SAVE THE PHILIPPINE CINEMA

     Perhaps I am lucky enough to have "FILM" as the topic for me and my partner MJ's industry seminar because I myself is a film buff, be it Hollywood or a local film, aside from the fact that I am a practitioner in the said industry for years, in production and on cam.

     And for that reason, I would like to stress how piracy killed the mainstream film industry in the process.
     I will not deny that I, myself, buy pirated DVD because of dozens of advantages.
     Aside from the the fact that pirated DVDs are cheaper than the original ones, you can just lay your back and sit at the comfort of your couch in the bedroom while watching a good quality pirated DVD with regards to its audio and visual effects and most of the time, these DVDs come in advance than the actual showing of the movie in cinemas. So, how can you beat that?
     But of course, we are not promoting pirated DVDs. As what our speaker Direk Cesar Buendia stressed in his interesting talk, we should not buy pirated DVDs because we are actually committing a crime when we support these products. That is right, hence, we are going to try to stop buying pirated DVDs :( (actually, we already started boycotting pirated DVDs months ago).
     According to the Optical Media Board (OMB) Chairman Ronnie Ricketts, their agency is finding it hard to stop this kind of illegal activities. They can raid the locations where the vendors usually sell these products but the chairman admits that as long as the majority of the people are supporting and patronizing illegal DVDs, it will be difficult for them to stop it.
     In fact, the agency is even compromising with the illegal DVD manufacturers to please stop producing local films and instead, mass produce the illegal DVDs on Hollywood films.
     This should not be the case but because of the proliferation of the pirated DVDs and the massive support this activity is getting from the masses, the least that Chairman Ricketts has to do is to compromise.
     Actually, this should not happen because the agency should confiscate all illegal DVDs, be is Hollywood or local, but because of the saleability of illegal DVDs in the market, a settlement with the illegal manufacturers is the next best thing to do, the people from the agency believe.
     Thank God there are indie films which gave the mainstream industry a life extension.
     We suggest that aside from Cinemalaya, Cinemanila and Cinema 1, the government should give their full support on indie film producers to save the dying Philippine cinema which was leading in Asia years ago, in terms of the number of films produced per year.    

NEW GUYS IN THE NEWSROOM

The industry seminar about broadcast media this week was interesting for me because I have been in this business for years, aside from the print media.

When Sir Beaver asked our resource persons in broadcast media on what seems to be the glowing problem among newly graduates when they step into the real world of newsroom, I immediately raised a particular issue.

Most newly grads find it difficult to operate equipments in the newsroom.

To tell you frankly, newsroom is like a different world where everybody is on the rush doing their own business. Everybody is beating their deadlines so there is really no time to teach newly grads on how to operate a high-tech equipment.

Take this for example, when I used to work as a correspondent on TV5, I took pity on a certain newly grad who doesn’t have a hint on how to use the P2 player where you can view your P2 card and have the time coded.

And worst, when I asked the guy to please grab the P2 player, he had no idea what a P2 player is.

My classmate IC, who is the current executive producer of TV5’s morning show also raised an issue regarding the not-so-credible sources of newly grad reporters.

It is very basic for a reporter to have a nose for the news so it is also their primary duty to widen their clout in order for these new guys to broaden their sources.

NEWSPAPER IS NOT A DYING INDUSTRY!

It’s really amazing how the newspaper and other printed materials evolve into its version in the web.

Actually, the web version of the printed material already has its own domain and marketing potential just like any other newspaper or magazine, as discussed on the first industry seminar on sir Beav’s class about print.

I, myself, is a media practitioner working on a lifestyle magazine as an editor and as a columnist on national daily papers and until now, I must say that it’s really hard to beat the fast-paced development of technology against updating one’s self and learning on how to apply the practice on the digital version.

For one, before you knew it, there will be another latest program in lay outing available which is being used that you need to check considering that you are not actually totally updated yet on the recent program.

Our guest speaker from the Summit Publishing Company was right when she said that the digital version of the printed materials are more complicated in terms of preparation and maintaining as compared to the hard copy.

On the digital version, a lot of programs and apps should be learned in order for you to do the multitasking job in editing and lay outing whereas on the printed copies, basically, the editor will just edit the manuscript, send it to the lay out artist, supervise the lay outing and approve the final copy and presto, the printing press will work overnight for the product.

Also, we would like to stress that printed materials will not die as long as there is a digital divide and issues on technological change.

Perhaps there would be a decrease on the number of readership because of the competition against the web version but printed material will always have its share of market.