Reviewing American University Film School

Those searching for a university with a strong film department might want to check out American University. While their film department is not quite as old, their communications department has existed for over 40 years. Additionally, their film department boasts one of the most active and most expansive production markets for film as well as television.

The School of Communications at American University has a well-trained faculty who have experience in their field. Many of the professors have an Oscar, Sundance, or Emmy win to their credit. Those credentials can inspire the film students of the university as well as prepare them for the actual market with anecdotal information via their professor’s first-hand experience. On the academic side, roughly 96% of the faculty holds the highest degree possible in their respective fields.

The academic requirements to remain in good standing at American University tends to run along the average lines for any university. The film school demands an average grade point average (GPA) of a C or better from their students. Since these demands are not terribly strenuous, the communications program is not an incredibly competitive department. Other requirements for film students is that in addition to the number of classes they must take within the School of Communication, they must also take American History and Economics to broaden their education.

A unique requirement of this film school is that the communications degree demands that students take 3 credit hours of independent study or internship. This facet of the degree program sets them apart from other schools since most do not provide their students with ‘real world’ internships. The hands-on experience that students can glean from this process is invaluable.

However, there are drawbacks to this school for a student interested in film editing. Unlike a number of other schools, American University does not offer specializations within their film department. Thus the number of opportunities to improve upon this particular skill can be limiting. They do offer an introductory practicum in nonlinear editing; this particular course lasts about a week and covers nonlinear editing skills upon a Media 100 platform. They also have a class devoted to the use of Final Cut Pro systems.

Amongst their unique classes, they offer "Classroom in the wild: Florida". In this class, students will explore and film wildlife in its natural setting. This could mean snorkeling with manatees or filming alligators in the swamps of Florida. This one-of-a-kind workshop lasts one week.

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