Pre-Film and Media Studies (BA) in Santa Barbara United States | University of California, Santa Barbara

The Film and Media Studies Department is a dynamic, fast-expanding academic unit featuring faculty with expertise spanning modern media scholarship. Our department excels in areas including narrative and documentary cinema history and analysis, television and broadcasting, digital platforms, online media, video-based artistic expression and social movements, cultural analysis, media economics, and worldwide media systems. We foster interdisciplinary collaboration by aligning curriculum and research initiatives with programs like Art, Communication, Environmental Studies, Sociology, Black Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, History, Art History, and Comparative Literature. While not production-focused, all majors gain fundamental filmmaking skills. Students can additionally explore screenwriting and higher-level film production courses. Grounded in liberal arts education, our film and media studies program equips graduates for diverse paths in media professions, teaching, archival work, media law, publishing, and news media.