Produciendo de Celia

Producciones de telenovelas o películas están un area no tenía mucho conocimiento en pero la clase ayudaba comprender como trabajar. 

Desde la discusión de la producción, imagino cada escena como si estuviera siendo filmada. Sin el sonido, sin romance y con mucho equipo y instrucciones. 

Como una consumidora, creía "como los actores tienen esos momentos en la escena y miran natural". Está porque los directores pasan mucho tiempo corregir cada acción. Los detalles en un episode está inmensurable. Cuando miramos el clips durante producción, el director dio tanta instrucción que sólo en el posicionamiento de los actores. Ahora, pensando en Celia, que incorpora tanto los actuando y cantando, probablemente había tantos miembros adicionales en el equipo.

Antes de filmar, el equipo de producción tiene que considerar quién ocupará los papeles. En el cuento de Celia Cruz, necesitaron actriz que pueda cantar. Fox Telecolombia elegió Aymée Nuviola, una cubana cantente de Miami. Ella tiene un voz que es muy similar a Celia Cruz y Nuviola usa Celia Cruz como inspiración en su carera. Esto la hace una buena elección.

Según Miami Herald,"es considerada una de las artistas que mejor interpretan y reviven el estilo de cantar y bailar de Celia Cruz." 

Por ejemplo, la escena de apertura representa la actuación de Celia Cruz en el Emmy; la recreación de esa escena está muy bien hecho a partir de los movimientos de Aymee Nuviola, el pelo y el ropa. 

En un articulo se anunció que la licencia para la música de Celia Cruz era demasiado caro por lo que utiliza la voz de Nuviola. Esta es una parte de la producción que no consideraría antes de esta clase.

El producción de telenovelas es un arte más intenso. También requiere paciencia, atención al detalle y adaptabilidad. Un escritor puede tener una visión y la realidad podría ser que no será capaz de producir de esa manera, pero que no puede impactar la calidad de la telenovela. 














https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article2568506.html 
https://www.nbcmiami.com/blogs/latin-beat/Celia-Cruz-Novela-Celebrates-the-Life-and-Talent-of-the-Iconic-Queen-of-Salsa--331926861.html 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2015/10/13/telemundo-aims-to-capture-the-vibrancy-of-celia-cruz-in-an-80-part-novela/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.24e5a86f22b8

   

Production and Music: Narcocorridos

Aurelio Casillas - El Señor de los Cielos

While music production within a telenovela can gear a viewer on how to feel, the music also teaches us about what we're consuming. The main theme, for example, can tell the audience the overall feel of a show, be it romantic, serious and lively. And not only in telenovela production, but this theme presents itself in a multitude of shows, no matter the origin or the genre. As for El Señor de los Cielos, the corridos music genre perpetuates itself throughout the entirety of the show — specifically, a sub-genre called narcocorridos. While a corrido is a Mexican ballad, similar to the Norteño and Ranchera genres, a narcocorrido tells a story of powerful narcotrafficker or drug smuggler.

As stated above, music, such as the main theme, can tell the viewer a lot before even watching the show. As for El Señor de los Cielos, the opening theme includes a narcocorrido, sung by a Mexican group called the Cardenales de Nuevo Leon. This is the case all the way through season six. Considering the plot of El Señor de los Cielos and the narcotrafficking themes, the opening music accurately depicts the plot of the story audibly and through its lyricism. As well as this telenovela, similar narconovelas, such as La Reina del Sur opens with a narcocorrido  — accurately depicting the plot through its lyricism as well.

Aside from corridos, music and sound in an overall sense assists audiences in deciphering the seriousness or lightness of a situation within all telenovelas. Scenes, such as when someone enters a room and a dark and serious music starts playing, guides a viewer to feel the way the director intended them to feel. Though some do not notice, without the music, a simple entry, such as someone coming in the door, could seem ordinary when in fact the scene may be incredibly important.

