MFS Student Life at BSC

Birmingham-Southern College’s Media and Film Studies program offers students a wide variety of educational and extracurricular activities, providing students with the opportunity to gain a great deal of hands-on experience in the film and media industry.

On-Campus Opportunities

The small, liberal arts tradition at BSC offers students a rich and interactive college experience.With intentionally small class sizes, professors are able to dedicate time to interaction with each individual student.The professors at BSC are a great resource for academic help, educational planning, and career advice.

BSC also offers its students the resources needed to learn their craft. With a state-of-the art Mac lab, students learn film editing on professional Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere software. The program operates a production equipment office through which students can sign out professional high-definition cameras, audio and lighting equipment for production projects.

The BSC Film Club hosts an active film community on BSC’s campus.It is a club for everyone from production fanatics to the most casual of movie-watchers. In the past, they have hosted events such as film scrambles (48-hour filmmaking competitions), Oscar-viewing parties, and film screenings.The Film Club also owns a video camera that is available for student use on extracurricular projects.

Film in Birmingham

Birmingham’s small film community has been able to provide BSC students with some serious hands-on opportunities.Because we are not in Los Angeles or New York City, our students get to do more than just run for coffee at the local news station or work as a PA on a huge movie set. Take a look at our Career Preparation tab for a full list of internships and experiences our students have enjoyed.

Birmingham is home to the annual Sidewalk Film Festival, a three day, seven venue film festival that takes place each year at the end of August-- just when BSC students have finished moving in.Students at BSC have been involved at all levels of the festival. Some choose to simply purchase tickets and enjoy the films; others volunteer during the festival weekend and earn free festival passes; and our students who have interned with the festival have been able to be involved in managing film traffic, overseeing ticketing for the festival, and planning the panel discussions and workshops.

Sidewalk also hosts a number of activities throughout the year that build up and engage the Birmingham film community.Their monthly educational Salons are a great way to network and meet some local filmmakers.

The independent film community is alive and well in Birmingham, and there are often opportunities for students to join a film crew or join a local company as a film or media intern.The Alabama Film Office works hard to encourage out-of-state production companies to film in Alabama.The recently released 42 was filmed in Birmingham just last year.With new projects arriving all the time, BSC students are able to gain useful industry experience that will help prepare them for life after graduation.