At dis day & age we still cant make good special effects in our movies.if 4 example we r 2 make an epic movie wit sorcery & d lot,hw exactly r we 2 do it.Its like d film,akers r too scared 2 look 4 investor 2 help them make somethin dat wld put Nigeria on d map 4 good.A southAfrican movie won an Academy award 4 d best foreign film.when r we goin 2 be able 2 do d same??

They already did

Ti Oluwa Nile

combrazor:


what on earth does that have to do with Nigeria?

A lot, my brother. A whole lot.

If we were once known as a the giant of Africa and the Nollywood industry is increasing in leaps and bounds (in quantity at least) then I would say , a lot.

Big effects doesn't necessarily make a good movie,I'm sure those SA movies you talked about didn't have fire falling from the sky. . . Nigeria already has a classic epic. . .it's called Things fall apart staring Pete Edochie, remember the one that got BBC raving in the 80's. . . if only we'd appreciate our own.

combrazor:

nonsense. that is totally irrelevant.

even when Nigeria was known as the so-called "Giant of Africa" and South Africa was in the grips of apartheid, South Africa's film industry and infrastructure was still light years ahead of Nigeria's, and it remains so today.

I dont really think it is out of place for the Nigeria film industry to aspire for something here. We are not talking about some country here like Niger or Benin. It is Nigeria. I know we have our problems , plenty of them, but we have shown it times without number that given the right environment we tend to excel in all that we do.
Amidst all the wackiness that exist in Nollywood, u can still see some talented artistes, scriptwrites and producers. The potential is there and I wont be surprised if one day some Nigerian films translates into a world wide success. It is already a success at least in West Africa.

[quote author=combrazor link=topic=121236.msg2075658#msg2075658 date=1206019907

(for one thing, South Africa actually has a *film* industry while Nigeria has a *video* market)


[/quote]
I agree with u on that point. However, the proceeds and experience from the "video market" if managed well can be used to kick off an enviable film industry. I aint saying that we should have been ahead of SA but it is not out of place if we use them as a standard. Given the personnel we have in both the academic and commercial sector of the Arts industry, what South Africa achieved should not be intimidating.Nollywood is more than a decade old and it is still stagnant in terms of quality , concept and depth. I believe that is what the poster is trying to say.

combrazor:

"Nollywood is more than a decade old"

do you realize that South Africa's film industry is almost a century old?

i mean, 100 years!

Wow!! I knew they have been there a long time ago, but I honestly don't realize it has been that long.

Well, if u are talking about the number of home movies churned out , then yeah the industry have quadrupuled. But in terms of content , there is very little progress made especially when u put it in the context of the number of movies released into the market.

combrazor:


(for one thing, South Africa actually has a *film* industry while Nigeria has a *video* market)

Word from da Prof

Ppl should remember that Nollywood cannot just fly, It takes time and I know we shall get there soon.

Trip:

At this day & age we still can't make good special effects in our movies.if 4 example we r 2 make an epic movie wit sorcery & d lot,hw exactly r we 2 do it.Its like d film,akers r too scared 2 look 4 investor 2 help them make somethin that would put Nigeria on d map 4 good.

Bros I think you should understand that all this stuff cost money and time, The time is what Nollywood Producer/Director don't have.

combrazor:

no . . . there is progress. go watch a home video from 1995 and compare it to one from today.

granted, there is still a long, long, long way to go . . . but it's not as if the industry hasn't moved at all.

Ok, maybe I am not being clear enough. In 1995, 10 movies might be released a week. Out of that 10, u would have prolly 5 very good ones with good story lines. Nowadays, 200 movies would be released a week and u can barely pick out 20 good ones. I wont really be too excited about that kind of progress.

I've been wondering this same thing too,

Our music has achieved world class status but whats up with Nollywood ? And we claim to be the lagest movie industry after Bollywood

cause making an epic requires a huge amount of commitment,funding and near excellent script writers and also government participation all of which is lacking in the nigerian movie scene,the yoruba artise and the ibo artise andto a lesser extent the hausa artise are not united and they kind of do more stuffs along tribal lines, to make an epic ll need ten s of millions of naira which the government is not willing to fund,neither is any private individual ready to fund as well,the alaba boys are understandable scared cause of copyright

"Sango" was an epic movie

because we lack common sense and the expertise!

