Media Studies & Production

Media and Cultural Studies is concerned with the historical, theoretical, and cultural contexts within which audio, video, film, new media, and popular culture are produced and experienced. We address these concerns by considering aesthetics and interpretation, media production and reception, and power and everyday life. Scholars in this area of the department focus on various international, national, and community media organizations, institutions, and interests, the purposes and impact of those operating at the forefront of technological innovations associated with global, national, and local communication and information networks.

Besides coming to a theoretical understanding of media, the department also offers students at the undergraduate level the instruction and resources to create audio/visual productions in a wide variety of forms: narrative, documentary, experimental, animation/motion graphics, interactive/new media, and audio production.
The department offers strong initiatives and is coupled with a Hollywood Internship program, the London Internship Program, and a minor in stage and screen writing.

In its production component the department has among its goals:
1) The development of individual talent and the ability for the student to work in collaboration with others within a diverse and vibrant community.
2) The providing of as high a production standard possible, thereby allowing students the ability to create portfolios that will enable them to go on to graduate-level work in this realm, or to begin employment in the professional world of audio/visual production.
3) The continuing development of internships programs, thereby helping the student gain a sense of integration in the global community.

Master’s and PhD students primarily deepen their theoretical understanding of media in this department, but are encouraged to integrate production work into their thesis project if appropriate.

• Swain Multimedia Production Facility