B.voc Film at SJC helped me get my basics right. Grateful.

I had already graduated with a Psychology degree in Ahmedabad. I was looking for a postgraduate course in Film making. I ended up finding St. Joseph's and decided to start with the basics. I had no idea what to expect after joining SJC and I am not very disappointed. The admission process was quite basic. I enrolled for the college, wrote an entrance exam, and then I had a one on one interview with two of our faculty members. They asked me basic questions related to films and Film making. They kindly told me the requirements of this course, the project, the equipment, etc. You need to have a basic camera and laptop which is very necessary for this course for the students who can't buy these immediately, the department has a studio space where you can borrow types of equipment like a camera and lights for your projects and even use the studio space.

I chose this course because of my inclination towards storytelling, but I could never choose a specialization and absolutely no direction as to what I wanted to become but I knew it was supposed to be something related to Films. I was interested in Writing, Photography, and Cinematography and this course seemed like a whole package. We were taught Basic and Advanced Photography, Script Writing, Cinematography, Editing, History of cinema, with of course other theory subjects like English, New media, etc. The Faculty of practical subjects were often visiting faculty from the industry. Other faculty members also give you the best of their knowledge and are absolutely kind. The best thing about the course is they don't spoon-feed you. You will have to take initiative when it comes to creative projects. They update the course yearly and try their best to provide the students with the best of everything.

The fees ranged from 65000-68000 per year. Which seemed quite high at first but no other filmmaking college is more affordable than that. There are scholarship opportunities for whoever needs it. Placements are not quite available specifically for filmmaking, but the requirement of the course is to find an internship in your last semester. I got a job as a Direction/DP/ Production Assistant before I finished my course in the same company as I interned. So, one cannot rely on and wait for placement but would have to go look for it themselves and opportunities are many in this city. You need to work on your portfolio as you along with this course.

Since I am not a very social person I haven't been part of fests but one would find some of the other fests happening every month on a college campus. The classrooms are decent the only con is the class strength is really high for a film institute but so far manageable. From B.voc Film department, we have a film club called Rushes. Rushes screens film for the students curated by the students, We have a Film festival at the close of the year called Rushes Film Festival where people from every part of the country are welcome to participate and submit their short films which are then awarded at the film festival. The preparation and execution of this film festival are entirely by the students and a little guidance from the mentor.