Programs / Undergraduate Program

Requirements for the Film & Media major (Fall 2020 or later)

Film Major

To declare a major in Film, students must have completed a minimum of 30 units and have satisfactorily completed Film 10 or 20 with a grade of C or higher.

Student must receive C- or higher in all of the classes for the major in order for them to count towards requirements. Please note that courses for the major in which a student earns below a C- will not be counted, and the student will need to retake that class to have it count. 

Student must have at least a 2.0 GPA in the major in order to graduate. 

We do not offer a minor in Film, although we do offer a departmental Summer Certificate in Film & Media Industries and Professions.

Double Majors

Many Film & Media majors elect to complete a second major in addition to Film & Media. Students must be able to complete both majors within a within their given number of terms, or have a unit total of less than 136 units if pursuing additional semesters. Students can have no more than two courses which are counted towards both majors’ requirements. Students considering a double major should consult with their Undergraduate Major Advisors in each department.

Lower Division Requirements

12 lower-division units are required for the major.

Two courses are required of all majors:

  • Film 10 (Film History and Form), 4 units, generally offered Fall, Spring, and Summer. This course is an introduction to the early history of cinema (from its nineteenth-century prehistory to the sound cinema of the 1930s) and to the interpretive skills necessary for close analysis of film. NOTE: this is a revised and renumbered version of Film 25A in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 20 (Film and Media Theory), 4 units, generally offered each Fall, Spring, and Summer. This course is an introduction to the theoretical study of a range of media, including photography, film, television, video, and print and digital media.

One of the three following courses completes the lower-division course requirement:

  • Film 30 (Film Aesthetics), 4 units, generally offered each Fall and Summer. This course familiarizes students with some of the major technological and aesthetic innovations of the past 80 years which have given rise to the cinema as we know it today. NOTE: this is a revised and renumbered version of Film 25B in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 35 (Digital Media), 4 units, offered in Spring. This course examines the ways in which digital media first developed and have come to shape our engagement with contemporary culture, with a particular focus on aesthetics, form, and politics.
  • Film 45 (Television Studies), 4 units, offered in Fall. This course provides an overview of the history of television as a dynamic set of technologies, industrial practices, and cultural forms.

Upper Division Requirements

A minimum of 28 upper-division units are required for the major.

Upper-Division Core Requirement. Successful completion of three of the following four courses (12 units):

  • Film 125 (Documentary Forms), 4 units, generally offered in Spring. Examines the ways in which documentary impulses and forms are present in various media—photography, film, video, new media. NOTE: this is a revised version of Film 128 (Documentary Film) in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 135 (Alternative and Experimental Media Art), 4 units, generally offered in Fall. The course explores the international development of artist-made, experimental and avant-garde film, electronic or new media practices.NOTE: this is a revised version of Film 129 (Avant-Garde Film) in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 145 (Global Media), 4 units, generally offered in Fall and Spring. This course focuses on topics in national, transnational, and global cinema, television, photography, and/or new media, examining the ways in which shared cultural discourses, institutions, histories, and modes of production are negotiated through various media practices within and between individual cities, nations, regions, and/or global networks. NOTE: this new variable-topics course could include some of the courses taught as Film 160 (National Cinema) in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 155 (Media Technologies), 4 units, generally offered in Spring. This course focuses on the history, theory, and experience of old and new media technologies, examining the emergence and implementation of media technologies, the discourses surrounding them, their use by media institutions and/or artists, and the forms, styles, aesthetics, modes of address, and experiences they afford. NOTE: new course design for this curriculum.

Upper-Division Elective Requirement. Successful completion of a minimum 16 units of elective courses chosen from the following

  • Film 170 (Special topics in Film and Media), 4 units, generally offered in Fall and Spring. NOTE: this is a renumbered version of Film 140 in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 171 (Special Topics in Film Genre), 4 units. NOTE: this is a renumbered version of Film 108 (Film Genre) in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 172 (Special Topics in Auteur Theory), 4 units. NOTE: this is a renumbered version of Film 151 (Auteur Theory) in the previous curriculum.
  • Film 177 (Entertainment Law), 4 units. Taught in Summer only. Can be double-counted as a Film major requirement and FMIP certificate requirement.
  • Film 180 (Introduction to Screenwriting), 4 units.
  • Film 181 (Advanced Screenwriting), 4 units.
  • Film 182 (Television Screenwriting), 4 units.
  • Film 184 (Documentary and Nonfiction Film Production), 4 units.
  • Film 185 (Narrative Production), 4 units.
  • Film 186 (Advanced Digital Video), 4 units.
  • Film 187 (Special Topics in Media Production), 4 units.
  • Film 190 (Capstone Seminar), 4 units.
  • Film 193 (Intermediate Film Writing), 4 units.
  • Film 194 (Advanced Film Writing), 4 units. Juniors and Seniors only.
  • Film H195 (Honor’s Thesis), 4 units.

Internships

These opportunities may supplement the upper-division elective coursework, although only four units may be counted towards the 28 upper-division unit requirement for the Film majors. Students who have identified an external internship for which they wish to receive credit should consult with Nico Pereda, the Undergraduate Faculty Advisor, regarding enrollment in Film 197B. Only 4-units of internship units. Film 197B: Film Study for Majors (3 units), 

In addition, a list of pre-approved film elective courses and course descriptions drawn from course offerings by affiliated faculty across the campus is available each semester. The faculty Undergraduate Major Advisor (UMA) will distribute and post the approved list to Film majors each term. Students should consult with the UMA regarding course selections.

Up to two (8 units) pre-approved extra-departmental elective courses can be counted for credit towards the major, this also includes waived (approved classes taken at other institutions) and approved courses while taken abroad; all other courses must be taken within the Department of Film & Media.

*Of the 16 elective units required for the major, only one 4-unit course may be taken P/NP; all other courses must be taken for a letter grade.