3 Years (Bachelor of Arts) or 1 Year (HE Certificate)

Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts

Sign up for a VFX Virtual Taster Workshop

Create stunning effects, animations and artwork for film, games and immersive media while building your future-ready visual artist portfolio.

The boundaries between film, animation, games and interactive media have dissolved. Working artists in these fields move between them. This programme is built around that reality.

Over three years, you develop cross-disciplinary fluency in 3D production, visual effects, game design, character animation and real-time digital art. The structure is deliberate: in Year 1 you rotate through four production studios, producing a finished project in each before you commit to a creative direction. By the time you specialise, you have a thorough understanding of the full field.

The programme is built on three principles:

Breadth before specialisation. Year 1 puts you through four production studios: animation, VFX, game design and interactive digital art, each ending in a finished deliverable. You choose your direction from experience and personal interest.

3D as a common language. 3D asset creation runs as a continuous thread from foundation through to advanced production, giving you a technical foundation that transfers across every discipline.

Real work from the start. Every studio, every year, ends in a finished project. By graduation, your portfolio reflects three years of completed work across multiple disciplines and production contexts.

Year 3 brings everything together in a single major project developed over both semesters, with a dedicated mentor and a defined production role. The year culminates in a public showcase.

You can study this programme as a full three-year BA (Hons) or complete the first year as a standalone HE Certificate.

This showcase from features original work created by students from our Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts programme. From cinematic VFX and 3D animation to game environments, immersive VR and audiovisual experiences, these projects reflect the multidisciplinary nature of the course.

Over the past years, our studying artists have developed their technical skills across real-time engines, 3D modelling, compositing and visual coding, while refining their individual creative voices. The result is a diverse body of work spanning film, games, digital art and immersive media.

At Catalyst, students learn by doing. From day one they are building professional portfolios, collaborating across disciplines and preparing for careers in the evolving visual media industry.

Learn more: https://catalyst-berlin.com/film/course/visual-effects-video-game-digital-arts

2026 Showreel - Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts at Catalyst

By graduation, you will have produced finished work across animation, VFX, games and interactive art, and developed the technical range to move between them. Alongside production skills, you will build the critical thinking to evaluate new tools as the field evolves, not just fluency in the ones that exist today.

By graduation you'll have fluency across:

3D modelling, UV mapping, texturing and asset preparation for game, animation and VFX pipelines

Keyframe animation, dynamics and performance-driven character animation

The full visual effects pipeline: pre-production, green screen, compositing, keying and colour correction in After Effects

Game world design, interactive systems and environment storytelling in Unreal Engine 5

Real-time and generative systems in TouchDesigner, including projection mapping and audiovisual integration

AI-assisted tools including Cascadeur for 3D animation

Advanced techniques in Year 2: high-resolution sculpting, procedural asset creation, simulation and matte painting

Tools across production: Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects, Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine, Cascadeur, TouchDesigner, Arduino and Python

You'll also develop the critical thinking to evaluate new tools as the field evolves, not just fluency in the ones that exist today.

At KALLE, Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts students are based in the Lightroom: a dedicated facility with high-end PC/Mac workstations fitted with dual-monitor 10-bit displays and Wacom drawing tablets, a 4K screening room and a high-speed data server. All workstations run the full software stack.

Showcasing your work is a defining moment of the programme and a celebration of your growth, your creative voice and the professional portfolio you're building. 

Create stunning effects, visuals and digital art—for film, games and immersive media at Catalyst

Is Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts for me?

This programme suits you if you are drawn to more than one area within digital production and want to understand how they connect and build a versatile portfolio. It is built for people who want to make work, not just learn tools, and who want honest feedback from tutors still active in the field.

You are interested in animation, VFX, games or interactive digital art, and want to develop across all of them before specialising

You want to graduate with a portfolio of finished projects and an artistic direction, beyond demonstrated software skills

You work well in teams and are comfortable with critique and iteration

You want to engage with Berlin's digital arts and VFX ecosystem

If you arrive with a clear area of interest, the programme will deepen it. If you are still finding your direction, the studio rotation structure in Year 1 gives you the space to do that through making, not deliberating.

“As a VFX student, I was expecting to spend most of my time behind computers but the diversity of the programme is beyond what I expected.”
– Savina Janssen, special effects prop maker and Catalyst alumna

Study Visual Effects, Digital Arts & Animation at Catalyst Berlin

Whether in person or online, we can't wait to meet you!

Throughout the programme you’ll learn from industry-acclaimed experts in their field, with a passion for passing on their knowledge to others.

“Our tutors have really pushed us to advance our skills and techniques, as well as encouraged us to forge the pathway we think best suits our desires as artists.”

– Marlee Weinberg, Visual Effects alumna

Discover our Visual Effects programme at Catalyst. 

Develop practical expertise in industry-standard tools and techniques and gain access to professional facilities, equipment and software from day one. Develop a comprehensive toolset, innovate your practice and walk away with a stunning showreel of original work.

