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Student learning about color and lighting in film, holding a clapper board.

Film Studies, B.A.

Create and Analyze Moving Images, Produce Research, and Make Art

Follow our alumni into film-related careers, including:

Gain experience overseeing a film’s production including coordinating writing, directing, editing, and financing.

Learn to guide actors and crew in fulfilling the artistic vision for a film.

Learn to write screenplays for film and television.

Practice collecting, editing, and creating sound effects and music for film and television.

AKA director of photography — make artistic and technical decisions relation to capturing the image.

Establish the look and ambience for a film.

More than animation, these artists rely heavily on typography to bring titles, credits and other parts of the film to life.

Real-world experience in film and media publication, including book, journal, magazine and online outputs.
Work with curated historical collections connected to global motion pictures.
Curate and promote media content for public-facing screening and cultural events.
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Learn To

Sharpen your critical eye

Gain pre-production, production, & post-production skills

Expand your knowledge of film history and aesthetics

Apply your learning in professional contexts

“ There’s so much freedom with what we can do here. We can do things traditionally or we can be innovative. Everyone’s so willing to work with us on how to best create a product that adds to film history and to film as a discipline. ”
Anya Williams Film Studies alumna
Film Studies Program Overview

Analytical and Artistic

Through film studies, you will learn to see film as an artistic medium, a cultural expression, a rhetorical device, a technical production, and a commercial enterprise.

You develop your analytical, research and writing skills, as well as your creative and technical abilities.

The Expressive Language of Motion Pictures

You start with FST 200, Introduction to Film Study, sometime in your first or second year.

Admission to the major is based solely upon your grade in FST 200, so we recommend waiting until at least your second term. Get used to university life and academic expectations, then tackle this gateway course.

In FST 200, you learn the expressive language of motion pictures (cinematography, editing, composition, performance, sound, narrative) — essential to all filmmakers and cinema scholars.

Each week, you watch films drawn from diverse styles, periods and genres. You analyze shots and scenes, write papers and take regular quizzes and exams.

Work with Experts in Small Classes

We welcome 120 students into our major each academic year. Explore our program's curriculum and facilities, schedule a tour and ask your questions through this site. (Check out our new film center!)

Your classes won’t be very big. Film studies courses provide individual attention, instructor access, hands-on learning and meaningful class discussion.

You study with the expert faculty in this department and with scholars from other parts of the university, including the Cameron School of Business. Filmmaking professionals share their expertise during master classes and special events.

Make Films

Hands-on production classes begin once you are a major. More than 20 film studies courses teach movie production and equipment. Film studies majors make about 500 motion pictures every year — from short exercises to polished projects. Your courses may also include scriptwriting, editing, animation and acting.

Student using camera

Learn Film from Every Angle

The Place to Launch Your Vision

The new film studies production space offers students hands-on training in digital cinematography, digital editing, sound recording, design and mixing and the ability to screen their own work.

Exterior image of the film studies building

Visions Film Festival & Conference

The international Visions Film Festival & Conference offers a unique opportunity for passionate film students to indulge in an environment full of artistic expression and showcase their own work.

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panel of film students from various colleges and what their films were nominated for

Juried Student Screening

Students start making movies as soon as they become film studies majors. More than 500 motion picture projects and exercises are produced annually, and each semester culminates with a juried student screening.

Students work a camera while another student sits on a couch in the frame

Sample Courses in a Film Studies Major

Table shows sample courses for this program
FST 205 Introduction to World Cinema
FST 301 Film Tools and Techniques
FST 379 Studies in Film History
FST 393 Sound Recording
FST 401 Advanced Practice in Cinematography
See The Full Curriculum

How Do I Get into Film Studies?

First, apply to UNCW and enroll.

Sign up for FST 200, and come to the Film Studies department office for a “Film Studies Major Application." Sign the form and turn it in.

We review applications after that term’s grades have posted—mid-May or mid-December. Your grade in FST 200 is the only thing we look at.

Before being admitted to Film Studies, you may declare a pre-Film Studies Major (PFST). This opens the door to Film Studies advisors and to majors-only courses, like FST 201 Introduction to Film Production.

If you’re transferring into UNCW, this process may go faster, depending on your prior coursework. Talk to your admissions counselor.

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