Production of Telenovelas
I really enjoyed learning about the production of
telenovelas in class today. I never realized how many little steps there are in
the process of making just one episode, and I am amazed at how episodes are
produced/aired daily rather than just once a week like most television shows in
the United States. I am an intended entertainment and media studies major, so
today’s lesson showed a glimpse of the things I may see or experience once I
get my degree which is really exciting. It was really interesting to see the
telenovela scenes from behind the camera instead of watching the final product that
the viewers see on television.
There are several different cameras
used in production, but I never knew there were different kinds of cameras with
a specific use for each. The tracking camera is sometimes used in the
telenovela that I am watching, “La Hipocondria,” and I never thought about how
much work it is to follow the actors around with the camera like that since it
is so bulky and crew members have to follow behind and keep track of the wires
so that no one trips or gets tangled up. There are several team members on the
whole crew from camera and sound operations to the scrip to the writers and
producers that make everything happen, and I like how each person has their own
job that is vital to the making of the telenovela. If one part of the team is
not on top of their game or isn’t working as efficiently as the others would
slow production down, so everyone has to do their part well. I also liked Dr. A’s
story where she called the director out about the Scrabble game not having
enough pieces on the board to look like a finished game, because this showed
that even with a crew of people on the set some details managed to get
overlooked compared to bigger issues. It amazes me how detail-oriented these
telenovelas have to be since they are aired daily—it definitely seems like a
very stressful time, especially after a whole day of focusing on so many
details in the studio or on location.
I found it interesting as well! I did not imagine how it must be hard for all the people (so many different types of people) involved in creating just one episode in a telenovela. It is like having to produce a movie each time because these episodes are so long and created so often in just one week. It would be interesting to learn and listen to people that are involved in telenovelas and how their experiences are like being involved in a telenovela. There must be some type of ranking on who works the most. It just seems so crazy how they are able to do this, cause for me I always think there is not enough time in the day. Because there is so much that goes on, it is interesting how they are able to stay organized and do such a good job. The type of person on set that I did not know exists but plays such a huge important role is the script (sequence). Having to make sure that everything will flow smoothly, documenting everything exactly the way a scene is in order to recreate it. I feel like most people do not realize how much work is put in these episodes, but glad that I do now.
ReplyDeleteI also didn’t realize how much work goes into creating a telenovela. Something that took me by surprise was how they filmed the parts of a show at different times. It must take a lot of work to try and recreate everything to make the scene flow without anybody noticing any differences. Something else that surprised me was how meticulous the director was about the order of everything before they started the scene. In a clip Dr. A showed us, the director was asking the actors to move over just a couple of inches! I also developed a greater sense of respect for telenovela actors because I didn’t realize the immense amount of hours they had to work in order to pump out episodes every day.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite a huge fan of television-- I've watched more series than I can count, really-- and so I've always been fascinated by the production of these shows. I had no idea that telenovelas were produced in a much similar fashion. Honestly, before I took this class, I thought that telenovelas were cheaply made like soap operas in America (and I'm sure some are). But now I see that they are just as highly regarded as Netflix series here, and a lot of work is put into them. When Dr. A showed us the trailer for the Brazilian telenovela which vaguely resembles Game of Thrones (aka Deus Salve o Rei), I remember being 100% shocked at the gorgeous cinematography and the details in the costumes and the sets. I am so impressed by the size of the telenovela industry.
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