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Program Overview
With a curriculum that focuses on merging traditional media with new media, Fairfield University’s Film, Television, and Media Arts (FTMA) program takes a dynamic approach to the study of narrative media that opens a world of exploration and creative possibilities. FTM majors and minors build skills in both critical analysis and hands-on production while acquiring a solid foundation in creating and reflecting on multimedia storytelling forms. Throughout their studies, students develop the skills and habits needed to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving media landscape.
Since the FTMA program exists within a comprehensive, liberal arts University, its curriculum strikes an appropriate balance between professional-quality film and television production, film and media history and theory, and analytic research and writing. Students learn the theory, analysis, and collaborative practice of all aspects of visual storytelling, including writing, moving-image design, producing, directing, cinematography, sound design, digital imaging, and editing.
Benefiting from the personal attention of a faculty comprised of scholars, artists, and industry professionals, students learn practices and skills at the cutting edge of the field and are mentored to understand the expressive power of media while discovering their own creative voice. After graduation, most FTMA students acquire solid, entry-level jobs in a variety of media fields or continue to develop their interest through graduate studies.
Cinefest 2023 Trailer:
Contact Us
Patrick Brooks
Assistant Professor
Film, Television & Media Arts
Office of Undergraduate Admission
P: (203) 254-4100
F: (203) 254-4199
admis@fairfield.edu
Program Highlights
Creative Student Community
Courses Start Fall of Freshman Year
State-of-the-Art Media Center and Equipment
Flexible Curriculum
Hands-on Production Experience
Close Faculty Mentoring
Independent Projects Encouraged
Dynamic Internship Opportunities
Strong Alumni Network
Requirements & Curriculum
Required Courses
| Introduction to Film Studies |
| Introduction to Film and Video Production |
| Global Cinema |
| Beginning Screenwriting for Film and Television |
| Film Editing and Media Construction |
| Four (4) Film, Television, and Media Arts elective courses |
| Capstone Seminar I |
| Capstone Seminar II |
| Introduction to Film Studies |
| Introduction to Film and Video Production |
| Three (3) Film, Television, and Media Arts elective courses |
A detailed list of course requirements, offerings, and more can be viewed in the University’s course catalog.
More About Film, Television, and Media Arts
Life After Fairfield
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Life After Fairfield
Film, Television, and Media Arts alumni carry their skills and awareness of the aesthetic, artistic, and communicative powers of media delivery into the professional world.
Many Fairfield graduates continue to develop their interests and perfect their skills by pursuing an advanced degree in film from the following institutions:
- American Film Institute
- Columbia University
- Emerson College
- New York University
- UCLA
- University of Southern California
Other FTMA graduates go on to acquire solid, entry-level jobs with media companies based in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities across the nation. Recent Fairfield alumni have successful secured employment with the following companies:
- Comedy Central
- ESPN
- FOX News
- INSIDER
- MSNBC
- NBCUniversal
- New Line Cinema
- Paramount Pictures
- Twentieth Century Studies
School of Communication, Arts, and Media Alumni Panel
Once a year, the College of Arts and Sciences’ invites alumni from each of the School of Communication, Arts, and Media’s four departments (Communication, Visual and Performing Arts, English, and Modern Languages and Literatures) to participate in an interactive panel discussion. From public relations professionals to digital managing editors, the panelists represent a wide breadth of careers and share their professional advice and personal journeys with current students.
Learn how Fairfield's Career Services can support your post-graduate goals, and how our tight-knit alumni network can build career and mentoring opportunities that last a lifetime.
Diversity and Inclusive Excellence
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Diversity and Inclusive Excellence
As a Jesuit, Catholic university, Fairfield is dedicated to diversity and inclusion; to radical hospitality in service of racial, social, and economic justice.
