39 S.H. (minor required)
2.0 GPA required.
C grade or better required in all major courses.
The major option in Film Studies provides a broad overview of film culture, with emphasis upon important historical and critical trends, film form, and style. Students who complete the Film Studies major may do so primarily to enhance their liberal education by cultivating important critical and aesthetic knowledge. Some may elect to pursue a graduate degree, whether in film, film and literature, or in any number of areas of interdisciplinary study. Others may seek more technical training in writing, editing, cinematography, or directing. Still others, depending upon their chosen field, may wish to pursue a career path in teaching, filmmaking, writing, advertising, computer software, graphic design, entertainment law, or production finance.
Students can be expected to develop critical skills through careful analysis of cinematic techniques, major movements, film genres, and theoretical paradigms; apply evaluative and aesthetic judgments to a variety of cinematic texts - fiction and nonfiction, experimental and mainstream, feature and short form - through careful contextualization and interpretation; recognize the various collaborative roles of film pre-production, production, and post-production - in the work of such professionals as the writer, production designer, producer, director, cinematographer, actor, gaffer, editor, composer, or sound designer; and employ academic databases and a variety of research sources in formal writing projects and presentations.
