Ian Howell –

A new minor will be available this fall at Quincy University. The Film and New Media program is a 15 hour (5 class) program that will primarily emphasize film study, but will also focus on new media, such as animation and social media.

There will be two tracks available; one will be in theory and the other in production. Students can focus more on film analysis, examining film as an art form and the impact it has on society in the theory track, or create screenplays, films and animation in the production track.

Assistant Professor of Communication Travis Yates has helped spearhead the Film and New Media program and is very enthusiastic about the path ahead.

“I am so excited for a couple of reasons: for one, we’ve had students in the past that have asked if this is something we could do, and so while we might not have got it up in running for those students, for the students that are here, I’m really excited that this is an option for them,” Yates said.

He also believes that the new minor program will not only help QU stand out from other universities, but also foster a love of film amongst interested students.

“There aren’t a lot of schools our size offering this. It makes us unique and, personally, I’m very passionate about film as someone who’s studied it and created it, so I’m really excited to share my knowledge and share the excitement and the passion that other students might have as well,” Yates said.

The courses offered in the program will be Film Appreciation, History and Theory of Cinema, Cultural Representation in Cinema, Bollywood and Foreign Cinema, Fundamentals of Film and Scriptwriting, Principles of Film and Media Production, Social Media, and Electronic Imagemaking.

Aside from Professor Yates, several other teachers will be involved in the minor program. Dr. Soumitra Ghosh will teach a few of the film courses, Professor Nora Baldner will teach the Social Media course and Professor Karl Warma will teach the Electronic Imagemaking course.

“I think this is an amazing opportunity to study the media of film in depth and discover how film reflects and influences society,” senior Jamie Grady said.

Although the Film and New Media minor is housed in the Fine Arts and Communication department, any student would benefit from completing the minor.

“Students interested in marketing can learn about the creation and coding of visual and audio messages. Those in the psychology field will likely enjoy learning about the thought processes behind film and film production and the implicit messages coded within the films that impact audiences. History majors will enjoy learning about how Hollywood dramatizes landmark events in our society,” Yates said. “The wonderful thing about film is that because it is so broad, having a greater understanding of it means having a greater contextual understanding of the world around you.”

The Film and New Media program officially launches this fall, but several courses in the program are already offered at QU such as COM 201 (Film Appreciation), COM 354 (Gender & Film) and COM 396 (Social Media).