So I sent this document out to accepted graduates in a welcome note and included this section for incoming TRF graduates. Maybe you’ve seen it? Well I posted it on your Newhouse Master’s Program 2012 as a doc too. Umm, I get around… So here goes, my advice for TRF Sequence 64 majors from a Sequence 63 grad:
• Do the Industry Seminar during winter break. In all honesty, I did the Industry Seminar in L.A. during the break and everyone that did it thought that it should be required, hands down. There are two, L.A. and NYC. You have no idea how important it is until you are in it.
• Take Film Business with Professor Evan Smith. One of the best courses that I took at Newhouse. If you plan to go to L.A. and can fit it into your fall schedule it will help immensely on the Industry Seminar trips.
• You MUST take a class with TV and pop culture Professor Bob Thompson. I believe that you will take a summer course with him but I’d take another one. His classes are about TV but also about social issues and history. It is like taking a history course via TV and he is quite the character and very intelligent about everything and anything that you could ponder. He also holds screenings, which anyone can go to but are related to his classes, once a week during his office hours in the Bleier Center. You’ve probably seen him on TV.
• Get ready for the law class because it is a little taste of law school. I wish someone had told me that because it is hard with a lot of material to remember. However don’t freak out as the most important thing, because you aren’t in law school, is that you understand the concepts as the law is ever changing.
• Jason Kohlbrenner is one of your best resources in TRF at Newhouse. He runs the edit suites and teaches. He has taken many of the courses here and aids in supporting. He knows almost everything about every course, projects and professors. He is one of the nicest people that you will ever know at Newhouse and so easy going. Just always say please and thank you because he is an unsung hero at Newhouse- no joke!
• Some classes seem like less time consuming than they actually turn out to be. Know that any production class, including the one-credit Avid and Light & Lens classes, will take you more time then you’d expect.
• Reserve your times in the edit suites and never think that you’ll just be able to waltz in and get a suite. Give yourself time to end editing sessions and save or export your projects. The edit suites are only open for specific hours so you need to plan accordingly and balance your schedule. During the fall and spring semesters the edit suites are open M-F 8 am- 12 am and 10 am- 10 pm on Saturday and Sunday. During the end of the semesters the labs are generally open twenty-fours hours but only as long as someone is working in that lad or suite at normal close time. So at the end of the semester, make sure that you arrive to labs before the normal close time if you intend to work past close or all night. If not, sucks for you!
• Reserve your equipment from the cage! Also know that Vince runs the cage and he is also one of the nicest and most helpful people that you’ll meet in Newhouse. If you aren’t sure about something or the cager seems unclear, speak with Vince. Also, always check equipment from the cage before leaving the cage!
• Your classmates are your most important contacts. That is a really hard concept to retain when working in groups but it is essential. Respect, even if you don’t agree, with your peers’ thoughts and opinions! Welcome to the industry…
• Every professor in TRF is your advisor. You may have one on paper but know that they all are more than willing to speak with you and help. These people are amazing people! Know that there office hours are even for shooting the breeze so make sure that you visit during office hours, even if just to say hello. I have had so many ah-ha moments and insider info come from doing so, from just getting to know people and this is a people business.
• While you are in grad school, take something that you are not especially skilled at or know much about. Strengthen a weakness that you may have in your skill set or in knowledge of a certain topic or aspect of the industry.
• If you are interested in editing at all you MUST take classes with professors Coffey and Goenka. Also speak with Jason Kohlbrenner and take Sound for Picture and 2D Animation.
• If you are interested in business and programming take a course with professors Smith, Chew and Hirsch (who is a visiting Professor). Speak with all the professors but definitely professors Dubin, Elin and Tibbens (internet/web/mobile technology- he runs the computer labs at Newhouse too).
• If you are interested in audio and music you need to take a class with Doug Quin, Steve Bradburry and Rick Wright (major personality). There are other great adjuncts as well as classes that you can do in VPA. Totally audit Soyar’s Lecture Series with Professor Rezak too. Get to know the undergrads in the Bandier Program (Quin, Schoonmaker and Elin will put you in touch with them.).
• If you are interest in writing the professors that teach that subject are Coryell, Dubin, Hollenback, Moller, Seeley and Smith.
• If you are interested in TV production take a course with professor Schoonmaker. Professor Smith runs a multi-camera TV production course and Professor Robinson teaches a course in shortform TV and commercial. Film production courses are usually with Professors Goenka and Breyer.
NOTE: Production courses are a lot of fun but also a lot of work. By a lot of work, you should know that in addition to class, writing and shooting that you have to put in time to construct sets and edit. You really have to plan your schedule and use your time wisely when you are taking these courses. This is something that some of my peers and I didn’t realize going into these courses so there’s your head’s up.