Short Intensive Program: RITCS and KCB students once again in Cape Town!

Building on last year's success, the Global Minds project, supported by the Flemish Council of University Colleges (VLHORA), for the second time awarded the grant for the Short Intensive Program (SIP) to students of the Professional Bachelor of Audiovisual Arts (PBAK), in collaboration with the Musical Theatre department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (KCB). Eleven enthusiastic students set off for Cape Town with high spirits to continue the co-creation with AFDA Cape Town Filmschool. Over the course of five days, four performance installations were built and live-streamed, each telling a unique story.

On the first day, the PBAK & KCB students, together with the AFDA students, participated in a workshop led by Mia Vaerman. In this workshop, personal stories were shared – moments when one felt a sense of pride. Personal and sometimes emotional stories emerged, laying the foundation for the start of the SIP.

Subsequently, groups were formed for brainstorming. The students could use the initial lecture as inspiration. It was also possible to draw inspiration from the story of Sunjanta, who rises and regains his strength. Together with the students from AFDA, the PBAK & KCB students realized the projects into 4 unique final outcomes.

VOICE

Lukas Vleugels - Kiani Khatri Chetri

'VOICE' tells the story of a young woman trapped in her own reality. From the very beginning of the 'VOICE' project, we as a group sought what connects us. "What connects us?" This was the core question that guided us. Soon, the character Isabelle emerged, a complex soul tormented by her own thoughts and the invisible walls of her existence.

The writing of 'VOICE' had a fundamental requirement: an AI-generated voice that would not only serve as the narrative's guide but also be a guiding, almost omnipresent presence. This voice became the pulsating heart of the piece; a whisper in the dark, a constant echo that challenges, guides, and sometimes confronts Isabelle. It is not just any voice; it is her conscience, her fear, and perhaps even her liberation.

The concept behind 'VOICE' revolved around manipulating perspective. We wanted to focus attention on a seemingly central character: Isabelle. The viewer would initially believe she is the focal point of the story. But nothing could be further from the truth. Slowly, almost unnoticed, the AI voice reveals its true role. It is not merely a guide, but the driving force, the voice that colours, limits, and sometimes shatters Isabelle's world.

During the performance, a dynamic emerges; a play of push and pull, of distrust and surrender between the AI voice and Isabelle. It's a back-and-forth, a fight for control, a search for truth. The dialogues are simple, sometimes ironic, but always charged with meaning.

The climax of the piece brings an unexpected revelation: in our daily reality, we believe that we ourselves play the leading role in our own story. But the only true leading role is played by that one constant: the voice in our head. That voice that whispers, judges, comforts, and criticizes. The conscience that never stays silent, that confronts us with our fears and forces us to look inward.

'VOICE' invites reflection. Who is truly the narrator of our story? And what happens if that voice no longer seems to be our own, but a manifestation of something larger, something we don't always understand? It is a story about power and powerlessness, about control and loss, and above all: about the struggle to master the voice in our head.

To add depth to the work, we decided, alongside the AI voice (created with Eleven Labs voice changer), to also utilize AI visuals (generated with Unreal Engine), combined with a soundscape (edited in Adobe Premiere Pro), physical props, and a physical character. Everything would be seamlessly coordinated to weave it into a single whole. All of this gave the piece more depth, layering, and made the experience more engaging.

Unreal Engine

Owen Van Doorslaer

For our performance, we utilized Unreal Engine. Unreal Engine is a real-time 3D creation game engine software used for building simulations/animations, filming and lighting these simulations/animations, and rendering them out.

We used Unreal to animate our back projection, making it appear as though our character lives in a virtual world. We started by building various Planes (2D surfaces). Onto these, we placed various images generated by MidJourney (an AI image-generating website). Then, in Unreal Engine, we created a sequence using in-game Cinema Actors (these are virtual cameras you can set up to film within the game itself) and animated them to make it look like our character is walking around in the virtual world. After this, we applied some sound effects and a voice-over in Adobe Premiere Pro to make the overall experience more dynamic.

