The Bachelor of Science in Digital Media Production provides you with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in the dynamic film, TV, and digital storytelling industries. With hands-on experiences and expert faculty, you'll develop a strong foundation in all phases of media-making production and gain the skills to succeed in a variety of industry roles.
The Bachelor of Science degree in Digital Media Production educates students to create exciting fiction and non-fiction content for delivery in today’s most in-demand formats.
Whether they want to produce the next award-winning podcast, write a hit streaming series, or influence millions with social media content, students learn from seasoned professionals using industry standard technology to tell their stories on screens big or small. Students can choose one of three pathways:
Though each pathway is specialized to prepare students for their area of interest, opportunities for collaboration within the major and throughout 5X are limitless. Digital media production majors regularly work with students from theatre and dance, game design, science, music, art and fashion, as they produce live events, short films, documentaries and animated works.
Digital media production students work as producers, camera operators and more for the student-run television station TV2, part of Student Media. The station airs a daily evening broadcast, a midday webcast and nine sports, news and entertainment shows.
They can also get involved in Black Squirrel Radio, a student-run radio station committed to providing innovative media content. With 56 different student-hosted shows airing from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. everyday, the station provides professional industry experience while continuing to be a platform for experimental programming.
In addition, Flash Film Commission helps raise visibility for student- and alumni-produced films.
Kent State's in-house production unit trains students on industry-standard video equipment to work on live production and telecasts of university events and Mid-American Conference games for ESPN+. Students also explore marketing and promotional videos, Esports broadcasts, custom engineering projects and more.
TeleProductions' fully equipped facilities include a digital production truck, a television production studio and several post-production editing suites — all exposing students to the equipment they will work on at internships and jobs post-graduation.
Female Filmmakers Initiative is a student organization that aspires to break down barriers for women in filmmaking.
Students are content producers and content is focused on women's interest and issues. In an industry that is dominated by men, the Female Filmmakers Initiative at 5X strives to provide a content platform that serves as a place for women's perspective in film. With the help of an award-winning filmmaker and Kent State professor, Dana White, FFI was established in 2019 and has formed a strong community of passionate female artists.
IdeaBase is a Kent State student-powered design agency located in Franklin Hall. IdeaBase bridges the gap between classroom and career by bringing together top-performing Kent State students to tackle real-world client problems. The team represents a variety of backgrounds, including visual communication design, public relations, advertising, digital media production, computer information systems, emerging media and technology, marketing and communication studies students.
Careers in digital media production are expected to grow faster than the national average through 2031, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Kent State gave me experiences that have developed my leadership and filmmaking skills. I feel like I graduated not only with a degree, but also with four years of experience and a portfolio of work that is more diverse than others my age.”
Tyler Pina, '14, Award-Winning Director
Less than 10 years ago, Tyler Pina was working on films at Kent State. Today, he’s an award-winning director in Los Angeles.
Tyler founded his production company, Neon Flamingo Films in 2017, while he was still working full time producing science and technology-related content for The Verge in San Francisco. At The Verge, he worked on several high-profile projects with NASA, Aston Martin and Volkswagen.
A turning point came when he was able to reunite with several fellow Kent State graduates in San Francisco to direct and produce the short film “88 Cents.” The film tells the stories of inmates’ lives, post-incarceration, highlighting the difficulty of reintegrating into society after leaving the prison system. In creating the film, Tyler hoped to draw attention to an often-overlooked issue.
“I think there is power in filmmaking; we can offer audiences a glimpse into the lives of people that many might not understand. As we learn about these people, we can begin to empathize with them, change our opinions of them and treat them differently.”
Tom Jennings, ’85, discovered journalism at Kent State. But his experience as a reporter in the infamous O.J. Simpson trial sparked a career shift into documentary filmmaking and international acclaim.
Jennings reflected on his career while attending the 59th Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco earlier this summer, where his latest documentary “APOLLO : Missions To The Moon” screened. The film premiered July 7 on the National Geographic Channel.
“I would have never met the Prince of Monaco, or even gone there and certainly never had a film shown there, without what I had learned at Kent State,” Jennings said.
