Hi! So I’m a junior in high school and I really enjoy filmmaking/art, entrepreneurship and math/engineering. I think I have the most natural skill for artistic stuff (like film), and I love the idea of entrepreneurship and startups and things of that nature. To be honest, I’m not a total engineering guru, but I’m very interested in cameras and filmmaking technology because I use them so much. I’m in BC Calc right now and it’s challenging but not over my head.
I realize that solely majoring in film is a huge risk and finding a decent job would be super difficult. So I think I want to mesh all of my interests together. In the future, my dream is to be part of a cool company that has something to do with film/photo technology (like cameras and other movie/photo stuff).
In a broad sense, I’d like to run business or at least be part of a business that connects art to technology (it doesn’t even have to revolve around filmmaking or photography). Would majoring in engineering suit my interests? Or should I try and major in business with a minor in engineering? Or maybe design? Any input would be awesome! Thanks!
Normally I strongly recommend that people DO NOT combine engineering with anything else. Engineering is an difficult enough major and the other field (especially business) dilutes from the engineering preparation and shows a focus away from engineering that I would not accept when I was a manager and looking at college applicants.
However, in your case, you have a defined specialty that would blend engineering and film making. Have you looked at optical engineering. It may be more technical than you want, so read the course descriptions from the course catalog to see if it could be what you want. As cameras are also mechanical devices, a degree in mechanical engineering with some classes in optics along with some film making classes might work.
Do remember that you do have to major in something, but full on second majors or even minors in another field aren’t required for a degree. Pick a major, like mechanical engineering, and choose the other classes to round out your future career path.
Don’t worry about the business side. The technical skill is the hardest to get. Without a unique product or skill, there is no business. You can always go back and cherry pick the business classes you need.
Optics was my thought for something to consider as well. Also, most cameras are just filled to the brim with electronics, so electrical engineering would certainly be a potential route. Everything in a modern digital camera, from the shutter release button to the CMOS sensor, requires a lot of electrical engineering. Many of those parts are common to film cameras as well. Of course, the quality of the optics are at least as important as the electronics, this the optics suggestion (optical engineering is not something offered everywhere but most schools with physics/engineering departments likely would offer an optics concentration).