Lawrence University
Bachelor in Film Studies

Appleton, USA

DEGREE TYPE

Bachelor's degree

DURATION

4 years

LANGUAGES

English

PACE

Full time

APPLICATION DEADLINE

EARLIEST START DATE

STUDY FORMAT

On-Campus

Key Summary

About: Film Studies at Lawrence University treats video across formats as art and cultural artifact you can analyze. You'll study history, theory, criticism, and the technical, stylistic and rhetorical devices films use to make meaning, and you'll create work in a top-of-the-line film studio. Students pair film studies with anthropology, art history, English and creative writing, languages, music performance, studio art, or theatre.

Career Outcomes: Graduates pursue roles in film production, photography, art direction, media production, investigative journalism, digital content, documentary, and scoring. Employers include NPR, VICE, Fox; alumni pursue advanced degrees in film, fine arts, photography, and new media.

Film studies regard video material in all its formats and platforms as vital art forms and cultural artifacts that can be rigorously analyzed. Explore the history, analysis, and interpretation of video as a key form of modern culture.

Develop a background in the theory and criticism of moving images to engender a deeper level of enjoyment while examining the technical, stylistic, and rhetorical devices that films employ to create and convey meaning. You'll also have the opportunity to create and showcase your own art in a top-of-the-line film studio.

Lawrentians sometimes pair film studies with

Anthropology
Art history
English and creative writing
Languages
Music performance
Studio art
Theatre

Create with amazing tools

Film Studies - You will have amazing tools at Lawrence. From a state-of-the-art 35x40 studio with green screen, DeSisti LED Fresnel lighting, Videssence softboxes ll controlled by DMX light board, to Canon 7D MKii cameras, Arri lighting kits, Sennheiser microphones, and a Pro Tools mixing suite with the C24 control surface. Stock editing labs will help you prepare your work for screening in one of three small theatres and one large cinema

Build your knowledge of film theory and history

With a focus on history, analysis, and creation of the film as a key medium of contemporary culture, you will develop a deep understanding of how filmmakers create images and explore the technical, stylistic, and rhetorical devices that films employ to create and convey meaning—all of which you can integrate into your own filmmaking.

Components of the Major

Introduction to Film Studies
Film History I & II
Film Theory and Criticism
Avant-Documentary or Documentary Forms

Six courses from Film History, Film Theory, or Filmmaking, including:

16MM Filmmaking; Principles of Editing; Sound Design; Hollywood Goes to High School; Writer vs. Director; Masculinity in American Film; New Media in Art; Francophone and Lit & Screen Adaptations; Emergent Film/Media Markets Senior Experience project

The Chandler Senior Experience

Drawing on expertise not only in film studies, but also in the departments of anthropology, education, gender studies, history, languages, music, and studio art, Senior Experiences may be research-based or they may involve the production of film, video, or animation.

Recent Senior Experiences include:

Women in 20th Century Horror Films
Avant-Garde in Animated Films
Narrative-driven Virtual Reality
Sustainable China: Exploring the Water and Pollution Epidemic
Shocking Conduct: Sexual Assault, Masculinity, and Creed's Monstrous Feminine in Four Danish Films
Nobody’s Perfect (full-length screenplay)
Nollywood in Africa: Globalization of the Cinematic Nigerian Identity in Nigeria and Sierra Leone
Coco Puffs (Short film and artist’s statement)