Students shoot a film on the Coe campus

Film Studies

Behind the Lens

In addition to producing videos for Coe’s Marketing Office, Juan Gomez ’18 completed several independent projects outside of his coursework and studied abroad in Manchester, U.K. He is a founding partner of Young Creatives, a new media production company specializing in music videos, album covers, commercials and advertising.

Check out this music video from the recent Coe grad.


Following the Spring 2024 term, the film studies major is no longer accepting new students. Students interested in this area of study should consider an art major with a concentration in media production.  

Why Film Studies at Coe?

Film Studies, an interdisciplinary program, offers students the opportunity to design their own pathway through the major based on their individual interests and goals. Students work in several departments, mining the resources and methodologies of a number of creative disciplines.

Film Studies is an interdisciplinary major that spans many departments across campus, including art, communication studies, creative writing, theatre and music.

Courses in film history and analysis complement a range of production offerings, including digital filmmaking, screenwriting, stop-motion animation and sound. The major culminates in a yearlong senior project, typically a short film, although other options, such as a screenplay, are available.

Students will explore a variety of genres including narrative short filmmaking, documentary, music videos, video art and more.

Over the course of the major, and culminating in the independent senior project, students practice all areas of media production, including:

  • Pre-production: Concept creation, storyboarding, script writing, location scouting, set-design, casting and collaboration with actors
  • Production: HD video production with a variety of DSLR cameras, lighting, sound recording, work on collaborative, student-led production crews
  • Post Production: Video editing in Adobe Premiere, audio mixing, motion graphics, animation and titles, creating trailers and promotional materials

Recent Coe graduates have been accepted to highly competitive graduate film programs at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, University of Chicago, Yale University and Chapman University.