Cornell University Registrar

Graduate Field

Performing and Media Arts

Program Description

In this minor field, the history, theory, and practice of the moving image are examined as are the forms, thematics, and institutional structures specific to the various practices and conceptualizaitons in the other arts and academic disciplines. Students study the impact of the moving image on aesthetics, politics, culture, and identity through historical, theoretical, and practical perspectives.

The historical approach to film and video considers the development of international cinema from the silent era to its transformation in video and its future in digital culture, as well as the relation of the images and narratives of cinema and video to those of fine art, literature, architecture, theatre, electronic art, communication, and mass culture.

The theoretical approach reflects on the conceptions of ontology, identity, race, class, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality that are voiced, if not shaped, by cinema and video. Theoretical studies of cinema dialogue with disciplinary discussions in philosophy, psychoanalysis, social and literary theory, visual culture, anthropology, women's studies, and lesbian, bisexual, and gay studies.

The practical approach entails familiarization with the processes of making moving images, from script writing, camera, sound, and lighting to editing, digital transfer, and distribution.

This is a minor field. Application for admission is made only to the major fields. After matriculation, a student may select minor subjects from the major or minor fields.

Graduate Minor Requirements

For students in graduate research degrees, earning a “minor” in a specific subject or concentration is not explicitly linked to the completion of coursework but is instead defined by the student’s special committee. Faculty serving on the student’s special committee each represent a concentration. Because many graduate faculty are active in more than one graduate field or academic discipline, students and faculty should be clear about which concentration will be represented when a committee is formed.

Students who minor in film and video studies must include a faculty member from the field in the Special Committee; complete three courses in film, video or theory approved by the field; and complete a minor "A" exam in the field.