Film Studies
Minor
To Be Expected of all Film Studies Students:
- They will know the basic terminology of analysis: e.g., mise-en-scene, wide angle, jump cut, continuity editing, auteurism, and so forth.
- They will know major events in world film history, which include: the birth of cinema, German Expressionism, Russian montage theory, Classical Hollywood period, Italian neorealism, French New Wave, American Independent and avant-garde, and so forth.
- They will have a knowledge of the major analytical frameworks of cinema studies, such as auteur theory, genre theory, ideological analysis, historical/biographical analysis, feminist theory, to mention some.
- They will have a knowledge of the major developments in film theory, which include theories of filmic realism and formalism, semiotics and structuralism, psychoanalytic film theory.
- That students understand the paradigms of the above developments and frameworks, well enough to be able to produce critical writings in these sub-fields of cinema studies.
- They will know the concepts of basic production techniques—syntax, techniques of lighting and editing, principles of sound, integration of thematic structure and logical outcomes of narrative/dramatic structure. They will know the difference between plot and theme, and form's relationship to these two.
Specifically of Critical Studies Option Students:
- Students will have a deep understanding of, and intellectual engagement in, particular theoretical models, as exhibited by work in seminars and the senior research project. These will be manifested by their participation in theoretical discourse in the seminar forum.
Specifically of Production Option Students:
- Students will know the necessity of proper documentation and pre-production and script preparation, the principles and practices of working with a crew, managing a budget, mastering the techniques of camera