The Production of a Telenovela de Época

When watching a telenovela, show, or movie, we often do not consider what goes into making it. Many times, we watch them to escape from reality, so the reality of the creation tends to not be a significant part of the watching experience. Despite this fact, the production process is the most important part of that watching experience; otherwise, we would not have anything to watch. The importance of production is one thing for a modern-set project, but when it comes to implementing historical aspects, it moves to a completely different level of importance. Telenovelas de época require research and caution in every stage of the production process.

            Everything starts with the writing team. They are the creators of the story. What kind of language should the characters use? What topics should they discuss? What types of conflicts would exist at this time? La Esclava Blanca is a telenovela de época set in the slave era of Colombia. In this setting, Juliana Barrera and her team have to consider what slavery was like in Colombia, how slaves spoke, and what goals slaves and slaveowners would have. The directing team is responsible for ensuring that the actors correctly portray what the author has written in a way that accurately represents the time period. The director should be able to say that a Colombian slave would not speak how a native Colombian today would speak. Additionally, dress and setting are extremely important, and details matter. Victoria spends time at a convent in Spain, and she has a specific style that she must wear each day. Not only must her attire fit Spain in the 1800’s, but also what women of her age in convents wore at that time. Moreover, the houses in Colombia must match how they would have looked structurally in the 1800’s and how they would have been decorated at that time. Telenovelas have numerous directors which include studio and on location directors. These roles are extremely important for La Esclava Blanca because there are many inside locations that they film in, but they also have a lot of outdoor scenes that are supposed to be in Spain, in cotton fields, in town in Colombia, and many other places. They need the entire team, including the actors, to be on top of their game and in the right places doing the right things. The writers, directors, producers, editors, actors, and everyone else involved in production has to catch on to each of the details if they want their telenovela to successfully and realistically reflect the time and story they are trying to portray. Without this attention to detail, the telenovela falls in value.

            Despite not consciously considering the production process when watching a telenovela, I believe we pay more attention to production than we think. One deciding factor for me when choosing to watch La Esclava Blanca was the quality of the production. Camera quality and acting are extremely important to me. Therefore, seeing the clear and almost movie theater-like quality of the telenovela along with the strong acting, I was immediately drawn in. With as many locations and character interactions as the telenovela has, the Script is a vital person and the pauta is a vital object. The entire telenovela would fall apart without these two because someone and something needs to keep track of what is supposed to be happening and how it should be happening. Based on my viewing of the telenovela, the Script and the pauta have not failed them. Although, there are many positives of the production of La Esclava Blanca, one issue has remained prevalent to me throughout the series. This issue stems from the beginning stages of the production process with the writers. They are portraying a specific time in history where people had set roles and, although everyone could not fit perfectly into a little box, most people stuck to the status quo. The issue is that history is being revised by putting a “white” woman in a role of the savior and basing this off of her being raised in a place where she realistically would not have been accepted. The team does a great job at showing that she is not truly accepted by the group, but she is still there, and her presence takes away from the fact that this is meant to be a black-only safe space. The telenovela makes explicit that she takes away from that safety which takes away from her realistically being raised there. This combined with “all things free and fair” being placed in her hands forces me away from believing everything that the telenovela tells me. They lose the trance they have on me in the moments where these factors are clear. In turn, I believe this lowers the production value because, for me, high quality production will not lose its power in making believe everything they present to me. All in all, La Esclava Blanca is well produced, and I would happily watch more telenovelas and shows produced by the same team or majority of the team members involved in the creation of the telenovela.

The Making of La Esclava Blanca: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01eqhczgjKE