Final State Exam in the Directing Cinema and Digital Media (DCDM) program consists of the oral defense of the Graduation Film, Graduation Script, Master's Thesis and answering question from the field of the film theory and history. Each part is usually 20-30 minutes long. 

Final State Exam questions for students that started their studies before 2020/2021:

(The student randomly draws one question from History and one question from Theory batch. See the recommended films list below to prepare better.)

Film History 

1. Early cinema
2. Hollywood within silent era
3. Soviet montage school - historical aspects
4. European (mainly French) avantgarde movements
5. German expresionist cinema
6. Hollywood studio system of the 30‘s and 40‘s and stabilization of key genres
7. Impact of 2nd world war on world cinema
8. Italian neorealism and its impact
9. New Waves of the 60‘s
10. New Hollywood and rise of independents in the US
11. Art cinema and culture of film festivals from 60‘s on 
12. Major historical trends and key names in non-fiction cinema

Film Theory

1. Concept of Classical cinema
2. Concept of Modern cinema
3. Genres in cinema
4. Photogenie, lyrosophie and avantgarde conceptions of cinema
5. Modes of production - differencies and consequences6. Principles of Narrative Construction
7. Cinematography: Aspects of the Cinematic Image
8. Types of Montage
9. Sound - types and functions
10. Theory of Authorship11. Non-fiction cinema and its modes
12. Postmodern cinema 

Final State Exam questions for the students in the newly re-accredited DCDM Program (students starting 2020/2021 and later):

Film History and Theory

The student randomly draws two questions from the topic.
(The student will send to Famu International representatives at least 14 days prior to the state exam the list of the 30 films, that will serve as a basis for the additional questions during the exam. RECOMMENDED FILMS LIST)

1. Silent cinema and establishment of film language
2. The concept of classical, modern, and postmodern cinema
3. Soviet montage school and various approaches towards editing
4. “Isms“ in cinema (German expressionism, French Impressionism, Surrealism)
5. Classical Hollywood Cinema and the stabilization of genres
6. New Waves and modern cinema
7. New Hollywood: its historical context and consequences
8. “Auteur” cinema: its establishment and development; the culture of film festivals from the 60s on
9. “Realistic” trends in cinema: kino-pravda, Italian neorealism, cinema vérité, Dogma, etc.
10. Trends in contemporary cinema (post-2000)
11. Principles of Narrative Construction (plot, story, narration, cause-effect, three-act vs. five-act structure)
12. Certain facets of film screenplay (What is more important, plot or character, and why?)
13. Basic principles of acting and rehearsal techniques
14. Cinematography: Aspects of the cinematic image before and today
15. Types of Montage (Eisenstein typology; Christian Metz; continuity vs. discontinuity editing)
16. Sound: types and functions
17. The concept of avant-garde cinema: past, present, and future
18. Documentary cinema: major trends, key names, modes of documentary
19. Various modes of production and distribution in history and nowadays
20. Television, its development, and formats

Final Thesis

   AMU Rules and Regulations

   AMU Thesis Drafting Regulations 

CDM Study plan