1. Didja accidentally blow through the whole, "We're using our real names" thing on registration? No problem, just send me (Mike) a Conversation message and I'll get you sorted, by which I mean hammered-into-obedient-line because I'm SO about having a lot of individuality-destroying, oppressive shit all over my forum.
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Film School 101 Stuff

Discussion in 'Info, Requests, etc.' started by John Robert Wood, Aug 5, 2017.

  1. Perhaps I’m mistaken, but I’ve taken the impression that is a forum intended mostly for film composers, and as such the notion of a Film School 101 class was profoundly appealing to me (indeed, I was one of those clamoring for it over on VI-Control). I’ve attended and/or watched almost all of Mike’s classes several times over, and learned a formidable amount from them. In fact I’d posit that, dollar for dollar, at this time this is the most valuable place on the internet (if not in the world), to study music composition. Especially as it pertains to film scoring, since the head of faculty is (besides being an aspirational-level composer) a film-maker of no small repute.

    I may have misunderstood the nature of a 101 class, however. In his (iirc) “Action Scenes” Masterclass Mike talks a little about the visual language of film, e.g. zooming in, close ups, etc., and how that informs our choices as composers, and this is the sort of thing I had hoped to dig further into in the “Film School” class. Tonight was a little more general, and I apologize if I kept de-railing the conversation with irrelevant questions. Sadly due to the amount of attendees I doubt there will be another, and I think that’s our loss as a community.

    That said, I keep the faith. There’s more here at Red-Banned than is dreamt of in my philosophy, and I’ll be the first to sign up for Film School 102. Or any other subject upon which Mike chooses to expound (music related, that is - spare me the porn).
     
    Samuel Diaz likes this.
  2. Totally agree with you on this. I earned my bachelors in jazz theory and performance years ago. But for some reason since i became a full time producer and video editor 2 years ago, my scoring gigs have increased exponentially. Infact this year alone I've scored more short films and commercials than the previous 5 years combined. I honestly think this is the result of not not only increasing my compositional skills and transcribing my musical idols, but also the ability to view the films as a film maker and speak the language of your director and producers. While I do like to write stuff that sounds cool, I am now more sensitive to the drama, the characters and the narrative arc of the film when making compositional choices. Reading an article from Michael Giacchino years ago influenced me to dive into the film world because he was a producer before he was a fulltime composer and I feel that contributes largely to his success with film makers. Mike Verta teaching about film is invaluable and I hope he continues to do more classes like that because even if we aren't all film makers, we are going to inevitably deal with them in this line of work and understanding their world will only make us better "Film" composers. Just my 2 cents..
     
  3. Film School 101 has been removed from the Masterclasses store and is no longer available for purchase, though the recording will be posted for those who've already paid for it. I am considering supplementing it with additional specific examples and things which I carefully avoided in order to prevent tripping censor filters, but which might've been good to have. Depending on the success of that, I may make it available again, though it holds the clear record for garnering the least interest of any class I've done in 4 years. I think that's crazy, but whatever.
     
    David Scott and John Robert Wood like this.
  4. damn it! I've been waiting 2 days for it to come available!
     
  5. Oh - I wanted to grab it later on (since I couldn't make it, so I thought just purchase it later)...

    I may haven't seen it - but why have you removed it? I would be glad if you could bring it back for purchase
     
  6. Oh no! I'm away and have been unable to purchase it.

    Can't believe it hasn't had much interest? I'd have thought that you have to be able to see the whole puzzle to know how your piece (the music) fits into it to make it a whole? I know I learned so much from going through something similar on the last film I did.

    It may not be theory of music, but it is the theory of film-making, which is important in my book!

    I'd love to be able to purchase it if possible Mike?
     
    David Healey likes this.
  7. Booooo Mike!
    I still think not a lot of people were aware there was a class, and it was 'risky' to abandon the VI-C thread altogether.

    I'm still very interested in seeing it, but a supplemented class sounds good/better
     
  8. I purchased but couldn't attend due to time differences, as is pretty much always the case for me. Looking forward to seeing the recording :)
     
  9. I also think it's problematic to draw inferences about the amount of interest in the subject from the level of attendance considering this was the first class that wasn't announced on VI-C.
     
  10. Oh, missed this one completely, thought you'll keep the VI-C thread alive or at least bump it with a new class announcement. I would definitely join the class - now it's the only one missing in my collection:(
     
  11. Actually after 4 years of watching it I can tell you that initial interest is an extremely accurate Benchmark for overall sales. I know a lot of people have sort of come to assume they'll get it after the fact but because I know that there's a strong correlation between initial interest and sales there have been a few times where I was close to cancelling the class and refunding everybody and this one was minutes from that happening. Ultimately I don't want to waste anybody's time or money including my own just to hear myself talk for 3 or 4 hours. I can do that on my own anytime. That said, I mean take a fresh look at it and see about supplementing it or reducing its purchase price or something. The media still exists.
     
    Nick Thacker and David Scott like this.
  12. Regardless the interest, I think it is a very good and informative class as always. Thank god that interest isn't a benchmark for quality. So, I hope you are going to upload the recording, can't wait to watch it again in depth and pick out all its content. :)
     
  13. I'm sorry to hear how about the low initial turnout and I feel badly that I could not make it this time (due to a serious family issue) as I would have loved to ask numerous questions on this topic. I've been asked to produce commercial videos in the past, so I know about some of the "gotcha's" of video production and how having an overview of both crafts can help achieve better results from both sides.

    I hope we're not becoming myopic specialists and more people will be willing to look across the isle to discover the view from the other side as there is much to be learned that can be shared across disciplines and specialties. What surprises me the most, is how much there is in common between graphics and music. Many concepts in one discipline can easily be applied to another. I did purchase the class beforehand but haven't had a chance yet to view it as I'm out of town though I sure look forward to hearing Mike's wisdom and POV.
     
  14. @Mike Verta Quick question Mike, for those of us who bought the class beforehand, will you be sending out an email with the link as usual? Thanks!
     
  15. Yes as soon as its up. Next day or so.
     
    David Healey likes this.
  16. #16 Chris Hurst, Aug 7, 2017
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
    I really hope this one reappears for purchase. Really surprised that there appears to have been little support for it - this is stuff you really can't learn without being involved in a film project and it would prepare you for what to expect when you are!
     
  17. I never get a chance to attend because of the time difference and i'm always purchasing masterclasses afterwards.
     
    David Healey likes this.
  18. I was hoping it would have been my first live masterclass, but I had to attend a studio session (Saturday arvo over here so was working). I am very interested in this subject and planned to purchase it after the fact. I should have jumped on it straight away... lesson learnt!
     
  19. I planned on joining this one live. Interest is high, but I knew I wouldn't be able to join so didn't purchase ahead of time. I wish I had now!

    Mike, I understand that initial interest is a strong barometer for future interest and sales. But also please remember that scheduling conflicts or problems with timing for even ten or so members who otherwise would have attended would have a big proportional impact on the purchase numbers.

    Maybe this masterclass was just a weird solar eclipse level event of people not attuning to the Masterclass wavelength.
    Put it back up and I'll buy it right away, I swear!
     
  20. How about a thread where we share film study resources? Maybe even a sticky? In that spirit I'll suggest a few I've looked at: Tony Zhou (Every frame a painting); Nerdwriter; Rocket Jump Film School. Vimeo has some pretty good tutorials, too. As Mike maintains, the more we know about film the better film composers we will be. I'd love to see what others have found on this subject.
     

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