Become an Actor or Director with These Film Courses at the University of Colorado at Boulder

What is Film Studies?

Film theory debates the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large.

Film theory is about the cinema as a medium rather than about individual films, although theorists often use individual films as examples in generating their theories and film theory is frequently applied to discussions of individual films. Film theory is generally distinguished from film criticism, which concentrates on evaluating individual films. Film theory can also be distinguished from film analysis, which aims to describe how specific features of a film relate to each other in the structure of a film (or body of films) as a whole. Thus, a film theory might note that a film is unlike reality in that a viewer cannot control what he or she sees; a film analysis might note that a specific shot restricts the viewer's knowledge of a future plot point; and film criticism might praise the cinematographer's use of framing to increase suspense.

Coolest courses in Film Studies

Production

FILM 2000: Beginning Filmmaking (3 Credits) - Instructs students in making Super-8 films. Covers use of cameras and editing equipment, basic editing and splicing techniques, and analysis of pertinent films. May emphasize making personal, experimental films or making narrative sound films, according to instructor. Students need to purchase materials and rent the necessary equipment. The Film Studies Program maintains an equipment pool with modest rental fees for students needing equipment.

FILM 2010: Moving Image Computer Foundations (3 Credits) - Provides students with artistic foundational hands-on experience in integrated use of media software in both the PC and MAC creative imaging making digital working environments. Includes fundamentals in general computer maintenance, creative and practical audio editing, image management and manipulation, and creative moving image practice.