Cinema, BA

The major in cinema prepares students as engaged participants in the ever-changing media environment by offering them conceptual and practical tools for analyzing and creating films informed by a dialogue between film studies and film production. Students build a comprehensive knowledge of motion pictures through film studies courses focused on topics such as major film movements, directors, and critical debates in the history and theory of cinema, as well as production courses focused on narrative, documentary, and experimental films, using 16mm and digital technologies.

The major in cinema is an individualized, interdisciplinary study of film and the production of creative work in film, video, and interactive multimedia. It is designed to promote cultural and artistic awareness, increase speaking and writing skills, and develop capacities for systematic reasoning and effective production in cinema arts.

All students are expected to gain a perspective on the study and the production of film, video, or digital media while becoming acquainted with the historical, critical, and theoretical issues of the area. In conjunction with an appropriate overall curriculum, the major in cinema can offer effective preparation for continuing study or creative work in the humanities, arts, and cinema; provide a solid foundation for careers in film, video, television, and digital production; and lead to careers in arts administration, advertising, and business.

Learning Outcomes

Cinema graduates will be able to:

  • develop a broad proficiency in cinematic creativity in areas such as editing, cinematography, screenwriting, sound design, and animation as well as the business of filmmaking, while emphasizing their own expressive vision;
  • display an understanding of preproduction, production, and postproduction in the filmmaking process; succinctly describe, pitch, and reflect on their own filmmaking practice; benefit from having assessed and evaluated their own and their peers’ films in workshops that emphasize constructive critique;
  • speak confidently, read critically, and research and write persuasively about the history and theory of cinema as a multifaceted medium with artistic, educational, and cultural implications;
  • recognize and critically evaluate the variety of film styles and practices from historical and contemporary, as well as international, perspectives;
  • demonstrate the mutually beneficial skills developed across film production and film studies courses by making films informed by film studies and by writing essays informed by filmmaking;
  • display critical thinking about the relationship between form and content in moving images;
  • apply this knowledge and these skills to a range of 21st-century careers permeated by media production, whether in the film and culture industries; media, arts, and marketing professions; or higher education and other related areas; and
  • understand and use cinema as a powerful tool for learning about the world and creating positive change as an engaged global citizen.