Content and structure

Course content.

Develop an understanding of the audience of digital media and platforms as well as their reasons for using them – under the condition of non-linearity and interactivity. Graduates have skills in classic storytelling, audio, photo and video production, animation and motion design, and in the fields of social media and content marketing. 

Students narrate journalistic, documentary and project-related stories that are tailored to the target audience and span different platforms. Alone or in a small team, they are responsible for all aspects of the audiovisual content – from design to production, through to distribution using tailor-made communication strategies. In the process, they exploit the opportunities presented by the various forms of social media and enter into dialogue with the target audience using different forms of narration. In theory modules and colloquia, they explore the German-speaking media market and creative industry, and familiarize themselves with the legal framework conditions. 

Course structure.

The Major in Cast/Audiovisual Media involves a large amount of practical work. The semesters are divided into modules in which students learn technical skills, work in independent projects or look for creative solutions for project assignments from external practice partners in teams. 

Theory and context
Explore different text forms in theory modules – from journalistic content to advertising, brand communication and transmedia forms of narration, through to storyboards and screenplays. Students present and reflect on their own work and discuss it with guest lecturers from the media industry in the Cast colloquium. 

Audiovisual skills
Learn and practise technical, design and narrative skills in the production of video, audio and photographic content for online media as well as in the fields of Motion Graphics and AI. Produce non-linear content for virtual reality and immersive media in future-oriented modules. 

Story design and audience
Develop the basic principles of classic storytelling following dramatic structures and archetypical models and use them for audiovisual media fomats, web documentations, podcasts, animations and social media content. The focus is on looking at the audience and their reactions from a critical and an empathetic perspective. 

Content creation
Students design, produce and publish audiovisual online media content in independent projects – for their portfolio or in cooperation with external project partners. They implement serial editorial formats, try out strategies to narrate stories in a non-linear, transmedia manner, learn to calculate projects and analyse examples from the national and international media landscape. 

Market
Discover the German-speaking media market and creative industry and gain an understanding of the corresponding legal and financial framework conditions. Students complete a company-based internship to gain experience in their future professional field and network with the industry. They visit media innovation hotspots, conferences and festivals on study trips, where they have the opportunity to network with international actors.

Practical work with other majors
Learn how to act and work in interdisciplinary design teams. Students formulate and implement joint ideas on a current issue, learn how to communicate design processes, and get across their understanding of design in discussions with others. 

Skills acquired in the course.

  • Design professional audiovisual content with widely used software tools as well as sound and video technology 
  • Develop and implement your own or order-based formats in the field of audiovisual media
  • Apply your knowledge of media dramaturgy specifically to the design of non-fiction audiovisual content 
  • Identify the target audience in the web and engage with it in an appropriate manner 
  • Tell stories that span different platforms
  • Master and use different forms of creative writing
  • Follow and critically reflect on developments in the media and communications industry

Admissions requirements

The Major Cast/Audiovisual Media is aimed at outgoing people with a wide range of interests who have prior experience in the design of audiovisual media or have already worked for a medium (student newspaper, local newspaper, internet, etc.). They also have the following skill set:

  • Conceptual skills 
  • Creative potential 
  • Communication skills
  • Able to tell stories
  • Able to take on a range of creative tasks in small teams 

Benefits of studying at ZHdK.

There are numerous new job opportunities for graduates with a major in Cast/Audiovisual Media emerging at the interface between audiovisual media, digital distribution forms and new production technologies. This allows them play a part in shaping the digital change occurring in the media and communications industry:

  • Opportunities in the rapidly growing professional fields of online and mobile media
  • Creative work as a content creator in agencies, production companies, transmedia newsrooms and media houses 

Studying at ZHdK offers you a wealth of benefits.

  • Take your future in hand: You enjoy a contemporary, interdisciplinary, highly specialized education.
  • You have access to the Toni Campus. This centre for education and culture combines all disciplines under one roof and is unparalleled in its dimensions anywhere in Europe.
  • ZHdK regularly puts on projects and events.
  • You benefit from professional networks and collaborations with the creative industry and other educational institutions in Switzerland and abroad.