Film, Media, and Digital Studies

Department Description

The Film, Media, and Digital Studies department cultivates in students a deep understanding of the digital, screen, and media landscapes that are central to contemporary culture. The program is structured around three pillars: (1) creativity, encompassing art, digital storytelling, filmmaking and media production, and game design; (2) culture, which explores the expressive potential of the internet and media of all kinds; and (3) methodology, in which digital tools are used to quantitatively or qualitatively narrate, represent, analyze, map, and share text, audio, video, and data. 

Emphasizing both theory and practice as the foundation for analytic and creative endeavors, this major fosters the formation of sensitive critics and makers of film, computational media, and other forms of media. Students delve into visual rhetoric, media history, and ethical data and production practices. They explore entrepreneurial thinking and design, participatory culture, and the implications of digital citizenship. Situated at the intersection of the arts and the humanities, Film, Media, and Digital Studies challenges students to express themselves digitally while simultaneously questioning emerging technologies.

Major Requirements (A.B. Degree)

The Digital and Screen Media major requires ten courses, as follows:

• Two of three introductory courses

DIG 101 - Introduction to Digital Studies  
ART 111 - Introduction to Digital Art  
FMS 220 - Introduction to Film and Media Studies  

• Two courses devoted to production, methodology, or practice
• Two courses devoted to criticism, theory, or history
• Two or three additional electives from the above lists of courses 
• One (for capstone) or Two (for thesis) courses in which students pursue an independent research or creative project

CIS 495 - Thesis I/Capstone  
CIS 496 - Thesis II  

Notes:

• A maximum of two courses may count toward both the Digital and Screen Media major and a second major or minor.
• No more than two courses at the 100-level may count towards the major.

Film and Media Studies Minor Requirements

The minor in Film and Media Studies requires six courses:

a. FMS 220 - Introduction to Film and Media Studies  

b. A 400-level seminar in Film and Media Studies approved by the chair

c. Four electives selected from the following courses:

AFR 266 - Africa Shoots Back, in transl. (=FRE 366)  
ANT 372 - Visual Anthropology  
CHI 207 - Engendering Chinese Cinema  
CHI 405 - Chinese Cinema and Modern Literature (in translation)  
CLA 252 - Bringing the Page to the Stage: Adapting the Ancient World from Homer to Percy Jackson  
COM 315 - Media Effects 
DIG 215 - Death in the Digital Age 
DIG 240 - Art and Electronic Media  
ENG 205 - Screenwriting   
FMS 211 - Filmmaking 
ENG 292 - Documentary Film - History, Theory, and Production of Documentary 
ENG 293 - Film as a Narrative Art 
ENG 409 - Television: Queer Representations (=GSS 401)     
ENG 493 - Film Art 
FMS 321 - Interactive Digital Narratives 
FMS 323 - Special Topics in Digital Media and Film 
FMS 385 - Video Game Music (= MUS 385) 
FMS 421 - Seminar in Film and Media Studies: Horror Film 
FRE 366 - Africa Shoots Back (=AFR 266) 
GER 241 - Race, Gender, Migration (in trans.) 
GER 242 - Hollywood Alternatives, From Germany and Beyond (in trans.) 
GER 336 - Memory on Film (in trans.) 
GER 342 - Cultural, Filmic and Digital Studies (taught in English)           
GER 363 - Contemporary German Film & TV 
GSS 341 - Race, Gender & Sexuality in Asian American Literature and Film  
GSS 401 - Television: Queer Representations (=ENG 409) 
HIS 454 - Filming Southern History 
HIS 474 - Bollywood, Business, and India 
MUS 228 - Film Music 
MUS 383 - Herrmann & Hitchcock 
MUS 385 - Video Game Music (=FMS 385) 
SOC 315 - Media Effects 
SPA 352 - Contemporary Latin American Cinema  
SPA 353 - Contemporary Spanish Film 
SPA 356 - Seminar          

