Media Studies (MA)

Courses focus on ideas and critical literature that draw on the social sciences, arts, and humanities to examine the history, content, function, and impact of media, grounding students in traditions of critical thinking and discourse analysis while tracking contemporary debates in the field.

View related media history, criticism, and philosophy courses.

Courses in this area employ social justice–oriented frameworks to examine the role of media in the construction of gender, sex, race, ability, nature, culture, nation, labor, self, and other. Transdisciplinary inquiry connects theory and practice while emphasizing the unlearning of ableist, gendered, sexist, and racist paradigms.

View related media, power, and resistance courses.

Students master all levels of filmmaking, from the fundamentals to advanced concepts, across genres and approaches, taking courses that focus on screenwriting, directing, advanced editing, cinematography, lighting, sound, and post-production. Courses combine hands-on practical training with theoretical and aesthetic considerations to explore various aspects of cinematic form.

View related film production studies courses.

Courses offer students opportunities to explore heterodox theoretical, historical, and practical approaches to media research and application, allowing them to engage with a range of histories and currents and take part in multimodal experiments outside industrial protocols.

View related experimental media arts courses.

Courses explore nonfiction media as practiced by artists and activists around the globe. Documentary studies courses appeal to students interested in the history, theory, criticism, and production of linear and nonlinear documentary work. These courses help to build a firm foundation for critical writing and thinking about documentary, conducting research, and developing introductory and advanced skills in digital production and post-production for film, audio, interactive, multimedia, and installation modes. Includes research-driven courses that place documentary practice within a context of critical engagement with the world.

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Transmedia and digital storytelling courses focus on the creation of narratives that move across platforms while exploring concepts of story construction and its use to inform, influence, and entertain. The class examines modes of storytelling for interactive media, film, audio, episodic online content, graphic novels, games, and virtual and augmented realities, as well as transmedia activism and social engagement tools. Students learn how to engage audiences as creative collaborators through the use of participatory and social media applications.

View related transmedia and digital storytelling courses.

Courses in sound studies allow students to investigate the production and consumption of sound, music, noise, and silence. Students learn the skills needed for audio production and sound design while experimenting with the creation of podcasts and radio programs. This area enables students to understand the development of and changes in sound cultures throughout history.

View related sound studies courses.