Lights, camera, action: Stonehill launches new digital media production major

By Jordan Harrington

The current film studio in Duffy Academic Center

EASTON – Lights, camera, action! A new major is coming to Stonehill College in the fall and is calling you to set.

The digital media production major [DMP] is making its debut at Stonehill in the fall of 2025.

“We were asked, and the timing was right,” said Ronald Leone, communications and media studies department chair and former director of the digital media production program.

So, what is the DMP major?

“The DMP major focuses on the production, screenwriting, and postproduction of filmmaking… being able to go on a set and know all the different roles,” said Katherine Elia-Shannon, the new director of the DMP program. 

Despite being a new major, digital media production is not new to Stonehill, where the program started as a minor. 

“Originally, it was put together many years ago, when it was brought to the curriculum committee. They questioned if it was jumping too far into the pool… the compromise was to start it as a minor and see how that’s received by students,” Leone said. 

“Ron [Leone] and I have spent a few years talking about the development of a new DMP major, and it came to fruition over the summer as far as the school deciding that they want to make the minor into a major,” Shannon said. 

With DMP gaining traction as a major, the vitality of being adaptable grows along with it.

“What we truly put a lot of effort into while building this program was the emphasis on it being interdisciplinary, unlike the minor. We have worked to incorporate courses in visual and graphical arts as well as tapping into the performance arts programs that the school offers. All of those art forms in some way help enhance film and digital media. It just made sense to make the major interdisciplinary,” Leone said.

“This is the starting point for people from many aspects to be able to find an approach through film and the digital media department,” Shannon said.

So, with the starting points and foundation set, the future looks bright not just for the digital media major, but the digital arts department as a whole.

“We have put together a substantial budget and scope… it has been essentially a three-step process, firstly is expanding Duffy 210 to be more of a functioning film lab… expanding and updating inventory that is vital… and the third area pertains to the development of the studio within Duffy,” Leone said.

Shannon said the expansion of the program will bring needed changes. 

“The current state of the DMP minor means there are limitations in terms of equipment and facilities, however, with the plans to expand and renovate the current facilities and equipment this becomes more viable,” Shannon said.

“We are a school that is constantly planning for the future and ensuring positive growth… this allows for students to create, and I look forward to that,” Leone said.