Gianni Bellisario
1. Our society is thriving on education more than ever before, but in a different way and different directions than in the past. The school is not enough and, despite the multiplication of channels and the fragmentation of programmes (all its programmes), television has taken on an important role in the mission of education and training that it already has, and which it is often not completely aware of. This is, however, a role that needs to be continually updated to bring in into line with the latest developments. What was true yesterday is no longer valid today, both in the choice of contents and that of form.
Television must be able to do what schools and universities are not able to do. All of us learned to write the letters of the alphabet according to patterns that had substantially changed since the time of teaching with chalks and slates. But none of us, or very few of us, have seriously thought about teaching children how an existing image is constructed (whether it be a picture, or a film or video sequence) or even how we can construct it. It is almost pointless to introduce children or adults to these concepts without precise methods. Film schools and schools of TV and communications have arrived on the scene too late. The professors of university faculties are years behind and they still think that criticism, semiotics, the history of cinema and TV, and a few short videos made on a computer are sufficient. But it is not so. The “masters” who really matter are not academic teachers, and they become such because they speak from the TV screens. They do not know who is listening to them or how they are listening to them. Everyone should agree on at least one point: television can and must put its educational mission at centre-stage and establish it upon a new basis, with experienced experts, who wish to show us the visible and especially the invisible processes of the languages of images and bring us to an understanding of them.
2. RaiStoria is a channel with a large audience and it has been successful, despite the daunting competition of the History Channel, that is now much reduced. The archives of Rai are a goldmine that never ceases to astonish and they have been vastly improved as regards the possibilities for research and general use that they offer. Nevertheless the way in which the footage of the archives are used does not always allow them to achieve their full potential. The rigid format of presentation-images-comment-images-comment, etc. leading to a final comment, is repetitive and fails to satisfy the expectations of the audience, and it does not correspond to the quantity of forms and formats that can be derived from the footage.
The dramatic and narrative constructions adopted are out-of-date and obsolete. Few directors are able to organize a narrative account that respects the footage, nor one that is enriched by an imagination that is familiar with the forms of theatre and cinema, and that knows how to renew and revitalise them by transferring them to a video creation. An “artistic” re-examination of history is necessary but the attempts to do this are timid, disappointing and sometimes even discouraging. For the 150 year anniversary of the Unification of Italy certain mistakes could have been avoided (such as the abortive series on Rai 1 with Bruno Vespa and Pippo Baudo). The general criteria for interventions on this great theme could have been discussed instead of replacing it with various disconnected initiatives quite unrelated to each other, and the initiatives involving general networks in collaboration with digital and satellite channels should have been better organized. Instead they were often confused, creating contorted and twisted historical pathways and mixing up history and commentary. Another example of this, and I apologize for its personal nature, is my own film “Concerto Italiano” which was shown twice on RAI-3 at totally inappropriate timeslots and was ignored by all the other networks and channels. Meanwhile the film has been shown, and is still being shown throughout Italy and overseas, in universities, schools, theatres, film libraries, and so on. Such situations arise from a carelessness that is either deliberate or not even perceived as such, and a void that is not just that of the memory.
3. I hope that technology will increasingly allow for crossover and interweaving. Wim Wenders has dreamed of working at the computer with a piano keyboard so as to have scenes of sky, landscapes, storms, sun and sea rapidly at his command, and the increasing possibilities of film thanks to digitization and post-production show us that this utopian time is getting closer. My own books, that deal with the great personalities of music, film, theatre and literature, could easily be trasformed into visual forms of reading, in which the images are not just illustrative or didactic, but effective above all due to their compelling and evocative value, so that they are able to lead the reader-viewer on a different and exciting journey. This destination is already closer than it might seem. The public service could do a great deal to alter educational structures (and not just them). It is not just a question of investment, although this too is important, but also a question of the ability to look ahead with a new vision to a future that is waiting behind the door of denial, distrust and pure laziness.
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