of their own money.
Yet their film, Hands of the Nocturnal Clock, a gangster story about two brothers, sits idly in a film processing lab in Los Angeles.
Goodwin and Melo must raise additional funds before they can complete their prized final project.
Including processing fees that are keeping their film embargoed, $5,000 is needed to finish the short film.
Their woes began after shooting, when the company they rented equipment from took $4,000 in missing or damaged equipment directly out of the film's account.
The setback halted the production, and put the two producers in $1,700 worth of debt.
"It's been three months and I haven't seen the film we shot," said Goodwin, who began the project over the summer. "I'm taking a hit. This was a learning experience, but an expensive one."
Dropping $6,000 in pocket money on a final project is fairly routine for courses among Emerson's visual and media arts students - a major that claims roughly 32 percent of the undergraduate population.
Like most BFA film seniors at Emerson, Goodwin said he expected to pay significant out-of-pocket costs to produce his film. As early as "Film II," a class usually taken by sophomores, students drop between $350 and $1,000 on a three-minute movie, said VMA junior Malika Moro-Cohen.
Moro-Cohen just spent $1,000 filming her own Film II project, and felt her professor, Gautam Chopra, low-balled his $350 estimate.
Costs like these make film one of the most expensive majors on campus, requiring large sums of cash to produce what are essentially homework assignments.
"There are significant costs involved with being a media production student," said Rob Sabal, an Emerson VMA professor who teaches Film I and II classes. "But I think it's expensive to be a filmmaker anywhere."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Jason Scott '92
posted 11/19/09 @ 8:47 PM EST
I am stunned to hear Emerson still shoots on film. Buy a RED camera and teach the students on that; anything else is insane.
Alex Disenhof
posted 11/24/09 @ 4:40 PM EST
"Anything else" is not insane! While the RED camera is an important tool in the game of low-to mid-budget filmmaking, shooting film still happens, and will continue to happen! Also, as a cinematographer, one MUST know how to light and expose for film, even if one works primarily in the digital world. (Continued…)
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posted 12/01/09 @ 12:13 AM EST
I think if the students want to gain good knowledge and practice, all their home-assighnments should be well-prepared, including films.
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posted 4/13/10 @ 7:44 AM EST
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