My DD wants to go into film/tv. There is only one teacher in the high school that teaches it. The teacher took an instant dislike to my DD freshman year and would give her low B grades and was so unkind to students in the class many would cry in class and many transferred out 1/2 way through the year. My DD only cried once in class and stuck it out for the full year. At the same time outside of school she won some local and national film competitions which helped her with her crushed confidence.
The counselor and teacher talked her into coming back to the advanced class her junior year…but now the same thing is happening again though not quite as bad. DD wants to apply to competitive film schools but I don’t know how that will happen with a low B in film class plus it is becoming psychologically damaging to have the teacher single her out and humiliate her in class. Just for reference all her other teachers have liked her and when she does film projects outside of school all her teachers have been extremely enthusiastic about her. What do we do? She’s worried transferring out will ruin her chances…I’m worried about how depressed it has made her.
Hopefully someone with first hand knowledge will chime in, but my next door neighboe was accepted to USC for film. His parents are art professors at another college and had a connection, so they knew where he stood through out the process. Once he cleared the first cut by admissions (grades, scores, etc) the film school looked at his app. After that stage they took the “finalists” and looked at their portfolios in greater detail.
I think as long as the general application and portfolio is strong enough the B in film won’t be that big of a deal.
The bigger issue is she will need multiple recommendation letters. Do you think this teacher would write her a glowing rec?
Many schools don’t offer a film class at all, so I don’t think it would hurt to drop the class. Talk to the counselors and tell them what you’ve written here, that your child finds the class stressful rather than helpful and the teacher is not a good match, that your child would rather get her experience outside the school. It sounds like her portfolio will be fine without the hs film class, advanced or not.
There was one teacher I had a big problem with for my kids senior year. It was a semester long class (personal finance) so one kid had him 1st semester and the other 2nd. I’d requested the 2nd kid not have him but he was the only one who taught this and her other choice would have been to take it online. Well, 2nd kid just put up with this jerk and kept me out of it (smart move on her part). I wish I would have fought harder for the first kid to drop the class and take it online. In 13 years of school, he was the only teacher I felt was unqualified to teach children.
This is a hard one. However, my gut tells me that film schools aren’t going to take too seriously the opinion of a high school film teacher. Especially if her work is really good. It’s not clear that this character should be writing her LOR anyway, especially if he has a vindictive streak. I’d focus on the academic recs and perhaps an outside art instructor if available.
Also, your daughter needs to think through how she will handle film school, where her work will be critiqued - many times very harshly - pretty much every day. It will be a major exercise in humility. So this might be great practice for that. Just a thought.
She should apply to every film school she wants to attend, and not worry about the HS film teacher.
Her portfolio/essays will articulate her creative voice more convincingly than the HS film teacher’s opinion. As mentioned, the criticism will prepare her for film school.
My son is Spring Admit to SCA, starting this Jan. His school didn’t offer any film classes, so he got involved in the local film community and created a Film Freeway account to get familiar with the festival circuit. He interned for a local wedding videographer.
Just sharing a few ideas that can help demonstrate interest if the HS film teacher isn’t a LOR good resource.
Find an outside film teacher. To me its not worth making your D miserable and pulling down her GPA. Lots of HS don’t even have film programs so find a mentor, outside film production, media arts or screenwriting class. As one poster pointed out she will need recommendations-- schools like USC require 3. If there aren’t outside classes available in your area, look at summer programs where she can make films–UNSCA, Northwestern, UT Austin, and lots of other great schools offer summer film production programs where she can make work for her portfolios and possibly meet a mentor or instructor.
I totally agree with others that a strong demo reel will render the film teacher’s opinion moot. I wouldn’t worry except where the B might be enough to significantly lower the GPA.
However, that is not the major problem. It’s her own self-confidence. Even when someone gets 99 percent great reviews, they tend to obsess over the one percent bad ones. I’m not sure I agree with the advice to drop the class, however. Your D will have to learn to live with some occasional disappointment. Life is like that and I think she will be stronger in the long run.
Has anyone tried to talk to the teacher about his/her attitude? It is possible the teacher is dealing with personal problems outside of school. Granted, it is unprofessional to let such issues affect the students, but it happens, and is often remedial. Maybe if the student is cautioned not to take it personally, they can approach the class with a different outlook.
It seems a universally disliked teacher is likely not an effective one. Therefore the administration should be made aware that this teacher could use more personal skills and/or communications training.
It it’s of any ethos, I was going to go to Emerson College, but decided against it. Film is very interdisciplinary, but depending on the kind of film school she’s interested in applying to, that will be less the case.
For example, if she’s applying to a liberal arts school like Wesleyan, her overall academics will matter more than a single film class, but specialized institutions like UNCSA might look at it differently.
If she’s more interested in the former, so long as she has solid grades in humanities or social science classes, her B in film wouldn’t be much of an issue. English grades are very important. If it’s the latter, see if her high school advisers are willing to let her challenge the grade she received. Since she won a competition, there is at the very least an argument for it.