My lips scream of anger and war when I see what is going on in the movie industry especially nollywood. The industry is divided, one man serving and doing almost every thing because there’s no sponsors out there or some kind of people supporting his golden dreams. Mr Emeka becomes the director, the editor, the cameraman, the location manager, the Executive producer, the Gaffar, the sound man and the Scriptwriter. Or Mr Emeka may decide to hire all his family members who has little or no idea of what production is to do the job for him and he may even end up creating a wack film that you won’t know the beginning from the end and sometimes, you see the end from the beginning. No one cares, yes, no one cares because African magic has total control of everything. It is those who concentrates on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality.
They have control of your locations, your casts, the kind of building they want you to use and many other things which if you can’t afford, they Won’t buy your film. Africa Magic or cable Televisions have done more harm than good in the Nigerian Movie industry. The industry is no longer what it used to be. Then, you have to hustle for the script, you have to show that you can interpret the role, go for an audition pass before the script can be given to you. Now, the women use their body to collect script, the man use their
From a research, nollywood is the highest film producing industry in the whole world in terms of quantity not quality per say.
“…After Hollywood, it is the second largest in the world – even bigger than India’s Bollywood on per-capita basis. Nigerian movies are immensely popular, particularly in Africa, where they currently outsell Hollywood films. And Nollywood stars are much more popular on the continent than their Hollywood counterparts.Apr 19, 2011…” Forbes.
We have so many films which family members can not sit together to watch without the parent fast forwarding some parts so that the children won’t watch it. Some times, some parents doesn’t allow their children to watch these movies because of what are involved in it, the sex scandals and the exposure of body by the so called actors. This is very dangerous to the health of the children and it makes them learn some negative things like taking in hard drugs, nudity, cheating and the rest of them. And we all know that film rating does not work here in Nigeria. Yes, it does not work because I could remember I once watched a movie rated 18+ and above when I was five. I watched the movie even when some adults were there. Sometimes when it got to a particular place where two people especially man and woman were kissing or romancing, we would be asked to close our eyes and later, after that scene, we would open our eyes. As I grew up, I discovered that they are all mirage or fallacies. I wondered what made them think that we won’t watch the film if they are not in the house.
My younger brother watched “Spartacus” before me. You may say that that is not a Nigerian movie but that is how it is every where. Our young ones are curious and anxious about many things. Imagine having a family get together and there is no educative films like “Like the Stars in the sky” to Watch! Imagine having no film that father, mother and children could sit together and watch without having to loose or find themselves overwhelmed by the sexual escapades involved.
I will be of the opinion that we should create more films that would be educating and less romantic. I know how hard it might seems to create or write a good scripts and the hideous journey in seeking for sponsors out there. I know what it means to do a cinematic movie in Nigeria. Even the Alaba international films are not easy to come by because you have to put into consideration many things and many other things can still make or break you. The penetration of Multichoice company into Nigeria has done more harm than good in the Nigerian film industry. I could remember us watching Igodo, Izaga, Out of Bondage, Orancle, World Apart, Oganigwe and many others, I could remember the creativity people like Charles Novia, Teco Benson, Rich Oganiru, Tunde Kaleni, and Many others put into creating imageries and memories that would last a life time.
More consideration should be carefully invest into driving home what is at stake. We have many untold histories. The romance is getting too simple, too unserious and the resemblance is obvious to the eyes. Many of the actors and actresses are stereotyped, the story lines seem the same always. The locations are the same when you watch two or three movies you will see many things used in the previous movie still being used in the movie you are currently watching. I know things are bound to change, yes, some people out there are really making us proud but we still have to work more on our scripts, locations and the style of our directing. We still have to build ourselves more so that we won’t be shoot out of the cliff tomorrow. It’s always better to shock people and change people’s expectations than to give them exactly what they think you can do. It’s not unexpected for me to be in a comedy film anymore; I’m no longer the underdog in that world. Not that I’m great or good at it or anything, it’s just that I’ve done a bunch of them, so you’re not shocked.
by John Chizoba Vincent