This is a class blog run by Dr. Carolina Acosta-Alzuru and her students in the course "Telenovelas, Culture and Society" at the University of Georgia during Fall 2013
Helicopters, bunkers, a golden statue
of the Virgin Mary, no wonder El Capo is the most expensive telenovela produced
in Colombian history. Written by Gustavo Bolívar and produced by FOXTelecolombia
for the channel RCN, El Capo is one of the biggest series to come out of
Colombia. It cost 18 billion Colombian pesos (10 million US dollars) to
produce, has 3.6 million likes on its Facebook page and has fan pages I would
call that a successful novela.
The production and staging is very
close to cinema. The cameras and technology used to produce this novela are the
latest used in the cinema world. El Capo has been filmed in many different
locations such as: Bogotá, Medellin, Villeta, Nemocon, La Calera and Doradal.
They even shot scenes at Pablo Escobar’s fort, Hacienda Nápoles in Puerto Triunfo. El Capo 2 goes to many more
locations as well like Miami, Bogotá and Santa Marta.
RCN launched a second season of The
Capo and Bolivar said it took more time writing every scene and every line of
dialogue, and he wanted to go further and show the humanity of the characters.
I have not seen any of the second season yet but I've read that it is even
bigger than the first.
I don’t view love scenes in the same way as I did now that I
know what goes into the making of a love scene. When I watch ”Santa Diabla”
now, my first thought now is “oh that poor actress. Everyone is watching her
and she must be freezing.” Love scenes in telenovelas are about the least
romantic things that have ever happened to television. Not just telenovelas
though; shows and movies in general have been stripped of their magic for me
because of the way I have seen scenes portrayed in this class.
Music is everything in the story. It is essential to the
production value and the plot line. Without music, love scenes fall flat on
their face, as evidenced by the clip that we watched in class. The love scene
without music was profoundly awkward and hard to watch. If I was a member of
the crew, I would have to become desensitized to the insane awkwardness of it
all. I can only imagine how viewers would react if there was no music.
The chemistry between Amanda and Santiago in the production
is driven entirely by music. The music builds when they kiss, and intensifies
when they have passionate conversations. If there was no music there may be no
passion or feeling between the two of them that the audience would be able to
strongly detect. Music drives the story, especially in love scenes.
I also found that in the production, camera shot angles are
crucial. Without zooms on specific characters at specific moments, the audience
would not know what to feel or what to think. By zooming in on the faces of
specific characters during special discoveries, the plot continues. For
example, when Ines announces to Amanda that she and Santiago are getting
married, the viewer must have a close up of Amanda’s face to know if this news
is surprising to her and how she feels about it. The close up does reveal to
the audience that she is surprised and skeptical of Ines’s statement. This is
only one of hundreds of examples of these close ups. Every revelation in the
show gives the audience a shot of the character’s face who is making the
realization. These individual angles are crucial and create intensity within
the plot.
Without music and camera shots, the production value of the
love scenes would be low and would be highly ineffective. Viewers wouldn’t
sympathize with or understand the characters’ thoughts deeply, nor would they
be as excited for plot twists. In terms of camera shots, I view them as the
primary and driving difference between plays and television. Plays allow for
one angle of viewing and no close ups of characters’ faces. This does not make
plays inferior, but it is more difficult for viewers to connect as deeply with
actors on stage. Camera angles, sound, sets, and nuanced reactions are what
make television shows unique. And telenovelas have taken all of these elements
and heightened them to be the intensely dramatic art pieces that they are.
Production and detailed shots and movements make telenovelas
what they are. Without background music and camera shots, telenovelas would not
be what they are, and would become something that is not as impressive,
exciting or realistic.
This summer I was an intern in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve
always aspired to work in the music business, and for a long time I was naïve
enough to believe that the whole business was just a community of musicians and
creative people, with businesspeople and planners being rare.
