Overview

Critical thinking and creative work go hand in hand in the Film and Electronic Arts Program, which integrates various creative practices with the study of theory and criticism. For example, all filmmaking majors take courses in film history and video production, and a student writing a Senior Project in the history of film and electronic arts will have taken some kind of creative production workshop.

The program encourages interest in a wide range of expressive modes in film, video, and the expanding field of computer-based art. These include screenwriting, animation, narrative and nonnarrative filmmaking, documentary, and interactive video.

Regardless of a student’s choice of specialization, the program’s emphasis leans toward neither fixed professional formulas nor mere technical expertise, but toward imaginative engagement and the cultivation of an individual artistic voice that has command over the entire creative process. For example, a student interested in narrative filmmaking would be expected to write an original script, shoot it, and then edit the film into its final form.

The program requires students to take advantage of Bard’s broad liberal arts curriculum by studying subjects that relate to their specialties. A documentarian might take courses in anthropology, an animator in painting or sculpture, a screenwriter in literature, and a film critic in art history.

A student’s first year is devoted primarily to acquiring a historical and critical background. The focus in the sophomore year is on learning the fundamentals of production and working toward Moderation. Before Moderation each prospective major presents to the review board a completed 16mm film and videotape, a full-length script, or a 10-page historical/critical essay. The junior year is devoted mainly to the deepening and broadening of the student’s creative and critical awareness, and the senior year to a yearlong Senior Project. This project can take one of three possible forms, each of which constitutes a separate "concentration" within the major itself: (1) a creative work in film or video, (2) a full-length screenplay, or (3) an extended, in-depth, historical/critical essay.