The Major – Cinema & Media Studies

The Cinema and Media Studies (CAMS) major combines the critical study of moving image and sound media with digital video and audio production. Courses range from global and Hollywood film studies to fiction and nonfiction filmmaking, television studio production, sound design, and writing for film and television.

The integration of theory and practice is a guiding principle in the formulation of the curriculum, reflecting a liberal arts philosophy in which thinking and making are mutually informing.

Major Requirements – 72 Total Credits

Seventy-two credits are required for the major: forty-eight credits in core courses and twenty-four credits in elective courses. In the core curriculum, students are required to enroll in CAMS 110 and CAMS 111: Intro to Cinema and Media Production, two 200-level production courses (one of which must be CAMS 270: Nonfiction or CAMS 271: Fiction), two 200-level film history courses (one of which must be CAMS 210: Film History I, CAMS 211: Film History II or CAMS 214: Film History III (not offered 2025-26)) and one 300-level theory seminar (CAMS 320: Sound Studies Seminar, CAMS 330: Cinema Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26), CAMS 340: Television Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26)). In addition to the core curriculum, students are required to enroll in four elective courses, choosing from courses taught departmentally as well as extra-departmentally, with a limit of two courses taught extra-departmentally counting towards elective credit for the major. In the senior-year comps project, students are asked to develop projects furthering their work in the curriculum.

Core Courses – Required 42 credits

100-level Introductory Courses – (12 credits)

CAMS 110: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies
CAMS 111: Intro to Cinema and Media Production

200-level Production Courses – (12 credits)

One course must be CAMS 270: Nonfiction or CAMS 271: Fiction

CAMS 222: Collaborative Narrative Filmmaking (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 245: The Essay Film (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 265: Sound Design (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 270: Nonfiction
CAMS 271: Fiction
CAMS 272: CAMS Production in Los Angeles Program: Narrative Short Film Production (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 273: Digital Editing Workshop (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 277: CAMS Production in Los Angeles Program: In the Writers’ Room (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 278: Writing for Television (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 279: Screenwriting
CAMS 280: Advanced Screenwriting (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 288: Experimental Film & Video Production (not offered 2025-26)

200-level Film History Courses – (12 credits)

One course must be CAMS 210: Film History I, CAMS 211: Film History II or CAMS 214: Film History III (not offered 2025-26)

CAMS 210: Film History I
CAMS 211: Film History II
CAMS 214: Film History III (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 215: American Television History
CAMS 246: Documentary Studies

300-level Seminar – (6 credits)

CAMS 320: Sound Studies Seminar
CAMS 330: Cinema Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26)
CAMS 340: Television Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26)

Elective Courses – Required 24 credits

Credit for elective courses may be obtained by enrolling in any departmental or approved extra-departmental courses with the following stipulations:

CAMS Elective Course

Any CAMS course not fulfilling a core requirement can serve as an elective course for the CAMS major.

CAMS Extra Departmental Elective Courses – Max 12 credits

A maximum of 12 credits in extra-departmental elective courses can count toward fulfillment of elective credit for the major.

AMST 260: Sexuality in American Film since 1945 (not offered 2025-26)
ARTH 171: History of Photography (not offered 2025-26)
ARTH 240: Art Since 1945
CCST 220: East/West in Israeli, Palestinian Fiction & Film (not offered 2025-26)
CHIN 239: Digital China: Media, Culture, and Society (not offered 2025-26)
CHIN 240: Chinese Cinema in Translation (not offered 2025-26)
CHIN 250: Chinese Popular Culture in Translation (not offered 2025-26)
ENGL 245: Bollywood Nation
ENGL 247: The American West
ENGL 248: Visions of California
FREN 236: Francophone Cinema and the African Experience
FREN 336: Francophone Cinema and the African Experience
GERM 156: Introduction to German Cinema: Film, Nature, and Nation (not offered 2025-26)
HIST 220: From Blackface to Blaxploitation: Black History and/in Film (not offered 2025-26)
MUSC 115: Listening to the Movies
MUSC 123: The American Film Musical (not offered 2025-26)

Senior Integrative Exercise – Required 6 credits

CAMS 400: Integrative Exercise

Students proposing production projects for comps are strongly encouraged to apply to enroll in CAMS 370: Advanced Production Workshop I during the fall term of their senior year and are expected to enroll in CAMS 371: Advanced Production Workshop II and CAMS 400: Integrative Exercise during the winter term of their senior year. Students proposing writing projects for comps have the option to enroll in CAMS 400: Integrative Exercise in the fall or winter terms of their senior year.

Additional Departmental Notes

Students considering a major in Cinema and Media Studies are encouraged to take CAMS 110: Introduction to Cinema and Media Studies and CAMS 111: Intro to Cinema and Media Production by the end of their sophomore year and at least one 200-level film history course (CAMS 210: Film History I, CAMS 211: Film History II, or CAMS 214: Film History III (not offered 2025-26)), one 200-level production course (CAMS 270: Nonfiction or CAMS 271: Fiction), and the 300-level theory seminar (CAMS 320: Sound Studies Seminar or CAMS 330: Cinema Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26) or CAMS 340: Television Studies Seminar (not offered 2025-26)) by the end of their junior year.