Film Studies Certificate: Overview

As cameras capable of capturing high quality moving images and computer-based editing programs become increasingly common, the capacity to make movies is in the hands of more people than ever before. But being a filmmaker means more than knowing how to push some buttons. At the level of a craft, filmmaking is an endeavor requiring a high level of technical skill and knowledge. At the level of an artform, it is an endeavor that involves understanding the complex ways in which emotions and ideas are created through combinations of images and sound.

The Certificate in Film Production is a 24-credit program that provides aspiring filmmakers the foundational skills in shooting, scripting, and editing film and video necessary to make films at a level of technical and aesthetic sophistication beyond the work of an amateur, but without pursuing the more advanced coursework and wholistic goals involved in the B.A. program in Cinema Studies and Film Production. Beyond the basic production sequence, Certificate students have the opportunity to take 9 credits of electives in film production or cinema studies courses, including up to 3 workshop credits.

The Certificate in Film Production is designed so that it can be completed in anywhere between two to four semesters of part time or full time coursework. In addition to the ability to do independent work in film and video production, graduates of the Certificate program are qualified to serve as production assistants on professional film productions and to work in entry-level positions in production companies or television stations.