Erasmus+ Trash Art Project: Video Creation Guidelines

Dear Participants,

As we approach the end of our Trash Art Erasmus journey, it is time to capture your memories, teamwork, and artistic creations. Each national team is required to create a short video summarizing their experience. This video will serve as a digital footprint of our project and will be shared during our final evaluation and on Erasmus+ dissemination platforms.

Please follow these guidelines to create your video:

1. General Requirements

• Duration: 3 to 5 minutes maximum. Keep it concise and engaging.

• Format: Landscape mode. Do not shoot vertical videos (like TikTok/Reels) unless you plan to use a split-screen effect.

• Language: English (or your native language with English subtitles).

2. Required Content Elements

Your video should tell a complete story. Make sure to include:

• The Introduction: Introduce your team members and your country. State what "Trash Art" meant to you before the project started.

• The Creative Process: Show behind-the-scenes footage of collecting waste, brainstorming, sketching, and building your art pieces. Highlight the challenges and how you overcame them.

• The Final Masterpiece: Present your finished Trash Art sculpture or installation. Explain the message behind your artwork and the materials you upcycled.

• The Erasmus Spirit: Include moments of intercultural exchange, energizers, workshops, city exploration, and friendships made during the project.

• Reflection: Share a brief closing statement from team members on how this project changed your perspective on waste, sustainability, and European citizenship.

3. Technical & Editing Tips

• Audio Quality: Ensure voices are clear. When interviewing team members, find a quiet spot away from wind or loud music.

• Music: Use copyright-free music (found on YouTube Audio Library, Bensound, or Incompetech) to avoid copyright strikes when we upload the videos online.

• Lighting: Shoot in well-lit areas. When working indoors, make sure the main light source is in front of you, not behind you.

• Stability: Keep the camera steady. Use a tripod or rest your phone on a solid surface if your hands shake.

• Logos: Do not forget to include the official Erasmus+ logo and the project disclaimer at the end of your video (these will be provided by the organizers to our common WhatsApp group).

Have fun, be creative, and let your video reflect the energy of your team!

Let's watch what they produced...

Cyprus Team:  https://youtu.be/b2qf3NJu6SI 

Greek Team: https://youtu.be/NaILcyWN2mY 

Activity: "Create Your Country"

Objective: Design a fictional nation in teams to challenge participants on issues of governance, sustainable development, economic strategy, and global ethics.

🎯 Pedagogical Objectives

• Cooperation & Teamwork: Practice negotiation, debate, and collective decision-making under structured rules.

• Environmental Awareness: Understand the real-world trade-offs between energy policy, industrial regulation, and ecological footprints.

• Critical Thinking & Ethics: Face complex, real-world dilemmas linked to global climate change and resource management.

📋 Activity Structure & Guidelines

Participants were split into small groups and tasked with building a nation from the ground up by addressing three structured modules:

Part 1: Foundations & General Issues

• Identity & Geography: Naming the country, setting demographics, mapping the terrain, identifying core natural resources, and establishing national identity (capital, official language, core values, flag).

• Governance & Law: Selecting a system of government (e.g., democracy) and drafting the country’s Big Three Laws (the foundational legal pillars).

• Economic Model: Defining the wealth-generation strategy (industrial, tech, services, etc.) and selecting a taxation system.

Part 2: The Eco-Constitution

• The Energy Grid: Defining the exact breakdown (%) of the national grid between Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Energy, and Renewables (Solar/Wind/Hydro).

• Carbon Policy & Industrial Regulation: Selecting one corporate accountability mechanism:

  • Option A: Carbon Tax (Direct tax per ton of $CO_2$; protects the environment but risks corporate flight).

  • Option B: Cap-and-Trade (Market-based emissions trading system with set limits).

  • Option C: Deregulation (No penalties in order to prioritize rapid economic growth).

• Resource Management & Biodiversity: Establishing protected land/marine percentages and setting strict laws on plastic and electronic waste.

• Climate Crisis & Border Policy: Determining whether to open borders to climate refugees and planning how the national economy will absorb them.

Part 3: The Ethical Dilemma

• Crisis Resolution: Each group received a specific scenario involving an environmental crisis, requiring them to negotiate a balance between ethics, public survival, and national strategy.

Outcome : 

 Creation and presentation of their nation through a creative format (poster, flag design, etc.) : See bellow ! 

Tree planting: As environmental program we left our footprint in the area. Planting two trees as a symbolic gesture in an Erasmus environmental project represents growth, unity, and a shared commitment to a greener future. These living milestones embody the lasting connection between partner nations and mark the concrete impact of youth collaboration on local ecosystems.