BENEFITS

Flexibility
Radically reduced costs
No travel time or relocation
Self-directed learning and increased collaboration
Can run other chosen courses, jobs and family life simultaneously
Sourcing the best instructors independent of institutional affiliations

How is CINESCHOOL different?

1. Most online courses provide pre-recorded training videos but do not offer one-on-one mentorship. One-on-one, personalized supervision with world-class practitioners is very rare. We offer both a course of learning and personal supervision on projects.
2. Few courses or programs offer a classical training program with emphasis on traditions of quality. Rather than chasing fads or corporate cliche, we parse out the fundamentals of effective storytelling from examples and principles that stand the test of time.
3. This is a selective program. By curating the group of participants, students are assured of high quality peers and collaborators in their courses. This helps to lift the quality of work, the commitment of the makers and the strength of their network. One aspect of this program is to build a strong cohort of filmmakers that can support each other beyond the duration of the course.
4. By offering an online course, a wide range of people can participate, independent of work, family, school, employment, travel restrictions, or other factors. We do not provide a studio environment nor pass you the costs of that overhead. We're focused on the principles and skills of universal, foundational practice. These skills are transferable to a variety of professions including filmmaking, media production, gaming, design, web, art, performance, etc.

WHY?

DECENTRALIZATION

Decentralization is the foundation of truly functional and self-interested networks.

Examples of this include: homeschooling, online tutorials and DIY videos, barter/trade, local manufacturing, family-owned business, blockchain and bitcoin, 3-D printing, invention and patent systems, apprenticeships, crowdfunding, family farms, home gardens and homesteading, parallel economies, the original model of American government... These all require individual ambition and courage balanced with an understanding of the collective interest among self-selecting groups.
Consolidated powers see "decentralization" as a way to devolve former bastions of socially-organized strength. But decentralization can also be used by people to build their own impervious systems of community. Rather than a fragmentation of existing systems, it is a reformation of functional society.

As once-reliable, centrally-controlled institutions fail to provide the value they promised, people must seek out new learning communities.

EDUCATION

The price of college tuition has increased by 600% in the past 25 years. Regular college students now spend less than 30% of their total "tuition" costs on actual instruction. Non-teaching staff outnumber instructors.

Student money, and massive debt, now pay in majority for administrator salaries, facilities management, groundskeeping, entertainment, academic support for under-performing students, DEI, sustainable/green and social-change initiatives (ESG), student organizations, health and wellness services, cafeteria food, and other expenses that deliver little benefit to individual students seeking skills in a specific discipline.

Increasing administration of new policies, rules and oversight into speech and behavior meant to make students feel safer can lead to a conformist and subservient mindset. This is directly at odds with the bold, innovative, non-compliant attitude required for forging a self-made career.

Yet, even as once-respected institutions devolve and as representation and cohesion diminish, there arise opportunities for individuals to find "their tribe" and make their purpose among like-minded and like-abled people.

INDUSTRY

The music industry, the film industry and the gaming industry have been consolidated over time in ownership. Media organizations are a monolith. Yet the creation of these media has been decentralized. As the technology for generating music, film, art, games, stories, books and videos is dispersed, costs of production are reduced.

Independent creators, working from home, can reach millions and direct their own creative careers.

Meanwhile, large studios and streaming services hide their earnings and audience numbers because the massive cost bloat and incompetent productions are actually losing them billions!

Much of what is produced in these corporations is now distributed at a financial loss. But the secrecy and the charade continues: the value of social-engineering and the mediation of people's perceptions are too important to give up easily.

CULTURE

Building culture is about connecting with people in meaningful ways. We can all recall the dramatic moment when an encounter with an artistic creation deeply altered our own perception of reality in some way. These moments create powerful memories and redesign our behaviors in the world.

The responsibility of culture creation cannot be left to centrally-controlled, conformist and costly organizations that do not reflect the interests of real people.

While it may be frightening for some to step away from the seeming safety of pay-to-play systems and debt-inducing tuition at "prestigious" institutions, we've reduced this risk by lowering the costs of both time and money.

Our program has one, singular focus: to catalyze an individual's filmmaking career.