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Cinema Program

Hajr Avant (BA ’18) worked as the production designer for Nate Loves Sarah during the Cinema program’s Summer Intensive.

About the Department

Cinema majors dedicate their undergraduate experience to the study of narrative filmmaking. From technical crafts such as camerawork and editing to creative leadership roles in writing, producing, and directing, VCUarts Cinema students learn skills in pre-production, production, and post-production as well as studying the history of cinema. If you dream of working on professional movie productions, completing this major will help you to prepare for a variety of real-world positions.

Your gift to the VCUarts Department of Cinema helps provide scholarships for our talented students, promote faculty research and host world-class artists.

Department Faculty

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Degree Program

VCUarts Cinema is a three-year and eight-week undergraduate film program that matches film theory with filmmaking practice to best prepare students to work in the industry immediately upon graduating. Students create narrative films in a collaborative environment using professional equipment while preparing for employment in the professional movie-making industry.

Cinema program

Bachelor of Arts in Cinema

The Cinema major covers the entire scope of narrative filmmaking, from theory and screenwriting all the way through post-production and distribution.

Students shoot on location with auditioned actors, following industry practices and using professional equipment.

Curriculum Map

The Bachelor of Arts in Cinema is focused on narrative movie production. Consequently, the program is designed to advance conceptual understanding of visual storytelling and to teach and practice the technical methodologies foundational to movie-making.

View our curriculum map.

Student Experience

We seek to replicate the environment of a professional film set in terms of both staffing and protocol. Students work on crews from 25-75 people, while the faculty act as executive producers, working alongside students from pre-production to post. We also employ a casting director as an adjunct professor and hold real casting sessions for every film. Unlike other top film schools, your tuition also covers all of your filmmaking expenses, from equipment rental to film development.

Cinema

Meet our Faculty

Faculty act as executive producers, working alongside students from pre-production to post. We also employ a casting director as an adjunct professor and hold real casting sessions for every film.

Cinema

Facilities

  • Cinema Studio at VCUarts Depot: a 4000 sq. ft. multi-use interactive motion picture teaching space with Optoma UHD60 4k and 16mm Projection, Dolby Surround Digital Denon AVR 988P audio amplifier, 16mm flatbed film editing, and 35mm optical printer.
  • Digital Cinema Lab: twenty (20) 27-inch Apple iMac desktop computers with Adobe editing suite, and digital projector.
  • Smart Screenwriting/Production Conference Room
  • Sound Mixing Room
  • Cyclorama and motion capture studio
Behind the scenes of VCUarts Cinema film ‘340ft Down,’ funded by an Undergraduate Research and Innovation Grant.

Equipment

We are conscious of our students’ financial need and do not require any student to purchase their own filmmaking materials.

No additional tuition is charged for filmmaking expenses, and student films use professional equipment and auditioned actors.

Work with Us

Cinema

Student Crew

If you are interested in hiring VCUarts Cinema students as crew members for a project, please fill out the form with all pertinent information. We will share your listing with students and they will reach out to you if they are interested or available. Filling out the form does not guarantee student participation!

Cinema

Actors

Casting for all VCUarts Cinema films is done through Anne Chapman Casting.

Contact Us

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