Cinema & Media Studies (CAMS) is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of film, video, television, and the Internet. Courses focus on the histories and theories of photochemical, electronic, and digital media in addition to providing hands-on experience in digital video, audio production and website design. Students pursuing a Major work closely with faculty members to devise an optimum program of study integrating creative and collaborative thinking, critical analysis, primary research and media production.

Our curriculum invites students to discover how meanings are created through the conventions specific to various media and their institutions while also attending to the broader cultural, social and aesthetic contexts out of which media representations emerge, including gender and sexuality; ethnicity, race and national identity; visual culture and the history of the senses; leisure and consumer culture; the avant-garde; modernity and globalization.

A good liberal arts education increasingly necessitates a mastery of communication through various media, including those fostered by new technology. The emerging centrality of visual representation in scholarship across all disciplines is transforming the nature of discourse and our understanding of literacy. Students in CAMS courses are strongly encouraged to publish their research in media form. A state-of-the-art Media Lab provides ready access to the same production tools used by professionals, including high-end Sony digital cameras, Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools. The Department offers a regular Off-Campus Study Program exploring New Media in New York, London, Amsterdam and Berlin.

Formal study in Cinema & Media Studies is supplemented by the rich array of media-oriented extracurricular opportunities at Carleton. Each year, student filmmakers showcase their works at DVD Fest, a competition that has become a model for Apple Computer’s college media-making initiatives. On any given night, students can choose from three or four films being screened on campus through the College Film Society, the Student Union Movie Organization (SUMO), or for classes. A Digital Arts Festival in 2003 engaged the entire community in discussions about how digital tools are transforming art and music. The Carleton Film Colloquium, launched in 2004, supports the idea that exposing students to filmmakers and contemporary film culture is essential to a liberal arts education. Recent guests of the colloquium included producer Barrie Osborne (Lord of the Rings), director Niki Caro (North Country), and independent filmmaker Yonghi Yang (Dear Pyongyang). The Colloquium builds on a successful occasional speaker series, which has included directors Milos Forman, Sydney Pollack, Peter Greenaway, and Gordon Parks; producers Ismail Merchant and Alan Pakula; documentarians Marcel Ophuls and Barbara Koppel; and video artist Bill Viola.

We encourage you to browse this site, visit us in Scoville Hall, or contact a faculty member if you have questions. Come study with us!