El viernes 20 asistí al IV Seminario de Investigación de la Universidad de los Andes. Además de ponerme al día sobre los resultados, en términos cuantitativos, de los trabajos de investigación de mis colegas de claustro, tuve la oportunidad de escuchar una estupenda disertación del Prof. Joaquín García-Huidobro sobre las relaciones entre la investigación académica como parte central del trabajo universitario y la fe cristiana.

El autor tuvo a bien autorizarme su publicación en este blog. Gracias, Joaquín.

Estas fueron las primeras palabras de su Conferencia:

El libro de la Metafísica de Aristóteles comienza con unas palabras que han llegado a ser célebres:  “Todos los hombres desean por naturaleza saber" (Met. I 1, 980 a 22). Cualquier profesor universitario puede leer esta afirmación con un cierto escepticismo, ya que la experiencia diaria le muestra que hay al menos algunos hombres, particularmente entre ciertos alumnos, que parecen no tener el mínimo interés por saber. Sin embargo esta experiencia no invalida la afirmación del Estagirita: los alumnos en cuestión no es que no quieran saber, puesto que sí les interesa saber la última novedad aparecida en Facebook, sino que no les interesa saber lo que está enseñando el profesor, que quizá es un poco aburrido. De modo, entonces, que la afirmación aristotélica no ha perdido un ápice de verdad en 24 siglos, aunque no permita albergar tantas esperanzas como insinuaba a primera vista.

Con todo, los modos en que los hombres nos interesamos por la verdad son muy diversos.

Leer el texto completo:

Click here to download:

Investigar_y_cristianismo_jgarciahuidobro.pdf (104 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

Investigar_y_cristianismo_jgarciahuidobro.pdf (104 KB)

Hace un mes, tuve la oportunidad de viajar a Perú, a dar el Seminario "El trabajo del espectador de cine", invitada por la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de Piura.

Quedé gratamente impresionada por el nivel cultural y humano de los alumnos y la competencia del cuerpo de profesores de la Facultad, entre ellos, puede estar con la Decana, Mela Salazar, el Director de Departamento, Andrés Garay, el Director de Programa, Juan Carlos More (alumni del Master en Guion y Desarrollo Audiovisual) y el Director de Estudios Alejandro Machacuay. Agradezco a todos su cordialidad.

Durante esos días, me hicieron una entrevista para la página de la universidad. En ella, hablamos de guion, de creación de historias y, cómo no, de películas. La entrevista en You Tube se puede ver aquí.

"Ahora bien, no se trata de llenarse la cabeza de datos, sino que lo importante es descubrir las claves que dan sentido a los hechos. Y tal hallazgo sólo se logra tras un largo ejercicio del pensar meditativo. Estamos sedientos de sentido. Pero hemos de recordar que el sentido sólo vale en cuanto que es camino hacia la verdad".

Lo dice, como siempre bien, Alejandro Llano, profesor de Metafísica de la Universidad de Navarra, tras recibir la Medalla de Oro de la Universidad.

No viene nada mal volver a leer las inspiradoras y exigentes palabras de Llano sobre el ser y el quehacer universitario.

This year I have not been able to participate at the Screenwriting Resource Network’s fourth annual Screenwriting Research Conference, and I missed it.

Nevertheless, there is always someone who has the strength and generosity to write a fine summary of the Conference. In this case, the author is not "someone" but one of the key-speakers, David Bordwell.

I have enjoyed a lot his post Scriptography, at his blog Observations on film art.

This is the ending sentence of Bordwell's post:

I think, that they [the academics and practitionairs who attended the Conference] are posing questions at a level of sophistication that my 1960s cohort couldn’t have envisioned. Despite what the cynics say, there is progress in academic work.

Just as well!

I encourage to read the full post.

By the way, I have published the paper that I read at the third annual Conference last year, in Copenhagen: Screenwriting Research: History, Theory and Practice. The title is a little bit provocative: The Practical Value of Theory: Teaching Aristotle's Poetics to Screenwriters. I would love to get feedback, if someone has the patience of reading it.

