Concentrations

Cinematography
Becoming a sought-after Director of Photography requires artistic vision, technical skill and a relentless passion for storytelling. That’s we offer hands-on, lab-based learning. You’ll collaborate closely with student directors. You’ll build industry-grade cameras from the ground up. You’ll delve into the intricacies of lighting, lenses, framing and motion. You’ll become equipped to lead one of the largest crews on set. And you’ll do it all while creating and capturing stunning shots that drive the story forward.
Creative Producing
Directing
Directors don’t just imagine possibilities. They turn ideas into realities. To become one, you must integrate high-level vision-casting with incredible attention to detail. You must inspire and delegate. You must lead with clarity and maintain creative control. These skills require hands-on learning — so we make sure you can try your hand at bringing stories that matter to life. More than 80 student films go into production each year. We’re ready for yours.
Editing
Editors stitch together moments, weaving snatches of story into stories that move people. You’ll need to become skilled in the art of the “final rewrite,” making pivotal decisions that serve the directors’ vision and maximize the story’s impact on its viewer. That’s why we match the theoretical with the practical. You’ll master nonlinear editing programs such as Adobe Premiere, Avid and Final Cut while delving into the theory of editing and storytelling — becoming equipped to create moments that matter in every scene.
Entertainment Business
If you want to be involved in some of the biggest decisions within one of the most impactful industries on the planet, entertainment business may just be for you. Whether you’re commissioning scripts, hiring producers and directors, or sealing the deal once the film is complete, you’ll need to be equipped to make informed, high-level decisions. That’s why we partner with the Crowell School of Business. You’ll have all the knowledge and experience you need to become a development, production, marketing or distribution executive — bringing stories that matter to the people that need to hear them the most.
Production
Visual Effects & 3D Animation
Often, crucial parts of a story can’t be recreated in real life. Developing expertise in visual effects will equip you to use computer graphics, motion capture and other technologies to render these impossibilities into seeming reality. By the time you graduate, you’ll be able to manipulate characters and environments — from minor character alterations to creating tsunamis — in ways that elevate each film’s storytelling.

Production Concentration

The production concentration offers students a thorough grounding in, and overview of, the creation of film, television, audio and digital media. Students are encouraged to develop their creative and technical skills, training for positions as directors, cinematographers, gaffers, editors, sound designers, recording engineers, production designers and many other creative positions.

Biola's cinema and media arts majors produce short films, documentaries, TV and web segments throughout each semester, resulting in over 100 student productions every year. The finest examples are recognized at the annual Biola Film Festival.

Freshman Year

Freshmen year is rooted in the classics. It begins with the Art of Storytelling in which students learn the timeless principles of story. Visual Aesthetics covers how to become a visual storyteller through cinematography, lighting and production design. The History of Cinema class celebrates the art of motion pictures through screenings and discussions. Various opportunities to “crew up” on upper class projects broaden every skill learned.

Sophomore Year

Sophomores will experience the intense realities of production. Working on a large-scale production will teach them how careful pre-production can save you hours of chaos on location. Students will also take a class focused upon a particular craft such as producing, directing, editing or audio. Intro to Mass Media will give students a historical perspective on the rise of advertising, publishing and the broadcast industries.

Junior Year

Each semester, the cinema and media arts department offers the Biola Film Production Class, in which students produce a festival-worthy short film. These ambitious, bigger-budget productions utilize a crew of 20 to 30 students and are completely student produced and directed. CMA provides funding for the films and they premiere at local theaters, Hollywood studios or on campus. CMA majors get a sense of the complexity involved in larger-scale, multi-location productions and the promotion, distribution and film festival application process that follows.

Junior year is also about choices. Students will begin to concentrate upon their particular areas of interest through intermediate and advanced classes in all areas of media production, from direction and editing to producing and production design.

Senior Year

Senior year brings the student experience together. The Senior Thesis Project enables students to create their own final projects that serve as a calling card to the industry. The internship experience leads to networking a direct connection to the entertainment industry. Finally, the Integration Seminar brings timeless biblical truth to today’s entertainment industry.

Production Concentration

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

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