Practical Portuguese

Etic - a multimedia, music and movie making institute

Mixing digital music

At Etic, its coordinator Peter (the last picture and in grey t-shirt) told us that students are taught to use the tools they know to create results. The emphasis is on end results and not the number of IT tools or musical instruments that they can master.He told us how he lost a bet to a student who claimed that he was able to create music using Microsoft Excel.

Mind boggling but this is Portuguese practicality. Focus on creativity and not just technology. A good advice. But make no mistake. This institute is equipped with high-tech studios catering to the uses of students. Most of the desktops are high-end Apple machines. Peter jokes that Apple is their religion.

This institute is also going big into charity. Students are encouraged to help out non-profit organisations to design their website, campaigns and others.

This is an important observation. Many colleges, institutes of higher learning and organisations invest a lot of money to acquire the most advanced and expensive equipments and machines but lacked the know-how to optimally use them. Does this sound familiar to you? Our newly minted film village funded by FINAS and the Ministry of Information is probably the most high-tech and sophisticated facility in the country. But how many good films have we created?

Meanwhile, Etic claims to provide courses for students from 8 to 80 years old. From the outside, it looks like a garage or a warehouse. However, it is not wise to judge a book by its cover. One of its students won the highly acclaimed Academy award for lighting for the animated movie, Corpse Bride. A few of them have created their own motion pictures and digital music.

Some of the students I met are already getting ready to take the entertainment industry by storm.