Cinema is not just a representational but also an operational medium. Its global success is indisputably tied to its ability to embed its audience in affectively charged, atmospheric worlds and filmmakers carefully design their narrative worlds through ambient soundscapes, music, colorations, filters, camera movements, production design, mise en scène, rhythmical editing, and countless other features that arrange the emotional and affective experiences of the audience. Marginalized in film studies due to their ontologically indeterminate nature, cinematic atmospheres operate affectively and prior to cognitive, critical, and analytical reflection. This project examines cinematic atmosphere production in all its experiential, aesthetic, and ethical implications as an attractive but also problematic, even harmful, and ideologically loaded enterprise. It raises critical awareness of the basic atmospheric operations of cinema in a time when the medium is relocated into new media environments and its techniques are reused within ecologies that are not cinematic per se such as news broadcasting, videoconferencing, sports refereeing, and even terrorist recruitment. This project i) develops a broad conceptual understanding of cinematic atmospheres as a way of organizing the perceptive, affective, and cognitive epistemic access to the world of the film, and ii) mobilizes this understanding to develop a method for the study of the operations and techniques that constitute cinematic atmosphere production before iii) expanding this method to deal with the question of how these cinematic operations and techniques for atmosphere production are no longer the property of cinema alone but increasingly employed outside of the narrative-aesthetic domain at the service of larger socio-cultural, economic, and political forms of organizing perception, cognition, and affect from art installations to social media.

This project examines the use of video as an activist tool by practitioners of Turkish descent, who are living in Germany. This will be conducted by means of the textual and discourse analysis of the videos, which employ different aesthetic and formal elements, as well as interviews with the producers of the videos, in order to see how they portray the lived reality of Turkey from afar and its effects on the every-day experience within Germany. In the context of the activist nature of these productions and the interdisciplinary approach of the project, the reception of these videos will be measured so as to understand the social impact they have. It aims at contributing to the knowledge of how video can be used to portray social and political issues that have a direct effect on the livelihood of those creating the media. The videos in question will be analyzed in order to understand the censored knowledge they bring to light. The project will also reveal how the practitioners continue their various explorations with video in their new German contexts, a recent development that contextualizes the videos from a new perspective. In the context of increased identity politics and the resurgence of nationalism, this project has a clear societal impact: because of the increasing number of Turkish citizens seeking asylum in Germany and European Union member states at large, since the 2016 attempted coup d’état in Turkey, the information in video explorations are key in revealing the perceptions of the current climate within Turkey. As well as understanding how video can be used as a form of political participation which allows the implementation of cultural and political identities and the formation of ties with others struggling in similar circumstances. The outputs of the project will include journal articles, and conferences where the research results will be shared, as well as screenings open to the public, opening up dialogue on the issues raised in the videos.

Neighbourness is a concept of living and learning together. This includes the essential human virtues, such as being friendly, empathetic, helpful, compassionate and respectful. In EU, due to freedom of movement and exchange programs, university classes are increasingly diverse. Dialogue challenges exist, due to cultural and national differences. Hence, effective collaboration and learning becomes a challenge. Neighborness is rarely either observed by the students or facilitated, by teachers, as a means of developing a conducive learning environment. Therefore, neighbourness is silent in any university classroom from the sciences to the arts fields. If this important element of us as beings is rarely mentioned and practiced at university level, then we are bound to have problems in families, communities and nations. This is because university graduates go on to become leaders in societies, industries and of nations, and yet many of them are deprived of this basic lesson of neighbourness and related dialogue skills. In WeLearn, we focus on diversity and seek to promote skills such as intercultural communication in both face-to-face and online environment. This dialogue is essential to build neighbourness in a diverse environment. We seek to promote neighbourness in diverse university communities. The notion of diversity in WeLearn incorporates gender, race, creed, and the other components associated within this contemporary social concern. Students, educators, facilitators and career advisors are key stakeholders as they define the learning environment and process. Our goal is to promote dialogue to foster neighbourness by developing a dialogue skills training tool kit and training different stakeholders. The urgency and need for this topic is reinforced by the increasingly diverse student population in Europe. Globalization also increases diversity of students from different parts of the world studying in Europe. There is a need to foster dialogue skills among university graduates who are an influential body of the society and nation as a whole. Thus, we develop tools to help teachers promote neighbouness through dialogue techniques. These techniques are also taught to studentsWeLearn objectives are based on Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership's call for innovative practices that promote cooperation, peer learning and exchanges at European level. WeLearn's three main objectives;1) Promoting dialogue within a diverse university learning environment. 2) Supporting the use of social technologies and methods e.g. storytelling3) Producing knowledge on aspects of pedagogical approaches and personality to promote an atmosphere of neighbournessWeLearn consortium consists of;1. Tampere University (TAU), the coordinating partner who has academic and research experience on the topic and has digital interaction research experience for online component of the project. 2. Film University Babelsberg (FBKW) focuses on cine-arts in the broadest sense, its teaching and research staff have broad experience in the development, creation and technically advanced production of 360° film, VR experiences and other interactive media, as well as audio dramas, classical and popular music, sound installations etc. 3. Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Milan (UCSC) - members from international business background and have expertise on the topic of diversity. UCSC has international experience in the promotion of civic and social competences for its students, offering an ideal context to research and experiment neighbourness and intercultural dialogue.4. Aalborg University (AAU) has an expertise in problem based learning approaches and experiences in the field of collaborative learning theories and group learning processes and how they contribute to integration.5. Suleyman Demirel University (SDU) education studies background required for the pedagogical aspects of the project.6. Riga Technical University (RTU) have mobile application development experience in project setting which is an integral part of the project. They also have sociology background ideal in WeLearn. WeLearn project starts by assessing the current situation on the topic at the partner universities. Partner universities use different pedagogies, such as, problem based learning and case based learning, thus offering opportunities to scrutinize neighbourness in learning in different context. In addition, the partner university subjects e.g. management, social sciences, education, software engineering are used in piloting of the project deliverables. Then dialogue training kits are developed for face-to-face and online environment. Piloting and cases using the training tools kits will be done and short movies and documentaries are produced from the experience. These multimedia materials will be used to develop mobile app to teach, test and promote neighbourness.

