The UCSB Department of Film and Media Studies offers one of the longest standing and most successful undergraduate critical studies majors in the country. Founded as a small interdisciplinary program in 1973, Film and Media Studies now enrolls approximately 500 undergraduate majors in a multi-faceted curriculum with broad coverage of the history and theory of film, television, and new media practices around the world.  

The research of our distinguished faculty has helped to define the fields of film studies, television studies, and cultural studies, and is at the forefront of new work on digital media. Undergraduates have an opportunity to interact closely with faculty and graduate students on collaborative research projects.  In recent years such projects have included silent film restoration, pre-cinema technologies, emerging global cinemas, and the viral video phenomena. The rigorous academic standards established by our undergraduate curriculum has provided a foundation for the emergence of a new generation of well-informed film and media visionaries with a stake in shaping and understanding future audiovisual forms. Our prestigious alumni have achieved well-deserved accolades in film, television, webcasting, archiving, and academia.

Undergraduates who attend UCSB gain an interdisciplinary understanding of film and media history, theory, and criticism. The program emphasizes the development of our student’s ability to analyze film and media texts as a model for critical thinking. Most of the courses in the major require extensive reading, writing, and screening, as a form of training that prepares our graduates for a wide array of employment opportunities and, crucially, a means by which to analyze an expanding audiovisual field of knowledge. Students also edit and publish their writing in the undergraduate publication, Focus Media Journal, which has been published annually by the department for the more than thirty years.

While we are not a production program – and in fact only one basic production class is required of our majors – many of our undergraduates have produced remarkable short films in our specialized and advanced production courses. Our most active majors are involved with departmentally sponsored student filmmaking and screenwriting clubs and take advantage of local and industry-based internships, including participation in the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.