Over the past week, from July 3 to 7, School of Arts welcomed 48 high school students for a journey to discover the professions, which involved exploring the different degrees and areas of knowledge with activities and practical experiences.

Sound and Image Workshop

The Sound and Image activities covered three areas of study - animation, photography and sound - which were divided into different days. In animation, students worked on stop-motion using an app on their cell phone, through which they created a flipbook from photographs that captured the movements of people or objects. They also had the opportunity to do a session in the ChromaKeying area, where they learned professional greenscreen techniques applied in visual effects that consist of extracting the actors or characters from the footage and placing a different background.

In the area of photography, participants took a workshop on printing light on photosensitive materials.

Finally, the sound activity unfolded in two distinct moments: the creation of a podcast about the experience at Teen Academy 2023 and a voice dubbing exercise for animation, where students experimented with voicing animated characters, following a pre-established script.


Conservation and Restoration Workshop

The week began with a visit to the laboratories and workshops of the Restoration Building of the School of Arts which, for many, was the first contact with the area. After an explanation and clarification of conservation and restoration issues and processes, the students began an experience of conservation and restoration intervention of inorganic materials, in this case, they cleaned, fixed and filled a ceramic piece.

After the intervention, they had the opportunity to carry out an artistic production experience through exercises with traditional techniques. The technique addressed was the drawing technique "Aux trois crayons" - widely developed in the early 18th century in French academies - the combination of blood, black stone and white chalk and its interaction with colored papers allows the emergence of new colors and tonal values, creating volume effects, extremely seductive, especially at the level of carnations.


Short Film Project

The students started by getting to know the School of Arts' studios and equipment available to develop their artistic projects and, in groups, were challenged to make a short documentary.

The first day was dedicated to script writing and pre-production. Assisted by the monitors, film students from the School of Arts, the participants began by exchanging ideas about the themes of the projects, wrote the script and chose the cast and sets.  The next day, the focus was on closing the pre-production and shooting. With video capture material, provided by the School of Arts, the groups started filming the documentary in the different spaces of the Campus of the Portuguese Catholic University. After the end of the shooting, the editing of the projects began using editing software. The activities culminated in the presentation of the students' projects to teachers and colleagues.


The final balance of the activities could not be better. The week gave each participant the opportunity to live a unique experience, in a university environment, which allowed them to meet new people, get involved in artistic projects and acquire knowledge in the areas for which each student felt most suited. For many, it was the first step towards their academic future and the beginning of a new adventure at School of Arts.