FM - About Telling and Selling Stories in a Digital Age

FIRST MOTION Presented Results at Closing Conference in Riga

The closing conference under the topic "Future Media 2.0 starts now!" on 5th and 6th December in Riga (Latvia) represented the finalisation of the EU-funded new media project FIRST MOTION. The project is an association of ten partner institutions in seven countries of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Under the auspices of the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (Germany) it aimed to exploit the potential of the audiovisual sector in the BSR. After three years of duration FIRST MOTION partners look back on times of creative process, exciting practice and thorough research which led to noticeable achievements within the av-industry.

FIRST MOTION supported the paradigm shift in media industry evoked by the digital development and thereby focused on four crucial points: production, distribution, education and business models. The goal was to improve the business environment susceptible for innovation and to overcome the insufficient use of innovative potential and the low intensity of joint efforts in the BSR. Therefore the team of FIRST MOTION was engaged in funding new formats and ideas, researching new markets and value-chains, developing a new distribution platform, installing training and education courses and improving cluster and policy guidelines.

16 Initial Projects supported
The partners defined ambitious targets for the project. In order to build capacity in the av-industry for new crossmedia formats FIRST MOTION chose 16 projects in two calls for tenders for an initial funding of their research and development, part-financed by the EU. The idea was for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and their institutions (government bodies) to execute the research and development in a hands-on approach, namely the implementation of concrete project ideas. The chosen projects convinced the FIRST MOTION committee because of their technologies and innovative usage of emerging crossmedia tools. The funding included up to 30.000 Euro for initial research and development, two mandatory international workshops, individual mentoring by FIRST MOTION partners as well as digital publishing and international marketing of the pilot product.

The Collaboration Tool Baltic Universe
Another objective of FIRST MOTION was to design and launch an online collaboration tool and distribution platform for film- and cross-media-producers in industry, universities and schools, which is open for all and for everybody's benefit. The result is Baltic Universe, a complex but easy to handle tool to find partners, exchange ideas, start co-operation at all project stages, distribute content and get revenue. Baltic Universe is a joint venture of all FIRST MOTION partners, mainly brought on its way by the University of Agder (Norway), the National Film Cen¬tre of Latvia and the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). The final version of the non-profit platform www.balticuniverse.com was released at the closing conference. The platform will be maintained in the next years by the FIRST MOTION partner institutions.

MA Curriculum for the BSR
The Master Curriculum "Crossmedia Production" is the result of FIRST MOTION's commitment to install a professional education opportunity for creatives in the BSR. Launched in autumn 2011 by the Baltic Film and Media School - an institute of the University of Tallinn - the programme addresses questions like how to transfer audiovisual content to the new interactive media platforms, and how to develop relevant business models for innovative crossmedia products.
Building up on its success an additional BA programme "Crossmedia Production" was launched combining the areas of IT, management and audiovisual media production, offering both theoretical grounds and exciting practical assignments. The 3-year-programme started in September 2012.
In 2013 BFM will run a summer school on crossmedia production for the first time. Young professionals of the Baltic Sea Region will have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and train their practical competences in a short term course.

Tools and Publications
In order to meet the objective of strengthening the development of business amongst companies in the field of crossmedia several tools were generated by FIRST MOTION. For example, business development services like Passion A/S, a series of workshops designed to guide participants with a transmedia focus in successful preparation and presentation of pitches. It aimed at providing small and relatively inexperienced companies with the necessary knowledge and tools to identify their needs and develop effective strategies to different aspects such as: PR and communications, networking between companies, business models, how to think internationally and how to attract investors and sell your idea.

Moreover, different publications were produced and within the framework of baseline research several reports and case studies were put forth during the last three years. The Danish FIRST MOTION partners Alexandra Institute and Filmby Aarhus, for instance, defined guidelines for creative clusters and their management. Their expertise then went into the creation of a very hands-on, non-typical tool: the Handbook on Cluster Landscapes. The Lodz City Council (Poland) created the „Guide to Copyright Law" or, briefly, „IPR Guide" which stands for Intellectual Property Rights. The guide documents important issues of different digital distribution rights for all Baltic States. The Danish regional partners Filmby Aarhus and The Alexandra Institute as well as the Polish partners at the University of Lodz (Poland) conducted a research of exemplary cases of cross-sectorial spillovers in their countries.

Final Documentation
To share the gained insights all studies and reports which have been completed and published can be downloaded from the FIRST MOTION website www.firstmotion.eu. In addition you can find here the final documentation of FIRST MOTION titled "How to tell & sell a story in a digital World?". It provides an overview of backgrounds, targets and strategies as well as the achieved results.

Advisory Board Keeps Involved
FIRST MOTION initiated an advisory board to broaden the discussion about its work, to disseminate its results in other networks and to participate from the experience outside. The advisory board consists of the professionals:
• Charlotte Appelgren, Secretary-General of Cine-Regio, Den-mark
• Eva Hubert, CEO Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Ger¬many
• Jan Lundin, Director General, Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat, Sweden
• Dr. Eberhard Schmidt-Elsaeßer, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Cultural and European Affairs Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
• Edith Sepp, Cinema Adviser in Culture Ministry, Estonia

The advisory board met several times during the FIRST MOTION project period and will go on meeting in the future in order to take care for the initiated projects.

Project Partners
FIRST MOTION was formed by ten partners from seven countries. They can be divided into three basic areas: film funds, universities and national or regional developers or municipalities, all with a different profile, area of expertise and aim.

The FIRST MOTION Project Partners are:
• Baltic Film and Media School (Estonia)
• Boost Helsingborg (Sweden)
• Estonian Film Foundation (Estonia)
• Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
• Filmby Arhus (Denmark)
• High -Tech Accelerator, University of Lodz Foundation (Poland)
• Lodz City Council (Poland)
• National Film Centre of Latvia (Latvia)
• The Alexandra Institute (Denmark)
• University of Agder (Norway)