Major Requirements

Students must complete ten courses to satisfy the requirements for a major in Film and Media Culture. Before declaring a Film and Media Culture major, the student must have completed or be currently enrolled in one of the basic core courses. Those courses are as follows:

Basic Core Course Requirements

FMMC 0101 Aesthetics of the Moving Image; FMMC 0102 Global Film Histories I or FMMC 0103 Global Film Histories II; FMMC 0104 TV and American Culture; and one production course - either FMMC 0200 Filmmaking or FMMC 0106 Screenwriting. The basic core courses should be completed by the end of the junior year.

Required Advanced Courses

One 0300 level course in theory — FMMC 0354, FMMC 0355, FMMC/GSFS 0358, FMMC 0360, or another approved 0300 level course — typically to be completed during junior year; and FMMC 0700 Film and Media Senior Tutorial.

Electives

Four additional FMMC courses, with at least two of these being critical studies or history courses. With the prior permission of a student’s academic advisor, one winter term FMMC course may be counted as an elective. Independent study courses will typically not count as an elective unless approved by the department chair for exceptional circumstances. Students taking courses focused on film and media taught in a foreign language, either at Middlebury or abroad, may request major elective credit from their advisor. Note that courses may not count toward both FMMC and another department’s major or minor. Courses transferred from other institutions will normally count only as an elective toward the FMMC major, not to fulfill core requirements.

Minor

Minors must take at least 2 introductory courses from the list of FMMC 0101 Aesthetics of the Moving Image, FMMC 0102 Global Film Histories I, FMMC 0103 Global Film Histories II, or FMMC 0104 TV and American Culture. In addition, minors must take four additional courses that are listed or cross-listed as FMMC, with at least one course at the 0300 or 0400-level. At least one of the four electives must be a critical studies or history course.

Joint Major

The joint major with FMMC is a combination of two disciplines, culminating in a joint senior project; the plan for joint majors is negotiated between the student and the two departments in which the joint program of study is pursued at the time of declaring the joint major. The senior project must combine aspects of both majors and in most cases will require approval, supervision, and evaluation from either departments or programs. The Film and Media Culture part of the joint major requires a minimum of seven courses, including four 100-level FMMC core courses, a 300-level theory course, FMMC 0700 Film and Media Senior Tutorial (or the equivalent senior project course in the other department), and any courses required or appropriate prior to undertaking the joint senior project. FMMC supports a concentration in American Studies, as detailed on its page.

Joint Major with English

A common joint major is ENAM/FMMC, combining an interest in storytelling in both literary and visual forms. Joint ENAM/FMMC majors are required to fulfill the basic Joint requirements for FMMC as listed above, and are encouraged to take the relevant electives FMMC 0257 Storytelling in Film and Media and FMMC 0279 Film and Literature if possible. Students who wish to write a screenplay for their joint senior project are required to take FMMC 0106 Screenwriting and FMMC 0341 Advanced Screenwriting; additionally, their screenwriting project must be tied to literary topics or issues (including adaptation).

Honors

The faculty of Film and Media Culture will award honors to select students based on their overall excellence in film and media coursework with a minimum GPA of 3.7, and on the merit of their senior project.