Minor in Film Studies
Art History Department
Art Building 128, 707-664-2364
Faculty:
James E. Gray, American Multicultural Studies
Michael G. Litle, Communication Studies
Robert Coleman-Senghor, English
The film studies minor is an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental program that analyzes the history, theory and practice of film in the larger context of humanistic studies. Students will study a broad range of film texts, from the classical narrative to abstractionist and experimental, and learn to appreciate the aesthetics and film making practices of both Western and non-Western cultures. While exploring the medium's connection with several disciplines and art forms, students will also become familiar with the phases of film production and learn to approach film and the cinema in a critical and analytic manner. The film studies minor offers students a flexible curriculum that complements several existing major degree programs in the humanities and constitutes excellent supplementary preparation for a number of careers. In consultation with the program coordinator, students can design a minor with an emphasis relevant to their academic and career objectives.
Minor Core Requirements
The minor consists of a minimum of 18 semester units distributed among a core (nine units) and a choice of electives (nine or more units).
| Course | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ArtH 212A or B | Introduction to World Film History | 3 |
| ArtH 361 | Classic Narrative Film | 3 |
| ArtH 363 | Other Cinemas | 3 |
| Total units in the minor core | 9 |
Minor Electives
Students may complete the film studies minor by choosing additional courses in film history or three courses within any one of the following four options:
Film and Literature Option
These courses study different aspects of the complex relationship between film and literature: the role of screenwriting in the process of film production; the problems of adaptation; the comparative study of literary and filmic texts; and the special contribution that literary analysis has made to the study of film.
| Course | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ENGL 377 | Film and Literature | 3 |
| FREN 415 | Selected Topics in French Culture | 4 |
| Total units in the option | 9 - 12 |
Critical Perspectives Option
Each of the following courses brings a specific disciplinary approach to bear on the study of film, drawing on perspectives from the humanities and social sciences: aesthetics, ethics, structuralism, semiology, politics and sociological analysis.
| Course | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| COMS 202 | Media Criticism | 3 |
| COMS 402 | Advanced Media Criticsm | 3 |
| PHIL 368 | Philosophy and Film | 3 |
| SOCI 434 | Cinema and Society | 4 |
| Total units in the option | 9 - 13 |
Film and the Fine Arts Option
This group of courses focuses on the relationship of film to artistic and theatrical traditions and practices: film analysis and theories of visual aesthetics; film and artistic movements in the 20th century (such as expressionism, futurism and surrealism); film and the media arts; film and the theatrical arts of production design, acting and directing.
| Course | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| ArtS 208 | Basic Black & White Photography | 1 - 4 |
| ArtH 464 | History of Modern Art: 20th Century | 3 - 4 |
| ArtH 465 | History of Modern Art: American | 3 - 4 |
| COMS 201 | Storytelling Via Video | 3 |
| THAR 120A | Acting Fundamentals | 2 |
| THAR 144A or THAR 144B |
Scenery or Lighting | 2 |
| THAR 350 | Directing Workshop | 2 |
| Total units in the option | 9 – 12 |
International and Cross-cultural Perspectives Option
These courses develop an understanding of aesthetics and film making practices that stand outside the dominant model of the classic narrative film and the representation of the cultural "other" within the dominant Western tradition.
| Course | Description | Units |
|---|---|---|
| AMCS 392 | Ethnic Images in Film and Media | 3 |
| CALS 393 | Chicano/Latino Cinema | 3 |
| FREN 415 | Selected Topics in French Culture | 3 |
| NAMS 338 | Native Americans and the Cinema | 3 |
| Total units in the option | 9-12 |
Note: No more than 6 units of work in the student's major may be counted toward the film studies minor. Students are encouraged to take at least one elective course with a regional or intercultural perspective.