Learning Objectives

The following is a list of skills and areas of knowledge we expect students to develop as Film Studies majors.

1. History and context

• knowledge of the history and evolution of motion pictures

• understanding of the cultural, political, economic, and aesthetic contexts within which motion pictures are produced, including in international cinema

2. Theory

• familiarity with the basic vocabulary of filmmaking and film analysis

• familiarity with a range of types and genres of motion pictures, and an ability to classify them broadly according to type (e.g., realist, classical, formalist)

• basic understanding of film theory as leading to different approaches to film analysis

3. Practice

• basic understanding of how films are made, and of their component parts

• ability to articulate aesthetic considerations in the analysis of the moving image

• ability to generate relevant questions in the examination of a motion picture that can lead to a coherent analysis of the work

• ability to construct and articulate, orally and in writing, an analytical argument about a range of film texts, from avant garde to classical narrative, from commercials to news stories to visual essays

• ability to approach non-American films with an understanding of values and aesthetics outside of dominant Hollywood cinema

Major Requirements

The major requires completion of 10.25 units. FLMS 254 Introduction to Film Studies is required of all Film Studies majors (and minors). Additionally, to complete the major students must take at least three units from Group A and at least one unit from Group B. Two additional electives are selected from Groups A or B, and three additional electives from Groups A, B, or C. No more than three units from Group C may be applied to the major. During the spring semester of their senior year, students must complete the FLMS 400.1 Senior Portfolio (0.25cr).

See the current list of courses available that fulfill each Group requirement.

Print your checklist for major requirements.

Required Courses

Required courses: 1.25 units

• FLMS 254 Introduction to Film      
• FLMS 400 1 Senior Portfolio  

Group A

Three Group A courses with a primary focus on film

• COMM 300 5 Video Production  
• COMM 300 14 Documentary Film and Video  
• ENG 100 6 Narratives: Film and Television  (.5 unit)
• ENG 319 Screenwriting  
• WLC 301 Cinemas in French  
• SPAN 190 5 Through the Spanish Lens: Contemporary Spanish Society and Culture Through Cinema  (Honors Tutorial)
• SPAN 190 6 Through the Spanish Lens: Women Behind the Camera in Contemporary Spain  (Honors Tutorial)
• FLMS 490/491/495 *Students may take a maximum of 2 film-focused Ind. Studies (490), Directed Readings (491) or Internships (495).
• SPAN 310 ¡Luces, Cámara, Acción! The Hispanic World Through Film  
• MUS 351 Analysis of Music in Film  
• DANC 190 2 Dance Film: A Calculated Framing of Bodies  (Honors Tutorial or Independent Study)
• BWS 350 Black Identity  

Group B

One Group B Courses with a significant focus on film or skills relevant to film

• COMM 101 Communication Theory  (offered in spring)
• COMM 111 Mass Media History  
• COMM 111 Mass Media History  (summer course)
• COMM 251 Digital Media  
• COMM 220 Media Literacy and Analysis  
• COMM 312 Intercultural Communication  (offered in spring)
• ART 355 Photography I  
• ENG 100 7 Exploring Creative Writing  
• ENG 480 Advanced Creative Writing Workshop  (Screenwriting)
• FREN 300 3 The Captive and Captivity in Contemporary Francophone North African Literature  
• FREN 300 4 Contemporary Franco-Arab Cultural Exchanges: Exploring the Literature and Film of French Expression From the Maghreb and Mashreq  
• FREN 351 Culture of Empire, Culture of Resistance: Representation and Power in the French-Speaking World from Imperialism to Decolonization  
• WGS 325 Women and Media: Gender, Race, Class, and Popular Culture  
• PHIL 201 1 Zombie 101: What Undead Teach Us about Philosophical Problems  
• SOAN 117 Introduction to Social Problems  
• SPAN 366 Spanish Crime Fiction: Fatal Women, Murderers and Other Outcasts in Contemporary Spanish Literature  
• SPAN 370 Through a Child’s Eyes: Latin America in Film & Fiction  
• SPAN 350 Artistic Expressions of the Hispanic World  
• SPAN 367 Spanish Literature and Culture from the 1800s to the Present  
• THEA 160 Beginning Acting  
• THEA 260 Acting Workshop  
• COMM 111 Mass Media History  
• PHIL 362 Aesthetics  
• WGS 310 Special Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies  

Group C

Group C Cognate courses

• ART 111 Survey of Art History II  
• ART 345 Modern Art  
• ART 347 Contemporary Art  
• ART 315 Book Arts I  
• COMM 200 2 Introduction to Visual Communication  
• ENG 250 Introduction to Literary Study  
• ENG 180 Narratives (1): The Short Story  
• MUS 105 Listening in Context: An Introduction to Music  
• THEA 126 Introduction to Technical Theatre  
• THEA 220 Movement  
• THEA 369 /ENG 318 Playwriting  
• THEA 380 Directing for the Stage  
• THEA 256 Elements of Design  
• DANC 315 Dance Composition/Choreography  
• THEA 115 Script Analysis for Performance  

Additional:

• Two additional electives must be selected from Groups A or B.
• Three additional electives must be selected from Groups A, B, or C.
• A maximum of three transfer credits may be applied to the major.