This year marked the 12th anniversary of the workshop series for future professionals. Sixteen students aged 19 to 28 from various academic disciplines across Thuringia, Halle, and Leipzig took part. During these two weeks, the group filmed two original screenplays, produced four podcast episodes, and ate at least 100 servings of soft-serve ice cream!

On the first day, we mainly took care of organizational matters, set expectations, and we got to know each other for the first time. A highlight of the day was the guided tour of the Landesfunkhaus — including the KiKA treehouse! To kick off the MENT Media Class in style, we also received expert input from MENT board member and media professional Henryk. His presentation covered, among other things, the various career prospects within Thuringia’s media industry, especially for young professionals.

Podcast, Production, Pedagogy

We spent the next few days working in two groups. One group, guided by Fabian and Saskia, produced various podcast formats. The participants in this workshop took on all the key roles themselves, from concept development to production. As a result, four podcast episodes for children, teens, and adults were created in three days.

At the same time, at the other end of the room scripts were written for two short films that were produced during this workshop. This group was guided by Robert and Susanne of Als Ob Film. Here, too, we participants took on all the key tasks within the directing and camera departments ourselves. Over the course of three days, roles were cast, restrooms were lit, and participants practiced how to safely fall down while holding a knife. The result of these workshops is a short comedy and a three-minute psychological thriller.

On Friday of the first week, Kay, who works as a freelance media educator, led a project on media pedagogy as a career field. During this session, we tried out various methods that primarily demonstrated how to address AI content and misinformation effectively in an educational context, but that can also be applied in everyday life — such as during coffee with Grandma. We also discussed the future of media education in light of the current political and fiscal situation. We immediately put what we learned into practice by creating memes and clickbait headlines.

Between Gaming and Green Screens

After the weekend, the MENT Media Class had a real first: The Spawnpoint Institute took us on a journey into the world of streaming. After a theoretical introduction to gaming and streaming, we got to try out different roles in the stream ourselves. We especially enjoyed commenting on each other’s streams in the chat. The “troll” commenter role was particularly popular and showed what online hate can also look like.

On Tuesday of the second week, we took a trip back in time to our own childhoods. Diana and Peter from KiKA showed us what makes for good television for preschoolers — and that most programs are actually more educational than adults often think! That day also included a field trip to theLandesfunkhaus, this time exclusively to the KiKA studio for the production of the show Baumhaus. There, we got to see Singa and Fidi live, both in the studio and even in the control room.

Next on the agenda were entrepreneurship and marketing. Here, we met Isabell from Rosa Krokodil and learned about how her company was founded. We also got to come up with our own business plans and corresponding marketing strategies.

For the last two days of the workshop, the group was split up again. While Antonia from FUNKE Medien demonstrated how to write good feature stories in the large seminar room, Studio C — across the parking lot — was the scene of the third and final “Action!” of this MMC. Under the guidance of the Nivre staff, another short film was created here — and thanks to green-screen technology, it’s set in space!

Last Monday was then entirely devoted to preparing for our big final presentation. We reflected once more on the past two weeks and were amazed at everything we had accomplished. The next day, following the industry summit, we presented our findings to an audience made up of key players from across the media industry. For many of us, this was our first time speaking in front of such a large audience. Thuringia certainly has a bright future in media!