Interdisciplinary Minor in Cinema and Media Studies
The Department of English is pleased offer this new interdepartmental major in conjunction with the Department of Communications. The minor covers the history, theory, criticism, and practice of the moving image and aims to create active and critical viewers and producers of films and other audio-visual texts. The minor carries a five course load.
Students in the minor will learn
- To recognize the fundamental building blocks of film form, including mise en scene, editing, cinematography and sound.
- To produce a piece of media (including film, photography and/or new media).
- To distinguish between types of films (narrative, non-narrative, experimental, documentary) and well as film genres (comedy, film noir, western, musical).
- To analyze how the images in film and media convey certain viewpoints or ideas.
- To use media in strategic and civic ways.
A minor in Cinema and Media Studies is comprised of two required courses and three electives.
Required Courses
English 195: The Art of Film
Offered every fall
Prerequisite: None
Instructor: Suzanne Leonard, Department of English
Serves as an introduction to film analysis by teaching the basics of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound as well as fundamental principles of film narrative, style, and genre. Because the class is meant as a general introduction to the study of cinema, films are chosen from a number of different historical periods and national contexts, including classical Hollywood cinema.
English 221: The Critical Lens: Introduction to Film and Media Theory
Prerequisite: None
Instructors: Ellen Grabiner, Department of Communications, and Suzanne Leonard, Department of English
Introduces students to the main schools of theory in cinema and media studies, including realism, montage, auteur theory, genre, semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminism, queer theory, critical race theory, reception theory, star studies, third and accented cinemas. Course will include weekly screenings of film, television and media texts.
Elective Courses
Three Electives May Be Chosen from the Following
- Africana Studies 300: Black Popular Culture
- Art/Communications 138: Introduction to Photography and the Traditional Lab*
- Art/Communications 139: Introduction to Photography and the Digital Lab*
- Art/Communications 232: Digital Photography II*
- Art/Communications 239: Documentary Photography*
- Art/Communications 237: Advanced Photography Workshop*
- Art 249: History of Photography
- Music 165: Music in Film
- Chinese 214: Contemporary Chinese Cinema
- Communications 120: Communications Media*
- Communications 121: Visual Communication
- Communications 124: Media, Messages, and Society
- Communications 222: Animation*
- Communications 220: Video Production*
- English 252: Studies in Film Genre
- English 327: Race and Gender in Psychoanalytic Discourse
- English 398: Feminist Film Studies
- History 117: History Through Novels and Film
- History 329: Film and Historical Representation
- Philosophy 152: Philosophy Through Literature and Film
- Spanish 314: Hispanic Culture as Seen through Film
** Restrictions on electives:
One elective must be a production class. (Production classes designated with *)
At least one elective must be at the 200 or 300 level.
No more than two photography classes will be counted toward the minor.
Affiliated Faculty Include:
Pamela Bromberg, Professor, Department of English
James Corcoran, Chair of the Department of Communications, Associate Professor of Communications
Sheldon George, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Alister Inglis, Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Ellen Grabiner, Assistant Professor, Department of Communications
Marlene G. Fine, Professor, Department of Communications
Kelly Hager, Associate Professor, Department of English
Sarah Leonard, Assistant Professor, Department of History
Suzanne Leonard, Assistant Professor, Department of English
Douglas Perry, Chair of the English Department, Associate Professor of English
Judy Richland, Instructor, Department of Communications
Gregory Slowik, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Music
Vaughn Sills, Chair of the Department of Art and Music, Associate Professor of Art and Music
For more information on the minor please contact:
Suzanne Leonard
suzanne.leonard@simmons.edu
Office: C301D
Phone: 617-521-2544
Ellen Grabiner
ellen.grabiner@simmons.edu
Office: L322
Phone: 617-521-2827