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In the specialized seminars, subject matter specific to each area will be taught. Studies within the framework of the specialized seminars extend throughout the entire course of the curriculum, in other words, there are generally no stipulations about which semester students must enrol in the individual specialised seminar programmes. However, especially in the areas of Television/Film and media design, individual subjects may build one upon another.

Students must enrol in a total of at least 6 specialized seminars (two of which must be completed for the first diploma). Students are free to make their own choice of specialized seminars from those offered in the individual subject areas. In the interest of completing the study programme in one of the three specialized areas, the degree of commitment demanded by the teaching staff must be carefully considered. For this reason, before transition to the 2nd part of the study programme, students are obliged to undergo intensive consultation regarding their intended course of study.

Specialized Seminars in Film/Television

Analyzed Criticism

Theory and exercises in the criticism and analysis of film syntax, language and technique using current film and television productions. The critical reviewing of film and television programmes demands a high degree of language skill. The ability to formulate ideas and opinions is a prerequisite for the effective communication of one's own work, and about the work of others. It is essential for the presentation of projects and contributions to lectures and seminars.

Dramatic Structure - Narrative Forms, Genre Studies

The development and analysis of screenplays for fictional genres, training in basic dramatic structures, including the filmic adaptation of literary sources. The seminar concentrates systematically on the examination of the dramaturgical concepts in the theatre, in literature, film and television as well as on the analysis of various narrative forms and genres.
 

Writing - Outline, Treatment, Screenplays

The writing of outlines, treatments, screenplays and concepts is the basis of every film and television production. The specialized seminar is designed to teach the skills required for the various opportunities for the writers which Television/Film offer, and above all to foster individual writing skills through practical exercises. The seminar concentrates on working on original ideas and stories and their dramatic adaptation.
 

Shot Breakdown and Montage

The use of camera, sound, light, editing as elements of dramatic structure;Turning the screenplay into a film;Practical exercises in the dramatic use of the camera, lights and space;the dramaturgical basis of film editing and post-production work for film.

Producing for Film and Television

 The seminar complements individual projects in the main study area of film and television, offering parallel training in budgeting, schedulingand post-production management for television: the economic, organizational and logistical basis of film and television production.

Directing

Fictional forms: basic directing of scenes; directing actors and directing cameras - How does a director communicate his vision? What are the tools of the director's craft? In what tradition does he stand? And what are the problems of working with actors and such a complex entity as a film crew? Documentary forms: principles of documentary directing - from the research and decision on a specific narrative form and organization of the material within a treatment and possible a script, to the demands of production in Film and Television. Forms specific to television: principles of television directing in such varied areas as video clips, talk transmissions, shows and live announcing; how are concepts and ideas realised using electronic image design, shot composition, directing from the production gallery, directing multiple cameras, live or as a recording.
 

Documentary Film

Consideration of the narrative film of the documentary film, taking into account their epistemological, political, aesthetic and technical prerequisites. Exploration of the peripheral subjects of essay-writing, telejournalism and fiction.

Specialized Seminars in Media Design

Type and Typography / Text in the electronic media

Investigation and experimental examination of text generation in analogue and digital media from aesthetic and ergonomic viewpoints.Type design and the use of typefaces in desktop publishing, multi-media and television. (recommendation: 1st to 3rd semester)

Image Design / Electronic Image Design

Image design and methods of working with various types of imagery (static and moving images) in a variety of media. Experimental and applied development of images in graphics, photography, animated film, video and computer graphics, their relation to one another and the possibilities of further audio-visual development.(recommendation: 1st to 3rd semester)

Music and Sound Creation

Sound as a basis of visual design (visualisation of music), analysis of music videos, music films, taped concerts, and functional music (Muzak), using music and sound in advertising, generating dope sheets for music-based graphics. (recommendation: 1st to 3rd semester)

Spatial Design / Intermedial Spatial Design

The conception and design of exhibitions and trade fairs, from set design for television and theatre to architectural and virtual spaces, using both classical two and three-dimensional media technologies and the new electronic techniques. The object is the development of complex design strategies that foster artistic awareness in media production and design. (recommendation: 1st to 3rd semester)

