School of Visual Arts

 From your first year, you will be making films the same way you will be doing it during your career. Not only with state-of-the-art equipment, but with actors and crews. You will learn to communicate well, whether you are developing your idea into a screenplay, or directing an actor in a scene.

Great performances make great films. We demystify the actor for you by requiring that you learn the fundamentals of acting, and by including actors in every aspect of your creative process. The result will be stronger performances in your finished work, making your story all the more memorable.

Storytelling is emphasized from the first week to the end of your experience at SVA: If you can't get your idea on paper, you can't get it onto the screen.

Our goal is to nurture well-rounded filmmakers who are thoroughly prepared for the industry. By the end of your second year you will have practiced every discipline, whether you have decided your specialization or not. You will know by doing. In your fourth year, we offer two practical classroom courses, Film and Entertainment Law, and Career Strategies, both designed to give you a competitive edge in a challenging marketplace.

SVA is one of the best-equipped film schools in the country with digital facilities that rival many professional studios. You will have total access to all the gear and technology you need. Beyond that, you will have access to all our faculty - Oscar-winners among them - whether or not you are taking their class.

Where is "on location" for your developing film career? New York City, one of the most vital film centers in the world. The Dusty Film Festival and Awards, sponsored by SVA with the support from the New York and Hollywood film industries, is staged each spring before graduation. The winning films are shown on the big screen at one of New York's most prestigious theaters - quite a ways from that first spark of an idea in freshman year.

Just to see your personal vision pass through all the phases of collaborative filmmaking, and then move as light through a lens onto a screen, is reward enough. Whether that screen is world-famous or not, it's an experience you won't want to miss.