I went to FilmFLEX looking for a change. After university and several years of professional experience, I wanted something else. I did some research into film-related programs in the lower mainland and ultimately chose BCIT because of the program’s stated mandate of training independent producers. I had some academic background and practical experience in film before enrolling, and was hoping to get the tools needs to produce real projects (i.e. an education in how the creative process meshes with the ever-present reality of earning a living).
About half-way into the program you’ll be looking for a brick wall to bash your head against out of utter frustration and disappointment.
When you do the math, FilmFLEX looks like a great deal (tuition comparable with other similar programs, but you get a bunch of gear as part of that price). However, like most really good deals, be wary. You won’t realize it on your initial tour of the facilities, or in your initial discussions with the program administrators, but if your experience is anything like mine, about half-way into the program you’ll be looking for a brick wall to bash your head against out of utter frustration and disappointment.
In retrospect, I’m not sure what I was thinking when I decided to enroll, as alarm bells sounded when I first stumbled across the website (containing no evidence of student work, no faculty profiles, outdated info, etc.). Nonetheless, I made an appointment to speak to the program director to learn more and to discuss my situation, goals, etc. I was satisfied from that meeting that the program would meet my needs, so ultimately, I decided to enroll. The program defines their entry requirements on their website, but I don’t think they turn away anyone who is willing to pay. I was offered admission before submitting any references or transcripts. If you can speak basic English (or even very broken English), and have the means to pay the tuition, you’ll probably get in without difficulty.
The Good
The Instructors There are a couple really great part-time instructors who were incredibly professional and organized, and who demonstrated great care and passion for their subject and our learning experience.
The Gear A portion of the program fee gets you a good package of basic production equipment for less than you’d pay in a retail environment. Upon graduation, you have some tools you can use to get started (depending on what you want to do in the industry). Worst-case scenario, you have a package of stuff you can sell to recoup some money at the end.
The Practicum The experience may be good or bad depending on your individual situation. In my case, I had an opportunity to work closely with decision-makers on a professional film set and had access to many things many of my classmates didn’t. It was great to get this hands-on experience in the industry and to make some contacts.
The Students Be prepared to spend a lot of time with the same group of people in this program. Luckily, our class was a fairly tightly knit group. Most of us held post-secondary degrees/diplomas and had some relevant work experiences/education and it made for an interesting dynamic.
Nobody in a position of power seemed to care what the instructors were teaching, how they were conducting themselves in classes, or that that there was any consistency in content delivery.
The Bad
Where to begin… at the risk of sounding petty, I won’t list all of the specific examples or negatives. In short, I was routinely and regularly overwhelmed by a feeling that nobody was steering the ship. Nobody in a position of power seemed to care what the instructors were teaching, how they were conducting themselves in classes, or that that there was any consistency in content delivery or any overarching pedagogical or philosophical goal of the program. In several courses, we were never given an outline of dates/lessons, etc., nor any formal rubric of the assessment strategy. When we asked for some kind of formal curriculum documents (i.e. detailed required learning outcomes for the courses), the program administrators weren’t able to provide any to us, but referred us to the one-sentence course descriptions on the website. In other courses, lessons were repeated over and over again by different instructors and little effort seemed to be made to control or oversee delivery of content such that material was integrated into some kind of larger learning objective for the program – it was just often the same stuff taught by different people over and over.
It was nothing short of mind-boggling on countless occasions when our class tried to politely and professionally raise concerns at how little credence those concerns were given. We were simply looked at like we were nuts and were tacitly cautioned that since all the program administrators were so well connected within the industry that we should not question anything (lest we be blacklisted in an industry that hires on word of mouth).
I’m not someone who is generally negative about things; but, with little difficulty, I can probably list 50 specific instances/things about the program that left a bitter taste in my mouth. And if you want a long list of specific problems with this program, look up former grads from my year, years prior, and years since, and I feel pretty confident you’ll get an earful (our class was repeatedly told that the issues were unique to our class; but, I’ve since learned that they aren’t). But, I would argue that most of the problems stemmed from a disconnect between individual instructors and administration, and the lack of any leadership or guiding principles. For example, instructors often contradicted one another in giving information (i.e. not on opinion-based stuff, but on legal matters, contracts, etc. – rather important things), and students were left in the middle frustrated, not sure which person was correct.
Without question, the program did not live up to the expectations I had based on the published information and on my initial consultation with the program director. Other students may feel otherwise, but I think there is far too much wasted time (e.g. in addition to the general disorganization, a significant portion of class time in non-practical classes was given over to homework time and independent work – which may have its upside, but I found it disappointing that some of the experts hired to teach had little interest in actually doing so – and even less interest in answering student questions that arose out of the busy-work we were so often forced to do. If memory serves, I believe in one 36-hour class, we spent over 30 hours working independently in class on homework while the instructor came and went, all the time closely monitoring her blackberry).
One thing that a couple instructors really stressed is that nobody “professional” would take us seriously with our DVX cameras, that real-world film work uses professional gear.
The Program
For a program that has the word ‘film’ in its title, you don’t actually shoot anything on film. You will be taken to a rental house a couple times to look at professional gear, but that’s about it. One thing that a couple instructors really stressed is that nobody “professional” would take us seriously with our DVX cameras, that real-world film work uses professional gear (again, a bit of a contradiction with how the program is sold to you). I’ve subsequently met several DPs who would agree that film or HD is the format of choice for professional work. I know it’s not reasonable to expect students to buy either a film or HD camera, but take some time to think about and research where technology is today. While you can do much with a miniDV camera, you are buying technology that is outdated and limited. I have no problems with video; just be sure you have reasonable expectations of what you can do with the camera you’re buying and be sure to budget for the other expenses you will need to incur to achieve the production value you desire. In short, don’t be lured to this program with thoughts that you will make the next ‘Clerks’ or ‘Blair Witch Project’ with the gear you get.
