The Film Studies Program educates students in the history and development of film as an art form and contemporary medium. The curriculum instills an informed analytic awareness of the ways in which film has been used and provides the resources for significant creative exploration of the medium.
The undergraduate degrees in film studies emphasize knowledge and awareness of:
Students completing either the BA or the BFA degree in film studies are expected to acquire the ability and skills to:
NOTE: Admission to any class after the third meeting of the class is contingent on professor permission. The department may drop a student from a class if the student misses the first two classes of the semester.
Course code for this program is FILM.
No more than 6 hours of independent study may be credited toward the major. Students must complete the required film courses with a grade of C or better. The arts and sciences 18-hour minimum of upper-division hours must be met with CU film studies courses.
Students must complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences and the required courses listed below. The Film Studies Program requires a minimum of 38 hours in support of the BA requirements, including film courses and courses taken in other departments.
The Film Studies Program strongly urges the purchase of film and sound media-capable Apple computing systems for those pursuing production classes in the BA degree program (see www.colorado.edu/FilmStudies).
Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours
Literature and the Arts Requirement
In addition to the 6-hour literature and the arts core requirement, Film Studies majors must take an additional 6 hours (3 of them upper-division) of literature and the arts core courses to satisfy the degree requirements. Students taking the HUMN 1010/1020 sequence are exempted from the 3-hour upper-division requirement.
Required Critical Studies Courses
Critical Studies Elective Requirements
BA students must complete 18 hours from the following courses. At least 12 must be upper division.
Production Electives (not required)
Some production electives may be taken for BA credit; please see advisor for specific courses.
Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for information on eligibility. The concept of “adequate progress” as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress toward a BA in film studies, students should meet the following requirements:
Students are encouraged to consult with the Film Studies advisor in order to obtain advice and current information.
New Admission Requirements for Students Matriculating in Fall 2012
The BFA degree is competitive. In order to graduate with a BFA degree, students must first satisfy a number of prerequisites and then submit a formal application to the BFA program at the prescibed time (deadline will be posted each semester on the film studies website). In particular, applicants must have a cumulative GPA at CU-Boulder of 2.750 or higher and have passed FILM 1502, 2000 (or 2300), and 2500 each with a grade of C or higher, with a mean GPA in all three courses of at least 3.400. Applicants must submit a written application, a writing sample, and the FILM 2500 assignment (see FILM 2500 instructions for details). Applicants may also submit one additional “best” example of creative work (see specific admission guidelines for details). Admission into the BFA program and registration for FILM 3400, 4500, and other upper-division production courses are contingent upon approval of the application materials by the BFA committee. Students may only apply twice to the BFA program; complete details on the BFA application procedure are available on the film studies website. Students are required to attend a BFA orientation meeting prior to the semester in which they enroll in FILM 3400. The program recommends that BFA students purchase film and sound media-capable Apple computing systems (see www.colorado.edu/FilmStudies). BFA students are required to pass FILM 3400, 3515, and 3525 before they will be allowed to continue in the major.
No more than 6 hours of independent study may be credited toward the major. Students must complete the required film courses with a grade of C or better.
Students must complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences as well as the required courses listed below. The Film Studies Program requires a minimum of 46 hours in support of the BFA degree requirements.
Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours
Literature and the Arts Requirement
In addition to the 6-hour literature and the arts core requirement, Film Studies majors must take an additional 6 hours (3 of them upper division) of literature and the arts core courses to satisfy the degree requirements. Students taking the HUMN 1010/1020 sequence are exempted from the 3-hour upper-division requirement.
Required Critical Studies Courses
Required Production Courses
Production Course Electives
BFA students must take 9 hours of any combination of the following courses:
Critical Studies Elective Requirements
BFA students must complete 6 hours.
Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for information on eligibility. The concept of “adequate progress” as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress toward a BFA in film studies, students should meet the following requirements:
Overview. The film studies/art and art history bachelor of arts/master of arts critical studies degree gives highly-motivated BA students the opportunity to earn an MA degree using an accelerated undergraduate program in combination with a fifth year of study.
Program Description. The BA/MA degree in film studies (FS) is a critical studies track under the auspices of the Art and Art History (AAH) MA program. This collaboration between AAH and FS is an extension of our common interests in visual art and grows from our current shared MFA in filmmaking. The film studies tenured and tenured track faculty also has graduate faculty standing within art and art history.
The FS/AAH BA/MA track prepares students for professional careers in teaching and criticism, from the perspective of innovative critical approaches and in preparation for a PhD track at another university. The aim of the BA/MA film program is to aid in the advancement of the scholarly understanding of film art, with emphasis on theoretical and research approaches and their role in academia. The BA/MA will, therefore, prepare its graduates to assume the responsibilities of the academic study of cinema as one of the fine arts and to pursue careers in teaching, research, curating, and the overall advancement of the study of cinema as art.
The program offers studies leading to the MA in the areas of film criticism and theory. Advanced students are encouraged to explore interdisciplinary approaches as well as to enhance their program of study with cognate courses in other departments such as history, comparative literature, anthropology, English, women’s studies, ethnic studies, Spanish and Portuguese, French and Italian, Germanic and Slavic languages and literatures, and others. Film studies offers a broad selection of seminar topics on their current faculty research interests and in response to student demand. The Visiting Film Artist program brings additional distinguished, innovative film and video artists and critics to campus and students are encouraged to register for their seminars.
Admission to the Program
The application form can be downloaded from www.colorado.edu/GraduateSchool/GSForms/ConcurrentForms/Concurrentapplication.pdf. Note: Applicants should specify on the form that they are applying for the spring term, BA/MA degree, major codes AS-FLM2 and GR-ART2.
For more information visit www.colorado.edu/FilmStudies/degrees/bama/index.shtml.
The Graduate MFA degree in film studies is a filmmaking track integrated into the Art and Art History MFA program in much the same way as the tracks in painting and drawing, ceramics, sculpture, media arts, the IAP, and printmaking. The filmmaking track prepares students for professional artistic careers in filmmaking from the perspective of innovative image making. The aim of the MFA film program is to aid in the advancement of the practice and understanding of art, with emphasis on the moving image and its role in this advancement. The MFA will, therefore, prepare graduates to assume creative leadership roles in filmmaking.
The interdisciplinary nature of the MFA program allows graduate students to work in various areas, in addition to their area of specialization. The MFA guidelines include a second area of the student’s choice as a requirement. The thesis project is two-fold, involving 1.) the student’s creative work (e.g., a film), displayed at the MFA exhibition, and 2.) a written thesis that eventually goes to the library.
See the Art and Art History section for descriptions of the MFA ARTF courses.
Prerequisites. The following are required for admission to the graduate program:
Degree Requirements. Effective fall 2008, the MFA program is a two-and-a-half year program. The degree requires a minimum of 54 credit hours of course work, of which 36 must be taken in residence on the Boulder campus, with the following requirements:
Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours
See the art and art history department section of this catalog and www.colorado.edu/FineArts/mfa/mfa_degree.html for more information on requirements.