Overview
Students develop their skills in writing, producing, directing, cinematography, sound design, and editing. They learn from faculty and professionals who are specialists in their fields. While they develop as creative professionals, students produce portfolios demonstrating areas of specialization, as well as a broad skill set suitable for the ever-changing media landscape. This is a film studies major that also can be helpful to students interested in video production, broadcast production, and broadcast and multimedia journalism.
Black Bird Film Festival
The Black Bird Film Festival combines the feel of a movie premiere, a film festival, and an awards show. It celebrates the collaborative work of our cinema and media arts, public relations, communication, and theater students.
Cinema and media arts majors spend countless hours writing scripts, planning scenes, directing a crew, filming, and editing. Students prepare their films and compete for a chance to win “Squawkies” for best film, director, editing, the audience’s choice award, and more. This red carpet event provides students the experience of screening their films on the big screen.
Explore FILM STUDIES
Visual storytelling is central to filmmakers. Our cinema and media arts majors edit and distribute films through Black Bird Media Lab, which focuses on storytelling and gives our students the opportunity to complete film projects from start to finish. Students in the cinema and media arts program become skilled in the art of visual storytelling through hands-on learning in and out of the studio, working on their own films, and working on special projects through the Black Bird Media Lab.
Additionally, students can gain valuable skills in broadcasting through working on the set of Raven Watch, the sportscast platform of AU’s student newspaper. Raven Watch was a finalist for The College Media Association in the broadcasting category for its 2018 Pinnacle Awards, and Raven Watch was included in the Best Television Sportscast area.
Options
- Graduate with a BA in cinema and media arts in four years.
- Earn an 18-hour cinema and media arts minor.
Black Bird Media Lab
Learn more about the film studio and distribution platform of Anderson Univeristy. View films of current students.
Classes
Classes in the cinema and media arts major include:
- The Art of Storytelling
- Screenwriting
- Video/Cinema Concepts
- Field, Soundstage, and Postproduction
- Motion Graphics
- Media and Society
Internships
Typically during your junior or senior year, you’ll have at least one internship with an organization doing the kind of work you aspire to do after college. Our majors also have the chance to spend a term in Hollywood through the CCCU’s Los Angeles Film Studies Center.
Careers
Our graduates are working professionally in roles like these:
- Film/Television Editors
- Screenwriters
- Producers
- Directors
- Camera Operators/Photographers
- Cinematographers
- Promotions Managers
- Production Assistants
- Program Managers
- Traffic Managers
- Sound Technicians
- Field Producers
Filmmakers Camp
Learn more about AU’s week-long summer workshop for high school students. During the camp, students make a short film using Anderson University equipment and facilities.
OUR FACULTY
Let’s connect during your campus visit.
Cinema and Media Arts
Jason Higgs
Associate Professor of Visual Communication
Jack Lugar
Professor of Cinema & Media Arts
Kris Rinas
Director of Studio and Technical Operations
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