Don't worry. I'm working on it.

top_kin:

"Sango" was an epic movie

but its been well over ten years ago now,

dee02:

because we lack common sense and the expertise!

we have all the common and even uncommon sense, these guys are not politicians ,so where are they going to raise like20,30,40 million naira or more for an epic movie whike the threat of piracy is a sword of damocles hanging over their head

becos it requires commitment, time (lots of time), hardwork and massive funding,,,,,,,,
everything Nigerians have an aversion to

It's simple - the movie industry sucks.

They've been way too concerned with quantity than we are with quality. Notice we isntead of they, meaning they don't care about their customers. They feel as long as they continue to purge out movies they'll continue to cash in. As a result of this they won't bother too much with the content of the homvies being created by them.

@ post
i guite agree with you, i'll deviate a little from the original post, take a look at an american movie of the 70s and follow the trend till present day american movies, the progression is noticeable, then compare with nigeria's movie of 2008 or the change from when we started producing movies then you will totally agree with the poster that we are not any word near quality except abundancy in quantity.

I guess the drive for quick returns and lack of patience as well as professionalism in some quarters are some factors.It takes years to make most films in the U.S. Until we realise that there isn't any short cut to success ( same attitude with our sports especially football).
These things take time and planning. is the movie industry ready for a change

Some great works have actually come of Nigeria e.g. Mind Bending by Lola Fanikayode (TV Series) I call it great because of the quality of idea; plot; the cast; the setting and the quality of audio & video.

There were a couple of films from Hubert Ogunde: Aiye & some other one that had cats in the film.

I refuse to agree with those who compare ages i.e. S.A. started a century ago & 9ja stated a decade ago. The truth of the matter is, if you had defined your end goal, achieving it becomes less difficult. Nollywood simply hasnt defined their destination & that is evident in the lack of quality; poverty of ideas; lack of training (anybody feels that can also act).

We are in an age where 10 years in practice can be compared to a century in practice because Technological advancement has shortened the years but you can have the best cutting edge technology in your hands, if you dont know what to do with it, you are no diff from a slowpoke.

My perceived observation of Nollywood is a quick money making venture, so we can have 1,000 pages on naiarland on Nollywood & nothing will change.

If the objective doesnt change, there will be no Nollywood in a decades time!!!

Have you ever been to Alaba Int Market?? The markerters record Audio on =N=10 CDs (Quote Me).As long as such pratices continue, the industry is doomed.

My people, lets stop comparing ourselves with other nations, its disgraceful to do so. Why? We are not commited to Excelence. Simple!!

Some great works have actually come of Nigeria e.g. Mind Bending by Lola Fanikayode (TV Series) I call it great because of the quality of idea; plot; the cast; the setting and the quality of audio & video.

There were a couple of films from Hubert Ogunde: Aiye & some other one that had cats in the film.

I refuse to agree with those who compare ages i.e. S.A. started a century ago & 9ja stated a decade ago. The truth of the matter is, if you had defined your end goal, achieving it becomes less difficult. Nollywood simply hasnt defined their destination & that is evident in the lack of quality; poverty of ideas; lack of training (anybody feels that can also act).

We are in an age where 10 years in practice can be compared to a century in practice because Technological advancement has shortened the years but you can have the best cutting edge technology in your hands, if you dont know what to do with it, you are no diff from a slowpoke.

My perceived observation of Nollywood is a quick money making venture, so we can have 1,000 pages on naiarland on Nollywood & nothing will change.

If the objective doesnt change, there will be no Nollywood in a decades time!!!

Have you ever been to Alaba Int Market?? The markerters record Audio on =N=10 CDs (Quote Me).As long as such pratices continue, the industry is doomed.

My people, lets stop comparing ourselves with other nations, its disgraceful to do so. Why? We are not commited to Excelence. Simple!!

lucabrasi:


we have all the common and even uncommon sense, these guys are not politicians ,so where are they going to raise like20,30,40 million naira or more for an epic movie whike the threat of piracy is a sword of damocles hanging over their head

just like you know my mind, to seek for funds to produced a good movie is a problem.

powerofmap:

just like you know my mind, to seek for funds to produced a good movie is a problem.

true, with all the stories we know of our tradition the sango,oya,ogun,obatala the ibo and hausa dieties we dont need to look for stories just good scrip writers and the funds, even a white/foreign scrip writer will write a good script if the theatre practitioners can afford it or raise the funds,hollywood has a network of banks/financial outfits that are dedicated to funding them and also individuals who will happilywrite a cheque for 50million dollars or more just by hearing the name martin scorcese or steven spielberg

Note that there are few professionals in the movie industry. I am not talking about actors here , I am talking about studio work,videography, cinematography, effects and others. How many of you have bought any movie recently? Only video club owners buy movies and offcourse the movies many at times and re not worth watching again. How many SA films are quite tight because personally I have not watched any SA film apart from some parts of Sarafina.

