FILM STUDIES MINOR

Film studies is an interdisciplinary minor offered by four departments: English, History, Journalism, and Speech/Theatre. Film Studies examines film as an art form, as an industry and as the most popular and most influential communication medium of the twentieth century. Film Studies provides an interdisciplinary approach to visual literacy as it introduces students to film history, theory, criticism, and production.

What can you do with a minor in Film Studies?
For history students, films on historical topics offer visual understandings of past events and eras. Film study also provides a means to explore how filmed interpretations are reflections of the times in which the films were made and the filmmakers who created them, and also the degree to which influential films create public memories. Students can learn to recognize revisionist history and to compare the conventions and aims of the historical documentary and the feature film.

For students of literature and drama, film adaptations of short stories, novels, and plays provide opportunity for comparative analysis of written and visual texts and the means to understand how the narrative conventions of both mediums create meaning. Recurring themes in film remakes offer students a way to explore how literary themes are imitated, updated, or challenged. With film fast becoming the literature of our age, film studies offers students a step into the future of literary studies.

For students interested in writing film criticism and film reviews, film study places films in the context of film history and provides the opportunity to examine films in terms of types, genres, and techniques. Students can study theories of representation and explore how camera placement, lighting, editing, sound, and music create meaning and invite specific viewer response.

For students interested in cultural change, films offer periodic snapshots of changing ideas about such topics as gender roles, the family, the law, violence, war, sexual relations, and romantic love. Films are a source for exploring conflict between cultures, and students can trace changes in how women and ethnic minorities have been represented and are choosing to re-present themselves.

For students interested in filmmaking, film study provides the opportunity to write screenplays and to create and edit films and videos. Students can learn the history and conventions of documentary, narrative, and experimental films and can explore the varying styles of individual American and international writers, directors, cinematographers, and editors.

For students preparing to teach, film study provides the opportunity to examine age and subject appropriate films and to explore various teaching methods. Students can also apply commonly practiced film methodologies to create goal-oriented lesson plans for classroom use.