Software skills
Avid Media Composer
ProTools
Adobe Premiere
Final Cut Pro
Other film related experience
Besides directing, editing, co-producing, sound designing and writing, Nele has also performed other jobs on set.
In June 2016, Nele worked as a volunteer at the London Screenings, the annual event that takes place at the BFI Southbank. The event is organised by Film London and is the only export market dedicated to UK film. Nele helped organise this event by showing guests where to go and by making sure only sales companies and members of the cast and crew were able to watch the films.
In the summer of 2015, Nele was asked to serve on the jury of the Humphrey Bogart Film Festival.
Ruth Reitan, the Executive and Creative Director of the festival, comments: "I invited Nele to serve on our film jury because of her strong background in film history and national cinemas, her appreciation for various film genres (including classic and neo-film noir, which figure heavily in our competition), and her enthusiasm for this initiative between the University of Miami's film program and the Bogart Film Festival and family estate".
bogartfilmfestival.com/Home.html
In 2012 Nele was the script supervisor for a webseries called the Screamisodes, an interactive game produced by the University of Miami.
Nele was chosen to be a Production Assistant on the set of a Belgian television show in 2011. She was hired by Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, a company owned by Warner Bros. Television Group.
Erwin Provoost, at that time the CEO of Eyeworks, wrote: "After Nele graduated she wanted to experience how films were made on a more professional level, so she was offered an internship at Eyeworks, the company that I work for as a CEO. The fact that she chose to do this during the summer, between two separate educations, proved to me that she did it to learn something and not simply to earn credits or in the hope to get a job. Nele was very enthusiastic and motivated, especially when she was asked to do a chore that permitted her a clear view on the set."
During her studies at the Universities of Ghent and Antwerp, Nele worked at a movie theatre in Belgium called Kinepolis.
Her boss, David Brulard, wrote the following about Nele in his letter of recommendation: "It is obvious that movies are her life. To us she is a walking source of information about movies and everything that comes with them. I strongly recommend Nele for any position she is seeking in the future."
Teaching experience
During her second year, Nele was the Teaching Assistant for three professors (Ed Talavera, Christina Lane and Grace Barnes). She assisted these professors with the preparation of their classes, mentored the students and supervised their projects.
Since Nele had already earned two Master's degrees before she started studying at UM, and because she showed much enthusiasm and dedication as a TA, the department was convinced that she would be able to teach a class by herself and offered her a job as an adjunct professor.
Nele's course was called Survey of Motion Pictures and she taught classes of more than one hundred students. During the course of the semester, her students learned about film history, from Griffith and Chaplin to widescreen and the New Hollywood era, in addition to several film theories such as the auteur theory and the genre theory, and the multiple steps of a production process, from writing to filming, editing and scoring. She received many enthusiastic responses from her students. The examples below were taken directly from anonymous University of Miami student evaluation forms.
"Professor Mertens is very helpful and gives a lot of time to students. She is also very understanding of underperformance and works for her students' ultimate goal of success."
"I LOVED this class. Not only was Nele an amazing teacher, but she also made me realize that I want to minor in film studies. I underestimated how much I would enjoy this class and I am beyond glad I took [it]. The powerpoints and films were perfectly put and made the content easy and fun to understand."
"Nele was a great teacher all around. She always was available for extra help and never missed a question that was asked in class. It is clear she knows what she is teaching and does a good job of making the class exciting, while [it's] also informative."
"This has been one of my favorite classes this semester and I truly wish I could take it again. I would recommend everybody, even if you are not interested in film, to take this course because it has truly made a positive impact on my overall college career."
Professor Grace Barnes, who taught this class the year before, attended one of Nele's classes and commented: "In this class I saw a topnotch presentation delivered by an effective professor who clearly loves her job. Nele is very knowledgeable about her subject and her enthusiasm for film is infectious; she is confident and relaxed while maintaining a comfortable authority with the class - a truly gifted teacher."
For several months, Nele has also taught Film & TV at the Pauline Quirke Academy in Amersham, England. She taught children aged 6-18 about writing, storyboarding, shotlisting, filming, sound recording and editing. She also helped them prepare for the PQA film festival that takes place every year.
Language skills
Dutch: Native speaker
English: Excellent knowledge
French: Working knowledge
German: Basic knowledge