To understand this is very important for you who intend to become social mentors by using audio-visual media of expression. You want to learn how to make films, documentaries, animations. This requires many production steps. In the way we are organising the work, we will pass, at least three translation processes: from the script writer to the director of production and from the director production to the director of post-production. In fact, we will have many more passages because before script writing, we have to consider the intentions of those who commission us projects and pay for them. And the final video product will be interpreted by those who will see the video, and then again "translate" into social actions.

And there are also other kinds of translations. Actors are also translators. And so are camera men, the art directors, the make-up artist. And so on.

At each step of the translation, each person has to understand the meaning and re-express it in a new way. That’s why it is important that everybody in the production team of a film is actively involved in the creative process. We may decide how much freedom to allow in the creativity of the next step, according to the existing circumstances. So, the screen writer may decide to leave little freedom to the director, by specifying all the visual details in the script, kinds of shot, moods, scenes, etc. In this case, the director finds "everything" already decided and has merely to execute the plan. But this is dangerous for the quality of the final result. Because the director may feel that this scheme is too restricted and may not be able to express what she/he understands. It depends from case to case. In some cases, you may, for a number of practical reasons, understand that that’s not where the director should be creative. But in any case, it is advisable to leave a margin for new creativity in the successive step, because without margins of creativity one cannot express what one has understood.

We said before that understanding is a process of enjoyment. But expressing, too, is a process of enjoyment. Without creativity there is no enjoyment; and so without creativity, no authentic expression is possible. That’s the basic humanistic approach.