Agtel shortlisted for prestigious IVCA Award

Cover of ESA Mission 4: Space Robotics

Tonight in London Jo Brand will be announcing the winners of the International Visual Communications Association awards – and one of Agtel’s productions has reached the final stages.

The IVCA Awards are the largest Corporate Communication Awards worldwide and Agtel have been nominated in the Education category with one of their DVDs for the European Space Agency.

Part of the “Project: Zero Gravity” series for ESA’s ISS Education Programme this “Mission 4: Space Robotics” DVD is a high-energy engaging teaching tool that covers many aspects of the use of robots in space – and links them with the school curriculum. It includes footage shot by the astronauts themselves on board the International Space Station (using storyboards created by Agtel as a guide) and also includes footage shot in schools in four countries across Europe.

With the voice-over translated into 11 languages, 10,000 copies of each DVD in the series are being used in secondary level schools in every corner of Europe. Agtel’s track records in science communication and education means that the DVDs have a solid educational foundation to help ensure that they fit in with teacher’s lessons plans. A booklet that accompanies each DVD includes a quick-reference Curriculum Map as well as descriptions of many additional creative experiments that can be carried out in the classroom and school grounds. Feedback from both teachers and students has been very positive and the highly creative, dynamic style of the DVDs makes them valuable tools that are entertaining and motivational as well as educational.

More information on this DVD series is available on the ESA website: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMZTFYO4HD_education_0.html

Agtel takes on New York again!

We are Munster

‘We Are Munster’ – Agtel’s first ever production completed on the RED ONE camera is in competition at the upcoming New York International Independent Film Festival in March.

Held twice a year the festival is the world’s biggest independent film festival. Agtel’s big screen, short film adaptation of ‘The Battle of the Boyne’ scooped the award for Best International Historical Documentary back in September and the production team are hoping ‘We Are Munster’ can take the award in it’s category this time round for Inspirational Short Film.

The film will be screened on Saturday March 21st at 3:55pm at the legendary City Cinema’s in Village East, Manhattan. Maverick director Abel Ferrara is the festival president for the eight day film extravaganza.

Innovative eLearning DVD just launched

FSAI Safe Catering Launch

Agtel’s latest production for the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (www.fsai.ie) has just been launched.

A finalist in the Best eLearning product or course category of the 2009 Digitial Media Awards, this innovative eLearning training production is a key part of the new “FSAI Safe Catering Pack”. It uses a TV show-style approach to engage the target audience of 29,000 food businesses around Ireland, and makes full use of high quality video, DVD interactivity and motion graphics to deliver its message using solid adult learning principles. The DVD also contains frequently used forms in PDF format that the food businesses can print out themselves.

Mary Wallace, TD, Minister for Health Promotion and Food Safety at the Department of Health and Children launched the FSAI Safe Catering pack at their headquarters in Dublin. Food safety is becoming increasingly important as more and more businesses from shops to small cafés start to provide a range of foods to customers. In response to this, the FSAI developed a Safe Catering pack that smaller food businesses can use to put a food safety management plan in place.

The FSAI faced a challenge in ensuring that industry professionals move through the “tipping point” form initial perceptions through to an understanding that the pack is a valuable and practical tool. Agtel took a unique and innovative approach to this challenge by developing an accompanying eLearning resource that uses a Presenter-Led Investigative Journey captured on video to bring learners on a tour of a variety of businesses that are already using the pack. Seeing the pack in action creates an engaging and motivational learning path, while the presenter provides an accessible and approachable “face” for the resource.

Usability was a key consideration for this eLearning resource given the diversity of backgrounds of the target audience. The learners it is aimed at have different levels of computers literacy and also varying levels of access to computer resources. To deal with these issues, Agtel recommended that the resource be distributed in DVD format and the resulting product makes clever use of DVD menus to enable interactivity with users. Clear explanatory graphics are seamlessly embedded in the video clips to emphasise key learning points.

Enabling Self-Directed Learning is an important consideration for any eLearning resource aimed at adult learners. Users of this resource can choose which order they want to cover the material in simply by selecting the relevant section from an on-screen menu.

