Media Production Certificate

The Media Production Certificate brings together the strengths of the faculty of the Department of Media & Cinema Studies with the expertise of media specialists across the university to offer students the theory, experiences, concepts, and skills needed to become critical producers in a variety of media forms.

The course sequence will help students develop the knowledge and skills to successfully participate in contemporary professional media environments. Students will apply their knowledge of film, TV and new media to produce original works. They will practice critical and creative thinking to construct compelling media content for contemporary audiences, distribution platforms, and social contexts. Students will develop an understanding of the techniques, formal structures, and responsibilities of video and other content production within a digital workflow for a variety of platforms and purposes. While courses emphasize production skills, they also include scholarly and practical discussion of crucial concepts in contemporary media such as: intellectual property, copyright and fair use, media industries, structural power of media makers, digital distribution, theories of the prosumer, narrowcasting and market segmentation, conceptualizing audiences; and transmedia storytelling.

By teaching students how to create media, this certificate will increase their media literacy. Making legible the forms and workflows of professional media-making empowers students to use that literacy to communicate their own ideas more persuasively in a media-rich society.

Required Courses (11 or 12 credits):

Students are strongly encouraged to take these three required courses in this sequence:

  • MACS 150: Intro to Digital Media Production (4 credits)
  • MACS 260: Film Production (4 credits)
  • MACS 370: Cinematography and Sound Design (4 credits) OR MACS 371: Editing and Postproduction for Cinema (4 credits) OR MACS 372: Screenwriting (3 credits)

Note: MACS 370, MACS 371, and MACS 372 will not count towards elective credits.

Students must also take two electives (6 credits minimum) that emphasize media production skills primarily through project-based assignments. At least one elective must be a MACS-offered course. Such courses include:

  • MACS 140: Smartphone Cinema
  • JOUR 293: Photography for Everybody
  • MACS 284: Animated Media from Mickey to GIFs
  • ADV 390: Content Creation
  • JOUR 460: Special Topics - Basic Video Production and Video Storytelling
  • DANC 465: Screendance
  • MACS 480/481: Advanced Filmmaking (counts as two courses)
  • MACS 485: Making Video Essays
  • MACS 496: Collaboration in Interactive and Immersive Media
  • MACS 496: Advanced Media Practicum

Questions? Contact Professor Jenny Oyallon-Koloski (joyallon@illinois.edu).