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visualin · 4 years

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Film at MIT

Before I came to MIT, I strongly considered going to film school. I enjoyed acting and screenwriting, and most importantly I had an interest in cinematography and photography.

I’ve found that event at a technical institution like MIT, there’s a lot of hidden opportunities.

Clubs and Activities

Extracurricular-wise, the landscape isn’t exactly sparse.

LSC: The MIT Lecture Series Committee

LSC hosts advance screenings, 35mm motion picture projections, concerts, the annual Science Fiction Marathon, and public film programs for the greater MIT community. Tickets are usually $5, although there are free movie nights. Committee members help organize lectures, set up the 6-channel DTS digital and Dolby Digital sound system, and other electronics in 26–100, as well as work on publicity and exec roles.

MIT Animation Group

MITAG primarily organizes animation lectures, IAP/Spark/semesterly workshops on 3D and 2D animation, and hosts the annual AniMIThon (an animation competition open to high school and college students in the Northeast region).

MIT Student Cable

The Student Cable Club primarily works on filming scripted and live shows. The club used to run MITV Channel 36 on the MIT cable television system, but now primarily works on creating ads for student groups, filming on-campus performances, and other tasks. They have (likely) the largest collection of cameras and film equipment on campus.

Tea with Teachers

Tea With Teachers curates a regular YouTube series where students interview prominent professors about their lives. The show features anecdotes, wise quotes from faculty members, and good tea.

I go to meet Nick from the UA committee working on TwT, and he taught me about DaVinci Resolve and the editing process for the YouTube series. I was unable to fulfill the time commitment for the role, but learning more about the project was interesting nonetheless.

E33 Productions | Home

E33 doesn’t exactly do film, but if you’re interested in lighting, they provide paid services for shows and special events. They also offer tape and gels, rentals for equipment, sound systems (although most requests go to MIT A/V Services), headset/comm services, masonite, and other theater production requests.

Technique

Technique is also not strictly a film club, but they are the primary photography club on campus, running the campus yearbook and group photos for student groups and living groups. They offer paid photography services, and many on-campus amateur photographers have been born from the club.

The Tech

There seems to be a trend of not-quite-film clubs on campus, but I needed to rep The Tech’s Arts and Photography Departments. They primarily review movies/live performances and take photos of different events happening around Cambridge. If you’re lucky, you might get a press pass to a high-attendance event or conference.

Classes

There’s also the option of cross-enrolling at Wellesley, Harvard, or MassArt. I have a few friends who have taken a variety of fine arts and animation classes at MassArt, and there’s definitely a lot of rich classes to take in film theory and film studies at Harvard.

In addition, I was amused to find that unlike the extreme numbering system of MIT or elaborate names of Harvard, MassArt classes go by a simpler scheme: Film I, Film II, Film II and so on in the style of a typical arts curriculum where you build on skills in previous classes.

There’s definitely a different vibe with MassArt classes — they focus more on drawing and fine arts (if that’s your style) and application of skills in an industry standard. Harvard classes are definitely more theory than studio, in comparison.

If you’re looking to build a portfolio or to hang around other artsy people, the commute to Boston might be more worth it than you think. (This is especially true because MIT’s Drawing for Designers class is incredibly over-enrolled and we don’t exactly offer too many fine arts-type classes or studio-type classes for students interested in building a portfolio/reel of work).

In terms of classes, there’s a few must-take film classes.

21M.011: The Film Experience

This counts as a CI-H, and rightfully so — the class features a number of written assignments, nightly film screenings, and lectures analyzing the aspects of cinema and film styles across the ages. It’s definitely one of the best intro film classes and one of the best HASS classes offered.

21L.706: Advanced Topics in Film

The topics covered in this class vary. This semester, it’s Contemporary Horror, and the lecturer (Prof. Eugenie Brinkema) is similarly legendary. I haven’t yet taken the course, but I’ve heard really great things about the professor and mind-blowing debates during Lit Tea.

CMS.335: Short Attention Span Documentary

This class focuses on producing 1–5 minute digital video documentaries for platforms such as YouTube. It also includes screenings and discussions of the technical aspects of documentary film (not to mention actually workshop-ing and shooting a series of short videos!)

