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 Spring 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Fin
Well, we've reached el fin of our semester, and I must say I'm going to miss this class. It was so diffferent, while so informative and pertinent. I loved watching all of the Padron endings, and cannot say enough about his genius as a writer. The rosa endings were interesting as well, but as predictable as the plotlines which they hail from. I don't have any problem with happy endings and love stories, or the gushy flashbacks from the first kiss to the wedding and everything in between, but I really enjoyed the ruptura endings a lot more. I believe that they represented a much higher level of creativity on the part of both the actors and the writers. I guess that included in that distinction should the entire crew as well. The one shot final of the magazine one was absolutely mind-blowing to me. I cannot imagine the amount of coordination and professionalism required on all parts to pull that off. I remember having to break my one minute, one shot scenes for my high school Spanish videos into at least five parts usually to get anything resembling decent. This class has cultivated in me an entirely new level of respect for the people associated with novelas. From stretched budgets, hectic filming schedules, and what are in real life extremely uncomfortable seeming love scenes to shoot, these people pull off incredible productions. The ability to captivate a nation every single night of the week for a solid hour or more is something that, growing up the way I did, I simply cannot really conceptualize. The dedication required to make these successful is evident in those on the screen and behind it, but most of all it shines through in the cases of the fans. Homemade tributes, street vendors holding signs, explosively popular internet followings, and the cutthroat battle for ratings are all proof of a fandom which we haven't even come close to seeing in the US. All in all, an amazing journey, from the first hook, to the despechos and betrayals, to the bittersweet Fines. Not bad for a genre I literally thought I would never watch.
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I found the one-shot magazine ending pretty amazing myself. This class was the first time I was introduced to the production process in any sort of filming. You always think that these scenes are so easy and never think of the work that goes behind them. That video that Dr. A took is a testament to the hardwork as well as teamwork that goes into and is required to shoot the perfect scene. I wish I would have asked this at Dr. A's house but I want to know how many takes that scene took or if they nailed it first try. What I liked the most about that scene is how a few of the guys on the production crew get a little air time. I feel that the ending was a good way of paying credit to the production crew by giving them their few seconds of fame.
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