Film, television, and other moving-image media are ubiquitous in contemporary society, combining image and text to create powerful mediums which reflect us, define us, persuade us, market us, and tell our stories. The Film and Media Arts major empowers graduates with rich analytical, screenwriting, and production skills who can work with storytelling technologies in an increasingly multidisciplinary arts and media culture. This dynamic program immerses students in film, television, video, and digital media production, supported by courses in film, television, and new media theory, history, representation, and interpretation, in an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and inclusive learning environment. Students can also study film and media abroad, are privy to exciting internship opportunities, and work with professors and alumni already succeeding in the field.  

Graduates create festival award-winning, critically acclaimed content as directors, writers, and producers, enter graduate study in film and media, teach at various levels, succeed in a business world that is immersed in and communicated through media, hold leadership roles in arts nonprofits, and thrive in media organizations in myriad capacities. Through their creative vision, cultural awareness, and work ethic, our graduates help change the world.

DePauw offers both a major and a minor in Film and Media Arts. Complemented by the graduation requirements defined by the University to fully engage students in the liberal arts model, the major requires nine (9.25) courses. These courses lead students through creative and scholarly explorations that end in a 2-semester senior capstone project which enables them to focus on a project of larger scope, such as a short film, a feature-length screenplay or teleplay, or a scholarly thesis in film and/or other media. The minor requires four (4) total courses in Film and Media Arts. Specific requirements for the major and minor are listed below.

Course Catalog

Requirements for a major

Film and Media Arts

Requirements for a minor

Film and Media Arts

Courses in Film and Media Arts

Intro to Film and Media Arts (formerly FILM 100)

An introduction to the critical study of moving image media that focuses on textual analysis. The course emphasizes the development of cinema as an art form and cultural force and its relation to subsequent audiovisual media, such as television, video, or web series.

On-Campus Extended Studies Course

An on-campus course offered during the Winter or May term. May be offered for .5 course credits or as a co-curricular (0 credit). Counts toward satisfying the Extended Studies requirement.

Intro to Digital Film Production (formerly FILM 230)

This course provides an introduction to camerawork, sound recording, lighting and editing in digital filmmaking, with short units on short film screenwriting and working with actors. Prior experience in film production not required.

First-Year Seminar

A seminar focused on a theme related to Film and/or other Media. Open only to first-year students.

Digital Film/Media Writing and Production Topics

Offers production and writing for the screen topics in film, television, or new media, designed to accommodate students with varying levels of experience. Students will learn techniques fundamental to a specific storytelling medium and explore their own artistic aesthetic in the context of other such expressions (models), while developing the ability to effectively comment on the work of their peers. Skills will be taught from the ground up to allow students across disciplines to engage, so no previous experience is required. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Podcasting: Craft and Culture

This course introduces students to the elements of podcasting from two intertwined perspectives: craft and culture. On the craft side, students learn how to develop, create, and distribute a podcast from scratch. On the culture side, students are introduced to critical and theoretical approaches to podcasting as a cultural form.

Race and Ethnicity in Film, Television, and New Media Topics

Introduces students to the study of race and ethnicity within film, television, and/or new media. Through textual analysis, class discussion, and writing assignments, students will critically engage with film and/or other media through the lens of representation. Courses might focus on the representation of racial and ethnic difference, racism within film and media industries, or both. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Television Production & Televisual Literacy

An introduction to the basic concepts and processes of television production. Emphasis is placed on the creation and analysis of ideas communicated through the medium of television, including aesthetic, ethical and technical influences on message construction. Students learn studio and field production: basic scripting, lighting, audio, camera/picturization, editing, directing, etc. Televisual literacy is developed, and assignments apply the critical skills needed to interpret and analyze visual imagery and television programming. (Cross-listed with COMM 236)

National and Transnational Cinema Topics

Introduces students to the study of filmmaking traditions (and counter-traditions) within a national, geographic, cultural, or linguistic context through textual analysis, class discussion, and writing assignments. Some topics center on a national cinema tradition situated within a particular cultural, political, and/or historical context. Others examine the ways in which cinema transcends national boundaries and/or explore narrative and/or aesthetic strategies that reference more than one community, national, or cultural tradition. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Making the Video Diary (Production)

This course guides students to create a unique form of digital storytelling through documenting their everyday lives, as they respond and speak to their surroundings as well as social and personal issues through image and sound. In this course, students explore new ways to communicate with the world and investigate their own themes and interests as artists and creators. The semester will end with an exhibition that showcases student work. No previous experience in production is required.

Film, Television, and New Media Topics (formerly FILM 241)

Introduces students to the critical study of film, television, and/or new media through the lens of a specific concept, issue in film or media cultures and traditions, or scholarly trend. Topics might focus on a single medium or take a comparative approach. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Experimental Animation (Production)

An introductory production course that explores the magical possibilities of animation through various processes, encouraging students to broaden their artistic perspectives and visualize their stories. Students will experiment with diverse mediums such as claymation, collage/cut paper, direct drawing, and stop motion to expand their creative practice, and will be able to apply their animation work to various forms of media arts and film. No previous experience in production is required.

Global Cinema

This introductory film course is a survey of contemporary films from across the globe. Students will be exposed to a diverse array of culturally distinct and unique aesthetic expressions and will be encouraged to engage perspective(s) apart from their own while discussing topics including, but not limited to, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, class, and sexual orientation.

