Program Overview
The Ph.D. program in Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz fosters dialogue between creative practice and critical inquiry, preparing students for intellectually informed media-making and theoretical production. It emphasizes working across media, pursuing social and political engagement, and fostering global cultural citizenship. Graduates will demonstrate proficiency in critical analysis, research, and scholarly writing, integrating critical study and media-making practices.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
The Ph.D. program in Film and Digital Media at UC Santa Cruz challenges the traditional boundaries between creative and critical practice. It aims to foster dialogue between creative practice and theoretical knowledge as related forms of intellectual work. The program provides students with the tools to realize a wide range of projects, including those that bridge the gap between critical studies and production. The program focuses on diverse cultural production, including cinema, television, video art, and internet-based media. Students examine the historical, aesthetic, political, ideological, and technological aspects of these media forms across international contexts. They investigate the connections, convergences, and relationships of these media forms to broader cultural and historical change. The program prepares students for intellectually informed creative practice, as well as theoretical and critical production in a variety of environments, extending beyond traditional academic contexts.
Key Program Features:
- Integrating critical and creative practice: The program encourages dialogue between creative practice and scholarly inquiry as related forms of intellectual work.
- Working across media: The program embraces a range of technologies and platforms, emphasizing their historical and intertextual relationships.
- Pursuing new modes of social and political engagement: The program emphasizes media literacy as crucial for participating in an increasingly mediated world. It aims to empower a new generation of media makers and interpreters to reshape the world.
- Fostering global cultural citizenship: The program recognizes the need for a global and historical perspective in media making and studies. It encourages thinking and working across boundaries of nation, culture, and identity, promoting new knowledge and media forms that respect and investigate differences of race, class, gender, sexuality, and nation.
Learning Outcomes:
Students graduating with a Ph.D. in Film and Digital Media will be able to: Demonstrate how their critical study of media informs their media-making practices. Demonstrate knowledge of video and/or digital media production. Demonstrate critical thinking and analytical skills suitable for doctoral work in the discipline of film and digital media. Demonstrate research skills appropriate for doctoral work in the discipline of film and digital media. Demonstrate scholarly writing skills suitable for doctoral work in the discipline of film and digital media.
Other:
Prospective Applicants:
- Candidates should possess demonstrated skill in critical, theoretical, and historical scholarship.
- They should also demonstrate a strong interest in film, television, video, and new media studies.
- The program particularly seeks candidates with experience in artistic production and a desire to combine creative work with critical and theoretical study.
- The program prioritizes applicants who outline a project or form of work that integrates critical and creative work in a hybrid format that would be difficult or impossible to pursue in traditional humanities or studio/production programs.
Program Requirements:
- For program requirements, refer to the Program Statement.
Application:
- Consult the Graduate Division website and Admissions Pages for information about UCSC applications.
