First Motion: Exploring Crossmedia potential in the Baltic Sea Region

Dear reader,

“Everything changes, nothing stays the same” – while First Motion is beginning its final year expecting good results from the ambitious work in its crossmedia themes and projects there have been some newsworthy changes in the PMU-team. Three new colleagues have started their job: As new project manager Julia Grosch from Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is already pulling the strings. Jens Kiefer from Filmfund is going to contribute valuable inputs from a more technical perspective. And the information management has been taken over by Christopher Cohen who owns a public relations agency in Hamburg. Still on board and as busy as ever are Anke Küsel and Bernd-Günther Nahm, well-known First Motion activists right from the start.

In these days we’re preparing for the partner meeting to be held on 13th and 14th February during this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, ending with the First Motion Berlinale Reception. Read more about this event further down. The PMU-team is looking forward to meeting all partners and guests in Berlin.  

For today, we wish to give all readers some relevant news on First Motion’s activities. Don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.

Sincerely,
your First Motion Team

  
Today’s News: Berlinale reception -  more than 500 guests expected!
First Motion is looking forward to the second Berlinale Reception on 14th February 2012 expecting more than 500 guests. The reception is being held during this year’s Berlin International Film Festival (9th to 19th February 2012) in the representation of Land Schleswig-Holstein to the Federation in Berlin. Filmmakers and creatives in the media industries, friends and First Motion partners from the Baltic Sea Region will get together to learn about the newest developments in First Motion, to exchange experiences in crossmedia and to have inspiring conversations. Julia Grosch, First Motion project manager: “First Motion has been working for two years now. We’re ever so proud and pleased that we can present valuable outcomes and results and that so many guests are going to participate.”
 
The reception will be opened with an address of welcome by Heinz Maurus, State Secretary for Europe and Commissioner of Land Schleswig-Holstein to the federation. First Motion representative Bernd-Günther Nahm (Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein/Germany) will give a short review on the projects, ideas and digital innovations which were realised with support of First Motion in the last twelve months.
 
Dr. Indrek Ibrus, Baltic Film and Media School (Tallinn/Estonia), will focus on the experiences with the first crossmedia MA studies at Tallinn University. David Anders Holme, University of Agder (Kristiansand/Norway), and Wenancjusz Szuster, Lodz Film Commission (Lodz/Poland), will explain the results of the research work on Intellectual Properties Rights (IPR) and on Information and Communication Technology (ITC).
 
Later on, the documentary films FISH & ONIONS and 15 YOUNG BY YOUNG will be screened, both supported in their development by First Motion for the period of one year.
 
In run-up to the reception the First Motion partners from Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden will hold a two-day meeting at the Berlinale to make detailed plans on their work in the coming twelve months, the final year of the project. The new First Motion advisory board will be meeting, too, aiming for strategic support of the media industries in the Baltic Sea Region after First Motion will have run out at the end of this year. Charlotte Appelgren, General Secretary of Cine-Regio, Edith Sepp, Advisor to Estionian Ministry of Culture and Eva Hubert, director of Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein have already confirmed their participation.
 
 
Retrospective 1: First Motion in 2011
“First Motion has had a very intensive year, all partners worked hard on the different projects so that we can announce considerable results today, going into last year of action”, summarizes Bernd-Günther Nahm (Filmfund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein/Germany) the activities of First Motion in 2011, all of them part-financed by the EU.
 
Presentation/Workshops
Communicating the experience and knowledge of First Motion we presented our results at various festivals and events as well as in our internal meetings. Here is a list of events with participation of First Motion in 2011:
  • First Motion (FM) presented the pilot projects of the first call for projects in 2010 at the FM Reception in Berlin during the Berlinale 2011 (February 2011)
  • The online platform Baltic Universe was launched at the FM Reception in Berlin during the Berlinale (February 2011)
  • FM was invited to share its expertise in the field of regional development and creative industries and their interrelation at the conference »Smart Specialization and Growth in the Baltic Sea Region« organized by Paris-based Team Work on behalf of the EU in Malmö (April 2011)
  • In cooperation with Norwegian Film Institute FM held a Workshop "What is the worth of a short film?" at the International Norwegian Short Film Festival in Grimstad (June 2011)
  • FM at the Nordisk Panorama Århus: The Scandinavian Five Cities Film Festival for Nordic Shorts and Documentaries invited First Motion to give a lecture on the specifics of transmedia production in relation to documentary films. (September 2011)
  • FM arranged a Workshop at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck 2011 as part of Lübeck Meetings: How to tell/sell your transmedia story (November 2011)
  • FM was invited to the festival Kort på KinoKino in the Norwegian city of Sandnes to take a leading part in a short film workshop. The workshop was a follow-up of the seminar »What is the worth of a short film?« in Grimstad (November 2011)
 
Training and Education
Following up the development in First Motion and gathering external competence all participants of the productions that were selected out of the second call for projects in 2011 took part in two workshops on transmedia (development, production, marketing, distribution) together with the regional mentors. Additionally, the mentors attended a training on their role inside transmedia projects.
  • Eight new pilot projects were selected from Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden. (April 2011)
  • A cluster group meeting (Denmark-Poland) in Lodz discussed further strategies. (April 2011)
  • A mentor-workshop in Århus prepared the mentors to the special task of mentoring a transmedia project. (May 2011)
  • The first lab was held in Pedase / Estonia where the development of the new pilot productions was accompanied and coached. (May 2011)
  • The second lab was carried out in Viniistru / Estonia. (October 2011)
           
