Ana Fanelli
Tácia Risério
Clact Zoom is a experimental producer that works inside Cásper Líbero university: everything there is done by the students of Radio, TV & Internet. They are responsible for the institutional videos, they work with Edição Extra (a Gazeta TV program that is created and edited by Journalism students), they help students of any major with their personal projects and they also have their own projects, as “Epiderme Geek” and “Minuto Clact”. To know more about this amazing producer, we interviewed Tácia Riséiro Hersting (last year of RTVI) and Ana Fanelli (second year of RTVI), the girls who work as monitors at Clact Zoom.
How the idea of creating Clact Zoom came up and who was responsbile for naming it like that?
Tácia: Clat Zoom was born a bit after the beginning of Radio, TV & Internet classes at Cásper Líbero. The producer’s idea is to serve the students as a possibility to accomplish different projects, not only college work, but also personal projects. The name was given by our professor Kleber Machado. Marco Vale – Clact’s coordinator – came with the idea for a logo, an opening sequence and a name that really look more like a formal video producer and not a college experimental space.
How did your story at CZ begin?
A: I met Clact as soon as I began college. They have introduced the project very briefly during the course presentation at the beginning of my freshamn year, and from that moment on I was interested in participating. Right after, when I was selected to do my first TV participation at “Edição Extra”, I met Victória Moreira – one of the monitors at Clact at the time and we became good friends. This got me to know more about the producer’s work and environment. I spent all my first year at Clact, participating of EE or being friends with the monitors. It was a really good energy.
T: I joined Clact by the end of 2016, but my story with the producer goes back to my freshman year. My classmates and I had the idea of producing a webserie named “Cuidado, frágil” (“Handle With Care”, in English) and we went there to get some councilling. We ended up working so hard on it that two of my classmates which did this project with me end up as monitors of the producer. So, eventually, I was always there with them and helped whenever I could as a volunteer. In the end of 2016, there was a vacant monitor position, so I applied and got to be officialy a part of the producer.
How were you selected to work at CZ? Was there an interview process? If you could give one tip to someone that wishes to work at Clact Zoom, what would be?
T: It is basically a resume analysis and an interview with the coordinator, similar to other workplaces. One tip that I give for the students it’s to get involved with Edição Extra and/or with projects at CZ as much as possible. In my opinion, to show proactivity and your desire to make good audiovisual projects. You don’t need to be an expert, but you must have the will power!
A: The main requirement to join the producer is to be really proactive and team enganged. It doesn’t matters if it is on an event coverage, on projects of others students or on EE, you need to be part of it and work hard. Just for you to have an idea, by the end of my freshman year, I had 700 complementary hours, the equivalent to how many hours of volunteer activities I have done.
What is each member responsibility?
T: The division is really democratic. All the monitors can experiment everything, it’s like been at an audiovisual laboratory, where we can interssect functions. We usually divide everything, in order to prevent overloading in a single person. Regarding the tasks, we have to operate the camera and audio instruments, edit and, eventually, produce. For now, I work mostly on operating cameras, but I pretend to vary more so I can learn different skills.
A: We don’t have a defined division process. We try to split more by who can or would like to do what in each project. As Victor and I live quite far from Cásper, we try to work on mornings and afternoons. But when, for example, we’ve an event that happens schedule for night time, either Tácia or I will do the filming. When someone really likes or cares for a project, he/she is usually more responsible for it.
What are the proceedings in CZ?
T: The process is assisted by the coordinator Marcos Vale. We always have his support and he taught us how to communicate in a formal way. However, normally, most of the production that Clact Zoom does is inside the university, renting equipment and transitioning the structure inside the building itself. On Edição Extra’s case, we usually support the filmings and pieces, along with volunteer students.
A: It depends a lot of the project. However the basic steps are: production, recording and the after-production.The production part is all about planning, so it concerns the part when we organize everything that needs to be in place in order for the basic idea to happen. That applies from writing down a script to renting the equipment. The second part, the recording is usually the busiest. It is very technical and we need to take care of the video, the audio, the quality and the whole team performance. The after-production surrounds the material’s decoupage and editing. It’s the best part, because it’s when you start to see the project taking form.
Which projects you helped with and is proud of?
A: I like “Minuto Clact” a lot Although I haven’t participated in the production, it was one of the first exclusive things, produced, directed and edited by Clact that really called my attention. It’s a very simple video, in which different students talk about their favorite movie or TV show in only one minute.
T: I really enjoy the news pieces we do for EE. Until now, the one that I liked the most is about a project that teaches kids how to do graffiti, called “Quixote Project”. This piece yielded a lot of beautiful images and the edition was really well crafted, specially syncronizing with the music. For me, this is our biggest goal at Clact: create and develop content in the best way possible.
About the future, which project do you want to develop?
A: We want to resume production for “Minuto Clact” and organize movies sessions, one per month, in our workplace, with debates after the exhibitions. It would be an amazing way to use the university space and to integrate the Clact Zoom with all the others students.
T: Just like Ana, I would like to help bringing back to life “Minuto Clact”, which is a one minute video series for YouTube, in which volunteers talk about their favorite TV shows and they have just one minute to do this. It was very funny and spirited: the theme can’t go wrong, much people love TV shows, and it is such an original way of talk about it. I hope that we can resume production for Minuto this year.
What is your biggest goal at CZ?
A: Clact is a place to learn. Here we can make little mistakes and be forgiven, because it is part of the learning process. In another place, people would might not be so lenient with a mistake. We learn a lot in our day to day, which is similar to the schedule of a cinema producer or big TV stations. My goal is to get as much experience as possible, so I can enter the job market feeling confident about myself and my skills.
T: My biggest goal at CZ is to became an audiovisual professional more polished, have a director’s look, that realizes the importance of each step of an audiovisual production, in order to achieve the perfect end product. At Clact we have the need to always do best, in every single project. Marco Vale is very responsible for this work culture, he is an amazing professional and has a cinematographic look for everything he does. And this is great because it makes us improve our craft, eventhough we live in a world full of demands and deadlines.
How your work at CZ helped you to understand better the job market of the area you choose to work at?
A: I think it’s because of the work routine… Also, the major responsibility towards renting equipment, dealing with different tipes of people. We a learn a lot about all of this here and take it to the job market.
T: CZ is an experimental producer, I got the consciousness that at the job market things work a little different, but even though it be composed by students, Clact has the spirit of always doing a great job with the tools we have in our hands. CZ taught me to always give my 100% and work with what I got.
In your opinion, due to work at Clact Zoom, do you feel it would be easier of get internships?
A: I believe (and hope!) so. We deal with different tips of demands, which have a diversity of publics, rhythms of production and proceedings… This flexibility of contents makes us learn a lot of different things, adding more and more experiences to our repertoire.
T: I don’t feel that it makes it easier to get a internship exactly. I’m sure that this experience enriches my curriculum, but the job market lives a moment of retraction and of less hiring.
Which was the most important thing that you learned at CZ?
A: To delegate. I have always been in charge of many things and to pass on this responsibility was always a nightmare for me. I am used to rewriting what other people have done, monopolize tasks, ignore other’s idea… At Clact, I learned to believe in my colleagues’ work and to divided responsibilities. It was a lesson that freed myself from a lot of stress.
T: The biggest lesson I learned working at CZ was of always doing what is necessary to get good images. As tiring, laborious or hard as it may be, having a good image for the final product will always compensate. Audiovisual is very manual and it involves lot of sweat, literally, but after you watch the final work you will see the effort was worth it!