New Media Professional Training (ESRA)

A Sector Linked to Innovation

The ESRA, a private film school established in 1972, also offers professional training programs. I led a session on new media as part of a professional training course designed for camera operators, assistant directors, production managers, and editors.

The film and audiovisual sector has always been tied to technology and its evolution. The invention of the cinematograph in 1895 is a prime example: an accessible new technology that led to new uses, emerging economic models, and, consequently, new content. Whether films depict a close or distant reality or tell stories, content lies at the heart of the film industry.

Thus, the concept of new media is, in a way, intrinsic to cinema. Cinema has always been about creating with new technologies. However, over time and with the institutionalization of forms of expression, production, and distribution, a divide has sometimes emerged between so-called “classic” cinema – “old-school cinema,” as the founders of the French New Wave in the 1950s and 1960s called it – and innovative cinema.

What characterizes new media today in 2025 is the abundance of technological innovations that drive new uses, emerging economic models, and evolving content, propelled by major digital players. These “new” players have been visible to the general public for about 40 years, but they remain recent in the history of cinema.

Invention

This three-day training, delivered to four distinct professional groups (camera operators, directors, production managers, editors), aimed to encourage participants not only to learn existing working methods and techniques but also to invent new ones themselves. The goal was to make them understand that cinema is a constantly evolving field and that their professional capability is not limited to mastering current practices but also includes the potential to shape this evolution by creating new forms and methods.

Positioning oneself as an inventor of forms is what the history of cinema is all about. To align with present and future professional realities, it is essential not to innovate for the sake of innovation but to explore new ways of working with available tools. This approach complements the mastery of existing tools and methods. There is no controversy in this perspective, which is why integrating this dimension of new media into broader professional training is relevant.

Theoretical Program

The program I proposed to the trainees was tailored to each specialty, taking into account their expressed interests:

• First, to raise awareness of new technologies and their impacts, helping them understand how they work – fundamental, as cinema is inherently technology-driven.
• Next, to explore how these technologies can be adopted – because the existence of a technology doesn’t guarantee its adoption.
• Then, to understand how these technologies and their uses can lead to viable economic models, which is crucial. Without an economic model – without financial production – innovation remains experimental. Economic models exist in research, where projects are developed that may not be profitable in the short term but advance knowledge and reflection, with the hope of leading to practical applications. New media have introduced innovative economic models, such as the « Long Tail », theorized in 2006 by Chris Anderson. This concept explains the web-specific economy and helps understand how major media platforms operate and how to produce content that is both relevant and economically viable in the long term.
• Finally, there is the question of content: What will we produce? How will we tell stories? What artistic forms will we invent in these new spaces?
• This is how I structured the training, distinguishing these four axes to understand new media: technology, uses, economics, and content.

To fully grasp the functioning of new media, one must look in multiple directions simultaneously. Drawing on economic, legal, and artistic concepts, I proposed a multidisciplinary perspective, which I believe is key to understanding new media. The democratization of digital tools has made individuals more multidisciplinary than ever before.

The training included both understanding and hands-on application. I brought numerous books on these topics, not just technical ones but also philosophical works, to show that the stakes of new media go far beyond simply creating videos for social networks. Participants were encouraged to engage with these resources to contextualize the challenges.

Practice and Creativity as Sources of Engagement

We quickly moved to practice and experimentation. I brought innovative equipment: new types of cameras, microphones, streaming software, and more. We explored creative methods such as long takes, rapid production of still images, podcasts, and even the use of artificial intelligence to produce differently. These experiments were conducted in a lively, intense, and creative manner, as creativity is at the core of the audiovisual sector. Without it, nothing can captivate or generate economic value.

The trainees expressed great satisfaction, having experienced enriching creative projects. They created works using tools they had never used before – small cameras, microphones, streaming systems – and thus explored new possibilities.

Traces of trainees’ work

Group 1: Production managers

Group 2: Directors

Group 3: editors

Group 4: Camera operators