Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett

Outcome 1 (Erasmus video)
In this essay I will discuss the brief we received from Erasmus in which we
travelled to the Netherlands to create a promotional video for Erasmus and the
North West regional college.
Erasmus Background
Erasmus is a EU student exchange programme, which was established in the
year 1987. The length of time in which students spend abroad varies anywhere
from 2 weeks to 3 months if not higher. The programme was 2 weeks long and it
took place in the Netherlands, Erasmus students would study all across Europe,
people also have the opportunity to volunteer abroad with Erasmus.

Meetings
We got the opportunity to sit down with the other students heading on the 2
week programme to discuss what was going to happen at Knowmads, the school
which we were doing the programme. The person in charge of the European
Affairs office was Bridgita Kelly, she was present at the meetings and gave us
information about the programme we were going to take part in, she also stetted
up a Skype call with the teacher at knowmads who gave us a breakdown of what
we would be doing at the school for the 2 weeks. The total amount of media
students going on the trip was 4, the 2 other courses which were going to be
present in Amsterdam were catering and business. We intend to do a interview
with Brigita for the Erasmus video.

Constraints

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
Since we were taking part in the 2-week course we had to juggle filming a
promotional video and taking part in the activities, this limited the amount of
time we could spend on the product. Whenever we were over there the group
responsible for the knowmads promotional video did a few interviews with people
who were taking part in the course and one of the head staff members Guus
Wink.

Whenever we returned from knowmads we decided to do some student

interviews using the studio in our school with the green screen, basically the
students were asked about their experience in Amsterdam, what they learned
during their time there and if it was a worthwhile experience.
Enterprise weekend
For the enterprise weekend we had finished editing all of the interviews, we
showed our video along with a magazine we made at knowmads at our own
booth during the enterprise event in the theatre building of the NWRC, all the
students who took part at the programme were at the event to tell passersby
who were interested about their experience.

Outcome 2-pitch (Erasmus video)

Whenever we found out that 4 of the media students were selected for the trip
we began to work on an idea, the strongest idea we had was to create a short
video that will highlight the work that Erasmus does and highlight one of the
many different types of foreign exchange programme the NWRC takes part in so
it can also be used in marketing by the NWRC.. The person we pitched this idea
to was Kathleen Doherty, the head of further education.
Development
We knew that the main target of the video is people who are interested in going
to the NWRC and taking part in exchange programmes. We had resources from

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
the NWRC, they supplied us with cameras and tripods to bring over to
Amsterdam, and we were also given the macbook to edit.
Crew
Matthew Mooney: Editor
Conor McCallion: Camera operator/editor an director of knowmads promotional
video
Christopher ONeill: Camera Operator
Cieran McIlhenney: Camera operator/ editor and director of mijnstadstuin

Budget
Note: this budget does not include travel or hostel cost as that were by Erasmus
and not the NWRC.
2 DSLRS (Nikon 5200): 600
TRIPOD: 60
Macbook: 1000
Project schedule
Whenever we were at knowmads t was difficult to make a production schedule as
we were taking part in the classes during the same time we had to make the
short video, whenever the opportunity arose we would film some clips for the
video that could be used, we did out a plan for the filming of the interviews in the
NWRC studio because we had much more time to prepare.

Outcome 3-Production Process (Erasmus video)

Planning
We agreed out production roles for the video before we went to Amsterdam, all
of our crew had a strong there were several deadlines for the various projects
that we were working on, we had to have the interviews done and edited for the
enterprise event for example. Because we were all in the same class we were
able to give constant information about the project, we would also talk over
facebook. We had to book the studio for an entire morning to get all of the
interviews done. N terms of risk assessment, there really wasnt much risk

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
involved wt the production, the only thing I could think of was the awareness of
fire exits in case of as fire in the school building.
Locations

NWRC studio

Knowmads building

We decided to use the green screen for the interviews, as it would allow us
to add in relevant information about Erasmus and what the interviewee is
talking about.
We were given plenty of feedback as to what we should do with the
interviews and what would be the best way of editing the piece. There
have been several cuts to the piece in order to ensure that its of the
highest quality.

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett

Note: Conor Mc Callion completed this write-up for the knowmads

documentary
Knowmads documentary write up

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
Original Ideas: We had many different ideas for the Knowmads promotional video
while in the planning stages, one of which being a One shot walking through
the Knowmads building. This was going to include things like the layout of the
building, important things and messages, the students of knowmads and many
other scripted scenarios that we had thought about. These scenarios were
intended on giving the viewer a sense of what they were getting themselves into
if they were to join Knowmads, and give them an idea of what it is they will be
doing there. We (Matthew and I) thought this was a great idea, we thought it was
very informative and insightful and were very excited about shooting and editing
the piece, but as we then had a meeting with Floris Koot (co-founder and teacher
of Creativity at Knowmads) we realised that our idea was unrealistic and would
be very hard to execute.
Here are some images of
our meeting with Floris.

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett

After being told by Floris that our idea wasnt very good, we had to come up with
another idea, and time was running out. We came up with many other ideas, for
example to shoot it like a documentary and interview some of the staff and
students. However, we still liked out original idea of a walkthrough of the
building,
so we
decided
to merge
the two
ideas.

