2024-2025 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
Film and Video Production
For additional information about opportunities your college offers, please refer to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences sections in this catalog.
Website: gvsu.edu/filmvideo
A strong hands-on emphasis characterizes the film and video production major. Courses include animation, cinema studies, documentary and nonfiction, fiction filmmaking, new media, and sound design. The curriculum integrates production experience with the insights offered by media history, theory, and criticism.
Digital video facilities include editing suites, a full complement of field gear, a studio classroom, and a digital audio studio. Students work with a variety of software in Macintosh computer laboratories. Student internship opportunities include regional and national productions, postproduction houses, and many more.
Accreditation
The film and video production major is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
Admission
To maintain high-quality instruction, the film and video production major limits the number of students accepted each year into FVP 226, FVP 227, and all 300- and 400-level film/video courses.
Students are required to have an overall GPA above 2.5 and complete the two film and video preadmission courses (FVP 123 and FVP 125) with a minimum of 3.0 GPA to apply for admission to the major and take FVP 226/FVP 227 and 300- and 400-level film and video courses. Achievement of these minimum criteria does not guarantee admission. For additional information, see the admission section.
Having met these requirements, students will submit an admission application. Guidelines for the application are available on the film and video production website at gvsu.edu/filmvideo, and upon request from the Department of Visual and Media Arts office, 1105 Alexander Calder Art Center. Admission applications are accepted the first Monday of November, April, and August.
Students interested in the film and video production major are encouraged to complete the film and video production foundation requirements early in their course of study, and to maintain regular contact with their advisor to ensure proper course enrollment and steady progress toward full acceptance.
Students may petition to bypass the two pre-admission courses on the basis of prior coursework for which they have received a 3.0 minimum GPA at another postsecondary institution. The petition should include a syllabus plus one or more projects and/or papers from the prior course(s). On the basis of these materials, the film and video production faculty will determine what Grand Valley coursework, if any, is required of the petitioner. Students may not take upper-level production FVP courses until they are admitted to the major.
Program Requirements
The following programs are available: