You should check out Loyola Marymount University (LMU)! It might have what you’re looking for.
Curious what you know about LMU that leads to that suggestion? That way when I browse their website and check into them I have an inkling of what I might look for.
FWIW… Here’s where we ended up. My son started at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland (PNCA) last September on his own terms. He will pursue a design major because their film program is quite poor and not related to what he wants to do. And he’s got a good head for design.
He is carefully choosing classes to avoid the kind of absurdities he ran into at SAIC and to only do that work that’s beneficial for his career.
At the same time, he’s working with me on a documentary about a major artist who is a good friend - expanding his skills as a DP and cinematographer in addition to story editing and editing.
Seems a good path for the moment.
And I fully endorse alternative approaches - colleges have got to start fixing their offerings to be more exploratory and inventive. The demands of the educational higher ed bureaucracies (primarily accrediting groups) have severely limited all types of education - including art school.
@atlascentaur did you ever look at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University? It really runs like a trade school, camera in their hands day one and training in the crafts–all students learn editing, sound design, production design, etc. They do focus on “visual storytelling” but spend most of their time hands on doing the craft of filmmaking.
May I ask what was the issue with "postmodern conceptualism’ (‘absurdities’) your son faced at SAIC?
SAIC has been caught for years in focusing on gimmicks of art - like a brain glued to a stick - rather than the more commonly successful practice of creating art by the hard work of dedicated effort, continual experimentation with materials, and the search of the soul.
An MFA we know had to seek out my wife to ask her how to gesso a canvas. Really? With an MFA?
My son was raised around working artists. But because SAIC didn’t reveal their prejudices prior to enrollment, he was shocked to have post-modern conceptual art demanded in first year courses for him to even get passing grades. After investigating, we found out that SAIC has committed to that direction in the art it wants students to make and dismisses student made art that doesn’t fit that theory. (He also encountered some very poor teachers in the first year program).
Certainly art students should be aware of that type of work. But unless art school is purely “about art” and not a place to explore how you make art, then postmodern conceptual work is merely one of a great many options and should not be the focus of a true art school.
Fundamentally, my conclusion was that SAIC wanted students to create philosophy with a patina of art rather than brilliantly made works of art.
Within the art program, the SAIC instructors he had contact with were distinctively against commercial art and quite dismissive of careers. Not sure why that is. But it is instructive to note that most of the distinguished SAIC alum who are visual artists did not receive degrees from the institution — but studied there for a year or possibly 2.
@jss9395 We did not. Well aware of Chapman but haven’t looked deeply at Dodge. Our conclusion (and I have worked in TV advertising and have a great many friends in the film business) has been that a film degree isn’t terribly important - perhaps unless one wants to be a writer.
The critical issue is experience. Since my son is able to get superb experience and contact with excellent film professionals outside of school, he decided it’s most useful for him to pursue the complementary learning at art school with focus on design.
That may change over time. If it does, we’ll take a deeper look at Dodge.
Very true, the value in a film degree is often in the connections you make, especially through internships. Film school is also one place to get experience if you don’t have another path. It sounds like you have other avenues to get both of those things. But if you do look again, Dodge is definitely less “artsy” and more skill/craft.