This summer, however, I learned how wrong I was. I saw just
how many team members and how much time and advanced planning is involved in
supporting a musical project of one artist. There are managers, financial
teams, digital media strategists, distribution experts, tour logistics teams,
promotional events teams, sound engineers-- the list could go on for ages.
The planning for a musical project-- whether it be a tour or
a new release-- starts at least three months in advance, but usually it’s much
further in advance. There is meticulous preparatory work put in by each and
every member of a team, and it only continues once the project is up and
running. Working on a new project in the music world is a very long, drawn out
process with a defined beginning and ending point, and once you’re in the
middle of the project, you can’t change the songs or the direction of the
project without starting over completely. The public doesn’t know about your
project, so you can change the whole thing without anyone ever knowing.
I’ve learned that the exact same concept is behind the
production of telenovelas. Obviously, I realized that a team of people would be
behind the production process, but I didn’t consider just how fast-paced the
production process would be. Just listening to all the processes and team
members that are involved in a telenovela is exhausting. Unlike the music
business, telenovela production is incredibly fast-paced, and everyone has to
adapt to each other and to audience reactions on short notice. The process is
very different because some things, such as audience approval and ratings,
cannot be predicted until you’re right in the middle of making the telenovela. The
public is watching the project as it unfolds, and everyone involved must think
on their feet in order to give the audience what they want and continue to win
ratings.
Though the two processes are a bit different in pacing and
structure, the common element of intensity and undying work ethic drive both
the music business and the telenovela industry. Just like musicians have long
days and late nights of recording in the studio or rehearsing, actors and
telenovela production teams have long days and late nights of filming. Just
like songwriters must fight writers’ block and force themselves to write
constantly, telenovela writing teams must take the audience into account and
force themselves to write something that will keep the audience watching.
The music industry and the telenovela industry don’t
necessarily have the same way of going about things. However, both have the
same goal of ultimately creating a work they are proud to showcase to their
audience, and they won’t stop until they have made that work a reality.
As I have been watching Santa Diabla, I see it in a completely different light now that we have learned about the complex process of production. Whenever the clothing becomes skimpy- I can't help but think about how cold the actors and actresses must be.
I wish I knew more about production in general so that I could make the comparison between the production process of telenovelas and, for example, the production of a movie. There are so many different components to the production of a telenovela, I wonder if it could all work smoothly lacking on of the components. For example, the sometimes 'overlooked' parts of telenovela production such as the assistants etc were to slack of for the time being- would the process still flow?
Aside from some of my questions- one of the most interesting points in learning about production was the addition of music. If we really think about it- without music, not just in telenovelas, would make any type of show or movie completely different. The type of music can really make or break a scene. This is another concept that really catches my attention now, every time that I watch Santa Diabla. It was also so interesting to me to see actual camera footage captured by Dr. A of an actual production of a telenovela. To see it behind the scenes- and then on the actual television show was mind blowing. The different types of cameras play a huge role in this. From behind the scenes we see the the production from one angle- but with the addition of the cameras adds a completely different viewpoint. This viewpoint is very beneficial for viewers because it allows us to be up close and personal with the characters. If we were viewing this from, for example, where Dr. A was in the studio- telenovelas would have a completely different effect of viewers.
I feel like the production part of this course is one of the most important processes to learn about when studying telenovelas. It really allows for appreciation of everyone behind the scenes in the making of these captivating shows.
The production is amazingly long and complex. No
person is without a job and no job is without a person. Between the point when
the script is ready to go and the telenovela premieres on television, there are
many things that have to happen. It’s all on the pauta, which tells everyone where they need to be and when.
The thing that astonishes me the very most is the fact that there are so many
people in so many positions that it opens the door to unlimited possibilities
of problems. Even though minor problems do arise, the telenovela world is one
of the most adaptable people groups that I’ve ever seen. The way they see a
problem and jump over it is magnificently coordinated by quick judgment and
award-winning minds. I can’t even seem to plan my morning routine in an
efficient manner let alone plan an entire telenovela that is most likely going
to be viewed internationally by millions of people.