Video Design and Video Production

Based on the foundation provided by the introductory classes in video, subjects, chosen by the students themselves, from areas such as art, culture, economics, education and science, will be developed from conception and dramatic structuring through to the actual production. Special attention will be given to image design and the montage of image and sound. An essential part of the seminar is the integrated use of the Paintbox, the Harry digital edit suite and computer graphics in electronic image design. (3rd to 4th and 5th to 6th semester)

Television Design and Set Design

Application and evaluation of methods of visual design in television graphics and set design. The visual language of the medium in the creative relationship between content and form, between aesthetics and technology.The course is aimed at the media designer, the professional who is familiar with new electronic tools and able to use them effectively and efficiently for the purpose of design. (Training in planning and conceptual skills, design and simulation, techniques such as 'scribbling', storyboarding, animatics, wireframe, modelling and computer simulation. Training on all electronic equipment used in television.) (3rd to 4th and 5th to 6th semester)

Desktop Publishing

Designing for the various applications and media-based methods of desktop publishing with special attention given to the integration of text and image design in the context of interactive media. (3rd to 4th and 5th to 6th semester)

Interactive Media / Multi-Media

The conceptualization and design of hypertext and hypermedia, using local and global networks, man/machine communication, data banks and information services. The examination of designing for audio-visual multi-media systems will be accompanied by a practical introduction to areas of multi-media production, such as CD-ROM. (3rd to 4th and 5th to 6th semester)

Visual Communication

Starting with language, which characterises all forms of communication, the power of communication of image and speech will be compared and contrasted through experiments. Using semiotics and rhetorical argument as a basis, image analyses will be carried out and experimental visual work will be produced in various media. (4th to 6th semester)

Audio and Visual Forms of Representation

The methods and techniques of visual representation and of designing for and with electronic media and systems. This includes the design of audio-visual sign and signal systems as well as computer-aided design and methods of representation and simulation - including virtual reality (VR),using new media. (4th to 6th semester)

Development and Dramaturgy for Audio-Visual Media

Introduction to conceptualising for media designers in which all the stages of concept development and visualization, from finding the idea to drafting the outline, from storyboarding to structuring an interactive multi-media production, will be evolved in practice.

Specialized Seminars in Media Art

Art with Photography

Project-oriented experience of image making; machine art, the misery of technological parameters; various apparatuses and possible methods of counteraction; aesthetic perception and visual imagination; strategies for disposing of specific photographic aesthetics and iconographies in favour of disparate systems; on the "horror of beauty" and the superficiality of the daily bombardment of imagery; appropriation as system (advertising and art), the world as ongoing dramatisation... In conjunction with the basic seminar, "The history of the arts in the context of new media", explorations will be made into experimental photography, photography in the age of new media and the history of photography in contemporary art.

Holography and Spatial Imagery

Artistic concepts, methods and techniques in the area of display holography and light-based media and their design possibilities in relation to painting, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry and dance. In conjunction with the basic seminar "The history of the arts in the context of new media": from the stereoscopic photograph to the holographic stereogram.

Multi-Media and Performance

An integrated study of media sculpture, performance, the scenographic use of space and the use of space in electronic media.

Experimental Film

History and development of the experimental film. The language of film. What really happens between the pictures? From the phenomenon of persistence of vision to the merging of forms, the idea of montage. Writing with light - 'lighterature' rather than literature. In the burning mirror of 'magia naturalis'. From the 'camera obscura' to film. From the perspective machine to the computer.

Videoart, electronic painting

The monitor as the virtual canvas; the experimental and artistic creation of electronic images and their processing through advanced of mixing of techniques the transmutation of colours, structures and textures.

Specialized Seminars in Art and Media Studies

The subject group Art and Media Studies offers specialized seminars aimed at a consideration in greater depth and further treatment of the items dealt with in the relevant lectures / basic seminars.

• Basics of Data Processing
• Theory related to Automatic Devices and Machines
• Music and Sound for the New Media
• Aesthetics / Art Theory
• Media Theory / Media Archaeology