Then the recession happened in 2007 and the whole market crashed. I watched TV, I would read the newspapers, I would read the magazines, and I wouldn’t see anyone… anyone. They were all just numbers. There were no people. I wanted to put a face on the crisis. (...)

I know I’m not a great photographer, I’m not a great videographer, I’m not a great designer or anything. But I can put a story together well. (...)

Don’t forget, it’s not your story, it’s their story, and you’re just helping them tell that story. You can plan your shoots which will help you on the field if you’re not very comfortable, you can plan your questions which will help you a ton during the interview, but just don’t be like a horse race. You need to be looking around you. It’s not just about the technical, it’s not just about the questions, it’s about what’s the best way to tell this story. (...)

And that’s what multimedia is, you’re just telling their story, you’re touching peoples hearts. Whenever you’re showing someone a story you did and you see emotion in their face, that’s it. If you see a smile, if you see a tear, if you see someone sad, that’s it. That story fulfilled something.

Leo en una entrada de ragan.com "News and Ideas for Comunicators", esta frase (se refiere al caso del "ghost-writer" de la cuenta de Twitter de un CEO):

It is impossible to write something completely objectively. The author will always put some of his or her own bias into the writing. Even though the ghost-tweeter may be familiar with the CEO’s point of view, the author has the power to choose how to phrase a statement and what information to include in a tweet.

Lo dicho por Melodie Seble, estudiante de periodismo de la University of Oregon, bien se puede aplicar a cualquier tipo de escritura, también la del periodista que informa sobre el desarrollo de una manifestación, el debate de una ley o el caso judicial de una personalidad pública.

Y es que escribir implica siempre tomar decisiones sobre qué decir sobre qué y cómo. Por eso, las profesiones de la comunicación (el periodismo, la comunicación estratégica, la publicidad, la ficción) son profesiones de índole práctica (no sólo teórica o técnica), donde, al decidir, se pone en juego, constantemente, la propia conciencia.

Encuentro la nota de Seble en http://patologiascomunicacion.com/

As usual, I am happy to forward the mail that Jill Nelmes just send me. Thank you, Jill.

We invite researchers, educators and practitioners to contribute to Issue 3.2 of the Journal of Screenwriting, a newly established peer-reviewed journal which focuses on this important aspect of moving image pre-production and conceptualisation.  Contributions are sought on the history, theory and practice of screenwriting and related topics, covering a wide range of practices from film and television to animation, new media and computer games.

The Journal of Screenwriting brings together research and reflection on pedagogy, professionalism and practice in an area which has been somewhat overlooked in academic discourse.  New work has conventionally been scattered throughout journals devoted to specific aspects of media theory or practice, and this is the first academic journal to bring together serious screenwriting-related work under one title.  The Journal is international in scope, and seeks wide-ranging work which is critical, rigorous and original in its contribution to this developing area of study.  We expect to include work which employs a diverse range of methodological approaches, including textual analysis, production analysis, practice as research and historical investigation.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

•       Screenplay text analysis
•       Studies of individual practitioners, including screenwriters
•       Story and narrative analysis
•       Methodologies and theories appropriate for research and study in this field
•       Industrial structures, institutions and practices in relation to screenwriting
•       Gender and race issues
•       Genre studies
•       Comparative study between nations or regions, cultures and industries
•       Creativity and screen idea development
•       Conventions, norms and craft
•       Screen-reading and the reception of the screen idea
•       The history of screenwriting
•       Cognitivism, psychology and psychoanalysis in relation to screenwriting
•       National and international contexts

We also welcome articles suggesting new approaches to the study of screenwriting and new approaches to the teaching of screenwriting.
Articles should be between 4000 and 8000 words in length.

Articles, to include a 200 word abstract, should be sent by Monday 19th September 2011 to the Principal Editor, Jill Nelmes (j.nelmes@uel.ac.uk), and to the Co-Editor, Jule Selbo (jselbo@fullerton.edu). Please contact either Jill or Jule regarding any queries about suitability of subject or other requirements.

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