About the Subject

With the global surge in the media industry over the last two decades, there has been a distinct need for an academic programme at the undergraduate level that would meet promising career opportunities in the now booming information and communication business. The Bachelor’s in Mass Media (BMM) programme has been designed with this very agenda – to produce professionals armed with specialised skills in either Advertising or Journalism.

About the Department

The Department of Mass Media in Sophia College was set up in 2003, becoming the newest affiliated addition to the Arts programme of the institution. With a class strength of over 60 students in each of the three years, the BMM programme offered by the College follows a rigorous semester system introducing the students to a variety of new disciplines that effectively combine theory and practical application, allowing them to approach the media from diverse perspectives.

Our focus is on consistency and excellence, and we strive to give our students a professional orientation through interactive and dynamic teaching methods besides encouraging them to gain on-the-job experience through summer internships. The programme is further rooted in a system of continual assessment and project work in each semester. Our core philosophy is to create an environment that nurtures a spirit of critical enquiry and analysis, where young minds are able to understand the workings of the media even as they learn to use it as a tool with integrity and intelligence.

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN THE DEPARTMENT

In addition to the course requirements, we ensure that the students have a variety of co-curricular activities to engage with. These include:

1. The Film Society: The BMM film society is a thriving enterprise, once again managed by students. It screens films that are open to the entire college every week, and attempts to introduce its members to a diverse cinematic mix, from independent foreign films to mainstream Indian and American films. The screenings are typically followed by an interactive discussion with the cinema faculty on the creative and technical aspects of filmmaking to deepen their understanding of the craft.
2. The Enrichment Programme: Every Saturday, the BMM department organises sessions of its Enrichment Programme, a vital link between professionals from different media disciplines (artists, award-winning filmmakers, seasoned journalists and editors, marketing heads, copywriters, PR professionals and entrepreneurs, acclaimed authors and poets, theatre personalities, brand management experts etc.) and our students.
   The experts deliver lectures / make presentations on key topics, followed by an interactive Q&A session with students from all three years of the programme. The aim behind this activity is to open their eyes to the myriad possibilities that the professional world has to offer, and its attendant demands on those seeking to pursue serious careers in the media. Over the last decade, we have had a host of enrichment speakers including ad filmmakers Ram Madhwani, Adi Pocha and Subir Chatterjee, journalists Smruti Koppikar, Naresh Fernandes and Annie Zaidi, novelists Jerry Pinto and Kiran Nagarkar, theatre actor Danish Hussain, author and film critic Meenakshi Shedde, public relations experts Roger Pereira and Meeta Bajaj, renowned environmental activist and writer Bittoo Sehgal, advertising guru Gangadharan Menon, and digital media entrepreneur Sandeep Maiti. Our more recent speakers include film director, producer and screen writer Mahesh Bhatt and brand strategist/coach and author, Ambi Parameswaran.
3. The Photography Society: Conceived and run entirely by the BMM students, under the guidance of department faculty, this society extends its membership to students from the entire college. It organises workshops conducted by professionals on various aspects – both technical and aesthetic – of photography, and even holds annual photo competitions to encourage its members to explore their skills.
4. Documentary Film Festival: Organised by the Executive Committee of the Film Society, this annual film festival gives our students the opportunity to engage with filmmakers, curators, critics and scholars to understand the language of documentary cinema. The festival typically involves screening of documentary films from different countries exploring a range of issues and sensibilities, followed by interactive conversations with filmmakers.
5. The Advanced Software Skills Workshop: The objective of this workshop is to equip the TYBMM students with advanced desktop software skills like Corel Draw, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign to give them the necessary edge over others when entering the professional media world.