Cinema & Comparative Literature
The MASTER OF ARTS IN FILM STUDIES
Film Studies programs at the University of Iowa are located in the Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature. The Film Studies faculty participate in the undergraduate Cinema major and oversee two graduate degrees, the Master of Arts (MA) in Film Studies and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Film Studies. The following text outlines the rules and practices that apply to candidates for the Master of Arts in Film Studies. In addition, Graduate College rules apply to all students enrolled in a Graduate College program, including those in Film Studies.
I. GENERAL GUIDELINES
Local Resources
A new student's first semester in Iowa City and at the University of Iowa is an ideal time to discover the various opportunities offered by this extremely rich community. These include not only courses in a wide spectrum of departments, but also academic lectures and discussions (reading groups, American Studies Floating Fridays, Cinema and Comparative Literature Colloquium, Sound Research Seminar), campus art events (films sponsored by the Bijou or the Institute for Cinema and Culture, the Light Readings experimental film series, annual Korean and Asian American film festivals, concerts in Clapp Recital Hall, dance and opera in Hancher Auditorium, theater in Mabie Theater, improv in the studio theaters, poetry readings around campus, exhibits at the Art Museum), or off-campus opportunities (Jazz on the PedMall, Live from Prairie Lights, Riverside Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, and many more). The annual early fall departmental picnic offers new students a chance to meet others interested in film and related topics.
Lectures and Special Events
The department and the program regularly sponsor lectures by local and visiting scholars, as well as conferences and special film screenings. These offer an exciting opportunity to find out what is going on in the field and provide important contributions to each student’s graduate education and professional development. Graduate students are thus expected to attend these special events as often as possible.
Listserves
All new Film Studies students automatically receive a University computer account and will have their names added to the three relevant listserves: the official Cinema and Comparative Literature graduate student listserve (cclgs@list.uiowa.edu), the official Film Studies program listserve (filmstudies@list.uiowa.edu), and the more informal listserve covering local students, faculty, and staff interested in film (film-studies@list.uiowa.edu ). When announcing events, please be sure to use all three lists to include the widest possible audience. Many film events will also be announced on the website maintained by the Institute for Cinema and Culture: http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eintl/CNTS/istcc/
Advising
All students have a personal advisor throughout their University of Iowa Film Studies education. The initial advisor is appointed by the Director of Film Studies (a single advisor is typically appointed for all students in the same entering class). With the agreement of the new advisor, students may change advisors at any point. Students are expected to meet with their advisor at least once each semester. Advisors can provide student registration numbers and times for advisees approximately a week before early registration each semester.
Course Offerings
Courses at several levels are offered each semester. Courses numbered 200 and above are restricted to graduate students. Courses numbered between 100 and 199 are normally open both to advanced undergraduates and to graduate students, but since some 100-level courses are closed to graduate students it’s best to check with an advisor or the departmental office about access to 100-level courses. Since the study of film is best carried out in an interdisciplinary context, regularly investigate the course offerings of relevant areas outside Film Studies. Note that courses open to graduate students are offered during the Winterim, Maymester, and Summer sessions, including courses in foreign languages and other areas of interest to graduate students.
Independent Study Courses
Students may request to take an independent study for course credit with an appropriate faculty member when regular course offerings do not address a desired topic, or when a student wishes to pursue focused and guided study of a specific topic that regular coursework does not allow or facilitate. Since faculty members rarely agree to conduct independent study courses unless they are already familiar with a student's skills, work habits, and interests, students should request an independent study only when they have already worked successfully with a professor in at least one previous course. Students should recognize that independent study, while often enjoyable for faculty members, commonly requires substantial additional work and time for a professor. In any given semester, a professor's schedule and work load may simply not allow him/her to arrange a responsible individual study, so students should not assume that a professor's decision not to work with a student on an individual basis is a judgment of that student's skills or proposed project. Depending upon the credit hours (1-3) to be awarded for independent study, students should expect to perform the same amount of work required in regular courses of equal credit. Independent studies are normally graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis.
