Department of Film, Television and Digital Media
The Department of Film, Television and Digital Media (FTDM) offers students a uniquely diverse and comprehensive array of courses designed to prepare its graduates to be industry leaders, creative contributors and/or impactful scholars in arguably the most pervasive and influential field of the 21st century. The department offers three majors:
- Cinema and Media Studies, BA: In this scholarship- and research-oriented sequence, students practice the critical analysis of visual media (including film, television, streaming video, social media, and virtual reality), with the goal of understanding how we are continuously influenced and shaped, as a culture and as individuals, by the media texts that have become essential components of our everyday lives;
- Film, Television, and Digital Media, BS/BA: In this sequence, students combine various production courses with offerings in critical studies and industry studies to prepare them for success in the competitive and increasingly global media industries;
- Sports Broadcasting, BS/BA: In this sequence, students acquire the technical skills to produce sports programs at the professional level as well as the analytical skills to understand and articulate the social and cultural roles sports events play in countries around the globe.
State-of-the-art department resources include HD studios, soundstages, professional editing suites, a green screen studio, a campus radio station and a full complement of HD field production and grip equipment. The Gwendolyn P. Tandy Memorial Film Library houses more than 15,000 titles.
John V. Roach Honors College
Film, Television and Digital Media majors, Cinema and Media Studies majors or Sports Broadcasting majors who plan to pursue departmental honors must be members of the Honors College and should enroll in FTDM 30003 Honors Tutorial during their junior year and FTDM 40003 Honors Research Tutorial during the fall semester of their senior year.
Transfer Students
Transfer students are not guaranteed admission to the majors offered by the department. All students completing a major offered by the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media, including transfer students, must successfully complete the FTDM introductory courses and fulfill all remaining requirements with a “C” or better in order to graduate. Potential sports broadcasting majors, including transfer students, must apply for, and be granted, acceptance into the major (see sports broadcasting program requirements section). Transfer students must submit a written request if they wish the department to consider accepting any substitutes for FTDM 10113, FTDM 10123 History or Film or FTDM 10143 Introduction to Film and TV Aesthetics. Requests will be considered on an individual basis.
Internships
An active, supervised internship program places students in television studios, film production companies, audience research companies and corporate/industrial media centers. Interns may be placed in major media markets such as Los Angeles, New York, London or Fort Worth-Dallas or in their hometowns. FTDM internships are required for sports broadcasting majors and available to film, television and digital media majors and cinema and media studies majors and prerequisites apply. Contact the department for policies and procedures.
Study Abroad
Contact the FTDM department for details and schedules for study abroad opportunities.