The Comenius project Home and Abroad in Europe Year one

The Partnership The project is a partnership between: -the Bischoefliche Canisiusschule from Ahaus Germany, -the IPTA Instituto de Technologias Avancadas, Porto Portugal, -the Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace Nieszawa, Poland and -the English School.

What was the main task for this first year?  Each partner school, produced a film on its country/region, which described its people and their cultures while showing some evidence of their European Identity. At this stage the film was without any sound or text/narration.  Partners exchanged these films by the 15th of May.

The Magic box  Each film was accompanied by the helpful “magic box” which was a container of brochures or texts or books, cds and so on or a usb with scanned documents, destined to help the partners who received the film, write a text for narration on the film.

The three main steps for this year:  The Teachers’ Meeting in Cyprus in November This Comenius week is described in a separate PPT presentation.  The Teachers’ meeting in Porto Portugal with a description of activities and teachers’ decisions in a separate power point presentation.  The production of a film by each school and exchange of films between the prescribed partners.

The content of the film  Miss Haroutunian and Mrs Solomides decided on the content of the film which had to involve components such as culture, landscapes, everyday life, tradition and above all the European presence in Cyprus.  All this had to emerge through a subtle story.

The story 1  The story is that of the Cypriot society which is presented in the form of a family, young at the beginning of the film and growing older and more European as time goes by. The passage of time is here symbolised through the four seasons which allows us to show different landscapes of Cyprus at different times of the year.

The story 2 In the first season three main elements prevail:  Summer time in Cyprus,  The young generation and young family  the European presence through cultural events such as the day of music at the French Cultural Centre. …ending with two children, the young generation, lifting their eyes towards a dancing old couple.

The Story 3 In the second season, Autumn, one element prevails: The school generation ( the young family’s children become of school age) Schools represent young people’s world and offer them the chance to broaden their horizons through the curriculum,class work, schoolyard, socialising and school European Programmes activities. The multicultural character of the school is shown through the different cultures which coexist in a common place of work. Traditional and cultural features enrich the festive atmosphere of the multicultural week.

The Story 4  In the Winter, snow, traditional homes and customs,handicraft and trades which are connoted with stability balance with the now 35 year old active generation.  Initiatives through European projects such as the Master Plan of Nicosia, recognize the importance of safeguarding ones heritage.  Banks and other Institutions herald this generation’s close cooperation with Europe.

The Story 5  In the Springtime, the idea of the Cypriot family has evolved to become a member of a bigger European family.  The flowers herald the prospect of a prosperous future.  The celebration of Europe Day on the 9 th of May passes on the baton to the last and older generation in the film, that which handles the European future of Cyprus.  The Natural habitat of migrating birds at the Larnaca salt lake symbolizes openness and optimism. The harbor and airport symbolize the taking off towards a new challenging European world.

The film Production Four main steps were followed after the content of the film was specified in detail:  Scenario writing  Storyboard making  Filming  Editing Before all this started, we followed the very interesting presentation on the making of short films in advertising,by an expert in the field, Mr Sakis Manganis. A former English School pupil, working at the Green Olive Film productions, Mr Manganis volunteered to offer us twice his valuable knowledge, inspiring many pupils on the making of films.

Step one : the scenario writing  The team of pupils who applied for this activity worked with Ms Haroutunian. The teacher prepared detailed guidelines which allowed them to write the story from the camera’s point of view.  It was quite an original activity which offered pupils the opportunity to work in an innovative manner and yielded some really interesting pieces of the story.

Step two: The storyboard  Another team of pupils used the scenario to create storyboard cartoon pictures illustrating the story from the camera’s point of view. The team was guided by Ms Marilena Karaolis and Ms Maria Paraskeva, or Mrs Solomides, in order to finalise the story of the four seasons.

Step two: The storyboard

Free filming  Setting up these scenes through scenario writing and storyboarding proved to be beneficial for the pupils who became familiar with these film making procedures.  However their demanding nature oriented us towards free filming based on the line traced by the first two tasks.

Step three: Filming  The filming team was motivated and their parents supportive.  We went to Troodos to catch some snow, and to Kakopetria to capture some tradition from Cypriot villages.  We went all around old Nicosia,Larnaca, Limassol,and to the EU reception and street festival on the 8 th and 9 th of May.

Step four: The Editing  This team shrunk dramatically as time flew mercilessly and the exam period set upon us. Also this task was very challenging as it required a very good knowledge of computers.  However we were saved by the student Sophocles Georgiou who did the whole editing on his own, occasionally with some contribution from some peers, under the overall guidance of Mrs Solomides.  The teacher who provided advice on the use of the software for the editing was Mr Antonis Stephanou.