After a student and faculty member have agreed to work together in independent study, an "Independent Study Agreement" must be prepared and signed by both parties before being submitted to the Director of Film Studies. This written agreement should provide justification for undertaking an independent study, a summary of the work to be performed, a semester schedule, and clarification of the basis for determining a final grade. A copy of this signed document will then be placed in the student's academic file.
Grading Practices
Most University of Iowa courses are graded on an A-B-C-D-F scale; + and - grades are regularly used. Anything below a B is an inadequate grade for graduate work. A few courses are graded Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory; note that these S/U courses do not figure in the calculation of your grade point average, and thus should not take up too large a proportion of your overall curriculum.
Incompletes
Grades of Incomplete are granted only in exceptional cases and only under the condition that a clear, signed contract between student and instructor be completed and deposited in the student's departmental file. The contract must stipulate the work to be completed, the length of the extension granted, and the sanctions for not meeting the new deadline. The due dates for making up incompletes may not exceed College limits, which require submission of work three and one-half weeks prior to the close of finals week of the next semester. Individual faculty often contract for shorter extensions only.
Appropriate Progress
To hold a teaching or research assistantship or fellowship, a student must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 18 semester hours per twelve-month academic year (August-August), maintain a cumulative 3.25 gpa on graduate work taken at the University of Iowa, and perform assigned assistantship duties satisfactorily. Courses graded Incomplete are not counted. Failure to meet these requirements may result in non-renewal or cancellation of an assistantship or fellowship.
In February of each year, Cinema and Comparative Literature faculty meet to review the progress of all graduate students. In preparation for this meeting, students are expected to contact their advisors to report on their academic progress and to announce significant achievements (publications, conferences, film and video productions, etc.) for the previous academic year.
II. REQUIREMENTS AND REGULATIONS
Under normal circumstances, students who do not already hold an MA in Film Studies or a closely allied discipline are first admitted into the Film Studies MA program. This is normally a two-year program, but in exceptional cases may be completed in three semesters and a summer. No more than six hours of graduate credit for courses taken elsewhere will be accepted toward the Film Studies MA.
The Film Studies MA serves two basic purposes: 1) to give students substantial training in film analysis, history, and theory, and 2) to afford students an opportunity to learn about various film-related disciplines in order to make an informed career choice. Students who complete a UI Film Studies MA may go on to PhD work in Film Studies or another discipline, MFA work in Film & Video Production or another discipline, a Library Science degree, film distribution, film programming, archival work, arts management, and many other disciplines. MA students are encouraged to take advantage of the University's and the program's openness toward interdisciplinary work by taking courses in other departments, by attending lectures throughout the University, and by generally informing themselves about a wide range of disciplines and careers related to Film Studies.
In order to permit breadth within MA programs, the Film Studies MA requirements are few:
Credit Hour Requirement: a total of at least 36 hours
Required Courses:
--48:273 Advanced Film Theory
--48:275 Advanced Film History
Distribution Requirement: at least 2 credits in each of the following areas:
1) U.S. cinema
2) European cinema
3) World cinemas
4) Production, documentary, animation, or experimental film
Examination: two three-hour written exams taken in mid-January of the second year
For the MA exam, students choose one area from each list:
FILM THEORY
--classical film theory
--authorship and genre
--semiotics and narrative theory
--spectatorship and reception
--psychoanalysis and gender
--social representation and cinema
--theories of ideology
--film and other arts
--film and technology
--historiography
FILM HISTORY
--US silent film
--US classical film (1920-1960)
--US postwar film -European film movements
--European national cinemas (3)
--European postwar cinema
--Asian national cinemas (3)
--Latin American cinema
--Cinemas of the developing world (1960-)
--International silent cinema
--Documentary, animation, experimental (2 of 3)
The film theory exam is given on the Thursday before the start of the spring semester, and the film history exam is given on the following day. Each exam takes four hours, with three hours for writing, and an hour designated for outlining, revision, and proofreading. All students normally take the exams in the same computer cluster, using a University computer of their choice. Students who choose to handwrite their exams deposit the original with the departmental secretary and keep a xerox copy; they are expected to submit a typed version of the exam by the following Tuesday morning. Students are expected to be familiar with the full range of material implied by their chosen areas and approved reading/viewing lists. Exams typically include both required questions and a choice among offered questions. The best answers reveal specific knowledge, broad conceptualization, lucid organization, and clear prose.
