Television is one of the sublimes means of communication that transmits information to different societies and, for this reason, inspires many young people to train in the field to look like certain professionals who appear on screens every morning, afternoon and evening.
Journalism is thought to be about making television (radio too) and it is in academia and/or in practice that the different media are discovered.
We met Elton Pila in the Mozambican capital. Born on August 30, 1992, in Maputo, he is a journalist, editor and screenwriter. His work in journalism began in the press, where he wrote for Plataforma Mbenga and Soletras magazine. He has also written for the newspapers Notices, Zambeze, Savana, Angola, Ponto por Ponto. He is the editor of Índico magazine, LAM's in-flight magazine, and Literatas. As a screenwriter, he has written scripts for the series Kuga Munu, the short film 5.2.5 and the Mozambican soap opera Maida. She wrote the dramaturgy for the show "Balada dos Deuses" (Ballad of the Gods) and, in literature, she was part of the book "O abysm as pés (The abyss at our feet): 25 authors respond to the imminence of the end of the world". She took part in the anthology "Crónicas e Contos para ler em casa" and "Marca da Água" (Gala-Gala editions and Literatas, 2020)."
He believes that it was the chronicles, reports and interviews that paved his journalistic path and honed his handwriting so that he knew how to glide through the script, since he had "a writing vein." Elton Pila didn't see himself as an audiovisual journalist; he had always been more inclined towards print journalism.
He entered the world of television drama through the soap opera Maida. Elton says that, while still at the School of Journalism, he had no ambition to do television; his passion had always been writing. As a result, writing the story of a soap opera was not turbulent. "The starting point is the same, because both sides tell stories, above all the events. The impact it has on human life, the difference is that one is fiction, and the other is reality." He emphasizes.
Embora ainda exerça funções que lhe admitam ser jornalista, a mudança para o roteiro é um caminho natural.
The telenovela Maida represents a milestone in the history of Mozambican tele dramaturgy. This project has brought to life several events that occur in everyday life. It has also allowed talents who were already performing in theater and stand-up comedy to be more highly valued and has also introduced new actors who had never even tried their hand at acting, at least in the eyes of the public, which is television. In addition, it allows actors, technical staff, and various stakeholders to work constantly, which can be seen as the first steps towards the creation of a television industry, according to Elton Pila.
Maida's scriptwriter points out that it has broken "the syndrome of not looking at ourselves, as filmmaker Yara Costa would say."
In the chapters of this novel, you can see the construction of Mozambican scenarios, a true "representation of what we are" and this is the role of a scriptwriter, to tell the story on paper. The scriptwriting team, which also includes Raquel Ataíde, Silvino Ubisse and Anselmo Cândido, suggests actions, reactions, scenarios, dialogues, voice intonation, body attitudes, etc.
The production of a soap opera involves several elements, explains Elton, "our job is to dream as big as we can, from the elements and conditions they give us. The production does its job, the actors do their job. Sometimes it's not exactly what we thought for the scene."
That's just one point that demonstrates how teamwork works, considering that "the soap opera is something for others, for others to like. The path of the soap opera is also defined by the interaction you have with the audience. The aim is to be influenced by reality and to influence reality". One of the elements behind this idea is, for example, the protagonists expressing themselves in Mozambican fashion.
The script is the essence, but it doesn't act in isolation. There is the work of the director. "Through the director's eye, the actor is able to add something. So, this whole process allows a scene written in one way to have a better end product."
Elton Pila believes that the path of a journalism graduate is not linear, but that you just must broaden your horizons, research more areas of activity and not live in a box. This is also the job of universities: to create guidelines so that students have access to different options.
By Joana Carlos
