<p>I'm currently an Undecided Engineering major (freshman) at USC, but I really want to minor in Cinematic Arts. For the minor, I can basically focus on anything from production to critical studies.. but which Engineering major would be compatible with a CA minor? Or is it pretty incompatible, and I should do the minor just for fun?</p>
<p>Unless you go EE/CE which might have some very-very minor overlap with the video game aspect but to be honest engineering and cinematic arts will most likely be unrelated. </p>
<p>However, it seems you are interested in it so I say go for the minor anyway.</p>
<p>What “video game aspect” is there to cinema?</p>
<p>To the OP, my answer depends entirely on whether this is a “film studies” program or a “film production” program. If it’s a film studies program, bear in mind that a subscription to Netflix and a queue full of Criterion Collection DVDs is much cheaper than majoring in film studies. I think discussing films via internet newsgroups and discussion forums is far more fruitful than discussing film with whoever happens to be in your classes. Yes, they are more likely to be film buffs (I’m not talking about casual movie enthusiasts, I mean people who know their Kurosawa from their Rossellini, mise en scene from their montages), but I find that internet discussion forums attract the hardcore, and those are the people you will have the most fruitful discussions with.</p>
<p>And, apart from watching movies, that’s the only other thing that a film studies degree is good for–group discussion. Any idiot can read theory or film history in a book, and film analysis from the directors themselves is always more valuable than whatever your professor could say.</p>
<p>Now.</p>
<p>If it’s a film production degree, then it could be worth it, and there actually is/are two degrees that spring to mind for which you could actually apply engineering know-how to film-making: Electrical & computer engineering and mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>A mechanical engineer (or somebody proficient in optics) could design lenses, or the workings of a film camera, or a projector.</p>
<p>An electrical or computer engineer could design the sensor for a high-end digital cinema camera (such as the Red One or the Sony Cine Alta series), or a better type of projector, or a better way of working with digital cinematography on location shoots, or designing software for video processing or 3D computer graphics (was that the video game aspect you were talking about nshah?), or better solid-state storage devices for holding video or a better NLE system, etc.</p>
<p>As a future ECE-major <em>and</em> film-maker, I honestly don’t see huge amounts of overlap between my planned career tracks, beyond 3D graphics work (I think most of what’s done today in movies is crap).</p>
<p>Tom,</p>
<p>I meant that the USC Cinema arts program offers a concentration in Video Game design/manufacturing, which might have minor overlap in programming within CE.</p>