I would say that this program is ideal for people looking to start a small business shooting wedding or corporate videos. There is no question that this can be a lucrative business, but with the wider availability and affordability of technology, the market for this type of work is shrinking. And, to be honest, I’d question the need to go to film school for such an education.
Overall, in my opinion, the program tries to do too many things – and I didn’t feel qualified to do any of them well upon graduation. You will get some basic instruction in budgeting, accounting, shooting, editing, etc. and, if you have the time and money and no life or academic experience whatsoever, it may be a good way to help you hone in on your interest so that you can pursue further education upon graduation; but, don’t expect to walk out of the program with anything you need (equipment-wise, knowledge-wise, or skill-wise) to hit the ground running. At best, you’ll be just as qualified as the next person for a PA job somewhere (which isn’t a bad thing – it’s just a far cry from actually producing revenue-generating creative work – and definitely will not pay you enough money to pay down your student debts and work towards cobbling together funds for your own projects).
Conclusion
Would I recommend this program? No. Not a chance. Never.
I would strongly advise anyone considering an education in film to investigate other options before committing to this program.
I would strongly advise anyone considering an education in film to investigate other options before committing to this program. If you have absolutely no knowledge of video, this may be a good program for you. If you have ever used a camera, or have any basic exposure to editing software, or have any basic understanding of the art of film, I would argue that at least half of the program does little but rehash stuff you already know. If you want to try to break into the corporate/wedding video business, this program will give you some of what you need in terms of gear and basic instruction in the use of a higher-end consumer-grade camera. However, if have any loftier ambitions than the corporate-video world, save yourself the time and money. Or, invest the time and money, but invest it elsewhere.
However, if you want to be a real producer (i.e. read The Independent Film Producer’s Survival Guide for a good definition of what it means to be an independent producer), you should check out the business management program at VFS (in my opinion, this is where FilmFLEX fails the most – the business/marketing aspect is filled with holes and many important topics (scheduling, budgeting, funding, distributing, etc.) were omitted, glossed over, or presented in such a way as to be contradicted by other instructors in other courses).
If you want to direct films, there are any other number of other options out there that I don’t have direct experience with, but feel pretty confident that, from speaking to their grads, are comparably priced, better managed, and far more organized than FilmFLEX. If you just want to go to BCIT, consider applying to the Broadcast Media program instead. For a fraction of the price, you will get much of the same (and a far more established, more organized, better managed program, and a more recognizable credential). With all respect to everyone associated with this program (and especially my classmates who are vying for jobs with the credential we all got), I have never experienced anything as disorganized as this program was, and have never been so frustrated and disappointed with myself for wasting the year (and the significant money) on something as poor quality as I feel this program was.
That said, there are certainly positives to be found in this program, but they aren’t worth the cost (either the time or money) – and most of the instructors who made the program worthwhile teach in more significant capacities in other programs. I imagine others have had more positive experiences than mine, but I highly regret my choice to go to FilmFLEX and would strongly caution anyone who is considering enrolling to ask some tough questions of yourself (i.e. what do you want to do in the film industry) and of the program administrators (i.e. ask to see examples of student work, ask to see clearly defined learning outcomes for the courses, ask to see faculty CVs, etc.). Most importantly, do some in-depth research about the industry. Call some local independent producers and say you are a student doing research – ask them what their training was; ask them what they think of formal programs like the ones offered by schools in the lower mainland; ask them what they think you need to know to make it in the industry. I went through this exercise after I graduated and got some really eye-opening responses – both about the need for a formal education in this field and about their perceptions of the FilmFLEX program in particular.
I’m told there have been some changes to the program since I graduated and for the sake of all future classes, I hope that is indeed the case. I wish everyone associated with the program well; but, after everything, I don’t include my BCIT credential on my resume (because, quite frankly, I’m embarrassed to say I spent a year and $27K on the program and, in all honesty, I don’t feel it makes me any more employable than I was before I started it). For all the positives in the program (and potential for improvement), I honestly can’t recommend it to anyone who values their time and money.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Hi peeps. I’m just here to share what my BCIT experience has taught me. First off, from what I know, my class was the biggest film class, however half the students didn’t think it would be as hard as it turned out to be. The filmflex program offered everything you need to know on every aspect of the industry you’d like to work in. If you just want to apply in order to get the gear (which is valued at 18,000) then and make skateboard movies on a fish eye lens, then don’t bother applying. My class was really great, and I met some cool kids, but half of them were there to fool around with the gear and then complain about the amount of homework.
Trust me there is more to film than just “point and shoot”. I remember one kid arguing with our law teacher that it’s okay to use band music in your project. He also claimed mailing something to yourself was a perfectly acceptable way of copyrighting material (which is not). Our law teacher has worked with Bryan Adams, I think he would know.
Film flex offered courses in marketing, budgeting, business planning, editing, cinematography, directing, writing, accounting, law, sound editing, and computers. The gear included at the time for me, was a DVX 100a panasonic camera, tripod, boom pole, wireless mics, final cut pro editing software, a PowerBook G4 lap top, a printer, and Nuendo sound editing suite.
Basically when you leave the course, you are set for your own business if you wanted. I freelance myself out to anyone willing to sign a contract. I even rent my gear out to events. So far, i’ve directed, filmed and edited, two documentaries, a music video, and have been asked to film live shows for bands like Lillix and Mariannas Trench. If you are serious about the film industry then BCIT is an awesome choice as long as you’re willing to to do the work!