Sierra Productions in Colombia Update
March 21, 2003
Sierra Productions has been a reality since July 1,
2002 thanks to generous
financing from LifeNets and local private sources. The initial step was the acquisition of computerized production
equipment. This was finally purchased at a cost of 2,600,000 pesos [2150 pesos
to the dollar]. We
were awarded a special permit for the import/export of audio and video equipment
through the Compusan de Santander Company which included a one-year warranty.
Together with the CPU, we were able to purchase audio and video software for 500,000 pesos which included operational training. Oscar Sierra was selected for the instruction and moved to the city of Bucaramanga to be trained as technical engineer.
Nevertheless, three months were required to produce the first video clip. The time was spent in practice runs, rehearsals and fine-tunings of the system.
A professional class MV 9000 Panasonic camera costing 3,600,000 pesos was
purchased and is operated by Orlando Manrique Beleño. In addition, a tripod for
120,000 pesos and a special spotlight for 150,000 pesos were purchased.
We made some audio commercials but found out we would need a sound booth.
After checking out the latest technical acoustic production specifications, we made an outlay of 200,000 pesos. We then had to equip it with a microphone support at 100,000 pesos, a set of Coby professional headphones at 40,000 pesos and a Pony sound console at 350,000 pesos.
Remodeling an office cost 500,000 pesos, and a special video storage cabinet cost 100,000 pesos.
We acquired a VHS machine for editing purposes for 360,000 pesos. Sierra Productions already had three of the machines which we were using.
Other outlays initially cost 200,000 pesos; to this were added 200,000 pesos for cable adapters and hardware and a special HP656C printer for 200,000 pesos.
To fulfill the conditions of our original proposal, we contacted the
local cable TV
company to arrange to administer our own local independent cable channel. We
were assigned the Channel 7 frequency on Cablesan Cable Network and went on the
air December 8 with
programming Sunday through Thursday from 5 P.M. to 10 P.M. each of the five
days. To make the airing deadline we had to purchase additional equipment for
600,000 pesos, adapt a recorder set for the channel and set up for a production
staff of 12 persons.
To date we have produced for the city government three high quality professional documentaries for 1,000,000 pesos (each). We have signed a contract with the city to air municipal programs on the channel and are discussing with them an annual production and airing contract which would make the city our biggest client. Other municipal organizations have begun to show an interest and are asking about our documentary production facilities. We are currently filming a program called Grados (or Phases) and other “special events” productions. For the Grados documentaries, we record each local public event as it occurs and have contracted to make copies of previously filmed local news events.
We are thankful to God for having opened doors for us in this way and to LifeNets for the gift of $1,000 U.S. and the interest-free loan of $1,225 U.S. As a result, Oscar Sierra, formerly unemployed, and Orlando Manrique now work full-time for Sierra Productions. The remaining personnel are temporary, but everybody is dedicated to making Sierra Productions--a small, but up-and-coming concern--a dream come true, thanks to LifeNets. A total of 9,180,000 pesos were invested as stipulated by the terms of the agreement.
Claudio José Sierra C.
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