Communication

Jeff Ryder
jryder@uarts.edu
Director
215-717-6562

The Bachelor of Science in Communication is an undergraduate program preparing students in the application, practices and critical study of digital video production.

In the first two years, students take applied introductory courses in video production, digital editing, sound and webcasting. To supplement the applied courses, they will take courses in the history of communication as well as Western art history. Collaboration is a hallmark of most professional media. In the Sophomore year, students will work on teams to develop and produce original collaborative video projects.

By the spring of their Sophomore year, students will be required to choose between a concentration in narrative, scripted video or documentary video. Students opting for the narrative track will spend their Junior year in a two-semester sequential course writing, casting, directing, shooting, editing and mixing two short original scripted video projects. To prepare them for their original short screenplays, they will take three courses in screenwriting, beginning in their Sophomore year. For students opting for the documentary track, they will spend their junior year in a two semester sequential course developing, researching, interviewing, directing, shooting, editing and mixing two short original documentaries. To prepare them, they will take courses in media ethics, modern American history and a media studies elective. To supplement their applied production courses, there are required courses in film theory and history as well as professional writing and economics. All students will spend their entire Senior year completing a major original video project either scripted or a documentary.

Required internships, often completed during the summer between their Junior and Senior year, offer students an exposure to the professional world of media.

Special Resources and Opportunities

In support of this curriculum the College sponsors a number of publishing and broadcast environments that take advantage of its new media capabilities and are open to first-year students. Students direct, write and produce original video series and events as well as work on the college web radio.

The College of Media and Communication is housed in a state-of-the-art media environment, which includes a multifunctional production studio; a sound studio; digital labs for audio and video editing; multimedia studios that provide MAC, PA, and Unix-based operating systems and industry-stand software; a MIDI studio; and a black box production space, as well as a wireless environment that supports collaboration and independent work.