Christian Skorik will attend Wesleyan in the fall, and he will most likely major in Film Studies. With his Wesleyan education, Christian may very well choose to become a filmmaker. But he doesn’t have to.

Arguably one of the best undergraduate film schools in the Northeast, Wesleyan isn’t a film school at all. The university offers a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies, a comprehensive look at the history and analysis of film, but the school’s emphasis is on liberal arts. And yet, the university has built a state-of-the-art film center replete with a flat bed editing system for 16mm film, Final Cut Pro and other computer-aided video editing systems, two sound studios, and a 420-seat screening room equipped with a 70-mm screen.  

  A Wesleyan graduate will have learned learn hands-on filmmaking while studying math, science, history and languages; a Wesleyan graduate who really partakes of the university experience could very well be the new Renaissance person.  Which is exactly why Christian Skorik chose the school.

Wesleyan University has always had a reputation for seeking students who calibrate their own unique drumbeats. William Francisco, Professor of Theater, Emeritus, once told a summer school class, “A typical Wesleyan student?  Is there such a thing?  I guess that would be the student who is headed to medical school by way of an undergraduate double major in Theater and Chemistry.”

By Professor Francisco’s definition, Christian Skorik is the perfect Wesleyan freshman. Last year, Christian completed as much AP science and math as Guilford High School had to offer, maintained his exemplary grade-point average, and acted in theater department’s productions of “Pikcasso at the Lapin Agile” and “Into the Woods.”    

By the time he leaves Wesleyan in four years, Skorik stands to be qualified to enter any graduate science program he chooses, but he could be just as qualified to begin a career in filmmaking. 

“When I leave Wesleyan,” enthuses Skorik; “Even if I make my living in a laboratory, I’ll have the films I made to pass on to my kids so they can see what special things I did in college.  If I become a filmmaker, I will have my research notes to share with them. Either way, what a legacy I’ll be able to create.”

This is a young man who thinks ahead. The kind of student who enjoys thinking critically, who wants to change the world by the exertion of his own intellectual and creative powers. He embodies the Wesleyan ideal.

Lisa Dombrowski, Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan, explains, “We seek to teach students how to think critically so they can work in any field.  They will understand the medium of film and all its many applications, and we want them to take advantage of all the liberal arts opportunities the university has to offer.”

A 1992 Wesleyan grad herself who is about to publish her first book, “If You Die, I’ll Kill You! Samuel Fuller in and Out of the Studio System, Dombrowski fairly crows over that fact that Film Studies is one of the most difficult majors a Wesleyan student can hope to be accepted into. “In order to get into the department, everyone takes a History of World Cinema that’s a pretty challenging course. If you want to be a Film Studies Major, you need a B+ or better in that course, an overall GPS of 85% or better, and you need the recommendation of a faculty member. We have 65-75 Film Studies Majors but only four full-time faculty.  That’s why the Administration wants to build in support by keeping things small and collaborative.”

Lisa Dombrowski is a good example of the well-roundedness of Wesleyan graduates: her areas of specialization include aesthetics, the American film industry, independent cinema, art cinema, and contemporary East Asian cinema.

Wesleyan University has been offering film courses since the late 1960’s, and the Film Studies Department has always provided its students with an opportunity to integrate history and theory with the practice of filmmaking, but the university stresses that it hopes to prepare students to excel in any field, to understand all media, to have a leg up on every possible graduate program because of the depth of investigation at Wesleyan. 

The faculty in the Film Studies Department teaches films from the vantage point of how they are made and received, asking students to analyze the industrial and technological conditions of a film’s production, the choices the filmmakers made, and the effects of these conditions and choices on our viewing experience. With a solid grounding in this approach to the study of film, senior film majors are then prepared to write historical theses, craft screenplays, or direct films, videos, or virtual projects. The projects are comprehensive and collaborative and most often integrate multiple disciplines in their examination of the subject.

Marc Longenecker, an instructor in the Physics department, teaches a course in the relationships between time and space, light and versatility. While the course is a perfect foundation for developing camera people, for training lighting experts, for exposing the meat inside the shell of filmmaking, it establishes the groundwork for a career in one of the many areas of Physics or Engineering.

Similarly, a course in acting prepares students to make better corporate presentations, to curry bedside manner as physicians, to teach at any level. 

Every student in the Film Studies program takes a course in basic production; that course teaches organizational and leadership skills that are invaluable to the screenwriter or director or actor or cameraperson or lighting technologist or cosmetologist, etc., who want to become consummate filmmakers.  But it is also invaluable as a tool for learning how to make things run efficiently, how to operate a business or conduct a career in a way that effectively uses all resources and studies all possible kinds of successes.

What Wesleyan is most proud of is the long-lasting camaraderie of its alumni. The new film studies center was built on the strength of alumni contributions, and students leaving each year can count on an extensive network of resource people to whom to turn after graduation.  Internships and mentorships are very accessible among Wesleyan graduates.

Says Dombrowski, “You leave here knowing the mechanics, the analytical foundations, the philosophical underpinnings, and you can operate all the machinery.  On top of everything else, you are part of part of a huge extended family. “

For further information, including a full list of faculty, a look at the Cinema Archives, and an overview of courses, visit www.wesleyan.edu/filmstudies.  

---

Wirter/Producer Carla Stockton lives in New York where she is busy with casting BAGEL KING, by Daniel Fine, for Bagel Fish Productions, Stockton's and Fine's production company.