Sunday Times 2
Dream degree to make TV, film professionals
Sri Lanka’s first degree programme in film and television, touching the hi-tech and digital dimensions, is to be started at the Kelaniya University on the initiative of one of Sri Lanka’s most eminent film personalities, D.B. Nihalsingha, the son of D. B. Dhanapala, who is regarded as the doyen of journalists.
D.B. Nihalsingha Pix by Athula Devapriya
Dr. Nihalsingha, founder Chairman of the National Film Corporation and the winner of national and international awards, said the film and TV course would begin next year. With some publicity given to the course, about 2100 students of all streams have applied though only 30 places are available in this faculty headed by Dr. Nihalsingha. The applicants sat for an examination last Saturday to be tested on mainly in their ‘basic creative impulses’.
The selected students will be trained in scriptwriting, camera work, editing, how to structure a screen play and other areas of film or programme making. While theory will be taught, the students will also get practical training from renowned film and TV programme directors. At the end of the course, the students will be required to make their own film that will be funded by the university.
Dr. Nihalsingha said that formulating the course was no easy task. “It was an elongated and laborious task. This did not happen overnight. I began the work five years ago and now it has borne fruit,” he said, adding that he revised the curriculum and the course during his time as a Fellow in Film and Television at the university.
He said during the process it was hard to make people understand that students from all streams can be trained to create film and TV programmes. Taking the example of award winning movie maker and writer Asoka Handagama who has a first class honours degree in mathematics from the University of Kelaniya, Dr. Nihalsingha drove his point home. Former Vice Chancellor M. J. S. Wijeyaratne, senior lecturer Patrick Ratnayake and the present Vice Chancellor Sunanda Madduma Bandara have pledged their full support to the programme which they described as a step to put right some flaws in the local movie industry.
“For years, the universities have ignored the most popular mediums — Film and TV. On the other hand, there are degrees and courses for drama, dancing and music which attract a small audience, while filsma and TV shows are seen by millions,” Dr. Nihalsingha said.
He said the process of creating a good film or a TV programme would go from bottom up than the other way round, which was the practice now. He said the burst into prizes and film festivals was not the right way to improving the industry, as there was a void in training intelligent, enthusiastic, young and creative people who would come into the field next. He said more people should be trained professionally and be well educated on the subject.
“We have superb directors and cameramen in our industry but most of them are not professionally trained. As most have not been professionally trained, we see the result on the screen. And this has affected our film and TV industry in a negative way,” he said. Dr. Nihalsingha said the students would also be trained in the use of the latest technology.
“Today we have to move on from analog TV and analog film to digital TV and film. Most people in the industry are unaware of digitalisation. More than 85 per cent of the world film and TV industry is digital while in Sri Lanka it is only five per cent. So our students will be fully trained in digitalisation. They will be the key people to bridge the gap here.
“The impact of the new degree programme will not be immediate. The students will have to go up the ladder. Different people will have different inclinations in the industry but we will train the students to be all-rounders. Each one will have to do camerawork, editing and well trained in every aspect of the industry. When they move to the top, we will see a huge difference in the quality of our TV programmes and films,” Dr. Nihalsingha said.
The veteran who has worked in the industry for 45 years has has trained about 500 people in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. They are now serving in top positions in the film and TV industry.
“I couldn’t give Sri Lankans a systematic training. A university can do. Now we have got the chance to to that,” he said. Talking about the challenges he said they would have to get good teachers and for the first year, he hoped to recruit industry experts on part time basis. He said he would also have to convince TV and film directors to take the students for practical training. Books and DVDs would be required for the library.