Learning about the production aspect of telenovelas these past few weeks has been very informative and entertaining, and I am very grateful for the chance to go behind the scenes in this class.
To start with, I always knew that there were other people in the room while actors filmed romantic scenes, but I never thought it was as many as the behind the scenes footage showed. This perspective allowed me to gain more respect for the actors, as they are able to hop into character and film incredibly intimate scenes while others are watching. Their performances are also heavily choreographed and criticized to perfection, and many people would not be able to handle this pressure. I did not realize the high expectations held by the directors, producers, and writers for the actors, and after learning about the many types of tension that can exist on sets, I am even more impressed by the actors being able to film such scenes in front of so many people.
Another thing that stood out to me was our lecture today about the production of music in telenovelas. I could truly feel the sad, nostalgic, happy, intriguing, and suspenseful feelings in all of the examples today, and it blew my mind how much music impacts the mood of a scene. It made me want to go rewatch scenes in both my telenovela and in other shows and movies that I have watched to see if the scenes had the same impact if I played them while muted. They did not. For example, in the following scene, Armando is asking Betty for forgiveness, and there is both suspenseful music at the beginning and sad music at the end. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3KYJJavnA) Watching it with the sound on and music playing is a lot more emotional and heart-wrenching than watching it without. Without the sound on, I am still impressed by Betty and her facials which show she is hurt, but it still does not hurt as much as it does with the music. I encourage you to look at a pivotal scene in your telenovela and watch it without the sound on. Does it have the same impact? If you'd like, feel free to attach the scene to this post, as I would love to watch it as well and see the difference the music makes.
It is also incredible to me that so many artists and songs become popular by being in a telenovela or drama. I looked more into this after class and found many examples of songs taking off by being in a telenovela or drama. (https://www.dailyrindblog.com/turkish-tv-boosts-local-music-industry/) For example, the night before the author wrote the article I read, two songs had been synced in the Turkish drama, Cesur ve Güzel. Those two songs (Kimse Bilmez and Güneşin Kızkardeşi) made it to the Turkey's iTunes Top 10 chart (#5 and #7, respectively) the night after they were played on the show. The influence that telenovelas and dramas have on entire populations is so amazing to me, and I am so excited to learn more about this impact.
I completely agree with being really surprised by the "behind the scenes of the behind the scenes" that Dr. A was able to show us. I was so impressed that actors and actresses are able to make the audience believe that an intimate scene between the two of them is real, while there are dozens of production members and others surrounding them from all angles. This also made me really appreciate and admire the confidence that is demanded from the actors and actresses.
ReplyDeleteI think its really interesting the way you encouraged us to watch an important scene in our own telenovela without the music. There are definitely scenes in La Reina del Sur (the telenovela that I am watching), like the dramatic scenes of Santiago on a boat with immigrants, that would absolutely not have the same impact on me had it not been for the dramatic music.
Hey Alexis. I love that you started by acknowledging how little you actually knew about this process because I felt the exact same way. When Dr. A mentioned that they film sex scenes without music I almost felt insecure or uncomfortable for the actors. However, this shows how effective music can be in media consumption. You highlight this well when you mention the many different tones music can portray to an audience. I think that this is one of the characteristics of telenovelas that will help keep them alive. You don't need to speak Spanish fluently to follow the general sentiment of the plot. The music along with good dramatic acting (body language, facial expression, etc.) express universal tones and meanings. I think this helps in the globalization of telenovelas and helps answer the question "Will it travel?". Good work!
ReplyDelete¡También me quedé totalmente asombrado por todo el conocimiento que aprendimos sobre la producción de telenovelas! Algunas cosas pueden haber parecido obvias como dijiste sobre que había otras personas en el set mientras los actores filman escenas de besos, pero nunca me di cuenta de hasta qué punto las cosas estaban coordinadas y coreografiadas no solo por los actores sino por todos los que dirigían y filmaban. Aprender todo lo que implica hacer estos programas me hizo sentir mucho respeto por todos los que trabajan en ellos. Tienes que ser tan específico y ordenado debido al cronograma y al presupuesto. También gané mucho respeto por los actores, especialmente porque no puedo imaginarme tener que actuar en ese tipo de escenario. También me sorprende la cantidad de pensamiento que se pone en todo cuando mencionaste la música, y cómo el tono de la música en sí puede alterar completamente un escenario y debe ser cuidadosamente planeado y ejecutado.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly crazy how the same scene affects many different people in so many different ways. Telenovelas are extremely interesting to me from this standpoint alone as so many people can have completely different reactions to the same show or episode. As a producer it can be daunting since you may not know how a show is going to influence your audience good or bad but I suppose that is what excites creators of these shows. The popularity of telenovelas can be clearly scene just from the popularity of the music. Someone can go viral purely from having their song play on just one episode. As an American it can be hard to comprehend the popularity of these shows, but I have come to learn they are wildly popular and loved.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly crazy how the same scene affects many different people in so many different ways. Telenovelas are extremely interesting to me from this standpoint alone as so many people can have completely different reactions to the same show or episode. As a producer it can be daunting since you may not know how a show is going to influence your audience good or bad but I suppose that is what excites creators of these shows. The popularity of telenovelas can be clearly scene just from the popularity of the music. Someone can go viral purely from having their song play on just one episode. As an American it can be hard to comprehend the popularity of these shows, but I have come to learn they are wildly popular and loved.
ReplyDelete