By Daniella Balili
With the theme, “Communication Impact on Interactive and Emerging Media in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR),” DLSU-D Communication and Journalism Department (CJD) held its annual COMPACT celebration on November 27 at the Severino De Las Alas Auditorium.
Seasoned practitioners from various communication fields spearheaded the said forum, as they gave the students and future media practitioners a glimpse of the ongoing and possible effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution to the media today. These include documentary filmmaker and producer Kristoffer Brugada, fashion creative director Silver Belen, veteran news writer and producer Sheila Tagaro, and Google Philippines Public Relations Head Mervin Wenke.
Documentary in the Digital Era
Brugada, who handled award winning documentaries in television such as GMA7’s I-witness and Reporter’s Notebook, shared his knowledge and experiences about producing independent documentaries, and how he adjusted in the evolution of technology. “The narratives of the stories that you will produce is very important today,” Brugada stated, as he talked about the importance of good storytelling in producing a documentary.
The rise of different technology pushed the industry in coming up with new, convenient, and efficient techniques, just like creating animated, vlog-style, and one-minute documentaries. “That’s why you have to evolve also as a filmmaker, when you’re producing documentaries,” Brugada said.
Fashion Filmmaking and Advertising
Meanwhile, Belen led the talk in Fashion Filmmaking and Advertising, stating that their industry has also upgraded ways on how to reach the audience in the digital age. Belen shared his journey and struggles in embracing the new technologies, as they are considering multiple platforms in producing fashion films, digital advertisements, and television commercials. “Change… ‘yun lang yung constant, so parang tayo sasabayan lang natin… aral lang tayo ng aral ng aral…” Belen said.
Digital Television
Moreover, Tagaro, who worked with various media companies for two decades, talked about the Digital television, stating how challenging it was to adjust to the emergence of digital technologies from traditional outlets. According to her, this changed some landscapes in the industry, which she referred news gathering as a primary example.
Tagaro also reminded the students to use the emerging platforms critically, as the digital age also paved way for proliferation of misinformation and disinformation.
Public Relation in Fourth Industrial Revolution
On the other hand, Wenke, who is a proud alumnus of DLSU-D, shared his experiences in the field of Public Relations, stating how Google Philippines embraced the changes in the usual landscape today. He also emphasized five integral elements in surviving the PR industry today, which includes Emotion, Conflict, Strategy, Authenticity, and Hero.
Wenke ended his talk through highlighting the significance of storytelling. “You have to tell a great story…it’s [PR] all about telling stories,” Wenke stated.
Meanwhile, CJD Chair Artin Umali expressed his gratitude to all the students and faculty members who made the event possible. He emphasized that the event is a good training ground for students, who will be the next media practitioners in the coming years. Umali also hoped that the learnings from COMPACT 2019 will be visible in the future projects of CJD students.