A New Spring 2024 Semester Program in Germany
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A New Spring 2024 Semester Program in Germany
Global Fairfield is pleased to offer a new Spring 2024 semester program in Germany, in partnership with nationally-recognized Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television. During the “Documentary Filmmaking in Bonn”program, students will earn 15 academic credits (with up to nine credits counting towards Fairfield’s Film, Television and Media Arts major, or minor) while making their own documentary films. In Bonn, students quickly become immersed in film production in a European setting, taking classes alongside LMU film undergraduates. They receive expert, hands-on training in documentary-focused directing, cinematography, editing and sound production. The intensive nature of the Bonn semester, consisting of sequential three-week workshops, demands highly motivated students from disciplines like film, TV, media, digital journalism, graphic design, communication and sports media. Qualified junior and sophomores are invited to apply for Spring 2024. Interested students should contact Patrick Brooks, Assistant Professor of VPA.
Students from aforementioned disciplines who are interested in exploring a major or minor in film are encouraged to apply!
Deadline to apply for the Spring 2024 semester program is July 28! (Spring 2025 applications will open on October 1.)
Internships
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Internships
Students pursuing an FTM major or minor are encouraged to seek out internship opportunities in the area of their concentration. Due to Fairfield's outstanding reputation and proximity to the greater New York area, dynamic options for student internships are available with a wide range of media production companies and television stations, as well as the University's own award-winning Media Center.
In recent years, Fairfield students have held internships at NBCUniversal, ABC, ESPN, The Daily Show, MSG, Speedvision Network, Outdoor Life, CNN, Comedy Central, The Conan O'Brien Show, WFAN, ESPN, WEBE 108, National Geographic Film and Television, and numerous independent film production companies.
Internship Qualifications
Credit-bearing internships in film, television and media arts are only available to declared junior and senior major and minor students, who have taken FTMA 1010, FTMA 1011, at least one history/theory course, and two applied production courses in their respective media track. Exceptions to these requirements can be appealed to the director of the Film, Television and Media Arts program. The internship counts as an elective course within the major and minor program.
Internships are meant for students who have some basic understanding of the media, enabling them to both better appreciate the work in which they intern as well as to make them more useful to the company in which they intern.
What to Expect (and Not Expect) from an Internship
Internships are designed to give you a real-world experience in a particular field of work. At the very least, you should have an experience of "trying on the clothes" of the field to see if they "fit" your talents, interests, and your sense of who you might be in the future. Most internships at larger companies do not allow the chance to do much else, and often assign basic tasks. Smaller companies usually have greater needs than large ones, and often rely on interns to an amazing degree.
Your internship will be successful if you get a good look at how the professionals practice their crafts and how good of fit the company feels. The requirements for the internship are designed to help achieve that end.
Cinefest
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Cinefest
Every year at the end of the spring semester, Fairfield University’s annual Cinefest student film festival celebrates the hard work and creative talents of our up-and-coming filmmakers by screening an impressive line-up of original short films produced by undergraduate students in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts’ Film, Television, and Media Arts program. The featured films represent a wide range of genres and are selected by a jury of industry professionals, who look for submissions with creative story lines and strong character development.
The popular student film festival is free and open to the public and includes a pre-event industry panel reception, as well as a post-event ceremony where finalists are honored with awards in the categories of best film, director, cinematography, editing, screenplay, and sound design, as voted upon by a panel of industry experts.
Production Resources
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Production Resources
After being transformed into an 18,000 square foot, state-of-the-art media center, Fairfield’s former Charles F. Dolan School of Business building reopened in fall 2020 as the new home of the College of Arts and Science’s Film, Television, and Media Arts program, as well as its expanding offerings in communications, digital journalism, and sports media.
The newly renovated facility offers students and faculty a variety of professional studio spaces and production equipment, including:
- Cutting edge studio space with an LED production lighting system, lighting control booth, and production control booth
- Podcast and webinar studio with a state-of-the-art lighting system
- Post-production suites for editing, coloring, and sound mixing
- Video production and screening room
- Computers and software for animation and graphic design
- A fully stocked equipment storage area where students can sign out top-of-the-line camera and audio gear, including HD, 4k, and 6k cameras; lighting packages; full range of audio mics and mixing equipment; dollies; steadicams; jib arms; and grip equipment
- Large mobile satellite uplink production truck
Faculty
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Faculty
The College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University is home to a vibrant community of engaged faculty, dedicated staff, industry professionals, and accomplished scholars devoted to the process of invention and discovery and excited by the prospect of producing knowledge in the service of others. Meet the members of our Film, Television, and Media Arts faculty.