CMS.333: Production of Education Videos

I have a friend taking this class right now, and it sounds really interesting. Basically, you’re tasked with choosing a topic and doing a semester-long dive into creating a short series that explains specific topics within the area (similar to Crash Course!) It reminds me of my high school I-SEARCH assignment (I did mine on ASMR…good memories…)

4.354: Intro to Video and Related Media

In this class, you analyze time, space, perspective, and sound within film, working on performance, social critique, and manipulating raw experiences into aesthetic form (equal parts studio and theory, although it seems to be more practical and hands-on). I’ve had a really positive experience with Course 4 classes, and I’m definitely looking to take this class in the near future.

4.352 — Advanced Video and Related Media

This class focuses on pre-production planning, digital editing techniques, chroma-keying, post-production, audio, visual effects, and contemporary video artwork for image and sound manipulation. It’s one of the courses offered through SA+P ACT (School of Architecture and Planning, Arts Culture and Technology).

Some other cool classes I won’t delve into, but may be interesting:

21W.752 — Making Documentary: Audio, Video, and More

CMS.313 — Silent Film

4.341 — Intro. to Photography & Related Media

4.344 — Adv. Photography & Related Media

4.356 — Cinematic Migrations

CMS.339 — Virtual Reality and Immersive Media Production

6.163 — Strobe Project Laboratory

21M.842 — Live Cinema Performance

21M.863 — Interactive Design and Projection for Live Performance

Research Roles

There’s also a few opportunities for research roles related to film, most notably through the MIT Media Lab’s Open Documentary Lab. There’s quite a few Fellows working at the Media Lab with a variety of industry experience (one of my current professors premiered at Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and several other prestigious film festivals in the past year alone. Even masters students have had extensive film experience and can be incredible resources to pick the brains of or work beside).

There’s also a huge focus on VR/AR experiences right now, with an entire lab space dedicated to 360 video, mixed reality, virtual reality games, etc.

In addition, MIT’s Game Lab is also working on animations/game design if you’re particularly interested in the animation side of filmmaking.

Majors/Minors

Although MIT doesn’t offer an official film major/minor, there’s a few programs that are remarkably similar to a film studies minor and have a nice handful of classes that explore film in depth.

Course 4: Art, Culture and Technology

While ACT is only offered as a minor (alongside Art History and Design, among others), it does open the doors to an incredible range of media classes focused on photography, video, and sound, exploring cinema, public art, and the intersections of art and culture in public spaces. Since it is offered through the School of Architecture and Planning, there is more of a focus on the physical side of aesthetics.

Course 21L: Literature

Offered through the SHASS departments, Literature (aka Lit@MIT) is a close-knit major that focuses heavily on analysis and interpretation. There is definitely a good degree of writing/essays and critiques, but it’s more theoretical than studio-styled. Many of the academic-focused film classes are offered through 21L. (It’s also offered as both a major and minor, and they have 6-credit sample classes every term!)

Comparative Media Studies

Nick, who I mentioned before, works in film through the CMS department. This department also encompasses the MIT Writing major, and ranges in discipline from photography and games to comics and film. It’s located within the Media Lab and has close ties with the Open Documentary Lab. A lot of visiting scholars and artists usually visit CMS, and (in my biased opinion) they have some of the best events and talks on campus.

I’ve been dancing around majors/minors for some time now. I know that I definitely enjoy being a 6–2 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science), but I’ve enjoyed my classes in 8 (Physics) and 18 (Mathematics), and I’m also a big fan of those departments. On the other hand, Course 2 (Mechanical Engineering) sounds incredibly interesting, as do CMS, Course 4 (Architecture and Design), and Course 11 (Urban Planning).

This semester, I’m taking CMS.339 (Virtual Reality for Immersive Media) and listening in on 4.s22 (Domesticity for New Humans). I was also able to shop 4.s48 (Design for Robotic Assembly) and it seems like an absolutely fantastic class integrating technology and robotics with architecture and design.

I’m looking forward to exploring more film opportunities throughout my time at MIT. I’ll hopefully do a write-up about the Reality, Virtually Hackathon and some of the cool VR projects being done in conjunction with film. In the meantime, I hope this is helpful!

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