Production of Rubí

There is a lot more that goes into production than we think. We just see what’s on our screens but don’t really think about how it came to be. While I was an intern at a news station two summers ago, I got the opportunity to be very involved in the commercial production that went on within the station and also making commercials for outside the station. It was then that I realized that even commercials, 30 second long clips, take a whole day to shoot it and perfect it.

While learning about production of telenovelas, I was even more amazed because I could understand what exactly it took to produce something, whether  it is a telenovela or commercial. My telenovela, Rubí, is 115 episodes long, airing every day. I can’t imagine how long that took to film.

There are several different locations that filming goes on, seemingly in several different cities including Mexico, Valle de Bravo, and Cancun. The producer makes it seem as though they actually are in these different cities, which they actually did film in. In Cancun, there is a beautiful house that Hector and Rubí buy, which probably costs millions, but they did shoot in several different cities including the ones I mentioned and more.

By the nature of the telenovela, there are a lot of scenes with angry people, which I imagine is harder to produce. It’s all in one take, which as we learned in class, takes several times to get perfect because every little thing matters. Rubí’s hair must be perfect, Hector’s hair must be perfect, and everything must be absolutely perfect.

While learning about all of the different people that go into the production of a telenovela, I was very surprised. Although the filming is very good in my telenovela, I still underestimated how much actually goes into it. Telenovelas must be pretty expensive to make, especially if there are several filming locations like Rubí. There are fancy houses and cars that need to be payed for.

There are also a lot of love scenes in Rubí. Like the examples we saw in class, shooting the love scenes must have taken a very long time. Especially for Rubí, she must feel weird playing her part and fooling all of these people. I don’t know what she is like in real life, but in the show, she is evil. That must be hard to develop relationships with people she works with, even if it is only fiction, and backstab every single one of them.

The life of a telenovela actress intrigues me because they seem like they have so much fun with their job. While the show is being filmed, they don’t seem like they are divas; however, I’m sure I am wrong for some of them. If I were the other actresses and actors, I probably wouldn’t be able to see past the evilness of Rubí.

The main thing that I have learned about production is that what you see on screen is easier said than done. It takes a lot of people, money, time, and effort to make a telenovela. After learning about the production of telenovelas, I have started watching Rubí in a different way. I now appreciate the art of production.