The Digital Film Academy

I mentioned it once before on this blog: the DFA (Digital Film Academy.) While searching for affordable film-making courses, I discovered they give one of the best for the money in New York City.

In particular, there’s a twelve-week course that covers all the basics of the craft and also grants the course-taker with one full year of access to editing, film, and sound equipment following ‘graduation.’ To top it off, there’s a career services center that will monitor students during this one year and hook them up with paying jobs. The price-tag on the 12-week, with one-year equipment access and career services help, is $3k, which, all things considered, I think is actually a pretty great deal (and a hell of a lot better than $100k!)

With my newfound freedom, I finally have the time and mental space to do something like this – and so I went for an admissions interview! The DFA was all a-buzz with excitement while I was there; one of their students had just won the New York International Film Festival this past weekend with the short he’d done during his stint in the12-week course. (Over the course of twelve weeks, all students complete a short film project (from writing through editing) which has been one of the big goals of my No MFA Project since the beginning.)

The next 12-week course starts on November 21^st, and I’m going to be a part of it. I registered at the end of my interview, after both meeting the very-impressive founder, Patrick (a true DIY-type who built his first theater with his own two hands back in the eighties, and whose theatre career eventually led him to film) and also viewing three surprisingly good student films.

As we watched the films and talked, Patrick made me think of things I hadn’t previously considered. For example: the importance of expression over dialogue, and how film-making isn’t just about mastering equipment, but also learning how to read faces and what the response in a human brain will be to certain facial expressions. I began to get the feeling that I’ll be learning about both film-making and people.

I QUIT!!!

There have been plenty of upheavals in my life lately. Surgery, getting married… and now the latest: I QUIT MY JOB!

This was not by any means an easy decision, especially in the current economy. But (aside from some unsettling things going on in the company) the knowledge that what I was doing had nothing to do with my hopes, goals, or passions started to become more and more difficult to ignore. My head would be filled with ideas, my heart would be filled with things I wanted to learn – but my days would be jammed with tedious tasks, all intended to make someone else rich while the years of my life just kept ticking by.

I had enough.

It certainly feels a little scary. My last day was November 1^st, and since then, I’ve definitely had a few moments of wondering whether or not it was the right choice. But, overwhelmingly, I feel that it was. And one clear thought keeps ringing through my mind: This will be the best thing that ever happened to me, because I will make it the best thing that ever happened to me.

Now I can see what happens to my MFA Project when I’m really able to give it all the time and effort it deserves. Which brings me to…

ONE MORE YEAR! I actually decided quite a while ago to keep the project rolling on for one more year. After all, MFA programs are typically 2 yrs, right? So why should mine be any different?