Another important criteria to take into account when dealing with adult learners is motivation. This resource tackles this aspect creatively by including interviews with people in the catering sector in each section who give their own personal reasons for using the pack.

For maximum knowledge retention and transference among learners, the presenter wraps up each section with a recap of the most important educational key learning points. He also uses the opportunity to prompt them to open up their own workbook and start filling in the relevant part of it.

Demand for this eLearning resource has been high with industry professionals who are very keen to engage with it and motivated to put what they’ve learnt into practice.

Showcase at Lightwave

Lightwave

Agtel will showcase science communication and new camera technologies at the Science Gallery in Trinity College, Monday January 20th as part of Lightwave.

Stop by to check out a new RED ONE™ camera in action, and see clips of some of Agtel’s super high-definition productions.

Recording to solid-state memory and using a 4096 x 2304 pixel frame, the RED ONE™ camera has enormously reduced the cost of cinema-quality video, and pushed the boundaries of camera technology.

For more info on the event, check out Lightwave’s event listings.

Agtel Nominated

The Digital Media Awards 2009 Finalist

Two of Agtel’s flagship productions from 2008 have been nominated for the upcoming Digital Media Awards.

Food Safety Authority of Ireland – Safe Catering Pack has been nominated in the Best eLearning Category, this is the first nomination of it’s kind for Agtel, highlighting the quality and expertise that has been used in the creation of this eLearning production.

Meanwhile ‘The Battle of the Boyne’ has been nominated in the Best Film/Animation Category. A win at the Digital Media Awards would follow on from the recent success for Boyne at the New York International Independent Film Festival where it won ‘Best International Historical Documentary’

Agtel’s Michael Parker, commented that ‘the nominations represent a further milestone for us as we move to establish Agtel as a national and international leader in communication excellence.’

The Digital Media Awards reward excellence in digital film and video technology across the country and Agtel are proud to be part of this years competition. The gala awards ceremony takes places on Feb 13th in the Crowne Plaza Hotel and the Agtel team will be in attendance on the night hoping to scoop both prizes.

For further info log on to http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index.html

Agtel films Science Week Lecture Series in HD

Agtel filming at the Science Week Lectures

Science Week Ireland is always a busy time for the Agtel team and this year was no different. Filming on behalf of the Irish Government initiative Discover Science & Engineering, Agtel filmed this year’s Science Week Lectures Series in High Definition.

Building on the success of last year’s Series which Agtel also filmed, the 2008 Lecture Series took place between Monday 10th November and Friday 14th November in the Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin. This year there was a fantastic mix of Irish and international speakers to talk about a variety of topics such as the ‘Science Behind Hollywood Special Effects’, ‘Will Robots Ever Have Emotions’ and ‘The Future of Space Tourism.’

Using a two camera High Definition setup to capture all the action along with broadcast quality audio recording, Agtel worked with the event organisers to optimise the lighting and audio at the Science Gallery venue. Advanced post-production techniques are used to full effect to create the finished products which include video inserts from the speakers as well as smooth rostrum moves on their PowerPoint slides to illustrate key points. Motion graphics and dramatic music are also used to full effect to create an impactful opening sequence for each of the lectures.

The lectures are available for viewing on-line on the Science Week website http://www.scienceweek.ie/sw2008/lecture_2008.asp – and if you want to see any of last year’s lectures you can still watch them in the Science Week 2007 lecture series video archive!

Agtel presents environmental tv award in London

EuroPAWS Festival and Awards 2008

The environment is the theme of this year’s EuroPAWS science and technology TV and new media festival and the winners will be announced in London soon.

Each year EuroPAWS runs a festival for the best TV programmes in Europe drawing on science and technology. The range of productions featured now includes New Media and promotional Video in recognition of the growing variety of audio-visual opportunities for communicating science and technology and reaching new audiences.

