Undergraduate Minors

Cinematic Arts minors offer undergraduates an opportunity to become familiar with the art form, its history and techniques through a diversified set of classes in the school's divisions. Students may choose to sample two or more different aspects of the world of film, television, and interactive media or concentrate in an area of primary interest.

3-D Animation

The minor in 3-D animation in cinematic arts offers an introduction to basic animation principles and history, as well as creative and skill-based instruction in 3-D computer animation. Through elective choices students may focus their studies on their specific area of interest, including visual effects, motion capture, virtual reality, modeling or character animation.

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Cinema-Television for the Health Professions (CNHP)

The Health Profession is increasingly cinematic. The Cinema-Television for Health Profession minor is designed for students who plan to enter careers or professional programs in medicine after graduation and are interested in working with film and television producers to disseminate accurate health information to the public.

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Cinematic Arts

A minor in cinematic arts is available to USC undergraduate students in all schools and departments. The minor provides the opportunity for students to become familiar with various aspects of media study.

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Comedy

The minor in comedy is designed to train students in the creation of comedic entertainment in film, television and new media. The only minor of its kind at a major research university, the Comedy Minor is for any student who takes comedy seriously.

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Digital Studies

The minor in digital studies is perfect for digital visionaries who want to explore how the moving image and connected culture can affect and course of study. Students will learn traditional storytelling techniques as well as the most advanced cutting edge digital landscapes. The minor in digital studies is perfect for digital visionaries who want to explore how the moving image and connected culture can affect and course of study. Students will learn traditional storytelling techniques as well as the most advanced cutting edge digital landscapes. The minor also offers an Honors track for students who wish to pursue advanced coursework.

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Documentary

The minor in documentary is designed to train students in the preparation and production of documentary media. Courses are designed to give students insight into both the history of documentary as well as access to new and emerging forms of the media.

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Entertainment Industry

The minor in the Entertainment Industry provides students interested in media content creation with a focused curriculum that will give them insight into the economic factors and professional practices that influence the creative process, and how they interact with social, historical, technical and aesthetic elements. To be eligible for the Entertainment Industry minor, a student must be in good academic standing, have a declared major, and have completed CTCS 190 Introduction to Cinema with a C or better. To declare the minor, a student must submit a Change of Major/Minor form to Cinematic Arts Student Services, SCB 105.

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Future Cinema

The minor in future cinema explores the frontier of audiovisual storytelling, building on the cutting edge research within the School of Cinematic Arts. Students will explore the creative and technological transformations of an industry in transition as cinema becomes live, playable, immersive, mobile, virtual, crowdsourced and more.

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Game Animation

The Minor in Game Animation gives students the ability to learn game animation with an emphasis on interaction and playability. Mechanics are just part of the equation in game design. Students learn how to make a game look great in 3D, 2D, and experimental spaces.

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Game Audio

Soundscapes and audio interactivity are two of the most in-demand and growing aspects of the video game and interactive industry. Students who minor in Game Audio learn how to make a game or interactive media experience sound great from genuine pioneers from the field.

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Game Design

The Interactive Media & Games Division's Game Design minor teaches how to design and analyze games from whiteboard to screen. Whether an aspiring designer, artist, entrepreneur, or simply a game enthusiast, students gain the skills and vocabulary needed to stand out in the fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry.

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Game Entrepreneurism

What does it take to take an idea into the marketplace? Where do most game startups fail while others succeed? How can game artists protect themselves when forming a company? A minor in Game Entrepreneurism helps game designers take their ideas to the next level, teaching how to form, maintain, and expand their team into a business.

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Game Studies

Games are a major cultural form, with game sales now exceeding box office revenue in the United States. Attention to games and interactive media is growing, and it has become necessary to understand them as meaningful systems, reflect on their cultural influence, and to help guide their evolution with insightful criticism. The game studies minor prepares a student with fundamental underpinnings in media criticism and games.

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Game User Research

Game and interaction design are deeply dependent upon human-computer interaction and the ability to use research methods to improve player experience. Game user research is a critical aspect of game design and development that involves management of playtests and usability tests of the software, technology and rules. Along with the ability to analyze and design for optimal player experience, this field combines the ability to analyze large batches of data, and an understanding of how to build applications that mine data from users; these skills form the backbone of an incredibly valuable team member for digital entertainment products.

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Immersive Media

A minor in immersive media is open to all undergraduate students at USC. This interdisciplinary minor provides the opportunity for technically minded students, business and entrepreneurially driven students, and/or creatively driven students to gain knowledge about the virtual reality industry and how to create content effectively. Students can add depth within a specific area by selecting elective courses within the same area or can add breadth by choosing elective courses from two separate areas.

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Media and Social Change

The minor in media and social change provides the opportunity for students who are interested in media content creation and research to take classes in a focused curriculum on the various aspects of media for change. Students will gain insight into the professional practices of creating media content, analyzing existing content, and learning how they can influence the future by integrating social issues into the work they are doing in related fields.

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Screenwriting

The Minor in Screenwriting covers writing for the screen from many different points of view and allows students to explore television, film and, new media writing and all of the opportunities the Division has to offer.

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Themed Entertainment

Who designs theme parks, museums, fireworks shows, water fountain spectaculars, and parades? Themed entertainment designers do. From cruise ships to casinos to immersive educational retreats, the Themed Entertainment Minor teaches students to design almost anything that involves submerging a real, live human being into a story in a truly robust, physical way.

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