African American Cinema

Reading African American cinema as a pivotal archive in African American cultural production, this course explores the diverse black aesthetic traditions that African American film has and continues to develop, explore, and shape. Specifically, the course will track how films produced, written, and/or directed by African Americans are situated in larger debates about the politics of race and representation.

Gender and Sexuality in Film, Television, and New Media Topics

Introduces students to the study of gender and sexuality within film, television, and/or new media. Topics could include courses that engage queer theory, feminist theory, and/or masculinities studies in their application to film, television, and/or new media. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Documentary Film (formerly FILM 280)

This course seeks to broaden students' perspective of various societies and social issues through exploring documentary film history and cultures, and to investigate what's involved in the process of rendering 'the world out there' through image and sound. Students will examine diverse international documentary films which illustrate different styles and aesthetics while discussing gender, race, environment, and ethical issues.

History of Film, Television, and Media Topics (formerly FILM 220)

Introduces students to key moments and movements in film and/or media history. Topics could focus on one medium or multiple media. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Film and Media Theory

Provides students who already have an introductory background in the critical study of film and media studies with the most salient classic and contemporary theories in the field. Prerequisite: FLME 100.

Writing for the Screen Topics

A topics course that explores particular forms and genres in writing for the screen. Topics may include television writing, web series writing, writing across genres, adaptation, or writing the short film script. Students will analyze genre-specific models, learn genre-specific terminology, formatting, structure, and practices, and produce their own original scripts through a scaffolded workshop process. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or ENG 149 or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with a different topic. (Cross-listed with ENG 343 and COMM 319.)

Advanced Topics in Film, Television, and New Media

Offers students the opportunity to delve deeply into a specific area within the critical study of film, television, and/or new media, and to develop research skills necessary for original scholarly inquiry. Topics may range across different critical, theoretical, and historical concerns. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Screenwriting

An introduction to the fundamentals of screenwriting, in theory and in practice. Students will explore story, character, dialogue, and structure as relates to writing for film; learn the screenplay format; and participate in writing workshop and discussion. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or ENG 149 or permission of instructor. (Cross-listed with ENG 342)

Advanced Digital Film Production Topics (formerly FILM 331)

An advanced topics course that engages students in specific aspects or modes of digital film production. Courses may focus on honing such skills as digital film editing, cinematography, or directing for the camera or in creating content within a particular storytelling medium. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or permission of instructor. May be repeated for credit with a different topic.

Media Industries

This course examines the operations and logics of contemporary media industries, primarily in a U.S. context but understanding that media industries are increasingly intertwined on a global scale. The course will pay particular attention to the historical structure and regulations of media industries, and their impacts on creative work.

Creating the Short Film (Production)

An intensive production course in which students work with various short filmmaking modes which can include narrative, documentary, experimental, and/or animation. Students learn the overall filmmaking process from pre-production to post-production, including scriptwriting, sound design, cinematography, and editing. The main goal of the course is to learn cooperation and deliver individuals' unique perspectives and ideas on the screen through image and sound. Students will participate in short team projects with specific topics and make their own final film based on their interests in themes and formats. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or permission of instructor.

Documentary Filmmaking (Production)

A production course to explore various techniques and styles in documentary filmmaking. This course aims to help students practice ethical approaches to filmmaking and understand themselves, their community, and the world more deeply. Students will practice working with non-professional actors and develop the aesthetics of visual storytelling in the documentary filmmaking process. Collaboration is encouraged, and every student will participate in at least two short documentary projects. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or permission of instructor.

Feminist Film Practices (Production)

In this production course students and professor collectively explore possible definitions, methods, approaches, production models, interventions, histories, and potential futures of feminist filmmaking. Experimentation, formal innovation, DIY activism, and collaboration will be encouraged. Ultimately, this class is an invitation for students to consider new conditions of possibility for making the culture they want to live in, and to discover and develop their unique voice through a fresh process of creation. Prerequisite: FLME 195 or permission of instructor.

Independent Study in Film and Media Arts

Independent project under tutorial supervision designed for juniors and seniors wishing to work in depth on a particular aspect of film and/or other media.

Senior Capstone Project Prep (formerly FILM 429)

The two-semester Senior Capstone Experience is the culmination of the Film and Media Arts major in which students create a final project of significant length and complexity, spanning fall and spring semester of their senior year. Whether the final project is a scholarly thesis paper of significant length and scope or a creative/production-oriented venture (such as a feature-length screenplay, short film, or other moving-image media project), the capstone project requires extensive planning, organization, and dedication, along with the ability to meet deadlines and work closely with a faculty advisor/instructor. To this end, the Film and Media Arts Senior Project Prep (FLME 429) is a .25-credit fall prelude to the Film and Media arts Senior Seminar (FLME 430), in which students submit project proposals for approval, and then complete additional preparatory work, including research, outlining, and/or preliminary pre-production. This provides a solid base from which to begin the second, full (1) credit semester seminar.

Senior Capstone Project Seminar (formerly FILM 430)

This course is the culmination of FLME 429. In this seminar-style course, students are immersed in the progressive filmmaking phases of pre-production/production/post-production (if making a short film or other moving-image media project), or intensive writing and revision (if creating a feature-length screenplay, teleplay or scholarly paper). At the year's end, students present their work to an audience. Prerequisite: FLME 429.