Degrees & Majors
The information shared here is intended to provide an overview of Georgia State University’s offerings. For official details on admissions requirements, tuition, courses and more please refer to the university catalogs.
Arts Administration, B.I.S.
Bachelor's
College/School: College of the Arts
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
College of the Arts
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The Arts Administration concentration provides students with a broad-based knowledge of business and the arts and positions graduates for managerial positions in galleries, theaters and other arts organizations, especially in the nonprofit sector. The program allows students with an interest in the arts to develop widely marketable skills. Students take courses in nonprofit management, business communication and marketing with electives in business administration, creative media industries study, entrepreneurship, marketing and nonprofit management.
There are four thematic concentrations: Art History Administration, Music Administration, Studio Administration and Theatre Administration.
Students can pursue their interest in the arts in one of these four areas while also taking courses in nonprofit management, business communication and marketing.
An internship course is required for Art History Administration and Theatre Administration or can be taken as an elective in Music Administration and Theatre Administration. Other possible electives include business administration, creative media industries and world languages courses.
Our campus is in the heart of downtown Atlanta. We are part of a thriving, vibrant arts scene with many arts administration opportunities in art, music and theatre.
Communication (Film/Video), M.A.
Master's
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The graduate program in Film/Video/Digital Imaging prepares students for professional activities in all areas of film/video/digital imaging in which the school has emphasis (moving image studies), as well as for continued advanced graduate work at the Ph.D. level. Those in the Moving Image Studies track write research theses examining the problems in the theory and history of moving images. The M.A. track in Moving Image Studies can be pursued as an end in itself (for example, educators in English and the humanities who find themselves increasingly working with moving images in their disciplines), but is often the stepping stone for pursuing the doctorate.
The Moving Image Production emphasis of the MA degree remains a part of the School of Film, Media & Theatre but is primarily designed to support our Dual-Degree program. All applicants who are interested in filmmaking and who were not in the Dual-Degree program at Georgia State as an undergraduate are encouraged to apply to the Filmmaking concentration of the MFA degree in Digital Filmmaking.
Communication Studies – Moving Image Studies, Ph.D.
Doctorate
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The Ph.D. in Communication Studies with a concentration in Moving Image Studies is specifically designed to provide students with the conceptual and methodological tools to study the complex and vastly expanded moving image environment of the 21st century, where the boundaries separating cinema, television and new media are breaking down. Moving Image Studies is an outgrowth of cinema studies, television studies, new media studies, cultural studies and critical theory. Many of our core seminars are designed to cut across media boundaries (by examining how models, paradigms and methods are problematized and enriched, as we move across specific media); while other seminars are devoted to intensive examination of problems within a specific media formation.
The doctorate in Moving Image Studies is designed to give students a solid foundation in a specific moving image medium (whether cinema, television, or new media), while at the same time give them the preparation and the confidence to research and write about moving images wherever they circulate. The program encourages innovative new work that challenges existing paradigms of media study, that is theoretically rigorous, and that is aware of historical and cultural specificity.
Digital Filmmaking, Filmmaking Concentration, M.F.A.
Master's
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
Launching in fall 2022, the new Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Digital Filmmaking program and its Filmmaking concentration leverage the rich curriculum of the School of Film, Media & Theatre to create an ethically sustainable and socially engaged future for film and media production. The program cultivates diverse perspectives in an active and demanding learning environment within Atlanta’s vibrant cultural and historical traditions.
The Filmmaking concentration prepares candidates to produce documentary, fiction, experimental, community-based and advocacy media, and 16mm and 35mm filmmaking through a combination of rigorous practice, collaboration and study. The program shapes candidates into well-rounded and skilled individuals with a thorough knowledge of film and media production and may contribute to the ongoing social justice work while developing distinctive styles of visual expression attractive to industry, artistic and activist communities.
Georgia State has been teaching film production at the graduate level for over 25 years, making it the longest-running graduate film school in Georgia.
Students in the Filmmaking concentration will:
- Gain a thorough grounding in the strategies, complexities and varieties of contemporary filmmaking and creative mediamaking.
- Be exposed to new storytelling perspectives to challenge traditional filmmaking structures and realize alternative possibilities to represent the human experience and condition.
