My name is Marlena Opalka, I am 27 years old and finished my bachelor’s degree in media engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Düsseldorf in June 2021. During my studies, which I successfully completed with a grade of 1.9, I had the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of image and video technology as well as AV production through various elective courses. My committed participation in the media project KIDS ‘N TRICKS led me to my position as a student assistant and tutor in the AV production department of Prof. Isolde Asal. There I took on organisational and creative tasks, but also supervised and independently conducted seminars in media theory and audiovisual media design. The focus was on teaching basic knowledge of Adobe software such as Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro.
Through my work at the university and another media project by Prof. Isolde Asal, the idea and concept for “Das kleine rote Auto” (The Little Red Car), an animated short film against the exclusion of people with Parkinson’s disease, emerged. The short film was produced in collaboration with Kimberly Hilgers for the Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung e.V. (German Parkinson’s Association) and won a special prize in the “Charity Video Award”. In addition, the social spot served as the research basis for my bachelor thesis on the topic of digital tracking methods in combination with stop-motion animation.
Besides animation and my interest in films, my hobbies include photography and singing.