No More Igbo Movies: Why?

I think olydimwitted should be banned. After all he's still writing tribalistic rubbish despite the fact that the thread was cleaned up

.

First off nuzo, I want to thank you for bringing the thread back to the topic despite the psychotic rants of ajisafe, olydmiwitted and the other imbeciles

Now I understand that English Nollywood makes more money for the industry. That's fine. No ONE is saying that they should stop. Infact I don't think you can quote anyone saying such a thing on this thread. My question is why can't they do both? Both WILL sell. Maybe one more than the other but they will both sell either way and that way everyone who likes both kind of movies can have easy access. People shouldnt have to go to the East to watch such movies. It wasnt like that before else I wouldnt have the ones that I have at home.

So the audience can't be blamed, it's the industry that should get the criticism for completely cutting off one for the other. They can make both accessible to everyone. Let us have the option to pick and choose.

Also I don't believe anyone said that such movies is the only way to show Igbo culture. Language however is a big part of one's culture though esp in Africa so why eradicate it just to gain favor from people outside? I think the excuse of "well English is an universal language" is pitiful since that hasnt stopped Bollywood from making it big in the world of film nor has it stopped them from gaining international awards.

*yawns*

I'm glad there are some people that see it as a problem


I actually have Living In Bondage & Rattle Snake. Never seen Missing Mask though. 

Anyway I agree with you about subtitles and quality filming but see if you were to ask anyone to compare the plots/stories and acting of Nollywood to that of the indigeous igbo movies.  Very high percentage will pick the latter. Many people like to delude themselves and say Nollywood movies are Igbo films spoken in English. Not true.


Only morons find reading subtitles a "hassle" or "chore" in my opinion and I suppose they are being "smart" but in a greedy way. A smart producer/director will put their mind in making quality not just mass quantity of the same ol' bullshit.

grafikdon has lit upon a point i wanted to make a long time ago but got sidelined by the holy race war that was raging here:

let's be real: the main objective in the minds of the producers and marketers of Nollywood movies is to make money, and to make it fast.

when you look at the accelerated pace of the production, the limited amount of time they allocate to actually shooting and editing the movie, it's easy to understand why they wouldn't want to spend more time subtitling a movie (translating and subtitling is a pretty specialized skill, between; even Yoruba movies tend to have terrible subtitles)

and basically, subtitles limit the audience. while D-reloaded might say that people who don't want to read subtitles may be "morons," i guess that is an easy thing for those of us in the worldly lettered classes to say, but i think you might be surprised to learn how many people in Nigeria are either flat-out illiterate, or not literate enough to read subtitles and follow the action onscreen at the same time.

(even here in America, most reasonably educated people who are not foreign film buffs don't like to read subtitles. as one guy once told me: "the cinema isn't a library and so i don't think i should go to the movies to read!")

can you imagine your househelp watching a subtitled film? if the answer is "no," then that's an important thing to ponder and that's one basic premise of Nollywood that it took me a while to catch on to: the target audience for Nollywood is not you, but your househelp.

look at the way Nollywood movies are packaged and marketed: notice that they rarely have a written summary of the movie's plot on the back. notice that they often don't even write the actor's names on the cover; instead they just have big, ginormous photos of the actors' faces distorted into broad expressions: if they are crying, we know it's a melodrama of some sort. if they are laughing or making funny faces, we know it's a comedy. look at the titles: often misspelled, ungrammatical, simple, bombastic words strung together without regard to how they relate to each other or to the movie's subject.

why is all this?

because the assumption is that the target audience of Nollywood movies can not or does not read.

so isn't it understandable why subtitled movies might be viewed as a liability?

i rarely see Yoruba movies on the shelves in the East. the few people i know who go out of their way to watch them are serious Nollywood buffs, or more educated people who are burned out on Nollywood and feel that Yoruba movies have more authenticity.