But not only do these Telemundo Super Series incorporate this genre in their overarching themes, plenty of American series have utilized the music as well. One, for example, AMC's popular hit show Breaking Bad incorporated a narcocorrido into season two, episode seven. The episode was named "Negro y Azul."

Overall, the concept of production, specifically music, creates a pathway for the audience to feel a certain way and decipher the gravity of a scene that they are consuming. While narcocorridos have definitely made an impact in the telenovela world through narconovelas, the importance of music in general has become such an important element in the production of these shows.

How else do you all think music affects the audience of a telenovela?

Music Production in La Reina del Sur

There is so much that goes into the production of a telenovela that I did not notice. In all honesty, I do not know much about the production process in general. There is a long pipeline of communication that makes everything happen. What the viewer sees is the cast on television, but what makes everything happen is the production team that works the whole process.

There are rehearsals with the director on the floor and in the booth. Scenes are taped and reviewed, scripts are changed, scenes are shot out of order and then pieced together. Once this is all done, post-production begins. The post-production is what I notice most about the production process. As a viewer, I love the music aspect to the Telenovelas.

I have been watching “La Reina Del Sur” over the past couple of weeks, and the one thing that I have always noticed throughout the show is the music element. There are two songs that are played periodically throughout the show. One is the theme song and the other is the chorus of “Quédate.” There are other musical components, but these are the two songs that stand out the most.

Although I find the element of music so important, the post-production music aspects did not become extremely relevant to me until Teresa and Santiago met a couple episodes in. The first time Teresa accepted Santiago’s efforts to get to know her this song played. After that, “Quédate” played every time Santiago and Teresa have a moment of intimacy. It pushes the idea of Teresa and Santiago. The song is sung very passionately, and it demonstrates the passion between the two in a different way than just watching. The producers matched the emotions to the music. Teresa had a love, Güero, before Santiago, and she thought that she would never be able to love again. “Quédate” represents how Teresa feels about Santiago. It is a great addition to the production of the show because it continuously reminds the viewers that Teresa thought she could never love again, but Santiago changed her mind. It puts words to the thoughts that go through Teresa’s mind that the viewers cannot see.

The theme song of La Reina del Sur by Los Tigres Del Norte gives insight to what happens within the telenovela. It is a very catchy tune that sticks to La Reina del Sur. During the transitions, it plays a line from the song and says “la reina del sur, traficante muy famosa,” and continuously reminds you who Teresa is. The theme song never lets the viewers lose sight of the fact that Teresa Mendosa is the queen of the south of Spain when it comes to drug trafficking. It plays into the narconovela aspects because it addresses that Teresa is a drug trafficker, but in a tone that is not scary nor typically associated with drug trafficking. It keeps the viewer tuned in because the song is catchy, but also explains what is actually happening.

Like I mentioned above, there are so many things that play into the production of a telenovela. What is special about music is it is the one thing the viewers see as something the producers do. It is not something the characters do during their time on the screen. It is adds to the actions of the characters, but allows the viewers to know there is more going on behind the scenes.

Songs of Al Otro Lado Del Muro

During the production unit, we talked about the importance of the music to a telenovela and after watching an episode of Al Otro Lado del Muro, paying special attention to the music, I noticed several patterns that the production team made sure to include.

First of all, the song choice for the entrada is extremely important. This song is the one that becomes attached to the telenovela the quickest for obvious reasons and can become synonymous with the telenovela long after the telenovela has ended. Songs like Contra Viento y Marea by Intocable for a telenovela of the same name starring Adela Norriega or Al Diablo con los Guapos by K-Paz played everyday in my house and became attached to a particular time, day, and invoke certain memories of me and my grandma sitting in the living room at 8pm.

From the very first day, I noticed that the song featured in Al Otro Lado del Muro was very different from those of other telenovelas that I have watched and even the ones we watched in class. It was different because it isn’t describing the story or any of the characters, rather it’s a somber instrumental song with a woman vocalizing throughout. The entrada is extremely important since it sets the tone for the telenovela and can either hook or disinterest the audience. By choosing a song that is so different from those of the telenovelas that come before it, it is setting itself apart. Additionally, in many places, the 9 o’clock hour is when networks are allowed to show the more mature/edgy content so the entrada for Al Otro Lado del Muro does a great job of alerting the audience of this fact. Additionally, the non-traditional song choice is great since the telenovela itself is a nontraditional telenovela.

