Film Studies Minor
Minor Description
The Minor in Film Studies enables students to explore the history and craft of filmmaking. Students begin with an introductory course in the language of cinematic storytelling, exploring how advances in technology bring new challenges and opportunities, surveying major directors and genres, and demonstrating how film exists at the intersection of business, technology, and art. Additionally, students choose five additional courses in film history, visual storytelling, criticism, or production. The Minor provides a flexible format that complements a major course of study in a different department at Wesleyan.
Students in the Film Studies minor develop a critical and creative approach to the medium based on a strong visual vocabulary, extensive viewing, and a grasp of film production.
Admission to the Minor
In accordance with the University guidelines, students minoring in film studies must complete six courses for a grade (courses taken as Credit/Unsatisfactory will not count) and achieve a B average. Internships and student forums do not count toward the minor.
Before becoming eligible for the minor, you must complete FILM307 as a prerequisite with a grade of B or better. You must also activate a minor course registration chart with the department (see the minor administrator). Transfer courses cannot be used for the prerequisite. After acceptance into the minor, you may submit courses taken overseas or at other universities to be considered on a case-by-case basis for credit.
Minor Requirements
FILM307 should be taken during the first or sophomore year. Students must meet with the minor administrator, Lisa Mingione at lmingione@wesleyan.edu to declare the minor. After that, they must complete five additional courses before graduation. Some course selections are subject to prerequisites from other departments.
Courses
The list of courses currently recognized as part of the film studies minor includes. (Please note that not all courses will be available every semester.)
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FILM301 | History of Spanish Cinema | 1 |
| FILM304 | History of Global Cinema | 1 |
| FILM305 | Sophomore Colloquium for Declaring Majors | 1 |
| FILM307 | Cinematic Storytelling: Styles, Tools, and Journeys | 1 |
| FILM311 | Israel in Therapy: Society Under the Influence of TV Series | 1 |
| FILM230 | Introduction to Korean Cinema | 1 |
| FILM318 | Awesome Cinema: Religion, Art, and the Unrepresentable | 1 |
| FILM231 | Wartime Film Culture in the Japanese Empire | 1 |
| FILM232 | Minority Voices in Japanese Film and Literature | 1 |
| FILM250 | Computational Media: Videogame Development | 2 |
| FILM305 | Sophomore Colloquium for Declaring Majors | 1 |
| FILM307 | Cinematic Storytelling: Styles, Tools, and Journeys | 1 |
| FILM309 | Film Noir | 1 |
| FILM312 | The Short Film: Study and Practice | 1 |
| FILM314 | Directorial Style: Classic American Film Comedy | 1 |
| FILM319 | Television Storytelling: The Conditions of Narrative Complexity | 1 |
| FILM318 | Awesome Cinema: Religion, Art, and the Unrepresentable | 1 |
| FILM319 | Television Storytelling: The Conditions of Narrative Complexity | 1 |
| FILM322 | Alfred Hitchcock | 1 |
| FILM323 | Film and Anthropology | 1 |
| FILM333 | Introduction to Russian and Soviet Cinema | 1 |
| FILM341 | The Cinema of Horror | 1 |
| FILM342 | Cinema of Adventure and Action | 1 |
| FILM370 | The Art of Film Criticism | 1 |
| FILM372 | Hong Kong Cinema | 1 |
| FILM390 | History of Film Sound | 1 |
| FILM395 | Autobiographical Storytelling | 1 |
| FILM396 | Black Cinema in the U.S. | 1 |
| FILM397 | Cinema and City in Asia | 1 |
| FILM435 | Directing the Documentary | 1 |
| FILM324 | Visual Storytelling: The History and Art of Hollywood's Master Storytellers | 1 |
| FILM326 | At Home in the World: Transnational Women's Cinema | 1 |
| FILM328 | Moving Images Beyond the West: An introduction to Global Media | 1 |
| FILM329 | Bollywood and Beyond: Introduction to Indian Cinema | 1 |
| FILM331 | Video Games as/and the Moving Image: Art, Aesthetics, and Design | 1 |
| FILM336 | Silent Storytelling | 1 |
| FILM346 | Contemporary East Asian Cinema | 1 |
| FILM347 | Melodrama and the Woman's Picture | 1 |
| FILM348 | Postwar American Independent Cinema | 1 |
| FILM349 | Television: The Domestic Medium | 1 |
| FILM350 | Contemporary International Art Cinema | 1 |
| FILM358 | Italian Cinema: 1945-1965 | 1 |
| FILM360 | Philosophy and the Movies: The Past on Film | 1 |
| FILM362 | Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: The Dark Turn in Television Storytelling | 1 |
| FILM381 | The Films and Influences of Martin Scorsese | 1 |
| FILM384 | Documentary Storytelling | 1 |
| FILM385 | Documentary History: An Introduction | 1 |
| FILM387 | Seminar on Television Series and Aesthetics | 1 |
| FILM388 | Global Film Auteurs | 1 |
| FILM389 | Film Genres: The Western | 1 |
| FILM391 | Sex and Violence: American Film-making Under Censorship | 1 |
| FILM392 | Cinema Stylists: Sternberg, Ophuls, Sirk, Fellini | 1 |
| FILM430 | Documentary Production | 1 |
| FILM451 | Introduction to Digital Filmmaking | 1 |
| FILM453 | The Art and Craft of Film Adaptation | 1 |
| FILM460 | TV Writer's Room | 1 |
| FILM454 | Screenwriting | 1 |
| FILM455 | Writing for Television | 1 |
| FILM458 | Screenwriting: The Short Film | 1 |
| FILM459 | Writing for Television II | 1 |
| AMST315 | Entertaining Social Change | 1 |
| ANTH244 | Television: The Domestic Medium | 1 |
| ANTH285 | Film and Anthropology | 1 |
| ANTH361 | Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: The Dark Turn in Television Storytelling | 1 |
| CEAS232 | Introduction to Chinese Film | 1 |
| CEAS234 | Modern Korea in Film and Fiction | 1 |
| CEAS248 | South Korean Cinema: Re/imagining Modern History on Screen | 1 |
| CEAS266 | Modern Korean Women's Literature and Film | 1 |
| CJST234 | Israel in Therapy: Society Under the Influence of TV Series | 1 |
| CJST248 | Designing Reality in Israeli Documentary Film | 1 |
| COL249 | Thinking By Analogy: The Philosophical Use of a Literary Form | 1 |
| GOVT298 | Terrorism and Film | 1 |
| GOVT387 | Foreign Policy at the Movies | 1 |
| REES233 | Introduction to Russian and Soviet Cinema | 1 |
| RL&L233 | Modern Italy on the Silver Screen: 1960--2015 | 1 |
| RL&L301 | History of Spanish Cinema | 1 |
| SPAN280 | Screening Youth in Contemporary Latin American Cinema | 1 |
| FILM232 | Minority Voices in Japanese Film and Literature | 1 |
| FILM231 | Wartime Film Culture in the Japanese Empire | 1 |
| FILM230 | Introduction to Korean Cinema | 1 |
| ARST286 | Introduction to Time-Based Media | 1 |
| ARST386 | Intermediate Time-Based Media | 1 |
| ITAL245 | Not Just Neorealism: Italian Cinema, its History and Politics (CLAC.50) | .5 |