The Postgraduate Program in Media and Audiovisual Processes (PPGMPA) was created in 2009 based on the Post-Graduate Program in Communication Sciences (PPGCOM), that is part of the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA / USP), the first graduate program in the Communication area in Brazil. The creation of PPGMPA started from the understanding that the particularities of the researches developed by most professors of Media studies and production, could be better served in an autonomous postgraduate program, dedicated exclusively to topics related to audiovisual production and its developments.
As part of the current teaching staff of PPGMPA was also part of the Postgraduate Program in Communication Sciences, it also contributed to the legacy of historical developed researches dedicated to cinema, radio, television and, in the beginning, theatre. Throughout its different formulations, the department has contributed both to the academic institutionalization at ECA and in funding agencies (CNPq, CAPES and FAPESP), especially through the work of professors such as Eduardo Peñuela Cañizal, Arlindo Machado and Ismail Xavier, as well as for the consolidation of a bibliographic and conceptual corpus. It was also responsible for the qualification of a large number of professors currently working in other Brazilian universities.
In addition to overcoming barriers and competing for space with the canonical objects of the arts - literature, theatre, visual arts -, cinema studies, since the beginning, opened paths for the investigation of language, discourse and the production of meaning in media spheres that did not cease to multiply in the communication scene as of the second half of the 20th century.
The PPGMPA opens up to different perspectives and approaches to the configuration of audiovisual technical images: poetic articulations; semiotic meaning; aesthetic expressions; audiovisual experiments and achievements; critical implications; documentation, transformations and historical analysis; the links between knowledge production and dissemination; public policies; economic prospects in the sector. The activities carried out in the program are developed in order to articulate these perspectives in academic practices that are structured in classes and seminars; research groups; project orientation; written production; and in stimulating productions that enrich the forms of audiovisual expression and critical reflection on the different dimensions of social life.
The researches have a focus on cinema and audiovisual media as a diversified system of practices and ideas, involving their specific processes of reflection, creation, production and diffusion.
Considering its insertion in the field of Communication, the tradition with postgraduate studies at ECA / USP and the dynamic transformations that have occurred in the field of media studies, researchers that are part of PPGMPA with different theoretical perspectives, share the understanding that the formal articulations that make audiovisual works unique and the historical reception constitute the core of the investigation. Thus, it is a program structured around the various audiovisual manifestations, understanding that from these specificities it is possible to investigate cultural and artistic injunctions that relate to other fields of knowledge.
These specificities are present in the Program, differentiating it and, simultaneously, valuing the exchange with other areas, such as the arts and human sciences. Its challenge is to consolidate and expand, in view of contemporary times, the researches initiated by countless professors. The trajectory, intellectual production and insertion of these researchers contributed to keep them as a reference in their field of knowledge, as well as for the formation of new generations, consolidating and renewing their legacy.
We believe that the field of audiovisual research, with its diverse branches and specializations, has a broad potential for social and political intervention. Thus, a critical and ethical formation, combined with the historiographical and theoretical repertoire and the stimulus to creative realization, can contribute to the production of differentiated works that offers a perspective that challenges the existing hegemonic production. We also consider the Program's potential in training professionals who contribute to a more than necessary densification of the Brazilian audiovisual landscape. Such perspective attests the Program's vocation in not only relating theory and practice, but, above all, launching a new way of articulation between them, combining the production systems, reception and its works and, in this way, work with the theories through challenges faced by audiovisual practices.
The Program's objectives can be summarized in the following topics:
- Consolidate and increase the tradition started at ECA in the development of cinema, television, radio, video and digital media studies and in the training of staff working in Brazilian universities and in different spheres of contemporary audiovisual production.
- Investigate cultural and historical injunctions that relate to other areas of knowledge; transdisciplinarity that incorporates dialogues with philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, music, visual arts, performing arts, body arts, as well as architecture and the different technological disciplines that place images and sounds at the centre of humanistic research.
- Enhance the educational legacy of ECA, stimulating high quality research.
- Promote the internationalization of the program, through agreements with foreign universities.
- Consolidate existing research groups and propose the creation of new groups around the themes developed by the program.
- Encourage the proposal of research projects with development agencies.
- Expand the already consistent participation of the teaching staff and students in meetings, such as those promoted by the Brazilian Society for Cinema Studies (SOCINE), the National Association of Postgraduate Programs in Communication (COMPÓS) and the Brazilian Society for Interdisciplinary Communication Studies (INTERCOM), among others.
- Consolidate the bibliographic and artistic production of the faculty and students of the program.
The History, Theory and Critique line brings together researchers that are dedicated to the study of forms and themes of audiovisual media, organized in its different genres and supports, with attention to their modes of production and reception. In this research line, the analysis and interpretation of images and sounds is emphasized in connection with its content and aesthetic experience, being changeable in terms of history and its technical conditions.
This research line brings together theoretical and practical studies of the processes of making audiovisual pieces, whether contemporary or historical. Specific competences, related to creation procedures in its technical and conceptual aspects, are part of the formalized reflection on art or communication objects. The poetics of expressive audiovisual forms aimed at canonical spaces, such as the cinema room and television, in addition to other means involving experimentation, creativity and the invention of language, are the object of investigation. Thus, it seeks to think about scientific research within the scope of audiovisual arts, with a view to the changes underway and to come, contemplating transdisciplinary approaches.
This research line focuses on the study of the ontology of communicational objects and audiovisual culture, and also debates epistemological issues in all their forms, mediations and interactions in the communicational processes. In addition, it investigates the diverse system of languages, media practices, speeches and public expression of preferences, opinions and positions, as well as the role in the production and support of interactive networks, and in the organization.
Coordinating Committee
Coordinator: Eduardo Vicente
Vice-coordinator: Atílio José Avancini
Full Members
Atilio José Avancini
Eduardo Vicente
Mateus Araújo Silva
Alternate Members
Patrícia Moran Fernandes
Rosana de Lima Soares
Eduardo Victorio Morettin
Secretary: Márcia Ferreira
Contact:
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday from 10 am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm
Phone: +55 11 3091 4286
E-mail: ppgmpa@usp.br
Faculty
Meet the professors of the Postgraduate Program in Media and Audiovisual Processes. By clicking on their names, have access to his/her curriculum.
Eduardo Simões dos Santos Mendes
Selective process
Held annually, the selection process for the program consists of three eliminatory phases:
The first phase consists of a written test, unified for all research lines, with bibliography and filmography defined annually. The minimum passing grade for this phase is 7.0 and the correction is performed by teachers of the program without identifying the candidates.
The second phase consists of project evaluation. This assessment is performed by the professors of the research line in which the candidate enrolled. The minimum passing grade for this phase is 7.0.
The third and final phase consists of an oral test with the candidates and the professors of the research line in which they enrolled. The minimum passing grade for this phase is 7.0.
For the master's candidates, proof of English proficiency is required.
For the doctorate candidates, proof of proficiency in English and in a second language is required.
For foreign candidates, proof of proficiency in Portuguese is required.