Master of Arts in Digital Narratives

Our society is becoming more and more digital – including storytelling and production techniques. In the MA Digital Narratives, media and culture creators gain the necessary tools in theory and practice for a professional career in a field that is constantly changing due to rapid technological developments.

The programme’s goal ist the training of creative storytellers that master the narrative formats and production techniques of new digital media and experiment with them, in order to develop innovative formats. The programme combines academic and practical work and teaches students to question the possibilities and limitations of digital technologies as well as the examination of current social issues.

Key areas:

• dramaturgy and design of digital narratives, with a focus on immersive technologies
• current theoretical debates and critical discourses in media studies and cultural studies
• creative development and agile production methods
• storytelling projects for digital formats and platforms (e. g. XR, web series, apps, interactive graphic novels, immersive installations)
• social debates and the storytellers’ responsibilities

The Master’s Programme also prepares students for a practice- or art-oriented doctoral studies programme.

Target Group: 

Applicants who want to explore media and new digital technologies and narratives both practically and theoretically, from fields such as storytelling, film, games, journalism, etc.

Applicants must have a BA or equivalent or higher degree and at least one year of specialized work experience or similar professional project experience.

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Digital Narratives: Course Content

Storytelling for the digital society

The MA Digital Narratives supports young creatives to develop their artistic, practical, and theoretical skills as well as their own artistic position within digital culture in a collaborative and international environment. The programme provides a protected space where students learn to experiment, and to think and produce digital narratives.

The central elements of the curriculum for the Master's Programme Digital Narratives are:

• Digital culture: Critically analyse and explore media ecosystems and the new possibilities that digital technologies offer for rethinking these structures. Examination of the social responsibility of art and media in digital societies.
• Narrative: Research and development of immersive narratives based on new technologies and strategies for engaging audiences in digital media.
• Study and practice of creative methods: Analysis and training of creative and agile methods for ideation, development, prototyping, and production of artistic projects and creative enterprises.
• Project conceptualisation and development: Throughout the programme, students conceptualise, design, and develop a digital storytelling project. 
• Combined Master Project and Master Thesis: In the 4th semester, their project becomes part of their master's thesis, with students splitting the project and the written thesis in a ratio of 80% to 20%, or vice versa. Their work will be supervised and guided by professors, tutors and the Digital Narratives and Production department.
• Project support: To realise their master's projects, students have access to the technical equipment at ifs, support from the production department and receive financial support (max. 4,000 euros/student) for their project

More information on this programme? Visit the website!

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Digital Narratives: Carreer

Graduates have the opportunity to develop their careers in the creative industries, academia, or a combination of both.

If they choose to continue their academic career with doctoral studies after the programme, they will be well prepared to do so in areas such as media and art studies, cultural studies, game studies, narratology, and digital culture. They are qualified to apply a research-creative or artistic-research approach.

In addition, graduates pursue the development of their own digital narrative projects in a variety of narrative formats and platforms, including XR, VR, AR, interactive web series, games, innovative journalism, interactive and digital documentaries, immersive and non-linear narrative formats and narrative worlds.

Our graduates are creatives who understand the ever-evolving language of digital media. They are people who actively shape the industry and engage in discussions around digitality, and they are involved in projects with strong social and ethical aspirations.

They can work in leading creative and artistic positions. Possible career fields for graduates of the Master's Programme Digital Narratives are:

• creative director / creative producer
• storyworld designer / story editor / content designer / narrative designer
• UX designer
• media artist
• media designer / doctoral student
• curator / media critic
• documentary filmmaker and/or journalist with a focus on digital storytelling formats

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Digital Narratives: Admission

General Requirements:

A Bachelor’s degree with proof of at least 180 ECTS (or a similar academic or higher degree). To ensure that the education certificates and diplomas acquired abroad comply with the admission requirements of the ifs (higher education qualifications), applicants can consult the following database: http://anabin.kmk.org.

At least one year of specialised professional practice or similar professional project experience after the Bachelor’s degree.

In justified exceptional cases, applicants with exceptional artistic skills whose CVs lack one or more of these formal requirements may request to enroll in the programme as advanced training participants.

Very good knowledg of English:

B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, e.g. by a TOEFL score of a minimum of 72 points (internet-based) or equivalent test results. Native English speakers are exempted from this

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Overview of Masters programmes - ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln

		3D Animation for Film & Games
		Digital Narratives
		Entertainment Producing
		MA Film
		Serial Storytelling

More information on this programme? Visit the website!

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