Film: Jessica Kellgren-Hayes
to degree or not to degree …
Film degrees are funny things. Often seen by outsiders as a ‘soft’ subject, they actually cover a spectrum; from the admittedly wishy-washy and vague film watchers’ gathering to the technical and hands-on film production studies or my own degree course, Film and Screen Studies at the University of Brighton (go Brighton!), where we read film as cultural exemplification and studied the histories, technologies and theories of screen practices.
A degree in film is not, however, vital to the creation of quality works. When Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen – three ‘big name’ media moguls – founded DreamWorks Studios, not one of them had a degree.
Spielberg first enrolled at California State University Long Beach to study film in 1965, at the age of nineteen, but dropped out three years later, not far from achieving his degree. The following year his 22-minute short film Amblin was shown at the Atlanta Film Festival, leading to a contract with a Hollywood studio.
He went on to define the blockbuster, win three Oscars, countless Emmy, Golden Globe and lifetime achievement awards, plus five honorary doctorates. All without an undergraduate degree. Until, that is, May 2002, when he finally graduated from Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in film and electronic arts, having secretly re-enrolled the previous year. He fulfilled his remaining graduation requirements via independent projects and a final term paper. The school waved the requirement that all final year students must submit a completed 12-minute short film … accepting Oscar-winning Schindler’s List in its place. “I think that counts as an advanced, polished film,” Sharyn Blumenthal, director of the Film and Electronic Arts Department, joked at the time.
Spielberg went back to complete his degree 35 years after he first entered the university, as not only a ‘thank you’ to his parents but as a personal note for his own family, “and young people everywhere, about the importance of achieving their college education goals”.
This week, FilmFest On TV will be showing a special episode celebrating those who have endeavoured to achieve those goals. This Sunday, tune in to Latest TV at 9pm to watch some truly great short films made by students from across the country. They are not all studying film but they do all have a passion for it, and a drive that has led them to create their own mini masterpieces.
“Spielberg completed his degree 35 years after he first entered university”
And speaking of mini cinematic masterpieces, make sure to watch my interview with Brightonian filmmaking prodigy Liam Hooper as he gives us an exclusive look at his upcoming film, Strangers Within. It’s a suspense-filled horror heist that you won’t want to miss!
