The Advanced Television and Film program is a post graduate program meaning one needs to have some level of college or university education to be accepted. This could be anything from a bachelor’s degree to some form of industry experience.
I could give detailed descriptions of what’s involved in this program but since they are continually updating their process it’s guaranteed to be different for any new students enrolled in it. However, I can give a Coles notes version that’s unlikely to change any time soon. The new students, ranging between 40 and 50, are each placed into 2 (on rare occasions 3) master classes, and these consist of Audio, Camera, Production Design, Directing, Producing, Editing, Writing, and unfortunately Documentaries. Early on there is some opportunity to move around master classes but it’s something they try to discourage.
Then through the year the students create a series of increasingly lengthy projects, 1, 3, and then finally 10 minutes in length. The short project crews are put together by the instructors while the long 10 minute projects are organized by the student producer/director teams. They are also paid for by the student producer/directors (between 3 and 7 thousand dollars generally).
Since you’re actually making films that cost you money and will presumably be sent off into the world, it IS a real world scenario.
The program is designed to replicate the stages of production of a real world scenario, and since you’re actually making films that cost you money and will presumably be sent off into the world, it IS a real world scenario. It’s not the sort of course where you can stick to yourself and coast through it minding your own business, if you do that you’re really selling yourself short and missing the whole point of the program. If you are, however, the sort of person who likes to scheme and plan into the wee hours to make a good project then you’re well suited to this program.
Challenges
Organization of time and people is the biggest challenge in the ATVF program. There are always people who “can’t” attend a meeting or “don’t” have the time that is required of them to complete a task. If you’re going to take this course don’t try to carry a job at the same time, you’ll just annoy everyone, including yourself. If one person drops the ball in anything it can have a lot of negative effects on the rest of the students. In this way it’s much different than most other post secondary education programs.
Oakville (Sheridan’s location) is not a very advantageous location for shooting, scouting locations, or holding auditions.
Transportation is also difficult to deal with because Oakville (Sheridan’s location) is not a very advantageous location for shooting, scouting locations, or holding auditions. As a result, the preference is to travel to Toronto which is 45 minutes away or more.
The Documentary Master Class is one that I’d recommend to only the most masochistic individual as the current instructor there is almost unanimously regarded as extremely unpleasant. At first his strident, tactless approach seems old fashion and refreshing but soon you come to realize he’s simply a condescending jerk. The good news is he’s just one bad apple in a group of excellent instructors.
Advantages
The two greatest long term benefits of the program are a practical knowledge base that is built up over the year and the connections you will make among your fellow students, who are equally motivated to make great projects. The best and most motivated students in each field inevitably gravitate toward each other to make their films, both during the course and after it. For those who are highly self motivated the filmmaking projects can continue seamlessly once the course ends.
For those who have been stuck in academia for years and have no industry experience to draw from, the ATVF course provides an excellent bridge to the real world. The length of the course (1 year) is also a big drawing point since so many are eager to save money and get into the job market.
The instructor to student ratio is very good as there are usually 12 or less students per class. They are very accessible and accommodating to the needs of the students and have a wealth of industry knowledge and contacts to draw on. The ATVF program offers a very helpful (and effective) career design course which I’d highly recommend to anyone taking the program.
Overall, I’m very happy with the program and feel like I’d benefit a great deal by taking it a couple more times.
After Graduation
While you will learn a lot in all the different master classes, some are more difficult to translate into a post-graduation career than others. Those that quickly translate are Audio, Camera, Editing, and Production Design, while those that are more difficult are Writing, Producing and Directing. After graduation, it may be necessary to take some jobs which at first have little relation to the intended career path. Not everyone is made a director as soon as the walk off the school property, but that’s to be expected. But if you put in the work and treat others well, people will recognize that and you’ll find that many of your best contacts after graduation are your former classmates. Overall, I’m very happy with the program and feel like I’d benefit a great deal by taking it a couple more times.
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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I appreciate the frankness of the review. For more insight into some of the production activities of ATVF, you can find a summary of the ATVF 3×3 projects here: http://filmmakersgarage.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/atvf-3×3-projects-for-200910/