Film & Media Studies at WashU
As our national and international cultures become increasingly dominated by visual culture, we acknowledge the need to study those forms, which provide our chief sources of entertainment and information. This need speaks to our desire to become critical viewers, knowledgeable in the history of the most popular art forms of our century and possessing the analytical skills to understand and interpret visual forms of expression.
Students, who gain skills in writing and analysis, as they should in any rigorous course of study in the humanities, can work in many professions, such as journalism and publishing, business, law, medicine, social work, and teaching. Film and media majors who seek careers in the entertainment and information industries will certainly gain an intellectual perspective on these forms that should enhance their professional lives. But this major will also benefit any student looking at other possible professions because it shares the aim of a liberal arts curriculum to train students in rigorous analytical thinking and provide them with historical knowledge.
Although Film and Media Studies administrates its own curriculum, many of its courses are cross-listed with American Culture Studies, Art History, Comparative Literature, East Asian Studies, English, Germanic Languages and Literatures, History, Performing Arts and Women and Gender Studies.
Explore your creative side
Film and Media Studies offers several courses in screenwriting and video production that allow our students to fulfill their creative potential. Through exercises and pro-jects, students receive hands on instruction and professional evaluation of their work in a workshop environment. Past students have made their own music videos, public service announcements, and fictional and documentary shorts. Capstone experiences allow students to work on an even broader canvas creating their own 20 to 30 minute videos or writing a feature-length screenplay.
