Film Media

The Film Media Program offers a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree. For information on the Minor in Film Media see the Minor Fields of Study section in this catalog.

Faculty: Jerry DeSchepper, director. Professors Devlin, Gititi, Leo, Manteiga, Onorato, Strom, Swift, Vocino, Walton, Wood; Associate Professors Durand, Reaves, Sama, Wills; Assistant Professors Hutt, Meagher, Moore, Zorabedian; Lecturer Conlon.

This interdisciplinary major offers students a curriculum which reflects developments in the field of film and film-related media: the expanding and often overlapping technologies involved in the production of moving images (filmic, electronic, and/or cybernetic); the broadening of their cultural and aesthetic contexts (where cinematic practices extend into television, video games, computer imagery, and virtual reality); and the increasingly cross-disciplinary nature of the theoretical responses to these developments. A wide range of courses is offered to acquaint students with the ways and means of production, distribution and exhibition of moving imagescourses which examine the historical, theoretical and technological approaches to this field of study. A broad understanding is seen as essential because film and film-related media have become increasingly international and global enterprises.

Students majoring in Film Media must complete a minimum of 30 credits (maximum 45). All students must complete the core courses: FLM101 Introduction to Film and Screen Studies*, FLM203 Film Theory, FLM204 History of Film I (or FLM205 History of Film II), including the senior-level FLM495 Seminar in Film Media; a minimum of 12 credits from the production and technique category and the balance from the critical studies category (see below). This wide range of choices in film media courses permits students to design a major that will meet both personal and professional career goals. Students must have a plan of study approved by an academic advisor in the film media program before beginning their coursework in the two categories.

Foundation Courses (12 credits)
FLM101 Introduction to Film Media (3)*
FLM203 Film Media Theory (3)
FLM204 History of Film I (3), or FLM205 History of Film II (3)
FLM495 Seminar in Film Media (3)

Production & Technique Courses (12-15 credits)
These courses focus on the different approaches to and the practices of
film/video production: how moving images are created, designed and used to
serve a variety of functions. All require experiential, hands-on production work.

ART204 Digital Art and Design I (3)
ART215 Video and Filmmaking I (3)
ART304 Digital Art and Design II (3)
ART316 Video and Filmmaking II (3)
ART417 Video and Filmmaking III (3)
ARH376 History of Animation (3)
ARH377 History of Experimental Film (3)
COM341 Documentary Pre-Production (3)
COM342 Documentary Production (3)
COM445 Television Advertising (3)
FLM401 Field Experience in Film and Media (3)
JOR220 Media Writing (3)
JOR230 Introduction to Radio and Television News (3)

Critical Studies Courses (6-9 credits)
These courses emphasize the important traditions of genre and the literary and
aesthetic approaches toward understanding and valuing film and media, and
integrate the broad historical, cultural and ideological contexts in which film and
media are situated.

AAF352 Black Images in Film (3)
ARH374 Topics in Film (3)
CLS450N Hispanic Stereotypes in Fiction and Film (3)
COM346 Social and Cultural Aspects of Media (3)
COM414 Rhetoric of Sports in Film (3)
ENG300A Literature into Film: Drama (3)
ENG300B Literature into Film: Narrative (3)
ENG302 Topics in Film Theory and Criticism (3)
ENG303 Cinematic Auteurs (3)
ENG304 Film Genres (3)
FRN320 Studies in French Cinema (3)
HIS358 Recent America in Film (3)
HPR311H Honors Tutorial: Images of Masculinity in American Cinema (3)
HPR311J Honors Tutorial: Rebel Images in American Films (3)
HPR411 Honors Seminar: Money & Misery (3)
ITL315 Italian Cinema (3)
JOR110 Introduction to the Mass Media (3)
JOR311 Media Criticism in America (3)
WMS350F Women and Film (3)

* HPR105F Honors Study: Understanding the Feature Film (3) may be
substituted for FLM101

Film Festival

         Each Spring semester the University of Rhode Island College of Arts & Sciences holds its annual URI Visualizations Film Festival Undergraduate students at URI interested in film or video are encouraged to enter this competition, in which winners are awarded cash prizes and receive recognition for their achievement. There are five production divisions, including animation, commercials, documentary, experimental, and an open category, plus two divisions in film writing: film criticism and screenwriting. Entries are accepted in March for screenings and presentations of awards at a two-day ceremony in April.