One of most rewarding aspects of online training is development of co-production skills. Professor Harold M. Cooper designed an experiment with students based in Chile, Argentina, Panama, and Venezuela, in which each student filmed their own scenes. They edited them individually and then divided responsibilities. Final product was appealing and different from what we always produced when we all worked in person. You can view all our student videos on our YouTube channel @escinetv1 or in editorial section of our website https://escinetv.org.ve/editorial
More recently, we produced a music video for music of Emilio Mendoza. Filming took place separately in San Antonio de Los Altos, Valencia, and São Paulo. Being a professional-level project, it required a significant amount of meticulous post-production time. However, it was possible thanks to constant communication among team members across different cities, using various methodologies. As years go by and Venezuela becomes more interconnected with other countries, not only through internet but also through new commercial ties, it’s foreseeable that these themes of international co-production will become more widespread.
One of our courses in program is international co-production, taught by Professor Marcelo Gagliardi Lugo, based in Bogotá. We also have example of undergraduate theses that our students Cielo del Valle López and María Victoria di Stéfano will be working on. They live in Cumaná and Valencia, respectively, and will produce their theses in person in Caracas, with support of students who live in capital city. There are many options for producing films and videos remotely. The crucial thing is to develop a disciplined work strategy, in which you can divide tasks in terms of space and time.
Recent Venezuelan cinema offers us two films: Simón and El Salto de Los Ángeles, produced in Miami and Ciudad Guayana. Even though many processes in Venezuelan cinema remain centralized, Caracas is increasingly becoming a hub for other locations. Therefore, it’s important that students from these regions receive training in their hometowns and don’t necessarily have to travel. Interconnectedness, in terms of human history, is still a recent phenomenon. We are only just beginning to learn about new artificial intelligence technologies: they are promising. At a philosophical level, there is a debate about how long it is legitimate to depend on them.
Which copyrights might be infringed if the raw material for producing something related to artificial intelligence turns out to be plagiarized? This will be an innovation that will need to be gradually incorporated into educational curricula in coming years. Two generational cultures exist simultaneously: there’s the old school where formal education was provided to acquire tools necessary to enter job market, working for a large company or production firm. Then there are the self-taught individuals, who obtain much of the information they need through internet and, consequently, feel they don’t need teachers, tutors, or mentors.
We see many young people around the world who aren’t interested in pursuing a formal degree. We see financial statements from universities in United States showing significant losses, and this prompts those of us who provide higher education to ask ourselves: What are we working for? Who are we working for? What do we want to achieve? If we, as professors, learned something when we were young and want to pass it on now that we’re older, to a new generation immersed in an evolved culture, we might not succeed. This is why we see so many people willing to teach and so few willing to learn. The wealth of experience we’ve gained over time is valuable to share, but it requires a connection to the needs of our students.
Rubén Rivero
President Escinetv Escuela de Cine y Televisión, C. A.
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