Media Arts + Practice (MA+P) is a community of multi-media creators who are fluent in the techniques and technologies of digital art and design, cinematic media, and storytelling.
We live in a world of multiple screens and multiple forms of media. In today's global culture those screens are portals to information, inspiration and entertainment. Fields as diverse as business, medicine, education, architecture, law, urban planning, filmmaking, and many more, need innovative designers, artists and storytellers who know how to create engaging digital media experiences for the screens that matter to their audiences—whether they fit in a pocket or cover entire walls.
MA+P students learn to make a variety of media-websites, films, art installations, visualizations- as well as design strategies for how and when to use each form. The program encourages exploration of new and emerging technologies, challenging students to think innovatively about the future of digital media. MA+P graduates are ready to assume positions as media makers, artists, graphic designers, media analysts and researchers, and managers of digital media products and processes, both within and beyond the entertainment industry. They prepare for leadership positions in creating, developing and managing innovative digital media.
Our Media Arts + Practice BA program falls under the CIP code 50.0102: Digital Arts, and our Media Arts + Practice PhD program falls under the CIP code 50.0601: Film/Cinema/Media Studies.
Stories
MA+P Student Honored with Hedy Lamarr Award
Danielle Takahashi
Student Profile
AI Panel Quells Worries About the Bots Taking Over Creative Industry Jobs
AI Panel
MAP Faculty
The SCA Diversity Council Honors MAP Students with Diversity Award
Diversity Awards
Program Profile
Student Stories
Featured Student Work
Clea T. Waite - Ice-Time
Karl Baumann - Sankofa City
Juri Hwang - Nightfield
Gabrielle Kanellos - Night Haze
Noa Kaplan & Szilvia Ruszev
Heterotopias
Shannon Kraemer - Hear Me Shout
Beatrix Lu - Demagogracy
Kevin McGowan - Tangible HTML
Degree Programs
UNDERGRADUATE
Bachelor of Arts
Whether exploring traditional media (such as digital storytelling and web design) or discovering emerging forms (such as data visualization, virtual reality, and digital strategy), MA+P students have unparalleled access to the most exciting technologies in the world. Students train with faculty who are not only pioneers in developing these new tools, but also attentive mentors eager to support the next generation of innovative media makers. With opportunities to take classes across the School's other divisions, MA+P graduates gain a competitive advantage in shaping the career of their choosing.
GRADUATE
Certificate in Digital Media and Culture
Contemporary scholarship is undergoing profound shifts as new technologies alter how scholars interact, conduct research, author and visualize their work, as well as how they teach. The certificate program in Digital Media and Culture explores the shifting nature of scholarly expression, pedagogical practice and research in the 21st century, combining seminars with hands-on, lab-based workshops in order to facilitate sophisticated critical thinking and practice in and through multimedia.
Doctor of Philosophy
The Media Arts + Practice Ph.D. program offers a creative environment for scholarly innovation as students explore the intersections of cinema, design, emerging media and critical thinking while defining new modes of research and scholarship for the 21st century. Core to the program is its transdisciplinary ethos, its open curriculum and its commitment to the union of critical thinking and making. After completing foundational course work, students design their own curricula, drawing on expertise within all of the divisions and research labs within the School of Cinematic Arts, and in other schools across the USC campus.
Minors
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.
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.
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.
Contact Information
Media Arts + Practice
USC School of Cinematic Arts
3470 McClintock Avenue, SCI 101
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211
Phone: 213.821.5700
http://map.usc.edu
Undergraduate Inquiries:
Sonia Seetharaman, Associate Director of Academic Programs
Phone: 213.821.5860
Email: sseetharaman@cinema.usc.edu
Graduate Inquiries:
Dr. Elizabeth Ramsey, Associate Professor and Assistant Chair
Phone: 213.821.5873
Email: eramsey@cinema.usc.edu