2. At least one production course (but no more than two) must be included in the interdisciplinary minor.

3. Only one independent study may be included in the interdisciplinary minor.

4. No more than two courses in the interdisciplinary minor may also be in the student’s major field of study.

5. No more than two courses taken away from Davidson may be counted toward the interdisciplinary minor.

6. A grade of “C-“or higher must be earned in all graded courses applied toward the interdisciplinary minor.

Digital Studies Minor Requirements

1. The Digital Studies Interdisciplinary minor requires six courses, including an introductory class and a 400-level seminar:
    a. DIG 101 - Introduction to Digital Studies  
    b. One additional 100-, 200- or 300-level DIG course, which includes the following:  
   1. ART 111 - Introduction to Digital Art  
   2. ART 211 - Advanced Digital Art  
   3. DIG 109 - Introduction to Digital Humanities: Social Justice Collections and Liberal Arts Curricula   
   4. DIG 120 - Programming in the Humanities (= CSC 120)  
   5. DIG 210 - Data Culture   
   6. DIG 211 - Surveillance Culture    
   7. DIG 215 - Death in the Digital Age   
   8. DIG 220 - Electronic Literature      
   9. DIG 225 - Transmedia and Vast Narrative      
   10. DIG 240 - Art and Electronic Media  
   11. DIG 245 - Critical Web Design  
   12. DIG 250 - Game Development   
   13. DIG 270 - Digital Maps, Space, and Place  
   14. DIG 333 - Physical Computing    
   15. DIG 340 - Gender and Technology  
   16. DIG 345 - Radical Software  
2. ​c. Three electives related to digital culture, digital creativity, or digital methodology that foster skills and knowledge transferrable across disciplines. These electives may include any other DIG courses above, any of the approved courses below, or any combination thereof: ​​​
   1. ANT 261 Hacking the Future [Inactive]   
   2. ANT 291 Social Networks & Social Media [Inactive]  
   3. ANT 372 Visual Anthropology  
   4. ANT 377 Imaging the Earth    
   5. ART 270 - Special Topics in Digital Art: Art for Games  
   6. BIO 256 Applied Insect Ecology 
   7. COM 207 Trump, Obama, Race, U.S. Media 
   8. COM 325 COM 325 - Exploring Fake News 
   9. COM 315 Media Effects (= SOC 315) 
   10. ENG 296 Science Fiction & Technology 
   11. HIS 414 Mapping Medieval Europe  
   12. POL 284 US Diplomacy  
   13. (Only one of these CSC electives can count toward the interdisciplinary minor; none can count if DIG 120 is taken.)
       1. CSC 108 Explorations in Computer Science 
       2. CSC 121 Programming and Problem Solving 
       3. CSC 240 Computational Physics (=PHY240) 
       4. CSC 209 Bioinformatics Programming (= BIO 209) 
   14. ECO 316 Computational Economics 
   15. EDU 291 Data in Education  
   16. ENG 211 Filmmaking 
   17. ENG 306 - Digital Design 
   18. FMS 321 Interactive Digital Narratives 
   19. HIS 207 Digital Medieval History 
   20. HIS 245 Digital History of Early American Knowledge 
   21. MUS 265 Introduction to Digital Music Composition 
   22. MUS 311 - Music and Technology 
   23. MUS 385 Video Game Music (=FMS 385) 
   24. PHY 397 Independent Study in Advanced Software Development in Science 
   25. SOC 316 - Digital Media and Social Change
   26. THE 270 - Entertainment Design in the Digital Age 
        Note:  Additional courses emphasizing digital tools, digital practices, or digital culture may be added to this list, pending approval from the Digital Studies Advisory Committee. 
       
       d DIG 401 - Hacking, Remixing and Design . DIG 404 - Humanities Startup , or ENG 406 - Digital Design & Storytelling  
3. No more than two courses may count toward both the student’s major and the Digital Studies Interdisciplinary minor.
4. No more than one elective may be an independent study.
   ​