Essemble is a follow-up to a successful training program conducted between 2011 and 2015 under the funding of the EU’s Media Program (EU Media program reference 1002TR029002PT). Essemble is focused on one specific training area – film and media arts – and the skills and competences future graduates and film schools need in order to face a changing media production and distribution environment. Film is one of the areas where European Higher Education should have a leading role at an international level. Europe has the oldest and one of the strongest traditions of film education in the world, and Europe’s HEI ability to foster and promote creativity as long been acknowledge. Over the last decade, film schools have been confronted with the challenge of integrating into their curricula and didactic approaches the novelties brought forward by the emergence of digital cinema and new consumption, production and distribution environments, while seeking to maintain their past artistic educational models and technical edge. Essemble addresses the need of European Film and Media Schools for training and mobility activities that aim at the reinforcement of digital skills amongst arts students and teachers and the integration in the schools curriculums of new technologies, such as stereoscopic imaging, augmented reality and visual effects, which can foster new approaches to film. Essemble addresses the clear need for stronger and interdisciplinary training on the creative use of new technological tools for film, animation and media related content creation and production. Essemble core objectives are: - The provision of mobility and training activities that explore technical and artistic competences from both the animation and film realms, targeting film and animation students; - The creation of a network of competences on digital film amongst all schools, trainers and local stakeholders involved in the project; - The development and implementation of an interdisciplinary training program that builds on the successful experience of the previous Media’s funded training and mobility activities; - The production and dissemination of training materials on digital filmmaking and stereoscopic images; - The organization of events, namely a conference, on digital filmmaking and the confluences between animation and film; - The co-production between all schools involved in the consortium of 4 short-fiction films that depict the use of the technologies and artistic approaches being taught; - The development of theoretical and critical reflections on the intersections between animation and film, and strategies to bring together didactic and pedagogical approaches from both these fields. The target group for the project is each school's final year undergraduate and Master students. The project will involve a total of 80 students in the areas of film and animation and 22 teachers & staff from all different schools. During its duration, the project will also benefit other students and teachers from the schools involved as well as local professionals and stakeholders in the areas of film and animation production. ESSEMBLE is organized along a 4X6X4 structure whereby, along a series of modules, all production stages are covered, in particular those that are crucial for the creation of concepts that extend the boundaries of traditional film production. This means: - 4 schools; - 6 training modules that follow the film production value chain; - 4 films developed in co-production that will illustrate the taught competences; We strongly believe this methodology will not only force the co-production mechanisms, but also ensure mobility and facilitate the acquisition of the foreseen competences. The main effects of the project will be the creation of a production and training network between the involved schools and partners, and the provision of training on a set of skills and competences that are crucial for film and animation future professionals. Other effects include the development of a digital portfolio for all schools and students involved and the making of a set of publicly available online training materials supported on a common digital repository, besides other didactic content such as the foreseen book and manual. Two other important effects will result from the circulation and dissemination of the films produced throughout the project and the definition of a curriculum and set of didactic approaches in these areas that will be used by the consortium to develop a common proposal for an Erasmus Mundus Joint degree Master course to be submitted by 2017. In the long term, Essemble will deeply impact each of the partner schools’ didactic approaches, curriculums and teachers skills; contribute to the improvement of future graduate employability, increase the ability of European filmmakers to explore the new possibilities offered by the digital medium and, overall, push the boundaries of European film and media content creation.