Overview

The graduate film program offers qualified students a choice of concentration in film production, film studies, or screenwriting. Film production students are trained by a faculty of national distinction to perform at a high level of professional competence. Film studies majors are expected to acquire a deep grounding in cinema history, research, and criticism. Screenwriting students master the art of screenwriting, and are encouraged to take an active role in both film production and film studies.

Master’s thesis films by graduates in the film production sequence have been honored by an Oscar in short documentary, three Academy Award nominations, and more than a hundred festival prizes. In recent years, films from the graduate program have been shown at the New York Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, and the major student festivals in Tel Aviv and Munich. A number of film studies candidates have published all or part of their written theses.

The orientation of the graduate film program is pluralistic. Master’s candidates are prepared for a broad range of careers in film and television. Alumni of the graduate film program have achieved a remarkable 85 percent employment rate in film-related jobs. They are working at the highest reaches of the motion picture industry, but many have also chosen to work as independent or experimental media artists. They are running their own production companies, producing prime-time television series, teaching film courses, and directing feature films.

In selecting students for the program, the faculty considers not only applicants’ academic records (GRE, GPA), but also evidence of self-motivation and creativity as demonstrated in portfolios, extracurricular activities, and employment. The program accommodates students both with and without previous production experience.

Incoming students must declare in advance whether they are applying for admission to the film production sequence, the film studies sequence, or the screenwriting sequence.

Facilities

The film program is equipped with complete production and postproduction facilities and equipment, including 10 Arriflex 16 SR2 packages, hard disk sound recorders, sound design flash card recorders, Marantz minidisc recorders, lighting and grip equipment, a sound mixing studio, a motion picture studio, and two digital media labs with Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro, Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, and Illustrator. The new Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg High Definition Center permits students to complete advanced projection high-definition videos.

Graduate Film Degree Requirements

The requirements for the MFA degree in film are the completion of 64 credit hours (four semesters) of coursework, including completion of the thesis requirements.
As an alternative to producing a thesis film, students may receive thesis credit in editing, cinematography, or producing.

The film production program trains students to become complete filmmakers. Students learn all aspects of film production, from initial scripting to directing, cinematography, sound design, and editing. The production program focuses on three critical areas: film production, film studies, and screenwriting. Students study the work of master filmmakers to learn from those who came before them. At the same time, students practice the art of storytelling through their screenwriting courses. They then apply what they have learned in their production courses. This threefold approach has helped our students achieve national recognition in film festivals, screenwriting competitions, and film editing contests. The program emphasizes narrative filmmaking, offering courses in acting, directing, cinematography, lighting, sound design, and postproduction. The faculty’s goal is to enable each student to graduate with a short film capable of winning student film festivals, as well as a feature-length screenplay.

Film Production Program Curriculum

First Semester

• COM FT 706 Acting for Directors and Writers
• COM FT 711 Screenwriting I
• COM FT 722 American Masterworks or COM FT 721 International Masterworks
• COM FT 849 Film Production I

Second Semester

• Elective
• Elective
• COM FT 850 Film Production II
• COM FT 851 Thesis Prep

Third Semester

• COM FT 808 Line Producing
• COM FT 526 Directing the Theatrical and Television Film
• Film Production Elective
• Elective

Fourth Semester

• COM FT 852 Thesis Project (4 or 8 credits)
• Three electives (At least one of these electives must be a film studies course)

Film Production Program Electives

• COM FT 502 Sound Design for Film and Television
• COM FT 525 Producing II
• COM FT 526 Directing Theatrical Television and Film
• COM FT 527 Lighting
• COM FT 560 The Documentary
• COM FT 565 Digital Editing
• COM FT 593 Cinematography
• COM FT 727 Producing I
• Film Studies classes
• Screenwriting classes

The film studies program is designed to prepare students to work as critics, historians, scholars, teachers, librarians, archivists, programmers, or exhibitors. In their final semester, students in the film studies program may choose to submit a written thesis: a fully developed monograph on some aspect of film criticism, history, or aesthetics. Film studies majors, under faculty supervision, may pursue a variety of critical approaches to film. The focus is on film as an art form and a personal expression. Hollywood film and popular culture are downplayed. Students in this program also take courses in acting and video production.

Film Studies Curriculum

The film studies program requires 16 credits of coursework to be taken in each of four semesters for a total of 64 credits. The normal course load is four courses in each of the first three semesters and three courses in the final semester. Successful completion of a final thesis project is required for graduation.
The courses should be taken as follows:

• COM FT 722 American Masterworks (4 cr) in the first semester
• COM FT 721 International Masterworks (4 cr) as offered in one of the student’s four semesters
• COM FT 723 American Independent Film (4 cr) as offered in one of the student’s four semesters
• COM FT 852 Thesis Project (8 cr) in the final semester

Eight Film Studies electives (32 cr) distributed over the student’s four semester. The following count as Film Studies electives:

• COM FT 536 Film Theory and Criticism
• COM FT 554 Special Topic (multiple offerings each semester) (Students may register for the same Special Topics number more than once provided the topic is different.)
• COM FT 560 The Documentary
• COM FT 563 French New Wave
• COM FT 567 Film Styles
• COM FT 568 Third World Cinema

Three open electives (12 cr), one in each of the first three semesters in the remaining available positions.
The following count as open electives:

• COM FT 553 Special Topics (multiple offerings each semester) (Students may register for the same Special Topics number more than once provided the topic is different.)
• Other graduate film courses offered in the Department of Film & Television (excluding production courses requiring the use of filmmaking equipment, except with special permission)
• Any other graduate-level film course offered by another department at Boston University and approved by the student’s advisor

Students in the screenwriting program have a fourfold requirement: to understand and to practice the art of screenwriting; to learn the fundamentals of dramatic production; to understand different models of filmmaking and film history; and to comprehend the role of the storyteller and that of mythology in the dramatic tradition. Students in the program are required to write a minimum of three full-length original screenplays.

Screenwriting Curriculum

First Semester

• COM FT 702 Script into Film
• COM FT 706 Acting for Directors and Writers
• COM FT 711 Screenwriting I
• COM FT 722 American Masterworks or COM FT 721 International Masterworks

Second Semester

• COM FT 526 Directing the Theatrical and Television Film
• COM FT 713 Screenwriting II
• COM FT 552 Genres
• COM FT 552 Screenwriting Pedagogy or Elective (At least one of these electives must be a film studio course.)

Third Semester

• COM FT 724 Screenwriting III
• COM FT 730 Principles of Adaption
• COM FT 512 Writing Episodic Drama
• Elective (At least one of these electives must be a film studio course.)

Fourth Semester

• COM FT 552 Special Topics: The Rewrite
• COM FT 729 Script Analysis
• COM FT 731 Screenwriting IV
• Elective (At least one of these electives must be a film studio course.)

Screenwriting Program Electives

• COM FT 510 Television Aesthetics
• COM FT 512 Writing Episodic Drama
• COM FT 514 Advanced Writing for Television
• COM FT 522 Writing Situation Comedies
• COM FT 543 Television Comedy
• COM FT 560 The Documentary
• COM FT 561 Television Drama
• COM FT 712 Television Seminar
• Film Studies electives