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BA: Film and
Digital Media

Undergraduate Program

The Film and Digital Media major at UC Santa Cruz offers an integrated curriculum where students study the cultural impact of movies, television, video and the internet, while also producing creative work in video and interactive digital media.

This Bachelor of Arts degree provides students with the critical skills to analyze world cinema, popular TV and new media, along with the technical, aesthetic and intellectual principles fundamental to creating new work in these forms.

Film and digital media are key technologies of our age and central engines of California’s economy. By studying their global cultural impact and by producing a new generation of media-literate media-makers, our program provides the critical and artistic vision vital to 21st-century citizenship.

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Program Learning Outcomes

Students who earn a B.A. in Film and Digital Media will gain the skills, knowledge, and understanding that will enable them to:

  • Demonstrate their ability to employ research skills, including the use of appropriate print and technology sources in the discipline, to construct effective arguments.
  • Demonstrate that they understand the pre-production, production, and postproduction digital media and filmmaking process.
  • Demonstrate the relationship between different types of form and meaning through the creation of film and digital media projects or the critical analysis of them.
  • Demonstrate their ability to work collaboratively to produce a film or digital media project.
  • Demonstrate broad knowledge of film and media history internationally.
  • Demonstrate scholarly writing skills appropriate to the discipline of film and digital media.
  • Demonstrate an ability to analyze, interpret, and critique films and media from a variety of theoretical perspectives using the critical vocabulary and methodologies of the discipline.
  • Demonstrate ability to articulate and defend their research and practice in a critical environment.

(The information on this website is unofficial and subject to change. Official UCSC admissions policies and major requirements are published in the UCSC General Catalog.)


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Summer Session

Plan for summer during the winter!

Our broad summer curriculum is designed for FDM students to continue making degree progress. We also welcome high schoolers and visitors from other colleges to our world-class research university.

In addition to Summer Session, there is also the Summer Edge program exclusively for incoming students. The Edge programs allow students to earn units towards graduation while building community and confidence on campus as they transition into university life.


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Professor Sharon Daniel’s two-quarter undergrad course, FILM 171S-02

Incoming Transfer Student Information

Transfer students interested in pursuing this major are not required to complete specific major preparation courses for consideration of admission to UC Santa Cruz. Transfer students can complete the general major within two years. While not required for admission, transfer students are encourages to complete UCSC general education requirements or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) prior to transferring.

To meet major qualifications, at least one major qualification course (FILM 20A, 20B, or 20C) must be taken at UC Santa Cruz during their first year in residence. Please visit our major requirements page for more information on major requirements


Do you have questions? We have answers!

Check out our FAQ for prospective undergraduate students or email us your question


Last modified: Sep 11, 2024