Understanding how to communicate successfully with technology is a necessary competence in today’s ever-changing digital communication landscape. This certificate offers any undergraduate student at Catholic University the ability to complement his or her major area of study with comprehensive training in video production and audio-visual storytelling. By combining course offerings in three main departments — Media and Communication Studies, Art, and Drama — students develop technical skills in lighting, videography, motion graphics, digital audio, and video editing. In addition to building technical proficiencies, this certificate guides students toward developing a creative voice through digital storytelling.
The Certificate in Video Production and Digital Storytelling offers students many advantages. Increasingly, digital communication skills are necessary in a wide variety of professional fields, such as public relations, marketing, non-profit communications, journalism, film and video making, graphic design, social media management, political communications, law, and education. Proficiency in video production is a highly marketable skill for entrants into 21st-century careers. With combined specialized training in media production and narrative construction, students will have a significant competitive asset on today’s job market, because they will be trained in the creation of powerful and effective media texts. Students can also use this certificate as the foundation for pursuing advanced degrees in media-related fields.
The certificate is distinct from the Media Studies minor, which could be pursued with a focus on video production, but which could just as easily be completed with no production coursework. Distinct as well from the Digital Art and Design certificate, the Certificate in Video Production and Digital Storytelling offers highly specialized training in one mode of digital communication, giving students expertise in the fundamentals of video production. With its narrative component, the sequence of courses stresses how to use technical skills to shape stories with effective messages.
Media Certificate:
Any Catholic University of America student can obtain a certificate in Media Studies. Students hoping to advance their careers and possess real-world experience in Media, should consider this hands-on intensive program. Students are required to complete 2 required courses and 4 electives courses.
Required Courses:
MDIA 302: Intro to Video Production
MDIA 312: Intermediate Video Production
Electives for Media and Communication Studies:
Narrative Elective Courses:
CLAS 251: Ancient World in Cinema
DR 305: Theater Topics III
ENG 202: Elements of Drama
ENG 301: Creative Writing: Fiction
ENG 377: Film and Fiction 19th Century Adaptations
ENG 395: Lincoln in Literature and Film
ENG 453/454: American Film Comedy I & II
ENG 456: Science Fiction Media
ENG 458: Religion and Media
ENG 460: Film and History
ENG 470: International New Wave Cinema
FREN 315: Literature and Film: Roman noir/Film noir
GER 240: Weimar Culture in Film & Literature
GER 250: Berlin in Literature and Film
GER 345: The Haunted Screen: Art, History, and Memory in German Film
GER 346: Nietzsche to Film Noir
ITAL 230: Social Issues in Italian Cinema
ITAL 231: New Italian Cinema 1980-2005
ITAL 233: The Myth of Childhood in Italian Cinema
MDIA 322 Media and Crime
MDIA 328: Clint Eastwood: Violence, Vengeance & Redemption
MDIA 342: The Horror Film
MDIA 450: Film Narrative: The Coen Brothers
MDIA 451: Film Narrative: Alfred Hitchcock
MDIA 452: Film Narrative: Stanley Kubrick
MDIA 459: The Documentary Mode
MDIA 460: Film History: New Hollywood Cinema
MDIA 464: Topics in Television Studies
TRS 338: War, Ethics, and Film
Production Elective Courses:
ART 236: Time-Based Media
ART 231: Introduction to Digital Design: Motion Graphics & Graphic Design
ART 329: Introduction Digital Photography and Photoshop
ART 343: Introduction to Sound Production and Design
ART 344: Multimedia Art Using Final Cut Pro
ART 364: Advanced Multimedia Art Using Final Cut Pro
ART 383: Video Art
ART 384: Digital Photography and Dynamic Narrative
ART 411: Advanced Digital Photography
DR 207: Introduction to Design
DR 312: Dirercting I
DR 461: Writing for Television
DR 540: Scene Design
DR 543: Stage Lighting
DR 545: Production Design and Management
DR 566: Screenwriting
MDIA 315: Audio Podcasting
MDIA 385: Digital Video Editing
MDIA 499 - 03: Senior Seminar in Documentary Video Production