Imported Message: Posted by Mira.

Hey Mainak, no i'm not from India. And Mira is just my nickname. Hopefully I will be attending EICAR in Paris in October (I have been accepted but I am waiting for my visa), they have recently opened an international section where they will teach in english, although I do speak french, but I assume that learning film in english will be much more useful in my career. And yes the fees are very reasonable, considering its a private college. Paris really is a great place to learn film, considering its one of the cultural art centers in the world, not to mention that's were cinematography actually began. I wish you all luck in your film careers, see you in the real world!

Anyone with info on EICAR's masters program, please be kind enough and write to me on s_c...@yahoo.com

Thanks

hey, Sonia ,I am attending MFA at eicar this yr. and wondering if u r attending there too. I had been visiting the school once early this yr and its seems all right plus it is cheaper than going to study film school in USA. Anyway if u are attending MFA this yr too , hope to c u

why not???

Dear reader, i have graduated from the school in 2009 (the year this was written) in the international department.

The Illusion:
Beneath all that professionally-written articles found on their website promising a captivating, strictly professional school system that will provide its students with equal chance and gear to work with, lies the pragmatical truth.
EICAR-Paris is a place where there is no equal treatment, people can be absent from school for more than 3 weeks and nobody will even care about it (in fact you might see them in your class-room next year), some people get more equipment than others (not because their scripts were chosen, but because they were in "good hands").

A Divided group of people are running the international department with esteemed (and some not so esteemed) ex professors suing the school for mis-treatment. In fact, at the time that this was written, there are now at least three (3) court cases pending, which include directing professors, administration and other staff. This situation within the school results to a very bad "dynamic" between administration, professors and ultimately the students. Who are stuck between ego-fights and financial management.

The people Of Eicar
A fair warning. Although it's claimed in the website, there is no selection. People don't get "accepted" in this school. The schools financial situation (it's Computer graphics dept located in Normandy had to close down 2 years ago) and the recent re-location they made into a far more expensive "studio" location both indicate that the school is in dire need of funds. Thus every student applying there gets accepted. If you want to cross reference this, just look at the sheer increase of accepted students over the past 3-4 years. What happens when money runs out? You put an actual exec. producer running productions. What does that mean? They'll try and make you rent everything so they can avoid the cost. You will be fighting for your film, every single aspect of it, and before u think "thats how it happens in the real world", make sure u look into that wallet of urs that is missing 11 grand for services like equipment etc etc.

Now, due to the lack of acceptance standards, it is perfectly understandable that you will encounter mostly ignorants and not-so-professional fellow students. Most of them rich kids who decided to play film making on this playground called paris. Most common indication of that is lame, hollow, empty scripts being shot with amazing production values (worked on a first year shoot that costed 16 grand and was shot on super 35 on a panavision camera) A way to get convinced is to actually go to one of their screenings.

The school will give you a certain amount of film rolls and equipment to work with, be assured, you will have to spend money anyway, cause you will be responsible for everybody's food, transportation, even more equipment AND for sure more film rolls. If your script doesn't get selected during the semester selection (4-6 films per class i think) ur basically screwed. you have to beg that evil exec. producer for ANYTHING AT ALL (lights, a digital camera, smt!) and then rent / acquire everything else by yourself.

So what is eicar good for????

Well, 1st: Hands on departments, such as Gripping & gaffing, cause you;ll get lots of on-set action, and it wont cost you extra cash. Ull learn the ropes, and you'll be almost ready to start freelancing upon graduation.

Editing: The best way to learn directing is by cutting. learn from the rich kid's expensive mistakes, not yours.

DoP'ing: Literally, 3 years of active practice AT NO ADDED COST. Since directors pay for all the toys the DoP wants to try for the first time for every individual project. If you see a DoP paying his part in an EICAR film, it would be the day hell freezes over. go there and built a showreel now!

On a more serious note, if you are looking for a film school with a certain mentality and standards, i urge you to do a bit more research, maybe learn some french and try Lumiere or La Femis, both respectable schools worldwide and with very narrow and quality-driven selections.

This school is in a really bad shape, been like this since i've been there, and it was like that the day i graduated. weigh your options wisely, do a decent budget, and look at alternatives.

for my closing i will just say that i am NOT a student that did badly, i directed 3 short films, been to festivals with them and was generally happy with a couple of my professors. But to be honest, i suffered for 3 years, three years i will never forget. Sure things could've been alot better, A LOT BETTER. (Getting ur final class schedule within the first 2 weeks of school would be nice instead of christmas for example)