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Nimal Laksshapathiarachchi on :
New rages through new media
Ruwini Jayawardana
In this era where technology dominates our existence of living and
more and more new gadgets enter the scene, it is no surprise that more
youths are striving to upgrade their knowledge on the subject. Thus, it
does not come as a surprise when chairman of Onair World Ceylon (Pvt)
Ltd. Nimal Laksshapathiarachchi, has taken up the chore of harnessing
young minds to familiarise with the latest technological devices of the
world.
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Chairman of Onair World Ceylon (Pvt) Ltd. Nimal
Laksshapathiarachchi. Picture by Saman Sri Wedage |
Television channels
“A lot of new media have emerged in the past years and interestingly,
though many believe that they have become commercialised, that is not
the case. Many thought Mo films are limited to the mobile but the truth
is that in some countries like Canada, there are television channels
devoted to this mode.
We have more participants for the second round training on the
subject of Mo filmmaking under us. This is encouraging as they have
realised that this is by no means a method of earning cash for
ourselves,” he added that now is the best time to pursue the matter
since President Mahinda Rajapaksa has dubbed 2009 as the year of
Information Technology and English.
He said that a group named New Media Innovators has got together to
hold discussions at the end of last year. They have discussed on various
aspects relating to the traditional as well as new media. They noted
that it is spreading rapidly.
“It is one of my greatest wishes to introduce and train young minds
on the techniques of new media.
“A lot of new media devices are based on IT. There are lots of
vacuums in this area. For example we do not have a proper institution to
train young filmmakers to make quality movies. The topic was broached
before but issues like who would become the principal of the school had
been raised and discussions were called off. Similarly a proper school
for stage drama too does not exist.
Business opportunities
“We should not let such matters get in the way of approaching new
media,” he stressed.
He said that the idea of taking on the task of introducing new media
to the public came to him when the Information and Communication
Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) launched a program in which they
train students who have sat for their O/Ls on getting business
opportunities through IT.
“I worked as the events manager during that time and noted that the
younger generation is very keen on absorbing topics related to IT. We
have resources like the Internet and satellite facilities within our
fingertips but we have not paid attention to the fact whether it can be
used to generate employment opportunities,” he enlightened.
Laksshapathiarachchi hopes to incept a school for new media with the
hope of teaching the basics on the subject and gradually introducing
them to the more complicated versions on the matter.
“We wondered if there would be language barriers once devices such as
sending SMSes sometime back but now we realise we worried in vain. We
can communicate with each other through SMS in a variety of languages.
We hope to engage students who sat for their A\Ls so that they can
decide on their future course.”
Web designing
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Harnessing young minds to take up new media |
“There are many talented youths who are already in the fields like
web designing. They learnt the techniques through self-learning somehow,
as the authorities had not provided a proper institution.
We have informed the New Media Innovators that we would be installing
such an institution. Though media is taught as a subject in university,
they do not possess a camera or a microphone to practise the theories.
Practical knowledge is important,” he said adding that Dialog Telekom
Director/CEO Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya has been very cooperative in the
project. They hope to incept the school for new media soon.
Audio format
“We will begin audio book publishing in Sri Lanka soon. You listen to
a person reading the book rather than reading it for yourself. We hope
to launch the first version in September just in time for the literary
month. You can download it through servers into a computer or mobile
phone. It will be available through the mobile so that you can listen to
the narration while you travel.
They will also be available in CD format at bookstores. Anyone who
wishes to convert their book into audio format can join us. We are
mostly aiming at taking up children’s books for this as children have
the tendency to pick up words quickly. This will also enhance the
youth’s interest in books,” he explained in an interview with Daily News
‘Artscope’.
Speaking on moviemaking and projection, the multifaceted personality
stated that he has more projects up his sleeve to upgrade the industry.
He said that around 95 percent of the latest gadgets involved with
digital cinema could be found in the country.
“What we lack is projection facilities. I have discussed with the
National Film Corporation on this. We will reverse this trend right now
as we do the film in digital format and transfer into celluloid tape in
India and project it at cinemas.
Beyond boundaries
“We cannot project video films or through a multi media projector or
in DVD format. There is a globally accepted method for this and we
cannot go beyond those boundaries.
The e-cinema is the most suitable system for the country. For this we
need to make slight alterations like bring modern projectors to the
cinema halls. We will be able to project the movie at several halls at
the same instance through satellite techniques,” he commented while
stressing a need for a new generation to take over the industry. They
hope to involve a local organisation on this project.
He added that some risk has to be taken in taking steps to develop
the industry. It is easy to develop on something small rather than
upgrade a bigger project, Laksshapathiarachchi said.
“It is the entertainment industry which suffered most at the hands of
terrorism.
“People were not in a mood for entertainment because they were
fearing for their life. Now the sector shows signs of prospering. A
market is opening up as there is a demand for entertainment.
We need to take up modern techniques to prosper and cater the
audience with better products,” he concluded. |
