Arts Divison Logo

Film & Digital Media Department

Contents

MFA: Social Documentation Core Courses

All core classes are taught in a cohort model, instead of a competitive, individualistic model. Social Documentation emphasizes the group as a unit of cohesion and mutual assistance. Students carry out individual projects, but they are shaped and vetted all together.

The Social Documentation Program has a required core curriculum around which students are expected to design their own course of study.

First Year:

  • SOCD 203: Documentary Research Methods and Social Science Representation (offered during Fall Quarter)
  • SOCD 201A: Introduction to Documentary Field Production and Editing (offered during Fall Quarter)
  • FILM 202: Pedagogy in Film and Digital Media (offered during Fall Quarter)
  • SOCD 200: Approaches to Social Documentation (offered during Winter Quarter)
  • SOCD 201B: Advanced Documentary Field Production and Editing (offered during Winter Quarter)
  • SOCD 201C: Project Planning for the Social Documentary (offered during Spring Quarter)
  • Film and Digital Media graduate film production elective

Second Year:

  • Film and Digital Media graduate film production elective
  • SOCD 294A: Production/Analysis/Editing (offered during Fall Quarter)
  • SOCD 294B: Production/Analysis/Editing (offered during Winter Quarter)
  • SOCD 294C: Production/Analysis/Editing(offered during Spring Quarter)
  • SOCD 295: Project Completion (offered during Spring Quarter)
  • Second-year students will also need to enroll in at lease one other course to reach the 10-unit minimum per quarter

Graduate film production electives rotate every year. Recent offerings have included: Audio Arts and Methods, Indigenous Filmmaking, The Film/Video Essay, Elemental Media, etc. Please visit the general catalog for more details about these courses.

A total of 72 units are required to complete the MFA Degree in Social Documentation, consisting of 55 units of required core courses and a minimum of 15 units of electives (not including individual studies and project completion). Quarterly course schedules are subject to change. Electives may be taken any quarter. Master of Fine Arts students must be enrolled in at least 10 units every quarter. The maximum unit load is 19, although this can be surpasses with special permission.

Students will work with their advisors in designing an individual course of study that supplement the core curriculum with classes that support the student’s specific project. Specific media production classes will also be included in the course of study.

For More Information

Visit the UCSC General Catalog for detailed descriptions of Social Documentation program requirements

Social Documentation MFA Requirements
Last modified: [last-modified]