International master's programmes

What is InMICS?

InMICS (International Master in composition for screen) is a 2-year international master’s degree dedicated to students wishing to work as composers for visual media. This unique and brand new programme welcomes its very first students simultaneously in Bologna, Ghent, Lyon and Montreal in September 2018.

The selection of new students occurs every two years. Applications for InMICS 2020 are now closed!

This two-year programme will give advanced students the chance to hone their skills, share their talents and develop their own personality and projects within an international, professional environment. InMICS will educate composers who are highly skilled, as well as individual, creative, critically aware, innovative and professional in their approach. By training students with these attributes, InMICS wishes to give them the best possible preparation for shaping tomorrow’s cultural industries.

InMICS has been developed to teach students how to manage the entire process of music creation for audiovisual media, from composing and recording the music to finding the right words to talk about visual art, as well as mixing the music and promoting their own work.

What makes this programme unique is its international dimension, entailing a great diversity of aesthetics, cultures and teaching methods, the sharing of optimal practices and the exploration of innovative practices and tools.

The study is for two years, at two of the four partner institutes. At the end of the two years, students will receive a double master’s degree. This programme gives them the ideal opportunity to fulfil their personal objectives and advance their professional perspectives. Each of the four institutions offers a different teaching approach to composition for visual media, with a specific focus on the medium and professional perspectives:

• Conservatorio GB Martini Bologna: Electroacoustic Composition for Screen
• KASK & Conservatory (HOGENT) in Ghent: Composition for Animation, Documentary and Video
• CNSMD de Lyon: Scoring for Screen
• Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music: Composition for Video Games

InMICS is the outcome of a fruitful cooperation supported by the Erasmus+ programme (2014 – 2017) between higher art education institutes and professional organisations in the field of audiovisual creation spread across Europe and Canada.

Founding partners 

Higher Music Education institutions:

• Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse, Lyon (France) – project coordinator
• KASK & Conservatory (HOGENT) in Ghent (Belgium)
• Conservatorio di Musica G.B. Martini Bologna (Italy)
• Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music (Canada)

Professional partners:

• International Film Festival, Aubagne - Music and Cinema (France)
• Film Festival Gent (Belgium)
• Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna (Italy)
• Permission Inc., Montréal (Canada)
  

The founding partners published a study on the relationships between musicians and audiovisual artists and also between Higher Education institutions and professional structures regarding music for audiovisual media. This study is accessible online: InMICS: Picture of a Profession and Challenges for Higher Education

Watch the final video report about 3 years of work on the development of the InMICS programme:

InMICS Composers Lab

The InMICS Composer Lab is an essential component of the brand-new International Master in Composition for Screen. It offers its students the unique opportunity to participate in a series of intensive masterclasses, workshops and training sessions given by renowned professionals. The InMICS Composers Lab is organised by and will take place at the three participating festivals: Film Fest Gent, Festival International du Film d’Aubagne and the Krakow Film Music Festival.

Through the InMICS Composers Lab, developed with the support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union, the students will be immersed into an international professional environment, which will enhance their employability onto the international market.

The InMICS Composers Lab is built around five main keystones, recurring and further developed at each of the festival visits:

• First steps into the industry
• Artistic collaboration between composers, director, sound designer and editor
• Recording music for audio-visual projects
• Innovation: composing for new visual media and/or how new technologies (can) influence your composition
• The Industry today

Along with gaining a better understanding of these topics, students will participate in several networking opportunities with different cultural stakeholders within the film (music) industry: from emerging to established composers, filmmakers and producers, agents, publicists, orchestrators, sound designers, editors, music & sound supervisors and other stakeholders within the international film (music) industry. This way the InMICS students will start building their network as early as possible.

Agenda

September 2018: Start of the programme for the first InMICS students simultaneously in Bologna, Ghent, Lyon and Montreal

October 2018: InMICS Composers Lab at Film Fest Gent

March 2019: InMICS Composers Lab at Festival International du Film d’Aubagne

November 2019: Opening of applications for the fall term 2020

January 2020: Closing of applications for the fall term 2020

February 2020: Interviews of candidates

April 2020: InMICS Composers Lab at Festival International du Film d’Aubagne

May 2020: InMICS Composers Lab at Krakow Film Music Festival

September 2020: Start of the programme for the second group of InMICS students simultaneously in Bologna, Ghent, Lyon and Montreal

October 2020: InMICS Composers Lab and presentation of students’ final works at Film Fest Gent