<p>Film critic. Many also go into film making, producing etc.</p>
<p>They 'teach' others what other people do.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't mean to be a devil's advocate, but what the heck kind of a job would someone get with a "film studies" major? Just asking.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Although Film Studies is more academic than Film Making majors, it can still lead to a film or tv making career (at all levels, from sound mixer to director), especially if it's a major with SOME film production components and/or the student learned the technical skills from outside classes or internships/working on student films, etc. It's basically the same as an English lit major (as opposed to a creative writing major) who had some focus on creative writing becoming a writer instead of an academic or whatever else one might do with an English degree. </p>
<p>Other options: Film and television writing. Film and television production. Any part of the business side of film and TV. Film/TV critic. Cultural critic. Film/media/cultural academic. </p>
<p>And, of course, any of the huge numbers of non-film/media related jobs that any other person with a "useless" (English, History, etc) liberal arts degree could get (because if you're coming from a good Film Studies major it will teach you the same analytical thinking and writing skills any other liberal arts major will give you). Plus you could always go to law school :P</p>
<p>But you know what, while the OP said "film sudies" we have no idea if they actually mean film "studies" or simply film. And he/she has not come back to clarify.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I was thinking of programs that emphasize film history and criticism rather than programs which concentrate on filmmaking, but it seems that many programs combine both with the student determining the emphasis. If anyone knows of any other programs at smaller schools like Bard or Ithaca, your post would be welcomed.</p>
<p>Wesleyan and Vassar are probably the two best.</p>
<p>Cornell & Rochester also have excellent film studies programs.</p>
<p>Although the OP is only interested in eastern schools I thought it might be helpful I presented some information about the critical studies (film studies) program at USC, which is one of the undergraduate majors available to students in the School of Cinematic Arts. <a href="http://cinema.usc.edu/programs/critical-studies/%5B/url%5D">http://cinema.usc.edu/programs/critical-studies/</a>
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Our program is engaged with the critical examination of mass media, popular culture, and the art, craft and industries of film, television, and interactive media. We explore their social, political, economic and aesthetic impact both at home and abroad. We study the language and pleasures of moving visual images and sounds and the ways they are used by various reception communities to understand themselves in relation to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Our field assumes its objects of study and methods of inquiry continue to undergo change. We are committed to studying this historical process: how media images not only reflect our culture but also construct and reshape it, and how old power struggles get remapped onto new technologies and become partially transformed in the process.</p>
<p>Given this emphasis, our Critical Studies curriculum has been designed to accommodate change. Most of our requirements give students choices, and many of our courses have generic titles whose specific topics shift from year to year. Our students learn not merely a specific body of facts but how to formulate productive questions that will enable them to understand the changing mediascape and its broadest cultural implications. We foster a rigorous intellectual independence in our students, encouraging them to pursue their own research agenda with diligence and passion.
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</p>
<p>
[quote]
Required Production Courses</p>
<p>Undergraduates admitted to the Critical Studies Program are required to take CTPR 241 Fundamentals of Cinema Technique and CTPR 290 Cinematic Communication. These introductory production courses are taken concurrently during the junior year (see description below).</p>
<p>CTPR 241 is an experiential course dealing with the technical and aesthetic principles of directing, cinematography, editing and the development of ideas through a cinematic vocabulary.</p>
<p>In CTPR 290 students are taught the principles of filmmaking through demonstrations, hands-on production and critical analysis. Each student makes five digital video non-dialogue movies using equipment supplied by the school. A lab fee of $500 and an insurance fee of $300 are required. Students will spend $100 to $200 on production expenses.</p>
<p>Required Courses and Units:
CTCS 190 Introduction to Cinema 4
CTCS 191 Introduction to Television and Video 4</p>
<p>CTCS 192 Race, Class and Gender in American Film 4
CTCS 200
History of the International Cinema I 4
CTCS 201 History of the International Cinema II 4
CTCS 473 Film Theories
4
CTPR 241 Fundamentals of Cinema Technique, taken concurrently with CTPR 290 2
CTPR 290 Cinematic Communication, taken concurrently with CTPR 241 4
One course from the following:</p>
<p>CTCS 392
History of the American Film, 1925-1950 4
CTCS
393<br>
History of the American Film, 1946-1975 4
CTCS 394 History of the American Film, 1977-present 4</p>
<p>Four different courses from the following:</p>
<p>CTCS 367</p>
<p>Global Television and Media
4
CTCS 400</p>
<p>Non-Fiction Film and Television
4
CTCS 402 Practicum in Film/ Television Criticism 4
CTCS 403
Studies in National and Regional Mediafont 4
CTCS 404 Television Criticism and Theory 4
CTCS 406 History of American Television 4
CTCS 407 African-American Cinema 4
CTCS
409 Censorship in Cinema 4
CTCS 411 Film, Television and Cultural Studies 4
CTCS
412 Gender, Sexuality and Media 4
CTCS 464 Film and/or Television Genres 4
CTCS 469 Film and/or Television Style Analysis 4
CTCS 478 Culture, Technology and Communications 4
CTCS 494 Senior Seminar 4
CTCS 495* Honors Seminar 4
CTCS 499** Special Topics 4</p>
<p><em>Honors students only.
*</em>Major credit with departmental approval.
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</p>
<p>And btw, Bryan Singer, director of the X-Men, is a critical studies graduate of USC.</p>
<p>My son, a May CS graduate of USC (with a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies), has become interested in writing for films, which he is doing. Hasn't sold anything yet, but one of his USC house mates sold a script for $80,000.</p>
<p>Responding to a question: Bard does have film studies, both a production component & a theory component. (As I recall, they're separate majors or concentrations, but at Bard you can always combine things & come up with an independent major.) I find the Bard website somewhat labyrinthian to navigate; items aren't always where they seem to be, so you may have to do a lot of searching, but the info is there.</p>
<p>Invirginia: John Wesley is right, you really want to look at Wesleyan and Vassar. I don't know about Vassar's program, but Wes's is, as I said, one of the best in the country, and it def. places emphasis on critsism and history--you have to take one production class, but that's it, unless you want more.</p>