Thoughts on Convergence Culture

Graduates of a USF S/M Film Program will be starting their professional lives just as a tide of user-generated content is rapidly changing how motion pictures are being told, produced and received. Preparing students for this new world of convergent media, where production chops will only be one part of the required skill set, requires a new approach to film education. USF S/M students should have production experience, but they'll also need to know how stories are told across multiple platforms, how to use existing content without breaking the rules, and they'll need to be prepared for a world where making and distributing motion pictures is no longer a centralized business.

In July 2009, Henry Jenkins will leave M.I.T. (where he founded the Convergence Culture Consortium research group in the Comparative Media Studies program) to become Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts, a joint professorship at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Prof. Jenkins is also the author of several books, including Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture and What Made Pistachio Nuts?: Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic.