Find your degree
This article ranks the top five best online master’s degrees in film. Why become a film student? For many, it is an art and a passion that they want to pursue as a career. There is an idiom that says that if you love your job you will never feel as though you have worked a day in your life. While this may not be true, considering the amount of hard work that goes into artistic projects such as films, it is certainly worth pursuing your dream job.
Movies are an integral part of a lot of people’s lives all over the world. Most people have tons of memories that all center around films; like the first time you went to a theater, the first scary movie you were ever allowed to watch, first dates, time spent with friends and family, and so much more. It is interesting that even though movies are part of the everyday lives of so many people, the world of cinema remains a mystery to the majority of them. The worlds, the characters, and the stories are all so immersive, and they stick with people after they watch a movie, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Films have sparked revolutions, ignited love stories, and encouraged imaginations for decades, and they’re not going to stop any time soon.
Movies are perfectly designed to create experiences for the viewer, and that’s part of what makes them incredible. What a lot of people don’t know is that each of those experiences is expertly crafted by a massive team of people! While the average crew consists of around 600 people, some movies have crews that exceed a couple thousand. As of right now, the largest film crew ever reported was a whopping 3,310 people who were behind the creation of Iron Man 3. Avatar noted as one of the most stunning films ever made, had a crew of 2,984.
Cinema is a big world. A Masters in Film can prepare you to join that world. Whether you want to work in writing, directing, producing, editing, or something else, a graduate degree in film is the perfect way to make sure that you’re prepared for what your career may entail. Many of the individual areas within the film industry, such as production or writing, are growing at an average rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. What’s more, people are consuming more media now than at any other time in history, and there is a constantly growing demand for more.
Film is a rewarding field, and it’s growing at a healthy pace. If you want to become part of it, a graduate degree in film or a related field can prepare you to take the next step in your career.
Masters Degrees in Film
Not everyone who pursues this area of interest is going to go to a famous LA Film School and end up on the big screen, but there are plenty of career options for you with this degree. You could see yourself working in a studio, a theater, a university, or even in business. The skills that you learn in this type of program are ones that are widely applicable. Upon graduating, you will be ever more creative, resourceful, and effective in communication than you were when you entered the program, and those types of things are desirable in any career.
A film degree will have a curriculum that combines art and communication and includes critical background information about how the film and television industries work. You will learn about censorship, studio business practices, conducting research, marketing, media distribution, and more. Many degree programs at the master’s level allow for more customization than at the undergraduate level as well; so, if you have a bachelor’s degree in film studies but are passionate about a career in one specific area like script-writing or animation, you can choose a program that focuses on that specifically.
There are several different types of degrees to choose from, too. There are Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Humanities, and many others in film and related fields. With more and more schools offering online classes and programs, there are now online master’s programs in film and other associated degrees available.
Earning a Masters in Film Online
Online education has been growing exponentially for decades now. There are plenty of reputable schools that offer online degree programs, sometimes more than a hundred programs at a single school. When it comes to a master’s in film, you do have a smaller range of schools from which you can choose. Despite that, we still dug deep into your options and determined which schools had the best offerings. You can read about them here in this ranking; each school brings something different to the table.
The benefits of earning your degree online are innumerable. The most prominent feature of most online programs is the ability to complete your coursework asynchronously. You won’t have to log in and work at set times; instead, you can complete your classes on your own time and study when it is convenient for you. Even the programs that are synchronous or happen to involve visits to campus are designed to fit into the lives of busy adults, whether they have professional obligations, a family to take care of, or both. Online programs also tend to be more affordable, with fewer fees and material costs and, sometimes, in-state tuition rates. You are also eligible for financial aid and scholarships as an online student. In fact, there are special scholarships for online students.
You won’t have to move, quit your job, or abandon your other responsibilities or hobbies to earn your degree. Another benefit to choosing an online degree is that you’re not limited to what schools near you have to offer! Below, you’ll find all of the schools that offer online master’s degrees in film (or a related area), ranked based on the following methodology.
Methodology
In order to rank the Best Online Masters Degrees in Film, we started by creating a list of schools that met some initial ranking criteria. Each school had to be based in the United States, operate in a not-for-profit manner, hold proper accreditation, and, of course, offer at least one online master’s program in film. Fully online and hybrid programs were both included, as well as related degree programs that weren’t specifically in film. (For example, there is a master’s degree in screenwriting included in the ranking).
Once we had a list of schools, they were each given a score based on these three factors:
- Freshman Retention Rate (⅓ of the final score)
- Graduation Rate (⅓ of final score)
- Affordability (⅓ of final score)
The highest possible score an institution could receive was 300 points. In the ranking, schools are presented in ascending order based on their final score, with the first school receiving the highest score, and so on. It is important to note that no school is ever awarded preferential treatment of any kind and we are confident that anyone could repeat these results using the methodology above.
In addition to the schools’ own websites, information for this article was gathered from a number of reputable sources, including the National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. News & World Report. Any cost information used or presented in this article is represented by the Residential Cost of Attendance reported by CollegeData.
Arizona State University is a great school to start off the list for the best online masters programs in film. ASU has been ranked as the most innovative school in the country for half a decade now, according to US News & World Report. So, it’s no surprise that they have a multitude of innovative online options for their students to choose from. The Online Master of Advanced Study in Film and Media Studies is one of them, and it has been ranked among the best online masters programs in film. The program consists of a total of 30 credits and offers multiple start dates throughout the year.
The online Masters in Film-Television at Regent University has ranked among the best online masters degrees in film. You can choose to earn this degree as a Master of Arts in Film-Television or a Master of Fine Arts in Film-Television. There are multiple concentrations available in either option, but not all of them are offered online. If you choose to earn the MA, you can study Producing or Script Writing; if you choose the MFA, you can study Script & Screenwriting.
The Savannah College of Art and Design has a program that ranked among the best online masters degrees in film, and that is the Master of Arts in Motion Media Design. Motion media design is where graphic design meets filmmaking and video production. Art director, visual effects artist, graphics coordinator, and animator are all positions you could hold with this type of film degree.
Western Colorado University offers a Master of Arts in Screenwriting or a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting. Both of these options are very low-residency and come in at number four on our list of the best online masters programs in film. The program is presented in a hybrid format; and while it is described as low residency, MFA students will have to spend two weeks on campus prior to beginning the program, after their first year of study, and after their second year of study. Students pursuing the MA instead will only have to attend two summer sessions.
Tiffin University finishes off our ranking of the best online masters programs in film with its Master of Humanities in Film Studies. This program consists of 30 credits in total, and you can graduate in as little as a year and a half if you study full-time. There is a part-time option available, which would take about two and a half years to complete. This is a slightly different type of program compared to the others we’ve explored; this degree could lead to a hands-on career in film or to a teaching career in the field.
A film degree is any degree related to filmmaking, which actually includes a variety of different degrees. The study of film is actually very broad! Camera equipment, production, directing, scriptwriting, screenplay, editing, animation, lighting design, sound production, and studio television production all fall under the umbrella term of a film degree, and there are plenty more that could be included in that category. The most common areas of study that the term ‘film degree’ refers to include filmmaking, film studies, and film theory.
The cost of an online master’s degree in film is not something that is set in stone. The cost of a degree program is actually very individualized because every student is going to have a unique financial situation. Determining the average cost of a master’s degree, in general, is much too difficult because the cost varies so much between fields, but when it comes to a masters degree in film, the average cost ranges from $7,600 to $26,000 per year.
