Top 5 Film Making and Television Colleges in Mumbai
If film-making is a religion in India, Mumbai HAS TO BE, its Mecca! Close to a 1000 full-length feature films get made here every year thought the numbers which find space on screens continue to a fraction of this huge a number. And with that big a number of movies being made, there is always a need to have trained workforce to handle such a large volume of work. Institutes such as FTII in Pune and Whistling woods in Mumbai continue to be premier film-making institutes which churn out the best and brightest names who go on to make India proud with their creations and ideas.
But, with two institutes, despite their prodigious name and fame, how much can one really expect? And that too when the entire movie making is going thru a serious churning, affected as it is from various sources including software, digitization, and of course, monetary considerations such as cost-cutting, more business, higher bottom-lines and the likes? Not much really. People from these prestigious institutes go to the biggest and most famous names in the industry. As for the rest, thankfully there are quite a few institutes now which cater to all the manpower needs of our film and TV industry. We mention below a list of 6 such bodies.
1.Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics.
Located in Andheri West in Mumbai MAACs continues to be the media & entertainment education off shoot of Aptech Ltd., an organization known worldwide for providing the mass with class education and training as far back as 1986! Operating thru a franchise network the world over, it has helped in the making of a veritable army of trained manpower for the entertainment and allied industry while giving out education in VFX, animation, gaming, web-design, graphics and similar fields that provide easy job opportunities for aspirants. Where MAAC is way ahead of competition is that its courses in film making and multimedia are thoughtfully prepared by experts who have all the right experiences and qualifications to design courses be it for newcomers in the field or those with experience. Also going hand-in-hand is the awesome studios, great machines and software and regular real-life studio visits!
Mentioned below are so of its more known courses:
International Program in Visual Arts and Design, 3 years, Full Time
Program in Graphics, Web Designing and 2D Animation, 1-year, Full Time
Digital Photography, 2 months, Full Time
Program in Graphic Design and Animation, 1-year, Full Time
Advanced Program in Digital Media and Design, 1.5 years, Full Time
MAACs highlights include:
- Making students think differently by giving the right exposure including the presence of the best faculty which makes students take-up any challenge that comes their way. Quite a few of this training is thru a webinar system called Maachinar!
- Faculty at MAAC are themselves trained by experts. And this happens very regularly!
- Teaching students, the latest in digital communication by making them work thru a portal
- Bringing in the most advanced of animation and VFX methodologies so that students get just the best
- Their industrial relations with Autodesk are known to everyone
- 2.Prime Focus Academy of Media and Entertainment Studies, Goregaon, Goregaon East, Mumbai
Situated in Goregaon East in Mumbai, Prime Focus was established in 2016 and is the training arm of Prime Focus Limited (PFL), purportedly the world’s largest independent integrated media services powerhouse, employing over 9,000 professionals in 18 cities across 5 continents and 7 Time zones! Now if you think that is BIG, you ought to read on! The academy has fine-tuned the concept of industry-related training and prepares its students for high-output high-salary/ income ventures- EVEN WHILE THEY REMAIN STUDENTS AT THE INSTITUTE! So, while the students continue learning the usual software’s and the likes, they also learn the fine-art of team-building and working together in a work place. What makes it very attractive to students are the live projects they get to work on- even at the institute and get paid for it! And these projects aren’t some “usual stuff”. They go into movies and games such that students actually get a hands-on experience. Making the students go thru the entire exercise is another of Prime Focuses’ USP which is highly-trained manpower both externally procured or internally generated!
Their tagline: Come join PRIME FOCUS ACADEMY OF MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT STUDIES and have the best coming for you in terms of name and fame!
Some of their known courses include:
VFX 201 – Rotoscopy, duration: 10 months, Full Time
Filmmaking with VFX and Animation Fundamentals, duration: 18 months, Full Time
Animation, duration: 2 months, Full Time
VFX 201 – Digital Paint, duration: 10 months, Full Time
VFX 101 – Rotoscopy, duration: 12 months, Full Time
Rotomation and Matchmove Expert, duration: 10 months, Full Time
Prime Focus Academy’s course highlights include:
- Programs based on a learning by doing attitude
- Students earn a stipend under the ‘Earn While You Learn’ feature
- Infrastructure / Facilities includes their in-house Design Studio
3.Hue N Rig Institute of Art and Design, Borivali West, Mumbai, Private | Established 2014 It’s a reputed institute training student in multimedia for Vfx, Interiors, 3d Animation, Graphic, Digital marketing, Photography and Cinematography. It has a good tie-up with most of the known studios in Mumbai and plans to become even bigger in times to come. In its existence, it has trained over 5000 people with no less than a 100 in one batch- a record of sorts besides re-training and re-skilling students. It has, by its own admission, worked with Prime Focus, a leading studio on VFX while it’s staff has worked as team leaders in reputed studios with even getting credits in reputed Hollywood movies!