III. MA TIMELINES
Following are schematic timelines of typical two-year Film Studies MA programs (one for a terminal MA program, the other for an MA student applying to the PhD program in year 2).
Standard Two-Year MA Timeline
Year 1
--mid-August: All incoming graduate students are assigned to the same faculty advisor. Plan to meet with that advisor during the latter part of the week preceding the start of classes. The advisor can inform you of program rules and practices, discuss your first-semester course selection and long-term aspirations, and field your questions.
--Thursday or Friday before the first day of classes: Combined Film Studies and Film & Video Production orientation meeting. (Students with a teaching assistantship should also expect to meet with their course supervisor on one of these days.)
--October/November: Prior to early registration, make an appointment with your advisor to discuss course selection for the spring, along with tentative decisions regarding your examination areas.
--January: Meet with your advisor in preparation for the February faculty review of graduate students.
--March/April: Prior to early registration, make an appointment with your advisor to discuss course selection for the fall, coverage of MA requirements, and your choice of examination areas (along with appropriate faculty to consult regarding the development of your exam reading lists).
--May: Submit a draft of your exam reading/viewing lists to faculty members knowledgeable in each area.
--Summer: Consider taking Film Studies or language courses, and/or working on the exam list.
Year 2
--by September 30: Submit to the MA Examination Coordinator a list of the equivalent of 15-20 books (1 book = 3 or 4 articles), and 20-30 films for each of your chosen examination areas. These lists will be examined and commented on by the faculty, then returned to you in October.
--October/November: Meet with your advisor (and/or other faculty) to discuss your choice of spring courses,and possible application to PhD or other academic programs (whose deadlines typically fall in December or January). Note that if you apply for and are accepted into the UI Film Studies PhD program, you are subject to a special timeline in the spring of your second year (detailed at the end of this section).
--by October 31: Submit to the MA Exam Coordinator the final version of your exam lists. Students who fail to submit acceptable exam lists within the prescribed time frame will not be allowed to take the exam.
--Thursday and Friday immediately preceding the start of the spring semester: The Theory exam is administered (by the CCL main office) on Thursday, the History exam on Friday.
--January: Meet with your advisor in preparation for the February faculty review of graduate students.
--by the beginning of March: Signify your intention to graduate (i.e., receive your MA degree) in May by filing the appropriate papers with the departmental office.
--May: Graduate!
Special Timeline for UI MA Students Applying to the UI PhD Program in Film Studies (see the PhD section for details on the various parts of the Qualifying Examination):
--November/December of year 2: Consult the departmental office about which elements of your MA original application may be used as part of your PhD application. If necessary, request additional letters of recommendation at least a month before they are due. Provide possible recommenders with appropriate information (writing samples, statement of purpose, etc.) and stamped, addressed envelopes.
--early January of year 2: Submit PhD application.
--late February of year 2: The PhD admission decision is reported. If you are not admitted, you continue on the normal MA timeline. If you are admitted, you will be informed of the makeup of the Qualifying Examination committee, and you follow the procedure outlined below.
--by mid-March of year 2: Students admitted to the PhD program submit to the Chair of the Qualifying Exam committee a research paper and an annotated bibliography (see the Film Studies PhD section for more information on the research paper and annotated bibliography).
--late March of year 2: Students write the "Weekend Surprise" (see the Film Studies PhD section for more information on the Weekend Surprise).
--early April of year 2: Students take the PhD Qualifying exam oral (see the Film Studies PhD section for more information on the Qualifying oral).
Once they have qualified, students follow the rules and practices of the PhD program. In particular, they are expected to designate an advisor and discuss a preliminary Plan of Study with that advisor by late May, and to present their Plan of Study to a full committee in time for committee decisions to impact fall course selection.
