Screen Studies, B.A.
Capstone
Senior year culminates in either the shared Visual and Performing Arts Capstone course or a two-semester screen studies honors thesis.
Students with a strong academic record may apply to complete a two-semester honors thesis instead. The honors thesis is a significant independent project developed with a faculty advisor and presented in a formal defense. It can take three forms:
- A 75-page work of research scholarship on a topic in film history, criticism, or theory
- A feature-length screenplay, developed to professional standard
- A substantial portfolio film project — a significant work of production
Students planning graduate work in screen studies are especially encouraged to pursue the honors path. A successful thesis and defense satisfies the capstone requirement.
All students interested in honors must apply to the screen studies program director by April 1 of their junior year.
Recent honors thesis topics give a sense of the range:
- Raised on Promises: An Investigation of the American Coming-of-Age Film
- “Rat Girls,” a four-episode teleplay for an animated series
- Postmodern Pleasures: Bollywood’s Relevance in the Global Age
- “Westing,” a student-created experimental documentary film
- Overcoming Sorrow: The Struggle of Peruvian Cinema and Its Promise of Progress in Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow
