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If you want to make films, Class 12 is not too early to start, and it is not too late either. What matters is knowing which doors open after Class 12, which open only after a degree, and what you can make with a phone in the meantime.
Can you join a film school straight after 12th?
For the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, a deemed-to-be university under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, no. The FTII admission prospectus for 2025-26 lists MFA in Cinema programmes in direction, cinematography, editing, sound, screen acting and screenwriting, and each of these asks for a bachelor's degree or equivalent in any discipline. Its art direction programme asks for a degree in a related field such as applied arts or architecture. The same prospectus shows 11 seats in Direction and Screenplay Writing, so it is a small door.
That does not mean waiting three years. Choose a first step that fits your budget and city, and keep making films throughout.
What are the degree, diploma and self-taught routes?
There are three practical routes after Class 12.
A film degree straight after school. The M.G.R. Government Film and Television Training Institute in Chennai, run by the Tamil Nadu government, offers four-year Bachelor of Visual Arts courses in cinematography, direction and screenplay writing, film editing, audiography and more, with 14 students in each course. For BVA Film Editing, for example, the listed eligibility is a pass in Class 12 in any group. Private schools also run degrees: Whistling Woods International in Mumbai lists a three-year BFA in Filmmaking and says you do not need filmmaking experience to enrol.
A technical diploma. The Government Film and Television Institute at Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, run by Karnataka's Directorate of Technical Education, offers three-year diplomas in cinematography and in sound recording and engineering. Regular entry is after Class 10, with lateral entry for students who have Class 12 or II PUC with PCM.
Any degree, plus self-taught films. Study any subject, make short films on the side, and apply to postgraduate film programmes like FTII's once you graduate. FTII's Basic Course in Smartphone Filmmaking runs for 5 days, is open to anyone 16 or older who has passed Class 10, and ends with group films, a screening and feedback.
If your interest leans towards one craft, read our guides to sound engineering after 12th science and animation and VFX for science students.
What do film entrance tests look like?
They lean on aptitude and creative work more than on memorised facts. Whistling Woods says its entrance exam has a General Aptitude Test, a Creative Ability Test, a Statement of Purpose and a Personal Interview.
For FTII's postgraduate test, the 2025-26 prospectus, Stage 1 is a written test whose objective paper covers allied arts, literature, general knowledge and the chosen specialisation. Stage 2 is a mixed-format assessment that is practical, analytical and interactive. For every programme except Screen Acting, the final merit list gives Stage 1 a 25% weight and Stage 2 a 75% weight.
How do you build a short-film portfolio while still in school?
If your school offers it, CBSE's Mass Media Studies skill subject (code 835) for Classes 11 and 12 is a good fit. It carries 60 theory marks and 40 practical marks each year, and its Class 11 units include film analysis, mise en scène, script, storyboard, fiction and nonfiction projects.
With or without it, here is a four-film plan you can run on a phone across Classes 10 to 12, one film every few months.
A one-minute silent film. Tell a tiny story in 6 to 10 shots with no dialogue. You learn framing and cutting.
A three-minute dialogue scene. Two people, one room. Record sound close to the actors and fix it in the edit. You learn that bad sound ruins good pictures.
A short documentary about someone near you. The chaiwala, your grandmother, the school bus driver. Ask permission first. You learn to listen and to find a story in real life.
A five-minute fiction film made from paper. Write a script, draw a storyboard, make a shot list, then shoot. This is the film you show at interviews.
For each film, keep a one-page note: what you tried, what failed and what you would change. Store everything in one folder with dates, the way our guide to keeping a portfolio of school projects suggests. Interviewers may ask why you cut where you did, and these notes give you the answer.
Cinematography draws on optics, so lenses, focal length and light from Class 12 physics are worth understanding properly. If ray diagrams are hard to picture, the Fermi Simulation Lab has interactive simulations for ideas that are easier to see than to read.
Pick one film from the plan and shoot it this month. The first one will be rough, and that is how everyone starts.
