About Film & Media Studies

Film & Media Studies emphasizes multidisciplinary approaches to the history, theory, and making of film, television, video, games, graphic arts and comics, digital art, and data visualizations within a liberal arts context. In our classes, students develop creative and analytical vocabularies and engage with practices, theories, and histories of mediation and media-making.  The department foregrounds experiential and intellectual inquiry that inspires our students--as viewers and readers, and makers of media--to creatively participate in the increasingly mediated cultures in which we live.

Are you thinking of a major or minor in Film & Media Studies?

See our Major, Modified Major, and Minor pages for more details and schedule a meeting with the Department Major Advisor before submiting a plan. 

Note: All official course information is in the ORC / Catalog of the Office of the Registrar.

Learning Outcomes

Film & Media Studies Majors demonstrate:

• Command of creative and analytical vocabularies informing approaches to the history, theory, and making of film, television, video, games, graphic arts and comics, digital art, and data visualizations.

• Ability to engage insightfully with practices, theories, and histories of mediation and media-making.

• Understanding of how meaning is created and negotiated in and by media artifacts at the levels of industrial production, artistic creation, and audience engagement.

• Practical proficiency in hands-on media-making.

• Skill leveraging experiential and intellectual competence toward creative participation in increasingly mediated cultures.

Domestic Study Program (DSP)

• Our off-campus program in Los Angeles brings students into the heart of the industry, via internships, courses, and events with alumni. Many classes are limited in size to encourage individual expression and close personal interaction between faculty and students.