Central offers an interdisciplinary minor in cinema studies that draws on resources and faculty from around the university. A curriculum for Cinema Studies may include coursework in film history, production, film theory, national cinemas, genre studies, authorship, visual culture, history, philosophy, and aesthetics. All courses in the curriculum are devoted primarily to the study or production of the moving image. A rigorous curriculum will be grounded first of all in a basic understanding of production along with cinema history and theory.
Advising FAQs for the Cinema Studies minor
As is the case with a number of programs at Central, the Cinema Studies program includes courses that are listed with different majors. As a general rule, students may not double count course credits in their majors and their minor.
A student may wonder, for example:
- Does Comm 227 or 228 count toward my Media Studies major or my Cinema Studies minor?
- Does History 476 count toward my major in History or my minor in Cinema?
- Does English 465 count toward English or Cinema?
In every case, you will make this decision in consultation with your advisor. You can then designate with the registrar how you want the course to count. In most cases, to do this you need to fill out the registrar’s form titled Questions Regarding Degree Evaluation. Here you can designate how you want your course to count.
With required courses, there is also leeway about how you want the course to fit into your curriculum. If you complete Comm 227 or Comm 220 for the Media Studies major, then those courses cannot count as credits for the Cinema Studies minor, but we would consider the spirit of the requirement fulfilled. For example, if Comm 227 were used for your Media Studies major, then another production class is not required for the minor, but you would still need to complete 18 credits selected from the list of approved classes.
As a general rule, just remember that if you count a course toward your major, then you need to substitute another course for the minor. If, on the other hand, you count the course toward your minor, then you will need to arrange appropriate substitute credits for the major.