Youth feature film project “Freund – Prijatelj II” Erasmus Project

Project Title

Youth feature film project “Freund – Prijatelj II”

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Regional dimension and cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The project ‚Freund – Prijatelj II‘ as a follow-up arised out of conviction that film projects, which crossing the borders and on which the schools, teachers and other experts from two or more different schools with different national background collaborate, are rare. Nevertheless, it is to consider, these are the projects which can essentially contribute to expansion of knowledge and skills of young people for their lifetime. The feature film production is a complex matter, since it demands an interdisciplinary approach as well as many motivated teachers and young people with different talents and skills. A high amount of artistic creativity and technical know-how are needed as well.

This project ‘Freund – Prijatelj II’ outlines the intended cooperation between two schools, which are different by type as well by cultural and language background. Nevertheless, they are put down in the two regions which are historically tied and geographical very close (southern Carinthia in Austria and Carinthia in Slovenia, where Ravne na Koroškem is placed), so it has called for a stronger academic cooperation. Furthermore out of the bilingual minority in Southern Carinthia (the Carinthian Slovenes) the advantage or opportunity raised to reduce the linguistic and cultural barriers by this transnational project.

The goals of the project referred to the use of different talents, competences and skills by young people, teachers and by all participating professional experts. The implementation of one transnational feature movie by the use of high amount of creativity during the film production process required various talents, knowledge and skills in different art forms, which feature film as art form, the whole film production combined on film set, to achieve the best results. This led by the project to a permanent mobile networking of young people and teachers. In consequence the cultures of two neighbor regions were brought together.

The number of participants varied, since in the various phases of the feature film production the different profiles of young people as well as the teachers and the participating experts were needed. Thus, the young people and all the other collaborating participants with the various talents and skills continuously came together, they exchanged the knowledge and enriched each other, all this for the benefit of the common transnational project. Diversity of all participants and the desire for the creativity made the project interestingly for the different profiles of people, starting from literature, music, photography…

The activities referred to a complex film-production, a kick-off-event took place presenting the story and screenplay by an external expert. Further steps were devided into several project stages, consisting of “pre-production”, “production”, “post-production” and “distribution” of the fiction movie – and a final reflection phase. There was implemented a special eLearning system for all matierals and communication processes.
As a result of certain steps – idea, synopsis, treatment, recording book, storyboard, production book, location scouting, scene plan, disposition, casting (all supported by different workshops for the students in both schools using learning mobility) – the film crew got to the production steps and to the final realisation of the project. The creation of “mise-en-scène” challenged the students in production techniques but also within their creative and acting competences. The shooting took place in both regions and was arranged in both languages (German and Slovenian). The recorded scenes ended in the post-production phase. There the cutting/editing, but also the image editing and color grading followed – all techniques asked for additional capabilites of the students, which were transfered through certain workshops (e.g. editing-software skills). A “master-copy” was the beginning of the distribution phase. There the film premiere and all the other public screenings of the product were organized. PR-material in different languages was prepared for several filmfestivals, the final DVD and Blu-Ray were produced. A special fact was the interaction and cooperation of students out of all socio-economic social classes.

One of the main targets was the increase of student’s interests to discover their individual talents. Better skills for team-work-proccesses were developed for both groups – students and teachers. Language competencies of all participants were improved and fostered as well as interests for the other cultural region were aroused. Technical and management skills increased, too. The existing partnership between both schools has been increased, the perfection of competences and skills in the field of film production was given. The planned establishment of a ‘competence center’ for youth film productions in both regions was the crowning moment as a result of this follow-up project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 41870 Eur

Project Coordinator

Praxis-Handelsakademie Völkermarkt & Country: AT

Project Partners

• Solski center Ravne na Koroskem