Digital Cinema at SOU offers options for all

Southern Oregon University’s hands-on Digital Cinema program now offers aspiring filmmakers three bachelor’s degree options and nine stand-alone certificates that prepare graduates for careers in film and entertainment.

Students can choose to pursue a bachelor of fine arts degree in Digital Cinema Production Arts or a bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree in Digital Cinema. Certificate options include Directing for the Screen, Documentary Production, Screenwriting & Story Development, Producing & Production Management, Cinematography & Production Technology, Scenic & Environmental Design, Animation & Motion Design, Media Post Production, and Sound Design.

Program highlights include its Credit for Prior Learning option, which offers many incoming students academic credit for the knowledge and skills they have gained through previous life experiences, and its groundbreaking, 12-credit immersion program called “The Crew Experience.” Student filmmakers in that program spend an entire term learning on location and collaborating under the supervision of experienced professionals on the set of a significant film project.

“Our students are preparing for their careers from day one,” said Professor Andrew Gay, chair of SOU’s Communication, Media & Cinema Department. “We’re teaching storytelling and technical production crafts but also networking skills, how to handle yourself in a job interview, and how to show up on set as a professional and then get hired again. That’s why our graduates enter the job market with such confidence and repeatedly succeed.”

Recent graduates of SOU’s Digital Cinema program have worked in union crew positions on such major motion pictures as 65, starring Adam Driver, and the upcoming Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and have been accepted into top graduate film programs at Chapman University, USC and Loyola Marymount.

Southern Oregon University is a proud member of the Green Film School Alliance – a collaboration of leading film schools that have committed to industry-level sustainable production practices in their programs. It is located in beautiful Ashland, Oregon – a town MovieMaker Magazine has named a “best place to live and work as a MovieMaker” since 2014.