Find Your Voice. Find Your Vision.

Thanks for looking at the ÍøÆØÃÅ Film program. We’re very proud of our program at ÍøÆØÃÅ, and our students know it. Our facilities are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to students with the desire and passion to make films.

Our undergraduate program is designed around a core set of courses that teach visual storytelling, using video and audio to draw audiences into the worlds our students create.  Students work to craft original, well-structured stories, with compelling characters and conflicts.

Our graduate program centers on writing and directing and helping students to be creators and storytellers while still emphasizing technical ability and knowledge of film history and theory.

Overall, the Film Program is the only one like it in the state of Arkansas. The program strongly emphasizes narrative visual storytelling and students learn the technical aspects of digital production, including computer based pre-production and pre-visualization, digital cinematography, and computer based editing, effects, and sound design.

Make sure and look at the list of courses we offer – both for the undergraduate and graduate programs. Beyond the core production courses, we offer plenty of electives that allow you to follow your interests, including cinematography, editing, audio, lighting, and other technical topics. Our graduates leave the program knowing the ins and outs of filmmaking, ready to pursue work in the motion picture industry.

Our Mission Statement

To develop creators, innovators and leaders for the future of filmmaking by combining new technology with the fundamentals of storytelling to produce creative, original stories, with an eye towards emerging technologies that enhance the production, distribution, and exhibition of those works in the global marketplace.

Our Vision Statement

The Film program of the Department of Film, Theatre, and Creative Writing will be  preeminent nationally in filmmaking education. As a leader, the Film Program will be recognized for its excellence by:

1. Developing a high-quality comprehensive curriculum that balances storytelling and technical competence;
2. Developing a comprehensive artistic experience that emphasizes creativity, confidence, innovation, and experimentation;
3. Developing a comprehensive approach to professional practices and career strategies in the motion picture industry including the business of filmmaking and marketing of films;
4. Recognizing trends that will create opportunities for filmmakers in the future;
5. Drawing positive attention in the University, in the region and nation-wide, to the program, faculty, and students;
6. Maintaining an infrastructure, including facilities, equipment, and computers, that supports the program’s vision;
7. Maintaining a student to equipment ratio that keeps new and cutting edge equipment in the student’s hands, both in the classroom and outside of class on their own  projects;
8. Fostering the community-wide appreciation of the art and production of films;
9. Recruiting, enhancing, and retaining an internationally recognized faculty and staff.

Our Core Values

Programmatic

• Providing an exceptional quality education that meets the high standards of the University of Central Arkansas as well as the specific needs of the emerging filmmaker.
• Fostering an environment of creativity, experimentation, and innovation for students and faculty to craft stories that are unique and individual.
• Providing an educational environment that values equal opportunities, inclusiveness, and cultural diversity.

Students

• Helping students become practicing artists and creators with a clear identity and the confidence to engage the world.
• Focusing on fundamental storytelling techniques and encouraging students to craft stories that are unique and individual, and that help students develop a unique voice.
• Fostering student group productions and faculty-lead film productions that allow for the development of collaboration and teamwork, work with local industry, and provide examples of professional-level filmmaking

Curriculum and Facilities

• Taking accessible and cutting edge technologies and applying them to the solution of creative challenges.
• Providing up-to-date equipment and facilities that serve as a working model of current filmmaking production.
• Proactively updating and developing the Film program’s curriculum.

Faculty

• Actively engaging in scholarly and creative activities.
• Keeping up with the latest developments in our fields.
• Collaborating with colleagues on and off campus as equal partners in ways that capitalize on each other’s unique strengths in research and creative activities.