Do you know Benedict XVI?

15 hours of work, 1,000 photographs, more than 1,400 drawings.... Several university students have produced a video entitled “Do you know Benedict XVI?"

Santi edited the video.

Watch the Vídeo: Do you know Benedict XVI?

It all began when we decided to take part in the UNIV Congress held in Rome during Holy Week each year. We had already submitted another video last year and we were given an award for its technical quality, but this year we wanted to try something new. We are a group of five students from the Department of Communications at the University of Navarra and we live in Colegio Mayor Mendaur, a university residence.

Our starting point was clear: to produce a video that would show Benedict XVI’s ability to transmit big ideas in a simple way. We wanted to tell others that the Pope is reaching us young people with a message that strikes a deep cord with us. He is not someone distant or antiquated, but a person very close to us.

Santi edited the video.

Innovative ideas... but not enough time

However, we still weren’t sure how to give shape to our idea. Miguel Rojo, a student in third year of Advertising and Public Relations, had not been with us the previous year, but was very eager to take part in our project, especially if we were going to try to do something really creative.  Miguel is a wonderful artist and has very original ideas. The two of us discussed the idea for a little more than a month while we continued with our own university studies and other projects. Since I am also quite interested in art, we decided to create something with a new look, something no one had tried before for a topic that on the surface seems quite serious, such as the figure of the Holy Father. At first, we thought about using “kinetic typography” (letters in movement employing special effects software), a video using the technique of a subjective camera with only one shot, Flash or 3D animation, Disney-like animation with drawings... All of them were promising ideas, but time was growing short.

The night before

A lot of great ideas, but time was running out...

The day prior to the submission deadline came and we only had the initial idea. Alvaro Piquer, a journalism student, had gathered all the required information: the Pope’s biography, something about his trips, his main ideas, comments from other religious leaders.... We were more and more amazed at all the Holy Father had done, but we still didn’t know what to do ourselves. By nightfall I had basically given up hope about the project. There wasn’t enough time for all the great ideas that we had come up with. We only had one day left.

It was then that Miguel came up with the “stop-motion” idea. We had already talked about it once before, but we had thought it was something too simple. Now this was our only hope. We had ideas about the Pope, a friend’s digital camera and enough skill to draw the sketches.So we went to bed knowing that Sunday was going to be a very intense day.

But everything worked out in the end:15 hours of work, 1,000 photographs and more than 1,400 drawings. One after the other, without knowing which would be the next drawing. We still don’t know how the sketch pen was able to make it to the end.

Juan Camilo Pedraza helped with the photographs and checked the consistency of the story while Miguel and I did the drawings. Then I exported the photographs to a software editing program that produced the video. Alberto Bonilla, another journalism student, found the perfect music for the video and was the one who presented it to the UNIV judges at Navarra. We got first prize.

It’s true that some information is missing and perhaps it’s not very professional. But we think that this spontaneity helps make the video fresh and attractive. It supports the Pope not so much by its content but by the enthusiasm of a group of young students who have great esteem for him.

Miguel no había estado con nosotros el año anterior y tenía muchas ganas de participar en el proyecto

Santiago González-Barros