I really enjoy learning about the wonderful world of
telenovelas because it’s a very influential medium of media in the world today.
Because of this, a lot of pressure rests on the shoulders of the production of
the telenovela. The production stage is responsible for making the telenovela
look good on camera so that the audience falls into a fictional trance during
the show.
I love Dr. A’s stories of her personal encounters in
the telenovela world when she was researching because she tells the story from
the “inside” instead of someone who heard about it somewhere. Dr. A has told us
of some great stories in her travels and her little videos on her little flip
phone are so funny, because I understand having to do what you can with what
you have.
All the hype that they put around the premiere of the
first episode was expertly expressed in Dr. A’s story of the party she attended
for the beginning of a telenovela. She and Leonardo Padrón shared a spot in
which to observe, him to see how everyone reacts to his script and her for her
research! How exciting.
After our lectures on production I have not been able to watch my telenovela as before. I now notice the music like never before. There is music for when people seriously suggest that the cartel should kill someone, when some action is happening (like an assassination or a police raid), a song set and ready for the memory sequence of when a character dies, like Don Guerillmo and Rodrigo Lara. There are more but I'll keep the list relatively short. I now notice all the names mentioned in the entrada. Although when I tried to do research on those who were not the main actors, like executive producer Juana Eribe, I could not find much information other then a mention of their involvement with the Pablo Escobar telenovela. I know notice how many times the director clicked the 'switch camera' button and how many cameras there were. For example in a one minute and fifty-five second scene were 6 cameras switching 15 times. That is a lot for just under two minutes!
House of the Matoa brothers
But what I now notice most of all are all the beautiful houses and ranches all of the drug lords have and what it must be like coordinating filming in all of those houses. There is Pablo's house, Pablo's hacienda "Napolis, Mariachi's ranch, The Mota brother's ranch, Pedro's ranch, Marcos's ranch Mauricio's ranch, Chili and Topo's house, Peluche's house, the Morocco building and the separate apartments inside etc. There are a lot more but these places just make me wonder if it's just one GIANT house that the production leased and all the "individual" haciendas are just different parts of the house. Or perhaps, the production got lucky enough to find a bunch of these houses, with owners willing to leave them, in the same neighborhood, so actors/crews and la pauta in general can all be completed in relatively close locations. However they did it, it is a spectacle and a true achievement.
Pablo's house
Mauricio's Ranch
Napoles (Pablo's hacienda/ranch), he has a zoo here too.
For those of you who aren’t business majors, return of investment
means how efficient a business operates. Simply put, what is the benefit of the
investment, based on the cost? Well in Escobar’s case, the return on his
cocaine business was at some points 20,000%. For most businesses, they are
lucky if they can achieve about 80% ROI. However, return of investment does not
account for risk when you are a drug smuggler. Escobar’s dangerous life finally
caught up in 1993 when he was shot and killed.
My novella is not a romantic story; it is filled with action
and stress. Therefore, since my last blog post covered part of the production
of the show, I wanted to focus on the quality of the entrada and the incidental
music. As we discussed in class, music is essential to setting the tone. In the
case of Patron del Mal, I think the entrada does a great job in opening
Colombia’s feelings towards Escobar while introducing the characters.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, listen here for the
ENTRADA:
"Then came earthquakes, corrupt and mafia men. At first, no
longer fearful of deals money turned my brothers into hit men
It killed people, but not our souls. My country does not
fall, trip or slip. She stands up and wipes her face.
Telling this story
my country does not fall, a thousand times, trip or slip.
Do not erase these events from your mind. Stand up for our
dead.
She wipes her face after falling.
Never again!
Do not delete it from your mind to honor our dead who fell
foully."
