Your Program and Degree Choices

On the whole, there is a clear distinction between academic and profession oriented programs where Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) degrees focus on a theoretical emphasis while Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) focus more on the “creative and technical aspects of the moving image”.

Depending on your own key strengths, you have a good shot at a variety of professions.

However, some schools do offer the opportunity to graduate with a BA degree in something like film and television production which while providing a theoretical grounding to the history and evolution of film and television also include an equal emphasis on the aesthetics and craft of producing a piece of original work.

As an undergrad you can choose between a broad array of alternatives including a BA in Critical Studies, BA in Film & Television Production, BA in Animation & Digital Arts, BA in Interactive Entertainment and BFA in Writing for Screen & Television.

As a graduate student, you can choose between a MA in Critical Studies, MFA in Film & Television Production, MFA in Animation & Digital Arts, MFA in Interactive Entertainment, MFA in Producing and MFA in Writing for Screen & Television. (Source: USC, Cinematic Arts)

Other schools offer a few more variants of the MA degree including in Moving Image Archive Studies (UCLA, TFT), Cinema and Media Studies (UCLA, TFT) but with the same unifying goal in mind: to provide a mainly scholarly overview to the field as distinct from the MFA degrees.

There are also PhD programs for those interested in analyzing the field by way of in-depth research.