Major Requirements

Core courses: Majors in film studies are required to take three core courses (or approved alternates): FILM/ENGL 265. Introduction to Film Studies, FILM 201. Basic Filmmaking, and FILM/ENGL 372. Hollywood Film Directors; FILM/ENGL 265 should be taken by the end of the second year as a prerequisite for declaring the major.

Electives: In addition to three core courses, students majoring in film studies are required to take a total of eight additional full course credits from three distribution areas (national cinemas and topics in film history; film theory and topics in criticism; and film production and related arts), taking no more than four and no less than two courses in any one area. At least four of the eight courses taken in the distribution areas must be at the 300 level or above. At most one elective can be an independent study, and the course must be approved by a film faculty advisor and the director of the film studies program. Teaching assistantships cannot be counted toward the elective distribution.

Capstone/Senior project: Students can fulfill the capstone requirement for the major in film studies either by completing a senior seminar in film studies (400-level courses designated as such will be determined each year) or by completing a one-semester thesis (FILM 497) or a two-semester senior thesis (FILM 498 and FILM 499) in either film studies or film production.

Senior thesis projects are restricted to students doing a major in film studies. The senior project can either be a piece of film studies scholarship (i.e. a written thesis) or a film production (i.e. a thesis film); in either case the topic for the project is selected by the student and the project is designed in consultation with the supervising faculty member. By the end of the spring semester of their junior year, students who intend to do a senior project will consult with the program director to discuss the topic for the project and identify appropriate faculty members to supervise it. Once the topic has been developed and approved by a faculty supervisor, a proposal is submitted to the film studies program director.

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Study away: Students majoring in film studies are encouraged to take advantage of Trinity’s relationships with institutions away that offer courses in film studies and production. Though the full list of other study-away sites for possible film-related courses is quite extensive, they include Prague, Czech Republic (through the CIEE program housed at the renowned Czech film school FAMU), and Perth, Australia (at Curtin University, where a semester program in film production ends with a study tour of Asia).

Honors: To be awarded honors for the major in film studies, students are are required complete a two-semester capstone (either a senior seminar in film studies and a one-semester thesis or a two-semester thesis) and earn a GPA of at least 3.67 in courses counted toward the major.