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Currently there are many communication departments in Taiwan colleges, but due to schools not being able to provide professional filmmaking equipment, the training the students receive in schools often does not meet practical needs.
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Chief of the Department of Cultural Affairs Ni Chong-hua plans to build an experimental high school to foster film and TV industry talent. The school is expected to recruit students starting in May next year and the semester will begin in September the same year.
China Times reports, Ni says that currently there are many communication departments in Taiwan colleges, but due to schools not being able to provide professional filmmaking equipment, the training the students receive in schools often does not meet practical needs.
Ni also says the experimental high school will take Treasure Hill Artist Village and the audiovisual and music industry parks in Neihu and Beitou as development centers. It will also collaborate with recording studios to teach with professional equipment. He expects to invest NT$ 160 million (approximately US$ 49 hundred thousand) and will accept 40 students.
“Students picked up by parents for three days in a row will be kicked out and those who are unwilling to buy lunch for the teachers can also get out of the school." Ni stresses that he wants to find students who are really passionate about the film and TV industry and can directly enter the field right after graduation. He hopes that even if the students have no opportunity to work in Taiwan, they can turn to Hollywood or Bollywood and promote Taiwan’s film and TV industry in these areas.
Ni says that when he studied at the Visual Arts Osaka Professional Total Creative School, 80% of the courses, including script writing, filming and post-production were skill-oriented and the students had to take part in every process.
Ni says, this experimental school will collaborate with the ESP Musical Academy in Japan, University of California, Berkeley, the New York Film Academy and so on. It will specialize in the features of the Taiwanese film and TV culture; for example, they will no longer focus on recording in terms of the music industry and rather emphasize on the skills required for holding a concert. New themes such as animation, webcast and lighting and sound, will be introduced at the experimental school.
China Times reports, Liu Li-xing, former judge of the Golden Horse Awards and jury of the Asia-Pacific Film Festival, says if the authorities want to cultivate film and TV industry talents in Taiwan, they have to deal with the scarce resources distributed to the schools. The Department of Cultural Affairs should first make sure how to properly allocate the budget to each art organization and other related units.
Newtalk reports, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je says that Taiwan’s film and TV schools are teaching students how to be an actor, actress or director, and pay less attention to stage management, makeup and the theater. In addition, the estimated three-year budget for the school is NT$ 18 million (approximately US$ 55 hundred thousand) and will definitely need fundraising.
Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang
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