The AFI Conservatory is a private not-for-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills district of Los Angeles. The Conservatory is a program of the American Film Institute founded in 1969.
Academics
AFI Conservatory Fellows on Life After Film School - AFI Conservatory Fellows David Johnson (Second Year Producer), Golnar Fakhrai (Second Year Cinematographer), Brandon Hess (Second Year Director), on how the Conservatory has prepared them for...
Rankings
In 2011, The Hollywood Reporter ranked it the #1 film school in the world.
It is ranked in the top five graduate film programs along with USC, UCLA, NYU and California Institute of the Arts by the Princeton Review and US News and World Report
Conservatory program
AFI Conservatory is a five-term Master of Fine Arts program in six disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design, and Screenwriting. Traditionally, the Conservatory accepts 28 students - called Fellows - per year for most disciplines and 14 for the Design and Editing disciplines. Each discipline's program runs two years in length.
First Year - Fellows from all disciplines work on at least three digital video or high definition short films (up to 20 minutes), referred to as 'cycle projects'. Each of these first-year projects are accomplished by Fellows with a minimum of oversight from the senior faculty. The purported goal being to stimulate a flexible and creative approach to filmmaking within imposed budgetary constraints and without the crutch of seasoned oversight. These 'cycle projects' make up the core curriculum of the first year experience and amount to a 'boot camp" of filmmaking that simultaneously challenges and invigorates the Fellows involved.
Second Year - Most Fellows work on at least one thesis short film, shot on digital video, high definition, 35mm film, or 16mm film, and develop portfolio materials (such as a reel and a feature film screenplay). Screenwriting Fellows have the option of writing two feature-length screenplays instead of participating in a thesis film. They are responsible for raising the bulk of their own financing for these projects (average budget is $30,000), and must adhere to standard industry regulations, such as SAG charter rules, during filming. The senior faculty of the conservatory oversee the development of the 'second year' projects and monitor their development in a manner similar to what might be expected of an Executive Producer.
Alumni
The program has graduated more than 5,000 Fellows. Alumni include:
- John Cassavetes
- David Lynch
- Terrence Malick
- Todd Field
- Carl Franklin
- Jack Fisk
- Paul Schrader
- Victor Nuñez
- Andrea Arnold
- Patty Jenkins
- Robert Elswit
- Janusz Kamiński
- Wally Pfister
- Caleb Deschanel
- Robert Richardson
- Carl Colpaert
- Darren Aronofsky
- Martin Brest
- John Dahl
- Bill Duke
- Amy Heckerling
- Rick Rosenthal
- Mimi Leder
- Matthew Libatique
- John McTiernan
- Edward Zwick
- Scott Frank
- Susannah Grant
- Jeff Nathanson
- Mark Waters
- Rob Schmidt
- Sam Esmail
References
External links
- American Film Institute on IMDbPro (subscription required)
- http://www.afi.com/Conservatory/