Hue N Rig’s forte remains teaching Animation course, Graphic designing courses, Photography course, Cinematography courses and Visual Effects courses and it does that with some of the industry’s best folks!
Some of its known courses include:
- Full-time Diploma in 3D and VFX of 30 months duration
- Full Time Diploma Interior Designing Advance, of 18 months duration
- Full Time Advance Graphic Designing, of 7 months duration
- Full Time Photography Masters Course, of 18 months duration
- Full Time Digital Marketing Advance Course, duration
- Full Time VFX – Visual Effects, of 18 months duration
Hue N Rig’s highlights include
- It has trained in excess of 5000 students PAN India
- It’s students have figured in the credits in over 14 Hollywood movies including Spiderman, Harry Potter, Men in Black to name a few
- Hue N Rig has strong industrial tie-ups with studios across Mumbai
- Hue N Rig has its own labs and facilities of world-standards!
- 4.Seamedu – School of Pro-Expressionism, Mumbai, Kharghar, Private Institute
This is one institute like no-one else anywhere in India. It has the best infrastructure, both in terms of classrooms, labs and creative aspects as also the best of teachers who are hard-core, hardened industry professionals. This is one body which recognized India for its worth in the field of animation, entertainment, video-games, movies and music and wants to train all available manpower to world-standards. It industry professionals are anything but jaded. They are young- yet they have all the right experiences at the right time!
Where Specialized media school scores over others is that every fascet of eduction in movie-making, entertainment and animation can be found under one roof! Yes, under one roof! So once you join, you leave ONLY as a trained professional! Its other USPs include:
- High student-faculty ratio which means meaningful interactions are quite high!
- Fluid curriculum which rides the crust of the wave with the very best of courses which are brought about very fast. Also, the method of teaching ensures extensive on-the-job and relevant training with good number of projects, intern-ships and live work.
- High number of industry-needed specializations either as diplomas or degrees so that the right education is imparted with the right qualification.
- Training at the hands of industry professionals
- Large number of studio visits be it of TVs, Advertisers, Movie makers, Games or even media companies
- Certified by AVID for Pro Tools certifications along with Apple certifications for Logic Pro X.
- Affiliated with NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies), FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), and TASI (The Animation Society of India).
It’s known courses include:
- Full Time B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication of 3 years
- Full Time B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication (Photography) of 3 years
- Full Time BCA in Game and Mobile Software Development of 3 years
- Full Time Diploma in Sound Engineering of 1 year
- Full Time B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication (Film Making) of 3 years
- Full Time Diploma in Photography of 1 year
5. ICE Balaji Telefilms – Institute of Creative Excellence, Andheri East, Mumbai Private educational institution established in 2010
Balaji Telefilms does not need an introduction in the Indian context of film & entertainment. And now (actually from 2010!) they have started their own Film and entertainment training institute by the name ICE Balaji Telefilms – Institute of Creative Excellence at Andheri East in Mumbai. The institute aspires to provide world class education to its students in media & entertainment related fields by bringing about industry-relevant courses, covering specializations such as Acting, Modelling, Cinematography, Direction, Editing, Production, Scriptwriting, Sound and VFX to name a few. And the cake on the icing? They are the preferred partners for their parent Company, Balaji Telefilms which means successful candidates from here do not go hunting for jobs and could just be working alongside their famed people, including the Kapoor’s themselves!
Their more known courses include:
- Full Time Certificate in Acting of 9 months duration
- Part Time Certificate in Digital Photography of 1-month duration
- Part Time Certificate in Dance of 58 hours duration
- Full Time Certificate in Cinematography of 3 months duration
- Part Time Certificate in Ad Film Making of 45 days duration
- Part Time Certificate in Script Writing of 44 hours duration
ICE Balaji Telefilms – Institute of Creative Excellence’s highlights include
- Highly experienced managements with folks who have worked for entities such as Frank Finn, NIIT Ltd and Aptech Ltd
- Academic Council consists of celebrities like Jeetendra Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor
- Infrastructure includes Library, Auditorium, Music Room, Dance Room & full-fledged labs
