Purpose

The purpose of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production and Creative Development major is to mentor, educate, and mature filmmakers to become artists and servant-leaders in their interpersonal relationships and in the production of artistic and commercially viable creative narrative cinema productions filtered through the lens of a Christian worldview.

The B.F.A. in Film Production and Creative Development is a 2-year full-immersion¹ cohort² program that students enter in the fall of either their sophomore or junior year. Students who enter the cohort program their sophomore year must have completed the first two semesters of the B.F.A. in Film Production and Creative Development suggested course sequence. Students who enter the cohort program their junior year must have completed their general education courses, including CINE 101, and CINE core courses CINE 201 Introduction to Screenwriting (3 c.h.), CINE 202 Introduction to Motion Picture Directing (3 c.h.), and CINE 203 Introduction to Cinematography and Sound Design (3 c.h.).

¹

Full immersion – 5-days-a-week instruction that could include 8-12 hours daily with professors. This hands-on instruction will produce the best learning environment, mirroring a real world model for product- driven outcomes.

²

Cohort – Approximately 60-70 students who have passed the continuance gate (Cohort students are advised not to take classes outside of the B.F.A. in Film Production and Creative Development).

Note: Admission to continue in the B.F.A. in Film Production and Creative Development after the sophomore year is a gateway process involving a continuance gate. (See Continuance Gate Procedures below for more details.) If possible, it is advised that students declare Film Production and Creative Development as their major in their freshman year. Students must work closely with their academic advisor as they work through their Degree Completion Plan (DCP) and should contact the Cinematic Arts Department about the Film Production and Creative Development Program to gain insight on the continuance gate process and ask questions as needed.

Program Learning Outcomes

The student will be able to:

• Integrate thematic and artistic values in storytelling.
• Plan personnel and technical elements relevant to the visual and/or aural content of a story.
• Design the distribution model for a narrative media production.
• Justify moral and aesthetic decisions related to narrative media production based on Judeo-Christian principles.

Continuance Gate Procedures:

In order to complete the Film Production and Creative Development degree, the student must pass through a Continuance Gate (typically in the sophomore year).  This process is necessary in order to set up the cohort-based sequence of study that dictates the final two years of the degree. It is a two-part process involving 1) a Continuance Gate Submission Form and 2) an orientation with one or more qualified Cinematic Arts department members.

An LU student qualifies to complete the Continuance Gate when he/she meets these requirements:

• The student has declared the major of study as Film Production and Creative Development.
• Ideally, the student is on track to complete all general education requirements before the fall semester of the year he/she is requesting to enter a cohort, including the religion courses required in any degree from Liberty University.
• The student is on track to complete CINE 101 Cinematic Arts Appreciation I (3 c.h.) and CINE core prerequisites (CINE 201 Introduction to Screenwriting (3 c.h.), CINE 202 Introduction to Motion Picture Directing (3 c.h.) & CINE 203 Introduction to Cinematography and Sound Design (3 c.h.)) before the fall semester of the year he/she is requesting to enter a cohort.
• The student is in good academic standing with a GPA of 2.5 or higher. 

Prior experience in film or television is not required.

Once qualified, the student is ready to complete the online Continuance Gate Submission Form via the online instructions at https://www.liberty.edu/arts/cinematic-arts/bachelors/continuance-gate/. Submissions are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

As part of the form submission process, the student will schedule his/her orientation meeting with the department. The orientation provides a personal introduction to a cohort model of learning and what it involves. It is an opportunity to ask questions and commit to responsibilities in a collaborative learning model. A cohort student’s responsibilities include:

• Accepting that some individual grades are affected by the cohort’s efforts.
• Participating in class activities and contributing to cohort efforts toward assignment completion.
• Investing the time necessary to succeed in the program. For this reason, working paid jobs during junior and senior school years is not advisable.
• Achieving technology competence in order to keep up with the cohort.
• Securing transportation:  Each student participating in the project is responsible for their own transportation to off-campus locations in order to fulfill this class requirement.  The student will not be compensated for transportation. 
• Funding budgets for the student’s film projects. This can be as little as a few hundred dollars to whatever limits self-imposed.
• Paying $1,000 annually in course fees (for junior and senior years). These fees cover the purchase of equipment and supplies the student will use while in the program.

Also during the orientation, the panel will review the student’s DCP and advise the student on the best plan for the completion of the degree.

The department accepts students into cohorts until all seats are filled for the academic year.

Current Cohort Students:

Liberty University requires all students to receive a minimum ‘C’ grade in all upper-level courses in the major to graduate. Any student enrolled in the CINE cohort who receives a final grade of a ‘D’ or ‘F’ in any CINE upper-level course will have 60 days to rectify the grade with the instructor of the course. It is the student’s responsibility to initiate this process, not the instructor’s.

Delivery Format: Residential Only

• Animator
• Assistant Editor
• Cinematographer
• Director
• Film and Video Editor
• Multimedia Artist
• Producer
• Production Assistant
• Production Designer
• Promotion Manager
• Screenwriter
• Sound Effects Editor
• TV Showrunner