- Engage in mentorship with award-winning and internationally recognized faculty filmmakers.
- Become adept in a diverse and expressive range of approaches to do work that synergizes arts-based and industrial practices.
- Partner with critical studies and scholarship in the School of Film, Media & Theatre, including the internationally renowned research group liquid blackness
- Leverage creative opportunities with other arts disciplines across the College of the Arts, including theatre, music, visual arts and design.
- Discover and hone an artistic voice through courses in directing, producing, screenwriting, cinematography, editing, sound design, documentary and experimental media in preparation for each candidate’s thesis project.
- Explore filmmaking in multicultural Atlanta, the third-largest media capital in America in the heart of Georgia’s booming film and television industries. This unique environment provides filmmakers with access and experience to navigate the demands of a fast-changing and competitive film industry.
- Engage in rigorous, hands-on learning and professional training and develop a rich understanding of cinema and media history, theory and aesthetics while anticipating and developing future media practices.
- Gain practical teaching experience through funded teaching assistantships that prepare candidates for a career in education. The M.F.A. degree is a terminal degree required for most college/university teaching positions in film/media production.
- Acquire industry experience through Georgia Film Academy and Trilith Studios (formerly Pinewood Studios) for specialized technologies and crafts such as post-production, lighting and art direction, etc.
Film and Media, B.A.
Bachelor's
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The Film and Media major is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of film, television and new media. Courses focus on the histories and theories of cinematic, electronic and digital media and provide the opportunity for practical experience in film/media production. Students work closely with faculty members to devise an optimum program of study integrating creative and collaborative thinking. This liberal arts approach to film, television and new media provides the student with the necessary skills and knowledge to adapt to the changing media environment.
Film/Media Production, B.A./M.A. Dual Degree
Master's
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
Film/Media Production, B.A./M.A. Dual Degree
Eligible for the Dual Undergraduate/Graduate Program
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The School of Film, Media, & Theater offers a professionalized dual-degree program for bachelor of arts (B.A.) Film students aspiring for advanced honors-level and master of arts (M.A.) thesis production. This program is designed to take five years (including a student’s freshman and sophomore years), at the end of which, a student will receive both a bachelor of arts degree in film and media and a master of arts degree in communication with a concentration in film, media and digital imaging. The dual-degree program is ideal for students who are sophomores or juniors and want to use their senior year as a segue into graduate work. The senior year would involve advanced coursework that one would usually take in the first year of the M.A. program. The first (and only) year of the M.A. program would involve only advanced coursework and the thesis film.
Georgia Film Academy Minor
Bachelor'sMinor
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
Georgia Film Academy Minor
Minor Available
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations:
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The Georgia Film Academy (GFA) supports the Georgia Film Consortium (GFC), which is a unique-in-the-nation, state-wide collaboration of institutions of the University System of Georgia, Technical College System of Georgia and independent institutions that offer professional courses in film, television, digital entertainment, Esports and game development. The academy certifies workforce-ready employees in needed areas of film-making crafts such as lighting, special effects makeup, sound and production design, and editing. The academy provides students with a basic level of on-set film production skills, knowledge and experience with film-industry standard organizational structure, professional equipment and on-set procedures. Students are trained by professionals in the film, television and new media industries and have opportunities to work on major professional productions.
The following tracks are available.
- Standard Track
- Film and Television Production Track
- Film and Television Post-Production Track
- Digital Entertainment, Esports & Game Development Track
Theatre (Design or Performance), B.I.S.
Bachelor's
College/School: School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
School of Film, Media & Theatre
Locations: Atlanta Campus
Interest Area: Humanities & Arts
The B.I.S. in Theatre focuses on the history, theory and practice of creating live theatrical performance. Theatre courses promote the artistic development of students whose interests and talents will lead them to careers in theatre or allied arts, and to help students with other vocational interests to understand and appreciate the cultural heritage represented in drama and to improve their oral communication skills. The University Theatre and the Georgia State University Players afford majors practical experience through participation in productions. Credit for special projects and internships is available so students can take advantage of the expertise in the professional sector of the metropolitan area and to tailor programs to their specific career goals.
For the latest information about required courses, visit the School of Film, Media, and Theatre website.