Cut student films some slack, art is hard, to become an artist it takes a lot of time and devotion to one's craft and everything you start with sucks. As a wanna-be screen-writer, film person, etc... With the script the first thing you realize is that you can't simply tell people straight out what your trying to say, you need to the story express it, you need to create real characters that express a theme. Then you realize what your writing is simply piecing together things you've seen from your favorite movies, and you need start writing what you know, and when you do that you can apply it to anything. This all sounds like common sense but it takes time, going through all the necessary steps till you finally achieve a semi-good product.
On the film-making side of things, film is such a complicated art. You have to deal with actors, lighting, camera angles, editing, special effects, etc. That as a student film-maker it's a daunting tasks and more often than not people retreat to what they know and develop there own style from there. Cut students some slack there just learning...
Of course my route is kind of focus on the writing and expand from there. I haven't picked up a camera since the summer, and been writing non-stop. As a freshman in college I'm a double major in English/Film Media. Why? Because I see more value in discovering the root of stories rather than copying a copy since that's all writers do. They take common plot devices place there own spin on them and then imbue there own philosophy of life into it. Hence why I find an english degree more valuable than a degree in film since I want to be a story-teller and my favorite medium happens to be film. Then of course the double major is there so I'm well informed on the technical aspect and the study of film. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than going my state university instead of going somewhere else
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