Graduate Certificate Program in Film and Media

The Graduate Certificate Program in Film and Media educates doctoral candidates of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences in the theory, aesthetics, and history of film, video, and other audio-visual media, including emergent objects of the digital age. Candidates acquire descriptive and analytical tools applicable to a broad number of research fields in which audiovisual media play a leading role.

Requirements

The 13-credit course of study is comprised of:

  • A core seminar, Film Theory and Practical Methods
  • Three electives, subject to approval by the certificate program director
  • A capstone research project, which may be fulfilled either through the preparation of a scholarly article for review to a two-person faculty committee or through the successful defense of the PhD thesis when the dissertation bears directly on film and media

The certificate is open to motivated students of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences with the permission of the director of graduate studies of the home program as well as that of the certificate program director. Requisite for admission are Introduction to Cinema I and II (AS061.140 and 061.141, 6 credits total) or their demonstrated equivalent from another accredited institution. Students are asked to enroll in the certificate program during the first two semesters of graduate study, although in some cases enrollment may be possible during the second year.

Graduate students who complete all PhD requirements in their home department as well as all certificate program requirements will receive a graduate certificate in film and media.

Program Objectives

The candidate for the graduate certificate in film and media will:

  • Acquire fluency in the leading critical and theoretical idioms, both historic and contemporary, bearing on film and media, such that the candidate is conversant with scholars working in the field
  • Become familiar with the wide array of research protocols and tools, investigative strategies, and archival resources that the academic study of film and media necessarily implies
  • Develop subfield expertise in the chosen subject area leading to the composition of the capstone project
  • Be able to integrate in course syllabi various media objects and to use these elements as points of departure for informed critical discussion
  • Identify new avenues for research and teaching in the emergent media landscape