Undergraduate

The undergraduate program in Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University enrolls approximately 300 majors studying contemporary media theory and practice in a liberal arts context. Our program offers a unique combination of practical experience in production and critical-theoretical-historical perspectives. Over four years of study, students receive hands-on training in making media -- including film, video, audio, and computer-based media -- which they continue to develop in course work, internships, and co-curricular activities. Historical, critical, and theoretical studies parallel the learning of production skills and aesthetics, and this cross-fertilization is intrinsic to the major. The combination of theory and practice distinguishes Northwestern's Radio/Television/Film program from programs which primarily emphasize the technical aspects of production or are uncritically geared toward the media industry. Upon graduation, our students have acquired a broad foundation for both making and analyzing numerous forms of media, and have had the equally important experience of participating in the intellectual life of a major research university.

The major is structured to allow students to take a wide variety of classes in departments around the university. Making media and understanding media involves knowing as much as possible about the social world we inhabit, in order to be able to comment knowledgeably on that world and to understand media's complex role in it. We want our students to be culturally literate and sophisticated world citizens, conversant with the important ideas of our times, able to navigate rapidly changing social and technological conditions, while understanding those changes in a larger social and historical framework.

Our department draws on traditional disciplines but it is equally committed to cutting-edge scholarship. It responds to the fact that in the contemporary world, media penetrates virtually every aspect of our lives and culture. It is a fundamental player in who we are as citizens and private individuals, it mediates our most fundamental experiences and ways of experiencing the world, from politics to gender issues and other areas of personal life. Contemporary media are complex and demand many different skills and approaches. Our program challenges students on aesthetic, practical, personal, technical, critical, and social levels as they learn the field. This is truly demanding, but it's also incredibly rewarding.

One of our basic goals is to provide students with a firm grounding in media literacy. Our students are educated to understand and participate in a world increasingly filled with cultural artifacts, entertainment, and information produced and disseminated by the media. Through studying and researching the images that confront us daily, we not only gain insights into the ways the media shape our lives, but can also take an active role in reshaping the media of the future.