UNILEB

A lot of action was taking place on the set of UA’s audiovisual studio, in Baabda campus, right before everyone was off for the Holidays.

 

Third year audiovisual students were asked to prepare a live talk show, from A to Z, as part of a course entitled “Realisation 2” and under the supervision of professor Marc Boustany. This end of semester project aims to initiate the students to the field they are specializing in, by stepping in the real world of Television. Dr. Joseph Moukarzel,Dean of the faculty of Information and Communication, who was present during the filming, elaborated on the subject: “The idea is for the students to become a one man show; in other words, to be the cameraman, the sound engineer, the producer, the interviewer...” By learning about every job position, they can later on monitor their own crew and enhance the end results.  In summary, they will graduate as professionals.

 

But what does it take to create a live TV show? If you ask Mrs. Mirna Mefleh, Head of the audiovisual department at UA, it takes a lot. The only way for students to grasp it is to try it for themselves, and they had quite a to-do list to complete: set a filming crew, book filming equipment, pick a topic and develop the episode content, persuade guests to participate, decorate the set, schedule the filming day and finally, film the episode. They also had to develop an essential element in TV production: team work skills. Mrs. Mefleh says: “It’s one thing to collaborate with a team of 4 members you know well. But it’s a totally different case when you have to coordinate with 8+ members which you don’t necessarily know or get along with”.

 

For the second year, TV presenter Ghida Majzoub took part in the project and hosted the show along with her three guests: Lebanese film critic Georges Keidy, Lebanese actor Rodney Abdallah and Lebanese director Georges Nasser, the first Lebanese director to make it to the Cannes Film Festival, back in 1957. They were all ready before the camera started rolling, eager to discuss the topic selected by the students: â€œLebanese Cinema, Back Then and Until Now”. Reidy was happy with this choice, in view of its complexity. He explained how the local cinema industry is still in dilemma, present but not quite, undefined and most of all, intermittent. However, he has hope in the new generation of filmmakers who seem to be slowly but surely setting an identity to the Lebanese cinema, instead of just making “cinema in Lebanon”.

 

We all look forward to see, literately, what UA students will one day play on our screens.

 

And that’s a wrap!​