CULTURE AND MEDIA > LEBANON
Think web, write web, film web n The seat of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts in Beirut
www.enpi-info.eu More and more people are connected to two screens at the same time: people watch the TV whilst holding their laptop or tablet. ‘Transmedia’ is a new form of writing which consists of working on an artistic, fun or informative project while using several media together. By taking part in the DIA SUD MED project – financed by the EU as part of the Euromed Audiovisual programme – students have discovered this pioneering idea, so innovative that, in Lebanon, the ALBA school of cinema and graphic design has incorporated it into is official course. After all, this is about the new direction that audiovisual media is taking. A journalist from the European Neighbourhood Centre viited a training session organised by the project and sent us this report. Text by: Antoine Ajoury Pictures by: AFP ©EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre They’re young and brimming with energy and future projects. They are the pioneers of a future Mediterranean transmedia school. Mohamed, Nour, Bassam, Joy and Nivine are five Lebanese students, each from a different discipline, but the DIA SUD MED project has brought them together around a pioneering idea called transmedia. The project brings together three schools of cinema, graphic design and multimedia from the southern Mediterranean (ALBA in Beirut, ISAMM in Tunis and ESAV in Marrakesh). Cofinanced by the European Union, it aims to develop the southern Mediterranean audiovisual industry through training sessions generating excellence and meetings of professionals. “This project is mainly aimed at training young people in this new form of writing that’s called transmedia,” says This publication does Vincent Melilli, the Director of the project and of ESAV Marrakesh, straight from the outset. Transmedia consists not represent the official view of the EC of “working on an artistic, fun or informative project while using or the EU institutions. several media together”, explains Alain Brenas, Director of the ALBA EU Neighbourhood Info Centre The EC accepts no school of cinema and graphic design. “We can thus produce a film and Feature no. 119 responsibility or then create an interactive game about the film.” Mr Brenas also points This is a series of features on projects liability whatsoever out that it is “a pioneering area. Even in the US and in Europe, they ae funded by the EU, prepared by with regard to its still in the middle of building this area”. journalists and photographers on the content. ground or the EU Neighbourhood ALBA has thus incorporated into its official course a module on Info Centre. transmedia in the school of cinema and the school of graphic design. © 2014 EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre There will soon be a university diploma in this type of production. “This project has enabled us to master our needs so as to put in place
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n The DIA SUD MED
project has put in place complementary hubs of excellence
n Vincent Melilli, Director of the project and of ESAV Marrakesh
n Alain Brenas, Director of the school of cinema and graphic design at ALBA
n Nour Tayeh, producer of the project ‘The tree of forbidden love’
n Bassam Naous, a 22year-old doing a Masters in multimedia studies
n Nivine Yakzan, a 24-
year-old doing a Masters in multimedia studies
n Joy Zeinoun, a 24-yearold doing a Masters in production studies
n Mohamed Sabbah, a 23-
year-old Masters student in cinema production
some real educational content with the aim of creating a Mediterranean transmedia school in the long term. We’re in the process of getting a little ahead of the market,” said Mr Brenas proudly. A way of getting round censorship “We were sceptical about the idea and content of the programme given that transmedia, for us filmmakers, is killing the big screen,” admits Mohamed Sabbah, a 23-year-old student doing a Masters in cinema production. It’s the same for Joy Zeinoun, a 24-year-old doing a Masters in production: “I was also apprehensive at the start of the project. Who is the target? The challenge for me is the interaction and involvement of the spectator.” Agreeing wholeheartedly, Nivine Yakzan, a 24-year-old who is doing a Masters in multimedia studies thinks that he is attracted “by the novelty and originality of transmedia but also by the cooperation with filmmakers, an aspect that I hadn’t imagined beforehand”. “Afterwards, we became very interested when we found that this is the new direction that audiovisual production is taking. It’s a new world that enables us to have a much broader platform,” admits Mohamed, who maliciously adds: “Transmedia is going to allow us also to address issues that censorship in our country bans us from doing on the big screen.” According to Mohamed, from an artistic point of view, “transmedia is pushing us towards even bigger challenges as we bring together several strands, from web designers to filmmakers to marketing people. That was a great discovery.” The story was the same for Bassam Naous, a 22-year-old doing a Masters in multimedia studies: “With transmedia, we’ve learnt to use our training to make web documentaries, series on the internet, web fiction stories etc… Our challenge is to mix the design side and interactivity with the cinematographic side to produce a useful and original work of art,” he adds. Mixture of cultures Another particularity of the DIA SUD MED project is the cooperation and interaction between Lebanese, Tunisian and Moroccan schools and students. A particular trait of these Francophone schools that are in Arab-speaking countries is their mastery of two languages and two cultures. This allows for very interesting cross-fertilisation,” thinks Vincent Melilli. For Alain Brenas, “it has been interesting to work with schools that share the same problems. So we were looking for the same solutions. And that is what this project has given us, with the contribution of expertise coming from Europe”. There is another advantage which concerns students directly, namely the discovery of talent in the region of the southern Mediterranean and the creation of a sort of synergy on the human and professional level, which has been very important,” thinks Mr Brenas. The DIA SUD MED project has made it possible to put in place complementary hubs of excellence so as to create an activity that develops along the lines of a south-south relationship more than a north-south one, creating another kind of flow. So we envisage that, in Lebanon, these training sessions would revolve more around production, in Tunisia around what is transmedia content and in Morocco around everything that is digital post-production. In each of the schools, there would be students from these three countries, invited to professional exhibitions to create networks. Vincent Melilla stresses the long term and complementary nature of the project. “Those who have followed the DIA SUD MED programme will continue to see each other because they have lived together. For example, people will look for a producer in Beirut but will make and film the films in Morocco… this is how transnational working habits will come into being. And those people will necessarily work on projects tailored to the region and no longer local ones. That’s
“‘Transmedia’ is a new form of writing which consists of working on an artistic, fun or informative project while using several media together.”
“Transmedia is pushing us towards even bigger challenges as we bring together several strands, from web designers to filmmakers to marketing people. That was a great discovery.”
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“Those who have followed the DIA SUD MED programme will continue to see each other… For example, people will look for a producer in Beirut but will make and film the films in Morocco… this is how transnational working habits will come into being.”
part of the aim of the programme.” One of the Lebanese projects is called ‘The tree of forbidden love’ and is going to bring together stories of forbidden love, be they love across different faiths or homosexual love etc. and offering testimonies and story reconstructions. “These stories are universal. They happen in n Round table at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) Morocco as much as in Lebanon.” Nour Tayeh is the producer of the project. In her view, DIA SUD MED has offered a chance to discover new horizons by getting to know another country. “It has allowed us to open ourselves up to other cultures too and I’m sure that it could also open up other opportunities for us in the future.” “I also realised the importance of the internet in my work: knowing how to use my training as a producer based on the needs of the web. It’s a whole training programme to think web, write web and film web! It’s the future,” she concluded.
DIA SUD MED - Development of the South Mediterranean Audiovisual Industry through training in excellence and professional meetings http://www.diasudmed.com/ DIA SUD MED is a project based on the partnership of three Mediterranean schools specialised in the audiovisual, arts and multimedia sectors. These schools will work together to provide students and professionals in the region with training modules on the management of the audiovisual industry over a period of one year (ten participants per cycle and per country for a total of 90 participants). The project also aims to create three advice bureaus for the establishment of audiovisual and management companies in the three partner schools located in Tunisia, Morocco and Lebanon. Period: 36 months Promoter: Higher School of Visual Arts of Marrakesh
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