curriculum

The MFA program in Photography, Video and Related Media is dedicated to the creative practice of the lens-based arts. We encourage diversity in our student body, and welcome applicants from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds.

The program is designed for full-time study over a two- or three-year period. Candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree must complete at least 60 credits and all course requirements, maintain a 3.3 grade point average and produce a successful thesis project to be eligible for degree conferral. Students are approved to proceed to each successive level of study based on yearly faculty assessments.

Students personalize their program from a wide variety of electives. Certain courses in other SVA graduate departments are also available as electives to qualified students.

Two-Year Program
Applicants accepted to the two-year program have met specific artistic standards and academic prerequisites to graduate study. The focus of the two-year curriculum is a required Master Critique class in each semester. Other first-year require-ments include: Introduction to Digital Imaging, and at least three other academic courses chosen out of three subject categories—historical perspectives, criticism and theory, and contemporary issues. Second-year students take Master Critique and Thesis Forms I in the fall, and focus on completing the thesis in the spring in Thesis Project and Thesis Forms II. Entry to the second year is based on successful completion of all first-year requirements and a portfolio review.

Three-Year Program
This unparalleled three-year program is designed to give exceptional students with baccalaureate degrees in fields other than photography or video an opportunity to pursue the lens and screen arts at the graduate level. A one-year course of study is tailored for each student allowing him or her to engage in coursework such as history, theory and criticism, as well as studio practice, which may not have been studied in his or her undergraduate education. With the successful completion of the first year of the three-year program, students automatically continue into the two-year program. These students are given the time and exposure to develop as fully matured artists and practitioners. Many of our most renowned graduates have matriculated in this manner. The curriculum is of particular interest to liberal arts majors, international students with the desire to refine their English language skills, professionals from the commercial and fashion world, as well as artists and Fulbright or DAAD Scholars.

SAMPLE PROGRAMS

First Year

Second Year

Three-Year Program (first year)

*Course offered through the Undergraduate Division

Still and Moving Imaging: New Technologies Summer Residency
Professional photographers, filmmakers and artists develop their creative visions with new camera technology in this intensive, four-week engagement. Because of advances in still and moving imagery, professionals no longer work solely in the traditional divisions of the camera arts. High-definition, video-capable DSLR cameras have transformed still photography and enabled image-makers to create professional-quality movies. The photographer is now a filmmaker, and a steep learning curve must be addressed in order to equip the creative image-maker with a new set of skills. While still and moving imagery may be produced with the same set of tools, each requires very different approaches and practices. The still photography practitioner must understand the language of the moving image, and vice versa. This summer residency will engage participants in daily activity in the practice of a new form of lens arts.

Initial sessions will alternate practical studio lab and on-location production, followed by postproduction, including file management, editing, and current modes of exhibition and distribution. Critiques of works-in-progress will be held throughout, as well as screenings of films that complement coursework. Faculty members include department chair Charles Traub, Grahame Weinbren, Michelle Leftheris and Robert Bowen. Guest lecturers include Alan Berliner, Jennifer Blessing, Chris Callis, Anthony Forma, Roger Phenix, Bob Richman, Shelly Silver, and Amy Taubin.
Technical assistance provided by FotoCare, with the cooperation of Canon Camera.