Constraints There were many constraints and restrictions that were keeping us
from making the film how we originally wanted, one being time. We were quickly
running out of time and had to produce the best piece we could in the time we
had left. I think we puled it off as I really enjoy the final product. Another
constraint was resources. As we were in Amsterdam, and not in the college, we
did not have access to all of the equipment. We just had a DSLR and tripod. It
was difficult but we made the best product we could with our restrictions. When
it was time to shoot our video there were classes and workshops going on in the
building, this meant that we didnt have access to all rooms in Knowmads and
were restricted to just two. This was a challenge at first but we made it work.

Our team (Personnel) consisted of Matthew Mooney and myself (Connor

McCallion.) We shared roles between the two of us, including the planning,
shooting, interviewing, directing and editing. There were other people in our
team, but as they did not have a background in filmmaking they could not help
us, therefore all the responsibilities and tasks fell on our shoulders.

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
Our plan was to get the one shot walkthrough of the Knowmads School first, then
weave the interviews in between, and we did just that. We shot the walkthrough
first. This was a challenge to film, as we did not have a dolly or track, we simply
had to walk through with the camera in hand. It wasnt the ideal situation but we
made it work with the equipment we had. We then filmed the interviews with
Guus Wink (Co-Founder) Ana Barona (Student, Tribe 11) and Oscar van Weegen
(Student, Tribe 12.) We asked them questions like What is Knowmads? and
What do you do here at Knowmads?

The target audience for this particular piece is anyone who interested in joining
Knowmads and wants to find out some more information. It gives opinions from
the students and teachers perspectives and is very informative. The viewer will
find out exactly what they need to know and will hopefully help promote the
school even more.

After finishing the shoot, we had 2 days to complete the edit of the piece. We
quickly put together a first draft in a few hours to get a rough layout and a sense
of how it was going to look. We analysed the first draft and continued to make it
as great as possible. When we finished we had to show our product to the other
team (My city garden,) and some Knowmads students, and get feedback. Overall
the video got great feedback from the students. Guus noticed some minor things
that he wanted changed, which we then completed the next day. The final draft
of the video was uploaded to the Knowmads Facebook page where it received
over 4000 views in just one month and people seemed to really enjoy it.

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett

In conclusion there were many constraints and restrictions, but we overcame

these problems and made the best product we could. We are very proud of the
video we made and are glad it received the feedback and attention that it did. If
we could change one thing about the video it would be the sound quality of the
interviews. We had a shotgun mic but unfortunately could not get it to work so
ended up having to use the on board mic on the DSLR. The sounds quality wasnt
bad, but would have been better with the shotgun mic. We are happy with all
other aspects of the video and hope it will continue to inform future Knowmads
students.

Note: Ciaran McElhinney did the write up for Mijn stadstuin

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
Mijn stadstuin

In February 2016, I was privileged to take part in an Erasmus project visiting Nomads
College in Amsterdam. This was a dynamic development programme building personal and
business skills. We were set a task to design and make a promotional video about the Mijn
Stadstuin Food Forest. On the edge of Amsterdam, the food forest is a farm land
management system, which mimics a woodland ecosystem by substituting edible trees,
shrubs, perennials and annuals. Fruit and nut trees make up the upper level, while berry
shrubs, edible perennials and annuals make up the lower levels.

The brief was to produce a promotional video showcasing the people involved, the goodness
the food forest can have on the environment and the positive contribution it is making and
encourage those from farming communities to consider elements of this project when laying
plans for the future growth in their own areas. The short video would be incorporated on the
project website and be 3 minutes in length.
.
We had a group brainstorm during which we all gathered around as a team and suggested
some ideas so that the group could put any suggestions forward. There were some great
ideas which we developed further, analysed and we selected our preferred ideas and as a
group developed a plan for the production.

After our plan was set we made a pitch to our Nomads mentor, we received very positive
feedback from him and then progressed to pitch our ideas to the Mijn Stadstuin team. Again
the feedback received was very positive and we moved on to discussing the practicalities of
recording in an outdoor environment during very wet weather.

We set a date and time when we would arrive on site at mijn stadstuin. Then we had to
organise the cameras and equipment we needed for the shoot and to keep an eye on the
weather for the set day. Appropriate outdoor clothing and wellingtons were acquired. On
the day of filming a member of mijn stadstuin picked us up at the college and we travelled to
the farm. After a tour of the farm and location setting filming commenced. It was hampered
by the weather that was wet and windy and quite cold but we were able to make appropriate
adjustments to our original plan on site and commenced filming. We spent approximately 3
hours on site and when we were satisfied we had obtained enough footage for our project
we returned to the college to commence the next stage of the project.

Student: Christopher ONeill

Tutor: Faustina Starrett
An interview with a representative of the mijn stadstuin team was carried out at the college,
the interview was recorded and would be included in the finished piece. Consideration was
given to music, introductions, text headings etc and the editing process commenced.

A draft of the short video was produced and our team gathered to review it and give
feedback. A number of changes were made and next version was supplied to the Nomad
mentor for consideration and a showing was arranged for the mijn stadstuin team and other
members of the project. Further feedback was received and after minimal updating the
video was supplied to the mijn stadstuin team.