Visual Media workshop held at Amrita School

KOCHI: A galaxy of veteran journalists shared their experiences and knowledge with the students of the Department of Visual Media, Amrita School of Applied Arts and Sciences at Kochi during February 1-4. The interaction between the students and the media persons was part of the media workshop held by the Department of Visual Media.

The lecture series, blessed by Swami Poornamritananda Puri, was inaugurated by Soorya Krishnamoorthy. The inaugural day saw Dr N Unnikrishnan Nair delivering a vibrant lecture on Philosophy of Science. The Media Workshop got going on Feb 2 with a thought provoking keynote address by Hari S Kartha, senior journalist and Television personality. Kartha, as director of the workshop, played the role of anchor by introducing the topic and the speakers to the students. Dr S V Sashibhushan of Calicut University, spoke about new trends in Media. The opening day of the media workshop saw P Rajan and KM Roy, two leading lights of Malayalam journalism speaking to the students on media ethics and qualities of a media person respectively. “Simply marvellous,” that was how the students rated the lectures by Rajan and Roy.

Sunil Nambiar, Deputy General Manager, The New Indian Express, spoke on media marketing. The speech helped the students to understand the complex nature of media marketing and time selling in the print and visual media. The lecture series saw the students getting a first hand experience on political journalism from Ramachandran, Deputy Editor, Mangalam. It was Ramachandran, who created a sensation during the Malappuram state conference of the CPM with some spectacular scoops from the fortified backrooms of the party. The students, who are already familiar with the nuances of Television journalism, thanks to a brief stint in the Amrita TV studios at Thiruvananthapuram, got yet another opportunity to learn more on the visual media, when Neelan, the channel’s Chief Executive Editor, delivered a three hour speech on the signs, images and language of Visual Media.

N P Rajendran (Mathrubhumi) and Antony John (Malayala Manorama) spoke on column writing, news analysis and Sports journalism respectively. Jeevan TV’s Chandrasekhar, Mathrubhumi’s CK Jayakrishnan and Kumar Chellappan representing Invis Multi Media were the other speakers in the series.

One of the interesting items during the series was the interactive sessions the faculty had with the students. All the students were very cool and followed the lectures with rapt attention. The questions put forward by them were sharp and interesting. Many of the students made it known that they want to excel in the fields of cinematography, editing, 3D animation and movie making. Only two of the students preferred to be known as journalists. True to the qualities of media students, all of them found to be well informed and articulate.

One of the students confided to this reporter that it was the serene atmosphere of the Institute and the ever smiling image of Her Holiness Matha Amritanadamayi which made a lot of changes in their attitude and way of thinking. Dr U Krishnakumar, a product of the one and only Indian Institute of Science (IISc) can take pride in the fact that he has moulded more than 40 visual media students as a professional lot. Dr Krishnakumar is the founder director of the Amrita School of Applied Arts and Science at Kochi where a true integration is taking place between art, science, technology and humanity.