Film Studies Minor

Office: 275 Fenton Hall

[phone]

Dr. Shannon McRae, Coordinator

Email: [e-mail]

Website: https://www.fredonia.edu/academics/colleges-schools/college-liberal-arts-sciences/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.

Minor Program Requirements

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

Introductory Core:

COMM 155	Rhetoric of Vision and Sound	3
	or
ENGL 280	Introduction to Film	4
ENGL 380	Film: Silence to Sound	4
	or
ENGL 381	Film: Post War to the Present	4
	or
COMM 309	Film Analysis	3
Total Credit Hours:		6-8

NOTE:  Once the core requirement is fulfilled, any courses in the section may also count as an elective

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
ARTS 322	Cinema Arts II	3
ARTH 276	Film Form	3
ARTH 345	Film Criticism	3
COMM 308	Documentary History and Criticism	3
COMM 361	Screenwriting	3
COMM 386	International Films	3
ENGL 227	Stage/Screen	4
ENGL 387	American Film Directors	4
LANG 180	World in Cinema:Special Topics	3
LANG 385	German Film	3
FILM 399	Special Topics	1-4
FILM 401	Independent Study	1-4
	Any J-term May-term or summer session course offered as Cinema courses
	Transfer Credits (permission of coordinator)
	Any course from the core not taken to fullfill core requirements
Total Credit Hours:		12

NOTE: FILM 401 - Independent Study by prior arrangement with instructor

• Communication Department students can use only one course from their Major Track requirements toward the minor. 
• No more than four (4) courses in any one discipline may be taken for credit toward the film minor
• Faculty in various departments sometimes 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 of Film Studies:  [e-mail].  

Total Credit Hours: 18-19