Best 8 Films Filmed on College Campuses

Camera filming

The lives of college students are filled with fun and challenges, which makes them excellent ideas for movies. Naturally, those who choose to make a movie about college students find campuses to be the best place to shoot it. These are the places where interesting things happen, stories unravel with excitement and adrenaline, and basically – magic happens.

You might not have thought about it, but there are quite a few movies shot on college campuses. Great storytellers and movie producers have turned their narrative essay topics ideas into movies that will remain forever popular with the audience. That being said, here are the eight best films filmed on college campuses.

1. Forrest Gump (1994)

Forest Gump was filmed on two popular locations: the UCLA and USC educational institutions’ campuses. Without a doubt, this is one of the most popular movies that feature Tom Hanks, an extraordinary director, actor, producer, filmmaker, and screenwriter. As a matter of fact, Hanks has been honored with numerous nominations and awards, including his Oscar for Forrest Gump.

Right now and after quite some time, the actor has found himself once again nominated for the role of the supporting actor in ‘A beautiful day in the neighborhood’ at the 2020 Oscars.

This movie shares the story of a simple man with very low intelligence, but heartfelt intentions. When you sit down to watch it, pay close attention to the scenes – there are several uses of these two college campuses throughout the filming of the movie.


2. Legally Blonde (2001)

Legally Blonde features the gorgeous Reese Witherspoon in the role of Elle Wood, a blonde sorority girl who was dumped by her boyfriend. Believe it or not, this movie has scenes from three different campuses: the University of South California, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of California IN Los Angeles.

This is one of the few movies that truly explore the life of students. In such movies, you can see students living their mundane life. These are movies for the student’s love stories, their studies, their struggles, parties, and amazing life stories.

If you haven’t watched this popular movie, it might be time to call EduBirdie and send them your assignment right away. Then, hop onto the couch, turn on Netflix, and watch one of the best movies filmed on the grounds of college campuses.


3. Clueless (1995)

Scenes from this movie are shot at the Occidental College’s campus. In this movie, you’ll see Alicia Silverstone in the role of Cher, a rich high school student who turns it into her life mission to boost a fellow student’s popularity.


4. Bring It On (2000)

If you haven’t watched the story of two cheerleading teams who compete in California’s schools, you should definitely do it as soon as possible. Once you do, pay attention to the many times the filmmakers used locations from the San Diego State University.


5. Good Will Hunting (1997)

Well, here you have it – a movie shot at no less than the renowned Harvard University campus! Good Will Hunting is a movie that features the actor Matt Damon who even won an Oscar for best original screenplay for this particular movie.

In the film, Damon stars as a janitor at MIT, who’s secretly a math genius. Throughout the movie, you’ll find scenes filmed both on Harvard and MIT grounds.


6. Remember the Titans (2000)

This year obviously brought us some amazing movies and put the habit forward for filming on college campuses. The very successful movie that features Denzel Washington in the lead role contains many scenes shot at the Berry College campus. Seeing how Washington plays the role of a head football coach, it’s only natural that such a story will take place at an educational institution.


7. Drumline (2002)

In the movie Drumline, Nick Cannon takes the role of a very talented drummer who’s picked to lead a drumline at a university to its victory. The filmmakers have chosen two locations to shoot the scenes: Morris Brown College and Clark Atlanta University.


8. We are Marshall (2006)

Compared to the other films in this list, the last one is the most recent. This is yet another story about diversity and football, but it differs a lot from Remember the Titans. It features the amazing, award-winning Matthew McConaghey as the coach of the football team. After a plane crash that ends really tragically for players and coaches, McConaghey must raise the spirits of the community and the football team.

Have you watched all of these movies? If you haven’t, jump on it as soon as possible. They’re some of the greatest movies shot ever, and you will definitely like the idea of filmmaking on college campuses.

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Author’s Bio: Elizabeth Skinner works for an online portal that assists students in securing admissions in top universities in the US, UK and Canada. Her job is to counsel students to find the best university, prepare them for the entrance exams and write college admission essays in various subjects.

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