Case Study: YARDM — Structuring and Delivering Audit-Safe Visibility at Scale for a High-Security EU Mental Health Programme

Client / Donor: European Union (EU)

Project: Technical Assistance to Mental Health Care and Drug Addiction Treatment Services in Prisons (YARDM Project)

Role: Senior Video Expert & Audiovisual Execution Lead

Scope: Full-cycle delivery including over 110 video assets totaling 11.5 hours of content, original music composition, and motion graphics

Key Success Factor: Structurally aligned execution within a highly experienced Technical Assistance framework, enabling rapid decision-making, secure field production, and timely final approvals despite operating in high-security prison environments

Execution Context:

The YARDM visibility package was delivered within a well-aligned Technical Assistance structure characterized by clear approval authority, proactive beneficiary engagement, and strong leadership continuity. This alignment enabled efficient execution and closure of a large-scale, high-risk audiovisual scope that would typically stall in comparable institutional settings.

The Challenge: Massive Scope, Logistical Complexity, and High-Security Environments

The YARDM Project was an immense institutional task, requiring the creation of over a hundred distinct video assets designed to train staff and support beneficiaries in the complex, high-security setting of prisons.

This project demanded a producer capable of managing both extreme volume and complex technical and logistical challenges:

• Extreme Volume: Delivery of over 110 individual video assets, ranging from short informational spots and software training videos to two full-length documentary films

• Mobile Studio Logistics: Transporting and deploying a complete professional video, audio, and green-screen studio from Ankara to a hotel-based training venue in Antalya

• High-Stakes Environments: Filming inside prisons, requiring extensive security clearance, institutional sensitivity, and precise directorial guidance for staff role-playing and interviews

• Creative Independence: Delivery of specialized outputs such as original music composition and technically synchronized software training materials

The mobile studio our producer Fatih Ugur initialized on the field, in a hotel in Antalya during the trainings help as part of the YARDM Project.

Execution Design: Why This Project Reached Final Approval

In many EU-funded prison and mental health programmes, visibility outputs face prolonged delays due to fragmented approval structures, risk-averse decision-making, and unclear responsibility between Technical Assistance teams and beneficiaries.

The YARDM Project avoided these common pitfalls due to a structurally sound execution environment:

• A highly experienced and responsive Technical Assistance team that actively tracked progress and logistics

• A respected, action-oriented Team Leader with strong ownership of communication and training outputs

• A proactive and solution-oriented beneficiary Project Management Unit, experienced in institutional delivery

• A professional trust framework that allowed parallel execution rather than sequential approval bottlenecks

This alignment created the conditions necessary for rapid production, informed feedback, and timely sign-off — even within high-security and psychologically sensitive operational environments.

Vidyograf’s Full-Scope Technical Execution

Within this aligned execution framework, Fatih Uğur operated as the senior audiovisual execution lead, managing and delivering the complete visibility architecture of the YARDM Project.

1. Advanced Mobile Production Management

The project’s training component relied on an intensive mobile studio setup.

• Our Producer successfully managed the transport and deployment of all cameras, lighting, audio gear, and the green screen studio from Ankara to the training site in Antalya.

• The setup allowed for simultaneous high-volume shooting of 43 psycho-social training videos and 17 expert spot videos in a controlled environment, demonstrating exceptional logistical planning.
  

2. Specialized Content Delivery (110+ Video Assets)

The diversity of deliverables underscores our technical breadth:

• Narrative & Role-Play (8 videos): Directed actors and volunteer prison staff in complex green-screen role-playing scenarios focusing on personality disorders and depression.

• Original Music Composition (2 Documentaries & Training): Composed, recorded, and produced original, emotionally resonant soundtracks and jingles using a MIDI piano and DAW, enhancing the sensitivity of the documentary films.

• Technical Synchronization (18 videos): Managed the booking, recording, and precise synchronization of VoiceOvers for specialized software training screen-capture videos.

• Documentary Filmmaking (2 Films): Directed, filmed, and edited two sensitive documentary films in prisons, working closely with Prof. Kültegin Ögel on scenarios to protect staff mental health and introduce personality disorders to staff.
  

3. Post-Production Mastery and Informed Sensitivity

Final delivery required rigorous quality control across all media types:

• Advanced editing, motion graphics, chroma keying, and colour grading across all 110+ assets

• Structured post-production workflows ensuring consistency, clarity, and audit-ready outputs

Beyond technical execution, prolonged engagement with mental health and addiction treatment content informed a highly sensitive directorial approach, ensuring that training and documentary materials respected both subject matter and audience context — a critical requirement in institutional mental health programmes.

Another behind the scenes photo while our producer Fatih Ugur was discussing details with the team leader of the project, Prof. Kültegin Ögel.

Professional Reflection

“The YARDM Project was more than a production assignment. It was an institutional responsibility. Working closely with mental health professionals and prison staff reshaped how I approach visibility in sensitive environments — ensuring that even technical training content is delivered with clarity, respect, and human dignity.”

Few tracks that our producer composed and produced for the documentary films.

Conclusion: Proven Delivery Under Institutional Pressure

The YARDM Project stands as a definitive case study of Vidyograf’s capacity to structure, manage, and deliver large-scale, high-risk visibility mandates within EU-funded programmes:

• 110+ Video Assets Delivered: Proven ability to manage extreme content volume

• Complex Logistics Mastered: Full mobile studio deployment under institutional constraints

• Full Technical Stack: Integrated expertise across filming, post-production, sound design, and original music composition

• Execution Integrity: Finalized outputs achieved through governance alignment, not last-minute escalation

Do you require a senior visibility execution partner capable of delivering complex EU, UN, or donor-funded communication mandates to final approval — at scale and under institutional pressure? Explore Related Institutional Assignments:

• [Justice Reform]: For a parallel long-term mandate in the prison sector, see the DEPAR 74-Hour Clinical Training Case Study.

• [Governance & Strategy]: Learn how we manage Execution Design and Visibility Budgeting for complex donor-funded programmes.

• [Education Reform]: View our NKE mission for the BEGEP EU Project.

About the Author

This case study reflects the field experience of Fatih Uğur, a Senior Producer and Audiovisual Expert with early career roots in Zurich and Vienna. Fatih specializes in direct institutional integration, Key / Non-Key Expert (KE/NKE) missions, and long-term portfolio management at the HQ level across Türkiye, the EU, and the DACH region. He is the founder of Vidyograf, a boutique studio dedicated to audit-safe institutional knowledge infrastructure.

📩 Contact: fatih@vidyograf.com 🌍 Profile: www.vidyograf.com