Film Studies Wesleyan University

Overview

The Film Studies program of Wesleyan University enables students to explore the moving image through a distinctive blending of history, analysis, and production. Studies focus on the art and craft of visual storytelling and the language of filmmaking in all its various forms—fiction, documentary, live-action, or animated—and venues such as cinema, television, and the internet. Film Studies majors in the College of Film and the Moving Image (CFILM) avail themselves of Wesleyan’s rich and unique resources in the Film Studies Department, the Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies, WesDocs, the Student Film Series, and the Ogden and Mary Louise Reid Cinema Archives. Courses in history, analysis, and hands-on production facilitate a deep understanding of the medium.   

Student Learning Goals

Mission of the Film Major

The mission of the film studies major is to deliver the finest undergraduate film, television, and media education through the distinctive blending of history, analysis, and production. The major explores moving image art by looking at what is on screen using the language of filmmakers. We highlight studio-era cinema as the foundation of visual storytelling. The emphasis is firmly on cinema as an audience-centered artistic practice. We consider the creation and analysis of the moving image to represent compatible reverse processes—creator to film to audience, or audience to film to creator.

The Pedagogical Goals

The broad goal is to foster the critical understanding of cinema and television as art forms. To all students, both general education and majors, we offer a unified perspective that enables students to think critically about form and the choices that visual storytellers must face. This orientation toward intensive aesthetic analysis is unique in undergraduate film and media programs. No other liberal arts film program features such a broad and deep background in analysis and history coupled with sensitivity to film’s immediate and intimate relationship with audiences.

The majors develop a critical and creative approach to the medium based on a strong visual vocabulary, extensive viewing, and a grasp of film production. Production and studies are mutually reinforcing in this environment.  The 16mm and digital production courses facilitate deeper comprehension of film and television’s formal complexities and demand a higher level of critical and analytical thinking. Likewise, students steeped in history and analysis bring a robust visual vocabulary and awareness of formal problem-solving to the tasks of filmmaking. Upon graduation, majors know how to make a movie; are experienced in all forms of film and television writing; understand film history; can offer original solutions to artistic problems; and are capable of extending the knowledge of the moving image.

The major demands and rewards original critical thinking. We believe that true learning involves synthesis, discovery, and original thought. The students must face the challenge of defining and resolving artistic, historical, and analytical problems on their own, while also learning to work in collaboration. We encourage students to develop a personal vision, take risks, problem solve, and learn from failure as well as success.