When I first watched the show, I did not understand the
meaning of the song in Spanish but its gangster/rap feel made it appropriate to
introduce the characters and set the tone of the novella. However, after
reflecting on the lyrics of the entrada, there is even more meaning. Although I
was not personally affected by the political and social consequences brought on
by Pablo Escobar, I can imagine the sentiments felt by Colombians everywhere
(Dr. A even said her Columbian friends who live in the States got emotional when
discussing the show). When reading over the lyrics, it sounds like they could
even be part of a ballad that was written to remember loved ones who have died.
But after researching the song’s origins, this song was crafted especially for the
show.
The lyrics demonstrate that Colombians feel it is important
to remember exactly what happened so that it will never happen again. It is
important to never forget to honor those who died unjustly. Like an
“earthquake”, Escobar’s reign was quick and forcefully destructive. While he
was sometimes viewed as a “Robin Hood” figure, his influence on the global drug
trade permeated all over the world. Today Columbia is still feeling the effects of his power. He is world renown for his cocaine business and therefore Colombia has a reputation for drugs and corruption (at least in the United States).
When we first started our journey
learning about telenovelas, a lot of my questions were in regards to their
production. It amazed me that these shows could be produced and aired every day
of the week! I was impressed to learn that seasons aren't always completed
before they air – I can’t even imagine the stress that the production crew must
go through trying to get episodes completed in time for airing weekly.
I
really enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes footage that Dr. A was able to
record and share with us in class. It was so interesting to be able to see a
scene being filmed and then seeing how different it looks post-production when it’s
aired on TV. It was interesting to see the scenes without any soundtrack or
anything. It’s crazy how different a scene is before the music is added in – it
really makes you realize how important it is to have the appropriate sounds and
music added in.
Learning
about the music and soundtrack was probably my favorite part of learning about
the production. The video we watched about all the different types of
incidental music was really informative. It was so funny to listen to the music
out of context with no telenovela scene to accompany it. It was also really
interesting to learn about the different types of incidental music. I thought it was interesting that certain characters have their own music that gets played when they have a
scene in the telenovela. Some of the things that we learned from this video are
things that I definitely would not have realized without them being pointed out
to me.
I
also really liked getting to hear a few different theme songs from different
telenovelas. I hadn't previously known the story behind the theme to La Reina
Del Sur, which is the show that I am studying, so it was neat to learn that in
class and now I think about that every time I see the theme for my show. Some
of the themes really got stuck in my head after class, which I guess is the
point of having a catchy theme song!
Another
one of the most interesting things to me about production was learning about
the different cameras and styles of filming that exist. The craziest thing to
me was the sequence shot – the video that we saw in class of a sequence shot
being filmed seemed so intense! I can’t imagine the stress of filming a shot
where any error would require you to start over from the beginning. I’m also
really glad that we got to see so much behind the scenes footage filmed by Dr.
A of telenovelas being filmed.
When we talked about telenovela production in class, the
sheer number of moving parts really struck me. Each member of the team has to
be doing his or her job well all the time in order for the conveyer belt of the telenovela
assembly line to keep moving. If a backup were to occur at any point, the
episode might not end up on air that night. If the dialoguistas did’t complete
their sections on time, then the writer couldn’t put everything together. If the writer
didn’t send the script over to the rest of the production team, then nothing
at all could move forward. I got a little stressed out thinking about all the
things that could go wrong. What if the writer got really sick? What if an
actor got really sick?? Would they just power through? Dr. A told us a story about a telenovela getting so behind
that they were filming that day the episode for that night — if that happened,
how would the cast and crew ever catch up or get ahead again? Would they have
to film multiple episodes each day after that to recover their cushion? When
telenovelas are faced with such an extreme time crunch like that, does the show
ever fail to make it on air? Or would the team just bite the bullet and
sacrifice quality for expedience’ sake? I scoured the internet, trying to find an example of a telenovela episode failing to air, but I got nothing. It appears that the team just does
whatever it needs to do to make the magic happen. Everyone pulls together.