I sure non of you guys have had a look at the movie "Amazing Grace" otherwise, you wouldn't be talking like this. We know the Nigerian movie industry isn't really doing well in terms of producing quality movies.

But must we keep whining all the time?
Just because South Africa won An Academy dosen't mean we haven't had any good thing here. 'Amazing Grace' is one.

I am a strong critic of the Nigerian movie industry but i get really pissed when people start these comparisons.
Please let's stop it.

As already said, south Africa has always been ahead of Nigeria.

We are not doing really well but that dose not mean that we have never had something good.

Amazing Grace is cool, Try watch some SA films and see the difference.
Try and get a copy of Tsotsi the Academy Award winning film you would love it,

I watch an episode of Secret and Scandal prouced by Elvis Chuks and they stole the scene where Tsotsi took that baby to Miriam for breast feeding.

brushparke:

I sure non of you guys have had a look at the movie "Amazing Grace" otherwise, you wouldn't be talking like this. We know the Nigerian movie industry isn't really doing well in terms of producing quality movies.

But must we keep whining all the time?
Just because South Africa won An Academy dosen't mean we haven't had any good thing here. 'Amazing Grace' is one.

I am a strong critic of the Nigerian movie industry but i get really pissed when people start these comparisons.
Please let's stop it.

As already said, south Africa has always been ahead of Nigeria.

We are not doing really well but that dose not mean that we have never had something good.

the problem we have in nigeria is a multi pronged one so it realli needs a good whine to kick start any type of reform which starts from forums like these,if it was expertise then we have the likes of mainframe,dj tee and so many i dont know who can shoot and direct quality movies,personally what im saying is that they havnt got funds to help them out neither are the government and private individuals giving them support the music artise are spending an average of 2million at least on a few minutes video while a 1 hour 30minutes movie is being shot for less than 1 million naira, that s got to call for some ddiscussion,

Movie is about originality, vision,history, technology,propanganda,dominance and general way of life and ethics,all this we chronically lack as a people.

We are not in the position to influence others if we can't control our destiny.What we do and what people think about us depends on our concepts and for now,our concepts are undefined,infact we don't have,caught up between reality and fantasy.

How would you master a camera,a car,a ship or a plane if you don't have any inkling of how this things are made,we have to begin to see this things as objects we can create and make available before we can able to use them.This can be clearly seen from how we manage oyibo built infrastructures,total fallacy,we can't handle it,because we don't know what they stand for.Driving delicate machines in pothole and dust filled roads,instead of donkies,we have not even started the technology of donkey and horse carting.

Why can't we make Classic epic movies?

. . .Because we can barely make non-classic, non-epic movies.

Nigerian music is superb,original,no match.Music like Fela Kuti.Femi Kuti,Osadebe,Wasiu,Bright Chimezie,Oriental Brothers,Oliver,Shina Peters,name them,their music videos always come out natural and beautiful,it portrays african creatitivity,uniqueness,beauty, unity,independence and joy.

All the the same in diffrent languages,universal,only the real can fell it,white man's version of classical but in this case,it's for all,no boundaries.

Listen guys blockbuster movie making in todays world is about taking a big chance on a piece of intellectual property with the high hopes that the financial returns on the execution of the production n marketing of the movie will be high rewarding.

The avenues by with such movies are produced n marketed are not yet available in todays Nigeria. High finance for 1; we are yet to c any1 ready to invest $100mil (=N=12bil) in a movie even $20mil(=N=240mil) is to high a figure to produce a Nigeria movie mainly becos the marketing channels are not yet high developed to accomodate the eventual recuparation of such investments.

We may c developments n improvements over the next ten years as more n more people demand goods n services such as movie theathers movie shows original DVDs n such like.

South Africas economy is very different from ours n can support such large investment in such a thing as a blockbuster movie. We'll need to move our country to the point where playing with the big boys in the international arena will become common place.

WE can't cuz the people at the helms ain't got the brains. And the people who got the brains don't give a fleeting f**k. That's putting it mildly!