Ceremonies

Aimy Vanden Bemden - Mira De Mulder

In our part of the performance, we started with the theme of ceremonies. Ceremonies exist for all sorts of events, and we chose four: war, marriage, funeral, and sport. Around these four ceremonies, we generated visuals that were played sequentially, accompanied by a captivating soundscape.

We recorded this soundscape in the studio by recording sounds ourselves. For example, we imitated a typical African ululation. That was outside our comfort zone, but it was incredibly fun to do and fitted perfectly within the theme. It was very engaging to explore this aspect of audiovisual creation, as we had little prior experience with it within our RITCS program.

Following this was our own ceremony, in which we brought together characters from each of the four chosen ceremonies to celebrate a new ceremony together. This was led by an old, wise man with a djembe, who taught the people a rhythmic beat. Once satisfied, having managed to unite the people in harmony, he left the stage with a wide smile. "Unite them all."

The setting we created for this was a large oak tree, under which the old wise man brought the people together. This tree symbolized hope and connection — a place where differences fade and unity emerges.

Lines

Sazan Loomans

This piece is about two characters, each attempting to escape reality in a different way: one by becoming emotionless, the other by seeking chaos. It begins in darkness, with only two spotlights illuminating the stage. Through changes in projected light, colour, and atmosphere, you see the difference between how the two feel and think. The visuals are AI generated.

One character finds themselves in a world full of water, which represents distance, stagnation, and the shutting off of feelings. The other is surrounded by fire, symbolizing energy, restlessness, and inner struggle. Their stories unfold until they meet and make brief, genuine contact.

Then their worlds swap: the calm one is thrown into fire, the restless one ends up in water. They are momentarily disoriented but begin exploring this new environment. Slowly, they begin to resemble each other in their movements. This shows that they are beginning to understand each other and can empathize with one another.

At the end, everything becomes dark again. Each character sits under their own spotlight, curled up in a fetal position. The piece ends as it began: silent and motionless. There is no clear resolution, only a return to the inner world from which they so desperately wanted to escape.

Technical aspects

Brent De Win

For our SIP project, we used a stage with a screen at the back for back projection. The visuals projected onto this were linked to a server called 'Resolume'. This is where sources (=video clips or audio) could be played and then projected.

The group 'Collab or Collapse' created a sand performance. They constructed a plexiglass structure where a GoPro looked up towards the sand from underneath. The black background of the live video feed was made transparent, allowing a video to be layered behind the sand during the movements.

We also connected a camera facing the stage to create a live connection via an online call to the home front.

Collab or Collapse

Margaux Decleyre

The concept 'Collab or Collapse' arose from combining the ideas and fascinations of five students. Already during our first brainstorm, it became clear: we all wanted to work around nature, not only as a theme but also by literally bringing a piece of nature into the studio.

We believe that humans are no more or less than an animal or a plant. Everything is interconnected, and only through collaboration can we care for our planet.

Our performance was an abstract dance piece without dialogue, allowing space for individual interpretation. We worked with self-recorded video footage using a long exposure, blurring faces and creating a sense of anonymity. We projected these behind a layer of sand; as the sand was wiped away, parts of the images became visible. Sand thus became the guiding element in our search for an answer to the question: "Are we the people?", because from the smallest grain of sand to the vast universe, everything is interconnected.

Because our performance revolves around humanity and nature, we concluded with a powerful gesture: everyone who had worked on the project came together on stage. A moment of collective presence — a symbolic ending, and at the same time, a new beginning.

Samenwerking met AFDA

Mira De Mulder

The collaboration with the AFDA students was generally very pleasant. They are, without exception, kind, creative people. Because we had to arrive at a project within a very short timeframe, good collaboration was essential. That this succeeded in just three days with people we had never met before was surprisingly positive. Communicating with each other in English was also a challenge. We learned a lot from that too, and in the end, everything worked out well.

Even outside 'school hours', we spent time together to eat or drink, allowing us to build a truly close bond with them. Some even came to wave us goodbye upon departure – a beautiful gesture that speaks volumes about the connection we built in a short time.