The Emerging Media Exploration project (EMEX) sought to establish university-industry partnerships for content creation for use in emerging media technologies. Media technology R&D institutes and start-ups have a steady need for high quality content to evaluate and showcase their products, while universities are constantly looking for opportunities to educate their students on cutting-edge media technology. Objectives:EMEX developed collaborative teaching approaches to explore the impact of new and emerging media technologies on the future of storytelling and society. EMEX conceived, implemented and evaluated five transnational courses on the themes of the Future of Television, VR & Virtual Production and Emerging Media Trends. Further internal courses and bilateral courses with external partners were developed.The project created four different course formats, focussing on the meaningful integration of industry partners. Student projects created a variety of concepts and prototypes and a sizable amount of learning material, with a focus on methods of collaborative online design methods for emerging media, in addition to teaching material. Participants:Approximately 160 students and 23 teachers from Media Production, Interactive Media, Film- and TV Production, Creative technology, Human-computer interaction and Emerging Media programmes participated in the projects activities, which comprised 5 online courses, an onsite workshop 2019 and a hybrid workshop in 2020.Consortium: Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Germany (Project Lead)University of Lincoln, UKUniversity of Central Lancashire, UKTampere University, FinlandTampere University of Applied Sciences, FinlandRundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany (Industry & Research Partner)EMEX included high-profile media technology associated research partners, such as the innovation department of the Finnish broadcaster YLE, the volumetric capture stage Volucap GmbH from Potsdam and the XR production company INVR GmbH from Berlin. Students:Approximately 140 students and 20 teachers participated in online courses and workshops. The multiplier events reached approx 250 people, and additional presentations and workshops reached approx. 24 teachers and 60 students. 22 companies in Finland, Germany and UK supported the courses and events by holding presentations, providing technology or participating as interview partners. Additional students, teachers and professionals attended workshops based on EMEX concepts and content, held in Germany, Finland and online.Activities undertaken:EMEX developed collaborative teaching approaches to explore the impact of new and emerging media technologies on the future of storytelling and society by conceiving, implementing and evaluating five transnational courses on the themes of the Future of Television, VR & Virtual Production and Emerging Media Trends. Further internal courses and bilateral courses with external partners were created, building on the concepts developed. EMEX was implemented as a transnational minor curriculum on Emerging Media, embracing concepts of blended mobility to encourage students to engage in international partnerships on multiple levels. Each iteration began with a transnational online course in spring/summer term introducing emerging media technologies and including lectures and concept development activities to prototype initial content ideas for emerging media technology. The winter term elaborated the concept within local emerging media courses and content production in a dedicated transnational workshop.Results and impact:The impact of EMEX among the participating organisations was significant. The project had a strong impact on university industry contact networks, developing a transnational course concept and a transnational curriculum on Emerging Media as a blended mobility concept. The online teaching and collaboration methodology built on the output of the Erasmus+ partnership “OnCreate”, which EMEX enhanced and updated to integrate opportunities provided by current collaboration platforms. EMEX knowledge has been applied in further internal and external online collaborative courses at the participating universities.Longer term benefits:Future expected benefits include strengthened international cooperation between higher education institutions and media technology research, with strengthened curricula and cooperation in course development. EMEX also reached out to the FAST45 Knowledge Alliance and ErasmusVR cooperation project for knowledge transfer and planning of future partnerships. A subset of the EMX curriculum will be offered in 2022 by the Tampere Universities and Film University as a 30 ECTS minor curriculum for Erasmus students.