Al Otro Lado del Muro also features songs for some of the main couples including Joel and Sofia and Tomas and Frida. Amar Solo es Amar by Erick Bolivar is a sensual ballad that is played at moments when either Joel and Sofia are together or there is some sort of tension between the two characters, sexual or otherwise.

The song itself is very poetic, with the lyrics talking about living a new life with a new perspective, and searching for something more in life which is very fitting of their love story and more specifically reflects each of their journeys in the telenovela. For Sofia, she went from being a sheltered housewife and first lady to a presumed criminal who prostituted young girls to a member of the Witness Protection Program and finally, a spy in her own right. Joel on the other hand, was cold and kept to himself at first and completely cut himself off to feeling very much emotion until he met Sofia who helped him become more open and personable individual throughout their relationship. The song also features various melodic ups and downs which are reflective of the various obstacles and barriers Joel and Sofia must overcome to be together in the end.

Another couple who has a “theme” song is Tomas and Frida. Daniela Macias, the actress who plays Frida sings Amores de Lejos about two people who have been driven apart due to circumstance but the girl (who is singing) wants things to go back to how they were in the beginning. She sings “ya casi no queda, ya casi no hay, dime cuando vuelves, dime una vez mas” so she’s asking her partner when he will come back or when things will go back to normal between them. The song carries double meaning for the couple because while it explains their separation in the lyrics, it is also the song that get Frida a record deal and she records it while they are broken up.

            While there are many decisions made behind the camera that we as audience members don’t get to see, music offers an inside look at what the producers and writers were feeling or wanting to create within the audience and offers an invaluable asset to the production as a whole.

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

Telemundo Did Well with Al Otro Lado Del Muro

I'm halfway through the first season of Al Otro Lado Del Muro, a story of two women and friends with completely different lives that cross the border into the United States. To begin, I'm not a TV fanatic - meaning, I rarely watch TV in the first place. When I do, I never think twice about anything other than the storyline itself. 

Fast-forward to our unit on Production and I began paying closer attention to detail. I started to dissect the characters and see where they're from and how they contribute to the story and the production value of the show itself. I found that all of the main characters are famous Mexican actors and actresses, with the exception of Marjorie de Sousa who is Venezuelan. Additionally, the show which begins in the year of 2008, flashes forward to 2018. It focuses on an issue that has received a lot of attention in the last few years - the wall. 

Since Donald Trump's introduction to politics back in 2015, he has made a platform around immigration and building a wall between Mexico and the United States. The writer of this telenovela, Laura Sosa, decided to take a major issue and create a real story behind it, not only for entertainment but also to raise awareness. 

I think the details of the cast, writer and director themselves play a major part in how well this show is produced. Being all of Mexican decent, they clearly tell a story that captivates, and the high quality acting and filming definitely enhances it. Additionally, the show is filmed in Mexico and Los Angeles - not in another place that looks similar like many American TV shows do. It makes the scenes more authentic and it creates the realness that viewers like me experience. 

Of course the setting, the different camera angles and the music greatly enhance the production value because it has clean filming and switches between both stories to equally convey each clearly. But, what really makes the show is how the actors play their characters so well and embellish the storyline that Laura Sosa has intended to be groundbreaking in our modern day. 

Without the actors and actresses and a storyline and setting that resonates as well as the issue with the wall and immigration, I don't think this show would have nearly the great production value it currently has. I'm eager to continue noticing the details that continue to relate back to production in the show as I continue through the series. 

La producción de un episodio de La Piloto: La música

Después de nuestra clase sobre la música de las telenovelas, me interesa aplicar la información que aprendimos a un episodio de La Piloto. Pues, os tomaré en un viaje a través de un episodio de La Piloto. Si quieren seguir con mis descripciones, el episodio que analicé fue Capítulo 25.