Find out more: 
https://catalyst-berlin.com/film/topic/visual-effects-courses

VFX, Digital Arts & Animation

In the end, it’s our students’ work that counts. Take a look at a selection of recent projects and stories below.

Film Production BA (Hons) / HE Certificate

Music & Sound Design for Visual Media BA (Hons) / HE Certificate

Train across animation, visual effects, game design and interactive digital art over three years, producing finished work in all four disciplines before choosing your direction. BA (Hons) or HE Certificate, Berlin.

Visual Effects, Video Game & Digital Arts BA (Hons) / HE Certificate

Our Film Production programme transcends borders and teaches you to disrupt the status quo – making you part of a new wave of cinema that better reflects the world we live in today. You will create original work by diving deep into your own unique point of view and by embracing the global perspectives that your peers and tutors bring, here in the heart of Europe.

The programme covers and offers guidance on a variety of filmmaking styles, including experimental, music videos, hybrid films and documentary as well as various formats such as short films, feature-length projects and series. Our inclusive approach ensures that you will develop the versatile skills needed to work across different mediums and storytelling modes.

Your filmmaking journey will begin the moment you walk through the door, and you will walk away proudly with a body of real-life work and an expansive network of filmmakers, actors, visual effect specialists and sound artists.

You can study this programme either as a full three-year BA degree or the first year only as a one-year HE Certificate.

Study film production at Catalyst

Throughout this course, you’ll develop the creative, technical and collaborative skills to bring compelling stories to life on screen and work confidently across film and visual media industries.

Confidence directing, producing and shaping both narrative and non-fiction films from concept to final cut.

Cinematography, camera operation and lighting craft for a range of visual styles and environments.

Editing, colour grading and post-production workflows that refine visual storytelling and emotional rhythm.

Sound recording and design for film, enhancing atmosphere, dialogue and world-building.

Production management and teamwork on set, building communication, leadership and problem-solving skills essential to professional filmmaking.

Your own cinematic voice – developed through critical reflection, experimentation and collaboration across disciplines.

Get hands-on access to industry-standard facilities and tons of bookable gear.

During your time here, you will acquire a full understanding and experience of the process of filmmaking, from conception to distribution, with practical skill acquisition for both production and  post-production. This 360° knowledge will make you indispensable on set while reinforcing the social skills essential to bringing a production to life. The value we place in team building and collaborative practices will in turn provide you with transferable skills that can have a lasting effect in both your personal and career development.

When you study here, you’ll learn by doing. Our curriculum of practice based learning will guide you through the various roles and skills of filmmaking. However, the ultimate goal of technical understanding is to be able to fully express your own authentic creative voice, both on and off set.

“My year [at Catalyst] was insightful and nothing short of phenomenal.”

– Brenda Young, filmmaker and Film Production alumna

Is our Film Production programme for you?

You love bringing stories to life on screen, across any format or genre.

You’re excited to explore every role on a film crew and take the lead on creative projects.

You thrive in collaborative, hands-on production environments.

You want to find and shape your own unique voice as a filmmaker.

You enjoy experimenting and learning through practical, practice based work.

“Studying here was nothing short of amazing and to throw all of my talents and passions into one medium was magical.”
– Adam Munnings, filmmaker and Film Production alumnus

In the end, it’s our students’ work that counts. 

Who's gonna save us

Want to see the rest of the showcase? Click here to watch the selection of films created at Catalyst

Visual Effects, Digital Arts & Animation BA (Hons) / HE Certificate

Learn how to create films that bring your vision to the screen with our 3-year BA degree or 1-year HE Certificate in Berlin.

Film Production BA (Hons) / HE Certificate

Laura J. Lukitsch is a documentary filmmaker, installation artist and writer focused on narratives that question social norms and narratives through curiosity rather than confrontation. In a world where attention has become a commodity, she aims to create audio/visual and immersive spaces where ‘othered’ humans and non-human actors can be seen, felt, and heard.

Laura’s practice brings together video, photography, documentary interviews, text, and sound design to develop immersive audio/visual experiences. Her polyphonic portraits, question norms, and honor people, beings, and places. This approach serves to examine cultural and place-based phenomena through layers of multiple voices and perspectives, aiming to question and decenter dominant narratives and give space to alternative frames of reference.

Laura’s work has screened at film festivals, galleries and universities in the US, Europe. Her writing has been published in Germany. She hosted three seasons of the podcast, This Beautiful Shot is Not an Accident.

Through her installations and writing, Laura hopes audiences expand their sense of connection to themselves and other living beings.

Laura currently teach in the Film Production BA and Visual Eﬀects, Video Game & Digital Arts BA, tutoring cinematic language, writing, dissertation support.

Laura Lukitsch aims to inspire others. Read Laura's bio.

Courses that Laura tutors on: