19 August 2019

Training Course: [DE-281] Social Video Makers, 05.08.2019-12.08.2019, Velbert (Essen), Germany

From the 5th until the 12th of August members of the GEYC Community had the chance to take part in the Social Video Makers Training Course in Velbert, Germany. The primary goal of the project was to teach youth workers how to shoot, edit and distribute online videos.

Our main task was to create a short video. We individually came up with ideas and then presented it in front of the audience. After that, we voted which ones we should produce and then we were divided in teams and started to work. We also had two teams that had to work on the videos regarding our project (behind the scenes) and another one that took part in parallel with ours which was a Youth Exchange between Germany and Malawi. We had so much diversity in our group, it was quite beautiful.


The main aim of the training was to empower youth workers and youth leaders with the skill set and knowledge necessary for them to collaborate with youths in making online video content - videos which would carry strong social messages and which can in some instances lead to significant social change within a local, regional, national or international community. 

From the 5th until the 9th of August we had the chance to take part in the Social Video Makers Training Course in Velbert, Germany. We enjoyed beautiful weather and some of the activities were quite intense.Our first day of the project was based on getting to know each other and forming the foundation on what is about to happen on the next days. We started with a couple of games and everyone had a chance to get involved.
Getting to know each other


A particular emphasis of this program was placed on working with youth workers in developing ways to encourage youth to work on online video projects that promote equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship, as well as other European values. 

The next days we got familiar with what social video making actually is and how we can produce videos ourselves in order to share our message with the world. Our trainer helped us in every step of the way with the filming process and postproduction.
Our first task involving video making was to produce our first 15 seconds short based on a social topic that we could chose for ourselves. Everybody exceed the expectations by delivering either hilarious videos or very dramatic ones with a big impact.

The learning process of video creating

A secondary goal of the project was to aid youth workers understand the media landscape and in particular how youths interact with modern forms of technology, and some of the negative aspects related to media, including the phenomena and mechanisms of “fake news”.

The location was perfect for what kind of activities we had. We were also provided some filming equipment that we got to share in making our videos. That was very helpful for the participants that didn’t have experience or couldn’t bring a camera.
The last day was the presentation day, we took part in a film festival in which each team presented the videos produced and the amount and quality of work they did. It was definitely and empowering experience and it was amazing seeing us all together sharing our ideas and laughing a lot.For Emanuel was the first Erasmus+ project and he definitely had a lot of fun getting to explore these kind of activities and being surrounded by so many different but unique people.For Adina was quite a bliss to edit the video behind the scenes and I guess the job was well done.We thank you Germany for welcoming us and we will share our story with others!
Youthpass certificate