El resumen del episodio anterior empieza con un ritmo electrónico. Cuando acerca al fin del resumen, el momento del suspenso que terminó el episodio anterior, el ritmo electrónico para. En lugar, oímos violines rápidos y tambores fuertes. Pienso que crearon la música así para construir el sentimiento del suspenso desde el principio del episodio. Éste es importante para enganchar la audiencia: los que siguen mirando después del episodio anterior, los que empiezan a mirar sólo para “La Piloto” y los que están pasando a través de los canales. Finalmente, el resumen termina con tambores rápidos antes de la pantalla se hace oscura. Como miembro de la audiencia, yo recuerdo lo que sentí al fin del episodio anterior: la curiosidad de si Dave y Monica descubrirán que Simpson es un “topo” y si Yolanda le entregará a la DEA. En un instante, estoy enganchada, el director ha tenido éxito en su trabajo del atraer los espectadores.

En los primeros minutos, otro cartel le dispara Oscar, el hermano de John, el jefe de el cartel de las sombras. Música lenta de piano, acompaña esta escena. Como espectador, la música me ayuda a sentir la pena de John cuando encuentra a Oscar. Sobrevivirá Oscar? Los medicos pueden ayudarle o es demasiado tarde? Sin la música gentil pero tenso, no sé si hubiera pensado en cómo John se siente. En lugar, pienso que sólo enfocaría en la pena de Oscar. Mientras John se preocupa por Oscar, las azafatas y el resto del cartel intenta arreglar las consecuencias de la pelea de armas. La música en el fondo comprende de tambores y carillones, representando cómo grave es la situación.

Por primera vez,  me doy cuenta de que cuando hay diálogo hay silencio. No añaden música durante del principio del dialogo ni durante dialogo que no es tenso. En lugar, hay el sonido del los grillos. Cuando la conversación entre dos personajes llegan a un momento importante, el sonido de los grillos desaparece y los tambores fuertes y ominosos regresan. A mí, el sonido de los grillos y los tambores crean un contraste profundo entre el diálogo. Los tambores casí funcionan a subrayar el diálogo importante y los momentos esenciales a la trama. Este contraste llama la atención de la audiencia a los momentos que hacen preparaciones para el momento del mayor suspenso: al fin.

La Piloto utiliza los flashbacks con frecuencia. Durante estas escenas, muestran otra vez una escena de un episodio anterior con un efecto de niebla en la pantalla. Mientras se reproduce la escena, quitan la música original y lo reemplaza con el sonido de címbalos. A mí, crea un ambiento misterioso y señala que el personaje recuerda algo importante del pasado. Reconozco este fenómeno con los personajes de la federal, Zulima y Yolanda. Sin embargo, Yolanda también tiene flashbacks de su noche con Dave. No presté atención a la música la última vez que vi una escena como así, pero pienso que la música fue diferente.

Finalmente, llega el tiempo del tema, Buena Vida por Manuel Ramos Quintana. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TvCHJ-wudo) 

Las líricas describen la vida de un piloto, manejando un avión en las nubes. La canción dice “Buena vida, me quiero dar buena vida

Aunque me cueste la vida”, reflejando la vida de Yolanda. Además, el ritmo de la canción es atrayente, un equilibrio entre una telenovela del amor y una telenovela del narcotráfico. Muchas veces, me encuentro cantando en mi mente cuando termino el episodio. 

En contraste con otros episodios que terminan con la música rápida, fuerte y ruidosa, el fin de este capítulo está acampando por la música lenta del piano. En la escena final, Yolanda, la protagonista, y John tienen un momento íntimo antes del vuelo de Yolanda. Pienso que el director lo hace como así porque utiliza la incertidumbre sobre el estatus de su relación para enganchar la audiencia en lugar de un momento culminante como un accidente o una muerte. Funciona porque estoy enganchada para el próximo episodio!