Film Studies

Minor in Film Studies

The Film Studies Minor explores cinema and its relationship to broader social, cultural and political issues. The mission of the program is to allow students to explore film as a unique art form and as a medium that influences, and is influenced by, the context in which it is produced. Using an interdisciplinary framework, students within the minor have the opportunity to investigate both the professional aspects of cinematic studies—its evolution and the techniques of the filmmaking process—as well as critical approaches to the field, such as the relationship between cinema and other cultural productions, the international dimensions of the medium and the power of visual culture in contemporary life. Therefore, the minor introduces students to the major issues in cinema—history, aesthetics, theory and production—as grounded in the larger cultural and international factors that inform film, other modes of communication and indeed our everyday lives. The goal is to have students become informed viewers of visual culture, equipped with critical skills that will be useful, not only in media careers, but in other aspects of life as well.

Requirements:

And any three electives from the following, at least one of which is at 300-level or above, some of which have pre-requisites that must be met outside of the minor.

Production oriented courses:

Film Studies courses in the Humanities & Social Sciences:

Student Learning Outcomes

The Film Studies Minor

• creates more well-rounded, critical producers and users of media by moving beyond the production focus of the existing curriculum
• exposes students to the social, political and economic force that is the film industry
• gives students a background in the history, techniques, theory, and criticism of the motion picture as a means of integrating humanistic values and aesthetic concerns.
• develops in students a critical language with which to interpret and articulate the myriad ways in which films create meaning, elicit responses, and mobilize feelings and attitudes within viewers