Now they’ve just completed the second leg of the three-part exchange, which saw students from Russia and Spain spend two weeks filming alongside the group from Bedfordshire. Four Bedfordshire students visited Russia in June this year and another four will visit Spain in September.
The UK part of the exchange was divided between the filming process and visiting tourist attractions. The students were divided into production groups before they arrived and have been busy writing scripts and exchanging ideas using a Facebook group and emails. They started filming as soon as they arrived in the UK and had three days set aside to edit their footage into a film of twelve minutes maximum.
The general brief for the film was to look at the financial difficulties facing society and the films were shot in Luton and London. All the students took on different roles, including cinematography, editing, sound, production and lighting.
Vitaly Pavlov, tutor from the St Petersburg State University of Film and Television, said: “This is such an important partnership. Our cultures can be so different and through this we can learn from each other. There are three different backgrounds represented here but one film process to join everyone together.”
A tutor from Guidad de la luz in Alicante, Spain, added: “The students have all worked hard – it has been an amazing visit. It’s great that they’ve all remained friends between visits too.”
The collaboration between the three institutions began two years ago and is still going strong. The UK exchange was led by Senior Lecturer and Course Leader Dave Green as well as technical support/tutor Igor Drozdov.
Dave said: “It’s been a brilliant couple of weeks and a fantastic experience for all the students involved. The teams from Russia and Spain have had the chance to see the UK both as tourists and filmmakers.“The films from all three legs of the exchange will be shown at St Petersburg’s International Film Festival. Film-making is an international language and we hope our collaboration with these other institutions can lead to more projects. We’re already looking into a wide range of common research ventures. It also means the students have film-making contacts all over Europe.”
Peter Dean, Head of the Department of Media Arts and Production, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for both our students and staff and it proves the importance of developing our international relationships. The experience will benefit the students hugely in terms of employability. The importance of these connections is priceless.”
The Bedfordshire students were selected from a competition in which they produced a one-minute film and the exchange is funded by the University.
Latest news» 2011» August» Reel opportunity for film exchange students