Outcome/Results of different Work Packages in First Motion
First Motion as a living laboratory is constantly achieving results in the different work packages. The outcome is delivered to the regional industry on several events.
  • The FM Cluster Landscapes Handbook was issued, a guidance for establishing the right foundation for a cluster; based on the FM research of Filmby Århus: “Lend an empathetic ear to your cluster” (May 2011)
  • The FM Cluster Landscapes video and website was launched as BETA-version (www.clusterlandscapes.com) (September 2011)
  • The Study on Value Chains and Business Models in the audiovisual sector of the North and Central Denmark regions was issued (September 2011)
  • The Crossmedia Master Curriculum at the Baltic Film and Media School (Master of Arts) started. (September 2011)
  • The FM supported project “FISH & ONIONS” had its Estonian premiere at the Black Night Festival in Estonia. (November 2011)
  • The Mid-term Conference of First Motion was organized: linked to the 20th anniversary of Ars Baltica - The Initiative for Cultural Cooperation around the Baltic Sea celebrated in Rendsburg. (September 2011)
  • The Advisory Board for the Audiovisual Industry in the Baltic Sea Region was initiated at the Mid-term Conference in Rendsburg. (September 2011)
  • The FM supported project “15 YOUNG BY YOUNG” was screened as TV-series in ARTE (January 2012)
THANK YOU all for your great work and motivation!
 
 
Retrospective 2: Crossmedia Master at Baltic Film and Media School in Progress
by Dr. Indrek Ibrus, Baltic Film Media School, Tallinn/Estonia
 
Time has been flying. It is difficult to believe that the work on our MA programme already got started two years ago. Only a couple of months after the First Motion got funded in 2010 we were already studying hard the experiences of other higher education institutions worldwide that had been running somewhat similar programmes. Later on followed a special conference that we organised, where we invited our colleagues to come and refer their experiences. Based on all the gathered information we started to draw early designs of our curriculum and in parallel negotiated with various industry insiders and stakeholders if what we were planning was really respondent to their needs and expectations. In October 2010 our industry partners in Estonia said that the draft had become good enough to go and implement it. In December 2010 university senats of both Tartu University and Tallinn University (our programme is a joint programme between the two universities, whereas Tartu University contributes a module of introductory theoretical courses) approved our curriculum and four months later did so also the Estonian ministry of education and research. This meant that we were all set to go and could start accepting students.
 
Our curriculum was designed to have five main components: 1) a module of introductory theoretical courses; 2) a module focussing on audiovisual content production for multiple platforms; 3) a module focussing on crossmedia business development; 4) a module focussing on IT development for crossmedia applications; 5) final production. This structure indicated that the curriculum is designed to be interdisciplinary, encompassing the domains of artistic storytelling, media business management and IT development. This perhaps shows also that our graduates are expected to be experts in all of these areas, effectively able to manage crossmedia development processes.
 
Despite the fact that after the ministry had approved our curriculum we only had few months to market the programme we still got more than a dozen applications from several countries in Europe. Eventually seven of them started their studies in September, at the beginning of the academic year in Estonia. Now, as the first term is successfully over we can happily report that our students still are happy and look forward to the next term. Even more, this year we have been getting applications from students from such distant countries as Brazil and Colombia. This proves that crossmedia/transmedia are the areas that the future AV-professionals have much interest in and related training possibilities are badly needed. These first positive developments and feedback have encouraged BFM so much that we are already working on a new programme – Crossmedia Production BA – that is expected to be launched in the upcoming Autumn 2012.
 
 
Retrospective 3: Happy New Year with SHAMMIES
SHAMMIES, the Latvian crossmedia project aiming for preschool children, is coming on well. In spring it was chosen as one of the 2nd call projects to be supported in its development by First Motion. Before Christmas a children's book and a DVD with SHAMMIES animation shorty was released in Latvia. The premiere of the SHAMMIES animation film on Latvian TV was on New Year 2012. Meanwhile, the producers Atom Art are in the final stages of developing an ipad/iphone SHAMMIES game which will be released by Berlinale 2012. Atom Art are in negotiations with several potential co-producers.
 
 
Retrospective 4: First Motion at Baltic Media Forum
On 7th February Bernd-Günther Nahm and Julia Grosch presented First Motion at the Baltic Media Forum 2012 in Kiel/Germany. They were accomplished by Christoph Corves, Jessica Landt, Falk Nagel and Marc Brummund, who were supported by First Motion in the development of their crossmedia projects in the Baltic Sea Region.
 
The Baltic Media Forum was held 20 years after the establishment of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in 1992. It assessed the situation following two decades of cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region and discussed the prospects and challenges for future collaboration – just the right place to introduce First Motion as best practice, bringing partners from seven Baltic countries into collective action.
 

 

There is always room for improvement, so please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerly, your First Motion Team

© First Motion 2012

 

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Part-financed by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund and European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument)
 
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