English Language Challenges

Learning all kinds of languages ​​is always enriching as it allows you to discover new horizons, especially English. Speaking English will also help us to have a more global perspective of the world, since it is the language in which the five continents can communicate, despite their differences. But sometimes the learning is quite complex and there can be a lot of difficulty, and even disappointment when it comes to acquiring all this knowledge correctly.

Although, during this year in the subject of English I have learned several things related to grammar and writing, one of my biggest difficulties, since I was in high school, has always been interacting with another person, speaking fluently. Perhaps the main reason for this failure is the shyness or the fear of being wrong in some word and feeling that what you said is incorrect or does not have coherence with what is spoken. In fact, until now I have never felt safe when I speak in English.

Outside of the university I do not speak in English, except if I meet a tourist walking around the city, something I have not had before, except when I listen to music of the same language. According to several studies, and even the teachers themselves recommend it, the best way to learn to speak English correctly is by simply listening and singing songs in English constantly.

We must begin to lose the fear of English, not because it is the universal language, but also opens you to a world of great opportunities that should not be wasted. 

Changing the Study Programme

It was during my five years in the university and studying the Cinema and TV career, I have discovered that this career has many shortcomings at the curriculum level. However, I don’t repentant by this decision to study an unconventional career. 

One of the weak points that my career has is that too many subjects related to communication are carried out whose knowledge is nor relevant to what we are studying. Also, in this career doesn’t prioritize the teaching of technical elements that are essential to advance and work in the audiovisual area. It must also be included in the academic aspect, that there are missing subjects where vital elements are deepened to discover the dynamics of cinema as is the theory of art and the visual resources used in cinematography.

Technically, exist an absence of audiovisual equipment (cameras, lenses, audio devices, computers, among other resources) that allow develop our exercises according to requirements of industry. We also feel as students that there is not adequate support when it comes to getting a professional practice because, having a very small work field in our country, it is very difficult to obtain a job in the future.

Currently, important changes are being made in the curriculum of our career that are being applied as of this year and that will allow us to correct the previous weaknesses.

Summer Holidays

The summer holidays are for me the best time of the year. It is the moment where you can rest and relax for a few weeks, you can also meet many new places. It is the ideal date to disconnect after an arduous year of work.

This year I plan to carry out various activities and visit several places. First, I will arrive to rest at my parents' house in Puerto Montt, where I will take advantage of going out with my friends to the beach. In addition, together with my family, we are organizing a great trip to Chiloé where we plan to visit several cities and towns. But everything will depend on the climatic conditions, since the climate in the south of Chile is very unpredictable. We hope to have no problems with that.

The places that we want to know, once we cross the channel of Chacao, are the Pingüineras of Puñihuil, located a few kilometers from Ancud, the stilt houses of Castro, go to the Chiloé National Park, Lake Cucao, and by the way, the patrimonial churches of Chiloé considered as World Heritage. But far the most attractive, is to enjoy the tranquility and beauty of this particular island with its own identity and people of a particular accent, who strive to provide a good stay and make the visitor feel welcome.

I also hope to visit my uncles and grandparents who live in Puerto Montt, so they can share an eleven or a barbecue with them. Anyway, always going back south, especially in summer, is very fun and comforting.

I had a strangest dream

I do not remember having any strange dream until this moment. Sometimes I think I have a short-term memory when it comes to remind dreams. Inclusive, often don’t remember that I dreamed the night before. The dreams represent an unknown universe and full of mystery that remain unresolved.

However, this is one of the few dreams of which I have a permanent memory. This happened in 2013, a few months after my paternal grandfather died. I remember that I was at home watching television, when in an unexpected situation the television goes off. Then, they knock on the door of my house, I look out the window to see who it is. I open the door and my grandfather enters. 

He asks me if it's all right or if I had a problem, since I was alone in my house. I told him I was fine, but I had turned off the TV, so he was helping me find the solution to turn it on again. It is at that moment when we discovered that I was unplugged without being noticed from the beginning.

After that situation, I plugged in the television and it turned on. Finally, I gave my grandfather a big hug to help me. Maybe it is a very trivial situation, but the context of this story is focused on the cordiality and the desire to help that he had and always worried that his grandchildren did not lack anything at all. The impact that his unexpected death left me was immense, that is why I will always remember him as a great person.

