Film Studies

Undergraduate Curriculum

The Film Studies Program provides students the opportunity to organize courses into a program of study. Students may choose either to minor in Film Studies, or they may design a concentration in Film Studies through the Literary and Cultural Studies Program.

Students wishing to pursue a minor in Film Studies should meet with a member of the advisory committee. Students wishing to design a concentration in Film Studies may also meet with a member of the advisory committee, who may serve as their advisor, but they will also need to meet with the Film Studies Program director in order to declare their concentration. (For more information on how to declare a minor and a concentration see our FAQ.)

The Film Studies Minor
The minor requires a minimum of 18 credit hours, distributed as follows:

I. Nine credit hours in required courses:
A. FILM 150W or 250 (4 credits). "Introduction to Film Studies."
B. FILM 251 (3 credits). "World Cinema Before TV (1895-1955)."
C. FILM 306 (2 credits). "Motion Picture Production Workshop" OR one course chosen from the following: ART 211 or 212; ENG 206 or 306; MUS 201 or 320; THEA 151/151W, 206, 301, 303, 317, 318.

II. Nine credit hours in elective courses, taken after consultation with a member of the Advisory Committee. Courses might include the following:
ANTH 348: Japanese Values through Literature and Film
FILM 350: Documentary
FREN 310: French Cinema (taught in French)
HS 417: Hispanic Cinema (taught in Spanish)
MUS 375: Music and Film
RUS 309: Russian Cinema (in English Translation)
FILM 480: Independent Study
FILM 498: Internship
And special topics courses as appropriate.

Note: No more than two courses from the department or program in which the student majors may be counted toward the Film Studies minor. For students majoring in interdisciplinary programs, no more than two courses being counted toward the major may be counted toward the Film minor as well.

The Film Studies Concentration
The Film Studies Concentration is, in fact, a "track" of the Literary and Cultural Studies Program. The LCST Program's website is very useful, and if you become an LCST "Film Track" concentrator you should familiarize yourself with it. But here is the immediately relevant information about the LCST Film Track:

A film studies concentration in LCST requires successful completion of a minimum of 36 credits. Of these, no more than 11 credit hours can be in courses numbered below 300 (including the required courses, FILM 150/250 and FILM 251). The distribution of courses is as follows:

  1. Fulfillment of the requirements for the Film minor (18 credits).
  2. Completion of LCST 302 and 401 (6-7 credits).
  3. A minimum of 12 additional credits chosen in consultation with a member of the Film Studies Advisory Committee to form a coherent program of study. These classes may consist entirely of additional elective courses on film but can also include courses in such departments as American Studies, Anthropology, English, History, Modern Languages and Literatures, and Philosophy (or, indeed, many others) that add significantly to the student's understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which this twentieth-century art form has been produced.

Notes:

  • LCST 401 can also be counted toward requirement # 1 if the seminar is predominantly concerned with film. In those cases when LCST 401 is counted toward requirement # 1, requirement # 3 changes from a minimum of 12 to 15 additional credits.
  • Any additional courses taken in Literary and Cultural Studies, such as a special topics course (LCST 351) or an additional upper-level seminar (LCST 401), automatically count toward the concentration.
  • A student who satisfies all requirements for concentration in Literary and Cultural Studies also satisfies the Concentration Writing Requirement.
  • The Computing Proficiency Requirement is satisfied by successful completion of LCST 301.
  • English concentrators may include Literary and Cultural Studies 201 and 301 in the first 36 credits of their concentration program, but must explicitly alert the Registrar's Office that they wish these courses to count toward their English concentration.
  • Concentrators are encouraged to take an Independent Study (LCST 481). Students with the appropriate qualifications can also pursue Honors in Literary and Cultural Studies: once their proposal is approved by an advisor and by the Program Director, they will be enrolled during their senior year in LCST 495 and 496.

A Special Note on Language Requirements
Not every program of study completed under the LCST Film Track will require the advanced knowledge of another language that is necessary in order to take most upper-level courses in the departments of Classical Studies or Modern Languages and Literatures. However, students are strongly urged to take at least one upper-level course in a foreign language, if it is in any way appropriate to their program of study. Film is, after all, an international medium. Moreover, knowledge of at least one foreign language not only facilitates the comparative sort of inquiry that is central to Literary and Cultural Studies, it is also a prerequisite of graduate-level study in every literary discipline, including English.