I am a current UCLA Senior, though not in Film (I'm a Design major), but I've taken classes in the film department at UCLA. So, I thought I might as well give ya a little info in case no USC or UCLA people post:
I believe UCLA is focused on screenwriting, this is what I hear, and seems to produce script-based pieces more often than not. What I mean by this is most films are heavily dialogue-based. It is also a research university environment, so you'd deal with a lot of Professors and TAs that are working on their thesis in film theories. This means they often have projects going on when teaching, and often orient their curiculum toward their masters thesis topic. They are part of a school that also covers television and theatre, so funds are divided between the three. Some courses are open to the entire school, so there will be very large lectures/screenings where students will have very little understanding of film. Many classes are designed to support what students need for their individual film(s) and thus aren't as strict when it comes to lecture and instruction.
All that aside, I've found the school to be, more or less, down to earth. All the professors I've dealt with have been really nice and offer insider information on a professional level. The facilities are nice, they have sound stages, prop departments, great sound equiptment, and more and more are moving to digital editing (Avid, Final Cut, ProTools). So far they haven't jumped fully into digital filmmaking, they still use film, though there are computer animation classes and some motion graphics (the Design school at UCLA is video based and heavy motion graphics). Like USC its a university environment so you can take intra-disciplinary courses. There is a very nice film restoration area of the department if you're interested in film history.
Hopefully some UCLA and USC folks will be able to give you even more insight into the dept. By all means, if possible, visit the school and talk to people. Best of luck to you!
