Film Studies minor

Office: 275 Fenton Hall

(716) 673-3848

Shannon McRae, Coordinator

Website: http://home.fredonia.edu/interdisciplinary

The Film Studies minor considers a variety of approaches to understanding the role of film in all its different forms and intents. A film may have predominantly literary content or may be specifically engaged with historical, political, or cultural concerns. It may also be primarily an abstract, aesthetic work, exploring alternatives to traditional narrative filmmaking. It is fundamentally a medium used to examine and study human knowledge and exploration. It is tightly interwoven into cultural identity throughout the world.

The Film Studies minor acquaints students with these ideas and introduces key landmarks in the history of film while identifying and challenging the grounds on which landmark status has been recognized. The departments of Communication, English, History, World Languages and Cultures, Politics and International Affairs, and Visual Arts and New Media, and the Women's and Gender Studies, and Film Studies programs offer courses regularly that engage in the academic study of the medium.

This interdisciplinary collaboration between many different departments and programs provides a wide variety of course offerings that change each semester. A variety of special topics courses may be offered at any time. In any given semester, as many as 200 students may be enrolled in courses in which film is the major vehicle for study. Always check with the Film Studies minor coordinator if you have any questions about course availability.

Required courses for the minor (18 credit hours)

Some courses require prerequisites. Click on any hyperlinked course for additional information.

Choose one from

COMM 155	Rhetoric of Vision and Sound	3
	or
FILM 220	Film Form	3
	or
ARTH 276	Film Form	3
Total Credit Hours:		3

NOTE: Students should not take all three classes as only one will count towards the minor.

Core (at least 6 credit hours chosen from the following courses):

Choose one from

ENGL 280	Introduction to Film	3
ENGL 380	Film: Silence to Sound	4
ENGL 381	Narrative Film After 1940	4
ARTH 376	Film and Special Effects	3
Total Credit Hours:		3-4

Electives

(at least 12 credit hours, chosen from the following.) It is recommended that students have completed at least one core course before beginning work on electives:

ARTS 222	Cinema Arts I	3
ARTH 345	Film Criticism	3
ARTH 359	New Media Writing	3
COMM 308	Documentary History and Criticism	3
COMM 309	Film Analysis	3
COMM 361	Script Writing Video/Film/Radio	3
COMM 386	International Films	3
ENGL 207	Drama and Film	3
ENGL 386	Women in Global Cinema	4
ENGL 387	American Film Directors	4
FILM 399	Special Topics	1-4
FILM 401	Independent Study	1-4
HIST 363	Chinese Culture Through Films	4
HIST 376	Film and American Culture	3
LANG 380	World in Cinema: Special Topics	3
LANG 385	German Film	3
POLI 345	Film and Politics	4
Total Credit Hours:		12

NOTE: FILM 399 content varies

Cinema Boutique Courses taken J-Term or Summer Session*

Film 399: Cult and Horror, 3 credit hours

Film 399: Cinema Vampires, 3 credit hours

* Any title offered at J-Term

Transfer credits by permission of the Coordinator.

Any course from the core not taken to fulfill core requirements.

At least 18 credit hours needed.

Total Credit Hours: 18

NOTE:

Communication Department students can use only one course from their Major Track requirements.
Any History Department film course may be used as an elective.
No more than four courses in any one discipline may be taken for credit toward the film minor.
Faculty in various departments frequently offer other film-related courses that address the goals of the Film Studies program. To determine if a course not listed above will satisfy requirements for the Film Studies minor, students should contact the coordinator.