Postgraduate studies

One of my dreams, since I started studying this overwhelming but interesting career, it would be enhance the development of documentary cinema as of regions. That's why, I have in mind to continue my postgraduate studies in this area. Precisely, the University of Chile teaches since 2010 the Master in Documentary Film focused in three principal areas: creation, visual theory and documentary management.

The Master's Program aims to train documentary filmmakers capable of designing and producing audiovisual works that investigate in the real world and create their own language based on their creative personality. Through practical experimentation, analysis and reflection is stimulated the understanding of the ethical and aesthetic scope of the realization of documentaries, as well as theoretical cultural debates and new trends in contemporary documentary production.

At the epistemological level, it gives account of the importance that the construction of the point of view acquires in order to determine where the gaze is constituted; knowing that from there articulate the speeches that every film unfolds and in particular, the documentary film; but also, from there, they are put into crisis. In addition, there are the competencies to perform in the field of Documentary Cinema in the aspects related to Production, Screenplay, Direction, realization and distribution channels, as with the possibility to base these realizations in a solid management both thematic and the methodological processes of research.

My future job

I'm finishing my studies of filmmaker and I don't know what to do with my life at the moment! No, it's a lie hahaha.  I'm currently developing my thesis project consisting of a short film documentary.  It has been a exhaustive work, but it is moving fast, there fore, I hope to release next year. Once graduated, I would like to continue working in the development of documentary films, mainly in southern of Chile, which is where I come from.

I have never liked working in an office and I hope it will be. I would like to work in the field, always outdoor, touring and getting to know places, cultures, traditions and, of course, people and being able to record them with my camera. Maybe, the only time I could be locked up would be while I'm in the editing room.

By the way, it is possible to do post-graduate in Documentary Filmmaking, Photography Directing or Culture Management, always working and participating in the audiovisual area. In fact, one of my main hopes is to develop the film and audiovisual industry in sector far from Santiago, and escape the centralism that surrounds this country. There are several filmmakers who are making progress in this kind of initiatives, so I hope to contribute in some way to the development of Chilean cinema.

My favourite film ending

It's very difficult to talk about my favorite movie ending, since I have many options, but this time I will tell you that the end of The Truman Show that represents an allegory of a society that depends on the media reality, the ambition of the media who do anything to obtain some economic benefit, the inability to look for other ways other than the show based mainly on Plato's Myth of the Cavern.

The film starring Jim Carrey and Laura Linney tells the story of Truman Burbank that is the unsuspecting star of "The Truman Show", a reality television program which is broadcast live around the clock and across the globe. His entire life has taken place within a giant arcological dome in Hollywood, fashioned to create the seaside town of Seahaven Island, and equipped with thousands of cameras to monitor all aspects of Truman's life.

Although he lives in his world, without doubting his reality, Truman's idea is to travel. However, the directors of the show have already dealt with fearing the sea, the planes so that you do not think of leaving that small world and traveling to the Fiji islands .. There are small incidents that miss you, a falling focus of the sky, and other details, such as feeling observed when he leaves the routines marked, especially when Silvia, the girl / actress of the television he has fallen in love with, reveals in a moment that everything is false, a TV set and asks him to escape from there as soon as possible.

From there Truman begins to plan its flight and tries without it, until it decides to leave to the sea with a boat, still realizing that it could die in the attempt. Suddenly the bow of the ship breaks the set, is the first contact with the terrible reality that his life is totally false. discovers a ladder and tries to get out. is when you hear the voice of Christof, the creator, producer and god, who says from the sky: "I am the creator of the television program that thrilled thousands of people.You are the protagonist. the world I've created for you, the same lies, (...) but in my world you have nothing to fear. I know you better than yourself, you're afraid that's why you can not leave ... "But Truman's desire to escape it is an obsession with finding their freedom and Sylvia, the young girl who has fallen in love.

The loss of freedom of the individual in an increasingly globalized society is something that is the order of the day. There is not that much difference between Truman and us. Someday, we, like Truman, may have the opportunity to cross that door in the middle of the sky that will lead us to our own lives. And, "if we do not see each other then ... good morning, good afternoon and good evening!"