I didn’t actually change my major, but I did change my “specialization.” I was accepted to Emerson College as a Media Production: Film major and last year I switched it to Media Production: Interactive Media.
So what the heck is Interactive Media?
You know, I don’t have a clear definition of what it is so I usually adjust my answer depending upon the circumstance I find myself in. It’s sort of like having a degree in “liberal arts.” According to my school’s website:
The specialization in Interactive Media provides students with the opportunity to produce creative and professional-quality interactive works. While the emphasis in the specialization will be on production, the student will encounter various concepts of digital interactive media. Introducing Web design, non-linear narrative structure, databases, and user-defined functions, students make innovative, artistic pieces for DVD, CD-ROM and the Web.
I was taught in elementary school never to define a word with the word, but I guess college-level academia is excused from that kind of minutiae. But whatever “interactive media” really is, it is something I’m really interested in and it sure sounds cool.
Why the sudden shift?
1) Changing interests. To keep it simple, I started becoming increasingly interested in so-called “new media” as in blogs, social networks, user-generated content, etc. and I ultimately realized I preferred being on the computer more than being behind the camera.
2) Breaking the mold. Emerson’s VMA (Visual & Media Arts) program is huge. Almost half of the students here are film majors. While the program itself is fantastic, it is also very cookie-cutter. The school’s curriculum is practically designed around teaching student’s narrative structure. Students are expected to take the same “film” classes (see #4) as all the other film majors and then they fill the same Hollywood internships that the recent grads did. I just felt as though I was being stifled of my individuality in choosing a career path.
3) Spanning worlds. Interactive Media is in-between video and new media so I’m not technically in the New Media department, although most of my junior and senior-level classes are with the New Media majors. Many of the film majors (but not all) are very egotistical. They believe they are going to be the next Steven Spielberg or Stanley Kubrick. (I wonder how long it will take for reality to sink in…) Although the New Media kids tend to be more artsy (which can also be irksome at times), they are definitely more laid-back.
4) Digital transition. The reason I tell most people who ask me why I switched my major, I say (truthfully) that I didn’t want to take any of the film classes that are required of a Film major. How does that make any sense? Well it makes sense when I say that the mandatory film classes (Film Production I and Film Production II) require the use of Bolex cameras, 16mm film, Steenbeck editors, and the like and I really didn’t feel like bothering with vintage technology. The new movement in Hollywood is digital and HD. Sure, there are still “film purists” out there, but the practicality of shooting on celluloid filmstock is rapidly diminishing. The reality of the business is that you must adapt to new technologies and shooting on a Bolex is a step backward. I’d rather go forward than back.
That’s probably more about my major than you ever needed to know.
– extraordinarIAN
extraordinarian 