2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Media Study
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231 Center for the Arts
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-6020
716-645-6902
arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/media-study.html
Alex Reid, Ph.D.
Chair
Dave Pape, Ph.D.
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Media Study Overview
The Department of Media Study has a broad focus so that students can learn about media in its varied forms. Students learn about documentaries, film, games, websites, sound, and other types of media. Further, students learn about these media from different perspectives, including how to make them, how to analyze them, and how they interact with today’s society. The department has different concentrations and certificates, as well as a minor, to allow students to choose their own path to expertise in the media of their choice.
Students pursing the Media Study BA select between concentrations in Critical Studies or Production.
Students who select the Critical Studies concentration take courses in history, analysis, and theory which address the complex interrelationship between artistic practice and theoretical discourses. Concepts in film theory, digital media design, the history of technology, semiotics, political theory, and cultural studies are addressed through examination of works and theoretical texts. Students are required to take at least one basic production course to emphasize the relationship between production and theory.
Students selecting the Production concentration start with basic level courses in multiple production areas, covering both camera-based and computer-based arts. It is our philosophy that students should be exposed to multiple media forms and systems to challenge perceptions and encourage experimentation. Through these multiple exposures students broaden their horizons and understand that no medium functions in isolation. A student interested in film, for example, may value exposure to digital arts (for special effects or to present their work online); similarly, a student in digital arts will value exposure to video (to incorporate time-based imagery in web or virtual reality projects, for example). Students continue to diversify their skills and interests at the intermediate level, and focus on one area at the advanced level.
The Film Studies (FST) program is an interdisciplinary BA curriculum with film-related courses from the Departments of Africana and American Studies, Anthropology, Art, Communications, Comparative Literature, English, Global Gender Studies, Media Study, Romance Languages and Literatures, and Sociology. Throughout the FST curriculum, students approach film critically (filmmaking will be only a minor, and elective, component). They acquire historical, theoretical and intercultural tools to study films from around the world and become capable of reading the art of cinema as cultural critics. Screenings, film festivals, the Buffalo Film Seminars and FST conferences are offered to enrich students’ critical film expertise in Buffalo.
Academic Advising
Students obtain academic advice and guidance from the academic advisors in the College of Arts and Sciences Student Advisement & Services office (275 Park Hall) and from faculty in their program of study. The CAS Student Advisement and Services Office assists undergraduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences to plan their academic trajectory, develop goals and successfully complete their college careers.
Academic Advising Contact Information
College of Arts & Sciences Student Advisement & Services
275 Park Hall, North Campus
North Campus, Buffalo, NY 14260-4140
Phone: 716-645-6883
Email: cas-advisor@buffalo.edu
ProgramsMajorsCombinedMinorsCertificates
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