The IFS International Film School Cologne was founded in 2OOO on the initiative of the state government and the Film and Media Foundation North Rhine-Westphalia as a non-profit limited company. In 2O12, the film school’s graduation film “The Swing of the Coffin Maker” won the Student Oscar.
In addition to the study specialisations “Screenwriting”, “Directing”, “Creative Producing”, “Cinematography”, “Editing Image & Sound” and “Production Design”, students can also study “Digital Film Arts” in the 7-semester Bachelor’s degree programme “Film”, which is offered in cooperation with TH Köln. In this study specialisation, a filmmaker’s basic dramaturgical understanding is combined with the new possibilities of digital image design through animation and VFX. Since 2002, the ifs has admitted 8 to 10 students per study specialisation every two years, who complete their studies with a »Bachelor of Arts«.
Tuition fees
The tuition fee per semester is 1,750 euros, and the one-off enrolment fee is 400 euros. An interest-free loan can be applied for through the IFS support association to finance the programme; in addition, the support association currently awards four scholarships for outstanding academic performance from the third semester until the end of the Bachelor’s degree. The students are also eligible for Bafög.
Master & Continuing Education
In addition to the Bachelor’s degree programmes, the international Master’s degree programmes “Serial Storytelling” and “Digital Narratives” are offered. Additional Master’s degree programmes are currently being planned. For professional filmmakers in the industry, the university offers an extensive continuing education programme ranging from “Costume Design” to “Interactive Media”.
Interview with Rolf Mütze
Rolf Mütze began his career as an animation and VFX artist by studying
“Visual Communication” in Münster, after which he completed a Master’s degree in “Computer Arts” at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He has worked in the industry since 2000 and has been involved in projects including “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “Cloud Atlas”.
Mütze is co-founder and managing director of LAVAlabs Moving Images, which he runs together with Michael Brink. He regularly teaches at, among others, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences and the Cologne Game Lab, and since 2015 has been a professor specialising in “Digital Film Arts” at the ifs – International Film School Cologne.
This year, he supported the animago jury in selecting the best entries for the first time; on Friday (28 October) at 10 a.m., he will give a presentation entitled “What smaller studios can learn from Hollywood ́s great VFX studios” in the lecture hall of the library at Munich’s Gasteig. You can find the complete animago conference programme here. Here is an excerpt; you can read the interview in full in DP issue 03 : 16.
DP: Which tools do the students learn?
Rolf Mütze: To realise their visual ideas, we train our students on industry-standard tools such as Nuke, Nuke Studio, Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, Houdini and many more.
DP: How does the university teach students the knowledge of a future artist?
Rolf Mütze: The degree programme is designed so that every student learns every part of the VFX pipeline to a certain level of proficiency and thus gains a holistic overview of the broad process of creating visual effects. During the course of the programme, students can specialise and focus on individual areas.
DP: What are the objectives of the training?
Rolf Mütze: We want to train VFX artists with a strong understanding of design who are able to design images and realise them in conjunction with directing, camera, production design and editing. In order to go through the entire process of digital image design and be a valuable creative partner for all departments, it is important to be able to visualise and communicate one’s own ideas. The students should acquire the know-how and self-confidence to get involved in the entire process and actively help shape it. This is where I see a major focus in my work with the students.
DP: Which skills would you already like to see in the projects submitted with an application to the university?
Rolf Mütze: These must make clear that someone is interested in film and has a certain curiosity about the moving image. At first, I am not interested in which great tutorials the applicant has already done or which software skills have been learnt – not everything has to be perfect. I would rather be able to recognise whether someone has an understanding of moving-image design. This may be a feel for animation or the exciting combination of self-shot and digital images.
DP: What kind of films were created in the first graduation projects by the first cohort of “Digital Film Arts” students?
Rolf Mütze: There was a wide range: from animated short films and VFX processing for live-action films to very technical work such as implementing a raytracer in Nuke, everything was represented. The implementation ideas also varied: motion
capturing was used for one animation project, another was realised with classic keyframe animation, and in addition to digital effects in Houdini there were also effects animations that were created entirely in After Effects. I was very pleased to see the enthusiasm with which the students pursued their goals. A great first cohort!
DP: In your eyes, how has the VFX industry changed in the last 20 years, since you started?
Rolf Mütze: When I started, it was incredibly difficult to get hold of tools and learn them. That is different today. But even though the accessibility of the tools and the many tutorials on the internet make it easier to get started, you still have to bite your way through and learn the tools in order to achieve the required quality standard. One nice development in my eyes is that, as VFX artists, we are
now involved very early in the development process of many projects. The possibilities of digital image design have expanded so much that they are now affordable even for “non-blockbusters”. Engaging with the screenplay, checking feasibility within certain budget frameworks and collaborating with production designers, camera operators and directors long before shooting begins gives us the opportunity to influence and help shape the look of a film far more than was possible 10 years ago.
Archive notice: This article was originally published on 2016-10-21. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
