Media Focus on Volunteering

BACKGROUND: Young people of today are very focused on media but often lack concrete skills and theoretic background for producing high quality media items for their own target group. We want to build on their own ideas, but add a professional touch, so their messages have a better chance of being caught by media. Since 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering, this will be the theme for the training course, and the films/film clippings that the participants will bring to the training course will show the variety of the voluntary work in the participating countries. There will be organised an award ceremony to show the variety of voluntary work in Europe. The skills achieved during the training course will contribute to larger visibility and dissemination of voluntary work and future Youth in Action projects. AIM: The main aim of this training course is to give the participants new skills in creative communication and presentation. OBJECTIVES: • To give the participants skills in using different media to show the visibility of voluntary youth work in their own communities, countries and in Europe • To give the participants tools to be able to disseminate and exploit the results of future Youth in Action Projects • To organise an award ceremony of the films that the participants have brought showing the diversity of volunteering in Europe. WORKING METHODS: The participants will work in three main groups based on the type of film: Documentary, commercial or infotainment. Within these three groups smaller groups will be formed, each making one film. There will be a mix of regular lectures for the whole group, smaller forums for the three main groups and workshops for the even smaller sub-groups. Regular lectures will be on principles for film productions and tips & tricks in the planning process. Forums will be orientated towards the chosen type of film. The forums will also be used for general introduction to editing programmes and their possibilities and restrictions. Workshops will be on: •Making the story board and planning the whole process • Concrete hands-on editing • Identifying your target audience • Creating strong logos, taglines or slogans to match target • Creating marketing material such as postcards or posters PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Young people/project managers/youth leaders, age 18-30, who: • have participated in a project supported by the Youth in Action Programme • are active in a youth organisation/youth structure • have produced a film or have film clips that can be used in a film production and which show volunteering work in their countries. • have good communication skills in English The course is not for total beginners. The participants have to bring a self-made film or film clippings.