Taking place at the Instituition of Engineers (IET), the Awards Evening features a panel-led discussion on “Climate Change: Seeing is Believing”. There will also be a Keynote Address by Sir David King, who is currently Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, Univserity of Oxford and who was until recently the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. Diarmaid Mac Mathúna represents Agtel on the international judging panel, and on the night he will be presenting the Jury prize for “a programme / production with special qualities beyond categorisation.”

Award for ‘Battle of the Boyne’

‘Best International Historical Documentary’ at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival

Agtel’s first ever big screen production ‘The Battle of the Boyne’ which was launched at an historic event by Bertie Ahern and Ian Paisley on the 6th of May this year has just scooped the award for ‘Best International Historical Documentary’ at the New York Independent Film and Video Festival.

This is a major achievement for all involved in the project. Here in Agtel, we hope it is the first of many awards for the cutting edge high-definition production which tells an engaging and action packed story of the biggest battle over fought on Irish soil. The film is also in contention for further awards and festival screenings in the coming months so watch this space!

The production is screened daily at the Battle of the Boyne visitors centre at Oldbridge in Co. Meath. DVD copies are available by contacting Lee Cronin – lee.c@agtel.ie

Agtel Vs The All Blacks…

Lee Cronin & John Keville from Agtel with the All Blacks at the launch

Agtel’s latest High Definition production gets it’s premiere at the much anticipated Munster Vs All Blacks match on Tuesday 18th November.

‘We Are Munster’ is an exciting and emotional short film which tells the story of passionate Munster fans in the lead up to a big game.

Created though a combination of slick drama sequences and stirring archive footage ‘We Are Munster’ is Agtel’s first production shot on the RED ONE camera.

The film will form the centre-piece of the museum in the brand new Thomond Park stadium, being screened daily on the big screen.

Produced by John Keville and directed by Lee Cronin. ‘We Are Munster’ was executive produced by Michael Parker. For further details about this and other productions contact michael.parker@agtel.ie

Launch of “The 6 Steps”

Government Chief Whip, Minister Pat Carey TD officially launches the educational awareness-raising DVD “The 6 Steps”

Government Chief Whip, Minister Pat Carey TD officially launched the educational awareness-raising DVD “The 6 Steps” at an event in Dublin recently.

The Second Level Support Service (SLSS) working with Trócaire commissioned Agtel to produce this DVD with the twin aims of (a) promoting cross-cultural understanding at a global and local level and (b) illustrating each of the steps in the process for delivering an Action Project. These Action Projects are a core part of the Civic, Social and Political Education (CSPE) curriculum in Ireland and are designed to engage students in the process of becoming citizens by investigation into a local, national or international issue.

The Agtel approach focussed on key global development issues such as Child Labour and used this as a powerful way of showing students how to complete Action Projects successfully. Filmed in an engaging observational documentary style, the DVD captures the excitement and energy of the Action Projects as they happen. By filming in 4 schools around Ireland over the course of three months, the production follows the process of developing and delivering an Action Project, illustrating by way of interview and case study. This material is complemented by archive footage from Nicaragua and other developing countries. The DVD features two versions of the content – one film is aimed at the students themselves and the other version of the film is aimed at teachers. The films can be watched straight through and in addition it is also possible to quickly go to any of the individual steps featured as a “quick reference” tool.

There were numerous challenges to overcome in the production of this DVD – mainly related to the complexity of the subject matter and the logistics of the long term filming process. These were overcome by close collaboration and dedication among all those taking part – in particular the students and teachers who feature prominently throughout the production.

This creative and engaging DVD has been distributed to schools throughout Ireland and is already having a significant impact on the target audience of CSPE Students and Teachers. It is motivating the students to be active citizens and to carry out their Action Projects successfully. By clearly sign-posting the steps that form an Action Project it has given students an opportunity to develop analytical and practical skills that will in turn build their capacity for perception, engagement and participation in global society. One of the most significant outcomes of the DVD has been giving students the tools and motivation to understand the background of some of the students in their own classes who have roots in developing countries. This active discussion of cross-cultural themes in a structured context will have a long-term positive impact on the students involved.