Undergraduate Opportunities in Cinema Studies:

Minor Program

Cinema Studies offers a Minor Program, which may be combined with any of the major degree programs in the School of Arts and Sciences. Cinema Studies minors frequently pursue majors in English, in the foreign language, literature, and culture departments (French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, and Germanic, Russian and East European Languages and Literatures), in American Studies, History, Philosophy, Anthropology, and Art History, and in Journalism and Media Studies (through SCI, the School of Communication and Information).

Cinema Studies minors will gain an understanding of the technical aspects of filmmaking; learn about the historical development of the film medium from the earliest days of silent cinema to the most recent advances in digital production; study questions of narrative and genre; and explore the relationship between culture, politics, and moving image media, through the analysis of films produced around the globe and across more than a century. Cinema Studies courses enable students to hone their analytical, communication and writing skills, in preparation for a broad variety of professional and educational pursuits after graduation.  A recent New York Times article characterizes a degree in Cinema Studies as "The New M.B.A":  because visual literacy is essential for an ever-expanding range of twenty-first century jobs, cinema is now widely considered the "professional language of the future."

Many students and graduates of the Minor Program in Cinema Studies successfully aspire to careers in film education, criticism, production, and distribution. While they are enrolled at Rutgers, Cinema Studies students may undertake internships on campus with the Rutgers Film Co-op/NJMAC, which presents three nationally recognized film festivals (the New Jersey Film Festival, the New Jersey International Film Festival, and the United States Super 8 Film and Digital Video Festival).  They may also intern with New York City-based film production and distribution companies such as Miramax, New Line Cinema, Kino International, Troma Films, and Women Make Movies, or with film festivals such as the Tribeca Film Festival or the Margaret Meade Film and Video Festival. A significant number of our current students are involved in filmmaking, writing their own scripts and shooting their own films, as well as working on independent and industry films in the area.  There are also several student clubs devoted to film/filmmaking on campus, including the Screenwriters' Community of Rutgers, Knight Time Productions, and the Film and Theater Alliance.

Cinema Studies Minor Program Requirements

The interdisciplinary minor in Cinema Studies consists of seven courses, completed with a grade of C or better, and with a minimum of three courses at the 300 level or above. The courses must be distributed as follows:

Three required courses, Introduction to Film I and Introduction to Film II, 01:354:201 and 202 (01:354:210 may be substituted for either 01:354:201 or 202), and Senior Seminar in Cinema Studies, 01:175:425 (01:354:420 may be substituted for 01:175:425).

Four elective courses, chosen from the list below, or among other courses approved in advance by the program director. A flyer listing qualifying elective courses is circulated during each pre-registration period and posted here.

Students pursuing a minor in Cinema Studies must select five courses for the minor that are outside their major. Exception: English majors who pursue a Cinema Studies minor may include more than two 01:354 courses in their minor program, but only two of those may be counted toward the major. Only one production/filmmaking course may be counted towards the minor. Cinema Studies minors are encouraged to complete several other courses in film history, analysis or theory before enrolling in a filmmaking course.

Please note that Cinema Studies courses generally include an additional mandatory weekly meeting time for screenings, or require students to view films outside of class at an on-campus facility such as the Douglass Library Media Center.

Required Courses:

01:354:201 Introduction to Film I (3) Film study, with emphasis on basic concepts of film analysis (narrative, editing, mise-en-scène, sound) and the historical development of cinema as an institution.

01:354:202 Introduction to Film II (3) Film study, with emphasis on commercial cinema as an institution (genres, directors, stars) and on non-narrative types of film (documentary, experimental).

01:175:425 Senior Seminar in Cinema Studies (3) One or more topics selected for their relevance to the interdisciplinary study of film. Emphasis on advanced problems and issues together with methodology and theory. Extended research paper required on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor.
Prerequisite: Permission of program director.

As indicated above, the following course may be substituted for Introduction to Film I OR Introduction to Film II (01:354:201 or 202):

01:354:210 Close Readings of Cinema (3) Formal analyses of six or seven individual films; emphasis on visual track, sound track, and scenario-narrative construction.

As indicated above, the following course may be substituted for the Senior Seminar in Cinema Studies (01:175:425)

01:354:420 Seminar: Film Theory (3) Major developments in film theory from the silent era to the present; writings on film by Eisenstein, Kracauer, Bazin, Metz, Barthes, and others; practice in different methods to analyze films.

Elective Courses:

01:013:337: Film & Lit in South Asia (3)

01:013:365: Bollywood (3)

01:050:350 American Documentary (3)

01:195:377: Topics in World Cinema (3)

01:175:265/01:050:265 American Experimental Film & Video (3)

01:175:266/01:050:266: Cult Films in American Culture (3)

01:175:267/01:050:267: American Film Directors (3)

01:175:268/01:050:268: David Lynch & the American Avant-Garde (3)

01:175:398/01:050:398: Internship in Cinema Studies (3)

01:195:477: Advanced Topics in World Cinema (3)

01:354:210 Close Readings of Cinema (3)

01:354:315, 316 American Cinema I, II (3,3)

01:354:320, 321 World Cinema I, II (3,3)

01:354:330, 331 Critical Methodology in Film (3,3)

01:354:370 Film Genres (3)

01:354:375 Film and Society (3)

01:354:385 Theories of Women and Film (3)

01:354:420 Seminar: Film Theory (3)

01:354:308 Screenwriting (3)

01:354:350, 351 Major Filmmakers (3,3)

01:354:391, 392 Special Topics in Film Studies (3,3)

01:420:305, 306 The French Film in English (3,3)

01:420:307, 308 The French Film in French (3,3)

01:420:371, 372 Topics in French Cinema (3,3)

01:420:471, 472 Advanced Topics in French Cinema (3,3)

01:470:349 Contemporary German Cinema (3)

01:470:350 The Nazi Period in Film (3)

01:470:360 Classics of German Cinema (3)

01:506:241 Film and History (3)

01:560:345, 346 Italian Cinema (3,3)

01:940:345, 346 Spanish Film (3)

01:940:347, 348 Latin American Cinema (3)

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