Film and Media Studies

The Film and Media Studies Program offers a minor in Film and Media Studies.

To live in the 21st Century is to engage in the consumption, production, and distribution of sounds, images, and information. The Interdisciplinary Program in Film and Media Studies enables our students to gain a sophisticated understanding of media—defined as the multiple channels, technologies, and interfaces through which information, ideas, and emotions are stored, shared, and reciprocated—and the ways that media shape our understanding of the world and our ability to act in it. Through the Minor in Film and Media Studies, students will develop media fluency: the ability to analyze, contextualize, create, and use media as the exercise of citizen leadership.

The Minor in Film and Media Studies combines three emphases: media history and theory; experiential learning in media creation; and media and social justice. Through the Minor, students may elect to combine the study of media with their other fields of interest. Georgetown College’s Program in Film and Media Studies is distinguished by its focus on the relations between media and social justice. The members of our faculty understand the study of media to be inextricably linked to questions of power, rights, human development, and self-determination. Our students investigate these questions historically and theoretically and through their own creative and collaborative work.

Film and Media Studies Minor

Requirements for the Minor

The Minor consists of six required courses:

  • FMST-1100, Gateway to Film and Media Studies
  • FMST-1181, Introduction to Filmmaking
  • Intermediate course which explores Media and Social Justice (pre-approved: FMST-3399, CBL Social Justice Documentary; FMST-3398, Gaming and Justice; or FMST-3355, Documentary Film: History and Theory. However, students may propose another course to fulfill the social justice requirement (approval by the Program Director required).
  • 1 FMST Elective
  • Senior sequence, FMST-4970 & 4971, Capstone

Students will be introduced to the study of media through a gateway course (FMST-1100) and an introduction course in digital filmmaking (FMST-1181).

The gateway course will lay out key learning goals for the program:

  • Students will acquire the vocabulary and concepts necessary to analyze media.
  • Students will develop the capacity for close analysis of media.
  • Students will develop understandings of media in historical, cultural, and linguistic contexts.

The introduction to digital filmmaking course will provide practical skills in media creation:

  • Students will learn how to shoot video, record audio, and to edit in narrative, documentary, and experimental modes.
  • Students will explore critical and theoretical concepts through media creation.

The third, intermediate requirement is a course exploring media and social justice.  Typically, students enroll in either FMST-3399, Social Justice Documentary; FMST-3398, Gaming and Justice; or FMST-3355, Documentary Film: History and Theory in their junior year. However, students may propose an alternative course to fulfill the social justice requirement (by approval of the FMST Program Director). 

The program culminates in a year-long capstone sequence (FMST-4970 and FMST-4971) in which the students propose, develop, and produce projects involving the study and creation of media. Students wishing to pursue media creation as a capstone project are expected to work collaboratively with at least one other student. The gateway and capstone courses will be taught on a rotating basis by the core faculty in Film and Media Studies, along with other faculty affiliated with the Program.

Curricular Pathways

The interdisciplinary minor in Film and Media Studies requires a total of six courses. There are four required courses, one additional course in social justice, and one elective. Students may use study abroad courses to help fulfill these requirements. The minor is typically completed through coursework taken in the junior and senior years; however, courses completed in the first or second year may be applied towards the minor with approval from Professor Sky Sitney, the Program Director of FMST.

In fall of junior year, minors enroll in at least two FMST courses. For course descriptions, see the program webpage.

FMST-1110: Gateway to Film and Media Studies

FMST-1181: Intro to Filmmaking

If a Minor plans to study abroad during the fall semester of junior year, she/he/they should consult with Program Director, Sky Sitney to find a suitable substitute for these two courses.

In spring of junior year, minors must enroll in at least one FMST course:

Social Justice Requirement + Elective

The interdisciplinary minor in Film and Media Studies requires two electives (one must explore media and social justice). The social justice requirement may be fulfilled by any of the following pre-approved courses, or students may propose an alternative course to fulfill the social justice requirement (by approval of the FMST Program Director): 

FMST-3399: CBL Social Justice Documentary

FMST-3398: Gaming and Justice

FMST-3355: Documentary Film: History and Theory. 

Minors planning to be abroad during the spring of junior year should consult with Program Director, Sky Sitney about the process of proposing a suitable substitute for the social justice requirement.

The elective requirement may be fulfilled by enrolling in other FMST courses or cross-listed FMST courses. A list of these courses can be found on the FMST website. Minors might choose elective course(s) to explore approaches and questions that might develop into capstone projects. For example, if a Minor is interested in writing script for a television situation comedy, that student should consider enrolling in a television studies course, or in a screenwriting course.

In senior year, minors must enroll in FMST-4970: Capstone in Film and Media Studies (fall) and FMST-4971: Capstone Completion (spring).

Upon approval by the Director of the Film and Media Studies program, students may count up to two courses taken outside of Georgetown (via study abroad, the DC Consortium, or summer study) toward the requirements of the minor.

Application

Each spring, sophomores in Georgetown College, SFS, and MSB in good academic standing may apply to the Minor program. Applications will be available in January, and a sub-committee of the Core Faculty will select the next cohort of Minors before the start of preregistration for the spring. Students admitted to the Minor should alert their deans to add it to their degree audit, and will be approved to enroll in FMST-1110: Gateway to Film and Media Studies and FMST-1181: Introduction to Filmmaking in the subsequent fall term.  

(For the application form and information, see http://filmandmediastudies.georgetown.edu/apply/information)

For course listings for Film and Media Studies, see Schedule of Classes