I absolutely loved my time at UC Berkeley and I would not have traded doing my undergrad there even for a top spot at UCLA for a BFA in Film Production, which for many years was my dream. I ended up appreciating Cal's film department being small, being everchanging and growing, and for offering a really strong theoretical foundation that actually made my work that much more critical and strong in my filmmaking practice. Berkeley is amazing because you really have the opportunity to develop a style of your own without the pressure to conform to the standards of rigid, industrial, traditional narrative filmmaking which is often practiced at some bigger programs. As I begin my UCLA MFA this year, the only reason why I was open to it after attending Berkeley was because it seems like they're taking steps in the right direction to offer a similar sort of freedom Berkeley offered me after a long history of being a super industry-oriented school. I can't recommend the program at Cal more--this is where you go if you're a creative and need that creative freedom to explore your own style of writing and filmmaking. I don't think you can be a proper and thorough filmmaker without that foundation and I think a lot of undergrads tend to be really put off by places that aren't "BIG FANCY INDUSTRY FILM SCHOOL" because they think it's what they need to be a good filmmaker. Here to tell you that it's actually NOT what you need. That critical background will make you that much more qualified.
We have a great lab to access resources and equipment and it's actually way better than you'd expect. My only drawbacks are I wish the department was better at getting transfers more involved in departmental/campus happenings and that our DML lab (place you go to check out equipment) had more stuff in stock, but that's been growing and changing too over the years.
Graduated in December 2022.
I can answer any specific questions people may have--feel free to respond here or private message me.