And on that note, I realized how crucial each team member is
— how the success or failure of the telenovela is in the hands of everyone
involved. The script, the floor manager, the cameramen and all the assistants
in between … they are crucial to each episode. But all these “little” guys
don’t get a fraction of the credit or fame that the actors, or even directors,
receive. They are the invisibles. I tried to look up the complete crew for the
telenovela I’m watching, Corazón Salvaje. I found the writer, composer,
cinematographer, director, producer and actors. There was no mention anywhere,
however, of the rest of the team. This doesn’t seem right to me. I wouldn’t
even know that those people existed if not for this class. I wonder if they
feel neglected or if they prefer to work behind the scenes. I just feel like
they deserve a lot of respect.
The production of any telenovela is in many ways a
reflection of Latin American culture. In other words, the common perception of
Latin American people as fun, crazy, and party-going people is reflected by the
madness that is telenovela production. A telenovela is not produced without its
own series of melodramatic events, sometimes even more dramatic than the plot
line of the telenovela itself. I think that Dr. A’s story about the birthday
candle incident is the perfect example of the craziness of production.
As we studied production though, I became very interested in
the role of the director. In my opinion, the director can make or break the
success of a telenovela. Some directors are very detail-oriented, while others
let little details slide. When watching a telenovela, the talent of the
director is very apparent by the quality of the telenovela. Also, certain
actors and actress like to work with certain directors, so a good director can
be very valuable to a telenovela because he or she can bring in very talented
actors and actresses. This is also true of writers. Certain actors and
actresses enjoy working with particular writers.
The telenovela that I am studying, Pablo Escobar El Patrón
del Mal, is very well produced. I believe a lot of this is due to its director,
Carlos Moreno Herrera. Carlos Moreno is originally from Colombia. He has worked
on projects in Colombia, many different parts of Central America, and Spain.
His first work was with the documentary Chamberlain in 1992, and then
afterwards he worked on many other very successful projects. I believe his influence
is one of the reasons this telenovela was so successful, and I believe this is
a prime example of why a talented director is very crucial to a telenovela’s success.
The Brazilian novela Amor à Vida's steamy moments center around the open relationship between Patrícia Mileto and Michel Gusmão. In an O Globo interview, the two actors Maria Cadevall and Caio Castro discuss the technicality of the chemistry between the two characters, the relationship, and the most critical aspect: the kissing. Actress Maria talks about the relationship of these characters. Patrícia doesn't want to be in a relationship because of the infidelity in her past marriage. In the beginning, she only seeks sex, but the chemistry is so unavoidable that it has everyone crawling back for more. In this interview, both actors must answer questions from social media users. As you can notice in the link below, these raw scenes call for intensity and explicit acting. Both actors describe the kisses as technical due to the situation and the scenes. Caio was asked if they tongue kiss and he responds by saying yes because this is also a technique that is a part of his acting which is necessary because this relationship is very sexual. Although in most novelas this is unnecessary, it's critical to capture the sexual atmosphere in the room. One, however, can notice that this is a purely professional aspect of the relationship because in a Yahoo! Entretenimento interview, Caio says, " We talk about our technique, but nothing like, 'caramba our chemistry is incredible.' This would practically mean, 'let's get together,' almost an invite! We don't have to mention anything. She knows and I know." Toward the end of the interview, Maria contrasts her fashion sense and the character Patrícia. She describes her style as a simple one, yet admires Patrícia's wardrobe. Details such as fashion trends are just as important as kissing techniques in order to reflect each character's personality. Professional actors create chemistry because of amazing performances. Production enhances this with it's music, camera angles, and specific fashion styles, as well.
Watch this interview at O Globo: http://globotv.globo.com/rede-globo/amor-a-vida/t/extras/v/maria-casadevall-e-caio-castro-comentam-beijos-tecnicos/2787835/ Read this interview on Yahoo! Brazil TV: http://br.tv.yahoo.com/blogs/notas-tv/amor-%C3%A0-vida-caio-castro-e-maria-casadevall-165220663.html