*shrug*

@ D-reloaded


i agree that it would be great to have more options available, but if you know how difficult and expensive it is to make even these crap-quality Nollywood videos, you'd understand why the people making them are not really inclined to take too many risks and would rather make a product that is going to appeal to as broad an audience as they possibly can.



on one hand, i agree with you: i don't think it's such a big deal to read subtitles. i'd say 80% of the movies i watch are in languages i don't understand, so subtitles are a regula--even fundamental--part of my movie-watching experience.

but i realize that not everybody is as comfortable with them as i am, and i understand that position, too.



i was never hugely into Bollywood, but from what i can remember, the few times i watched Indian movies, they were dubbed into English.



nope.

it used to offend me a lot, but i got over it. relatively recently, in fact.

every businessperson--and even every artist--has the prerogative to define the audience they are interested in reaching with their work/product. Nollywood has decided that the people they want to reach are the lowest common denominator--Mama Iyabo the market seller and Papa Chinedu the lorry driver, as opposed to "the botas on Victoria Island."

i think it's a shame, and i think it's actually not even a very smart business move, but it is THEIR money they are putting on the line and they have the right to invest it as they see fit.

for example, a lot of movie producers are convinced that the "botas" are just too in love with Hollywood to ever fully support Nigerian movies, no matter how much they improve in quality, and so they feel Mama Iyabo and Papa Chinedu are much more loyal and reliable customers. and honestly, they might even have a point--i don't know.

anyway, MY point is that it sucks that they are not interested in making movies for people like me (and you). the standard response is that if you are interested in seeing movies for people like you, then you have to take the initiative and go into the business of producing them yourself. and that's what i'm in the process of doing.

mind you, i don't think it's fair: not everybody is a filmmaker, and not everbody should have to stand up and make movies just because they want to see things they relate to, but hey--life is not fair.

I am an igbo man,but i am not really happy because igbo movies are now difficult to get.It is not that we igbos don't value or respect our culture.The problem is that most of these producers and marketers are very greedy,they only want english movies so that they can make more money.

When you travel to the eastern part of Nigeria you will definately find some.

A very interesting thread,if one leaves out the tribalistic tirades.
There is not a doubt that using the english language is a big advantage in winning a wide audience base and making more money.Businesswise it makes more sense.Factum;english language is an ubiquitous language,and there is nothing anybody can do about that.
But somewhere down the line,questions will need to be asked whether sole profit consideration justifies the deliberate sidestepping of using indigenous tongues.
But like other posters have said,any moviemaking industry is mostly profitdriven and there is little anybody can do about that.
Investors will choose whatever options that will guarantee a very quick returns of their investment cash.And in the english speaking sector of nollywood,that investment cash volume is substantial,much more substantial than in the indigenous language sectors,and that includes yoruba movie sector.
That's the situation of nollywood,for now,atleast.

As for the subtitling,i believe that more people should be trained in subtitling skills.The yoruba sector,for example,do seems to grossly underestimate the importance of precision subtitling and how much it impacts on the audience.
But i am beginning to see improvements in this area because more and more yoruba movies are coming out with more competent subtitling.If a movie has a very good plot,it won't matter in what language the lines are delivered as long as the subtitling is pretty accurate,people will definitely sit down to follow the plot to the end.

Another point that needs to be emphasized on is the use or, maybe i should say,the overuse of spoken words in yoruba movies,for example.All nollywood flicks in any language are very verbal,relying almost exclusively on words to narrate the storyline with little or no use of actions,sounds,props,etc(visuals) to propel the movies' plots.
Now,while the english lang movies may not be - to a very large part - affected by this style of storytelling simply because they use a language that is ubiquitous(english) ,the indigenous lang movies are very disadvantaged,because the more they rely on spoken words,the more difficult it becomes to accurately subtitle them,and the more their viewership base shrinks.

So,in a nutshell,the only way for the indigenous lang sector of nollywood, like the yoruba movie sector, to compensate for the language disadvantage is to use the visual language more,meaning that they should cut down on the dialogues overload in their movies more and be much more visual.
The visual language is far more universal than english,and that is why it is better to "show it" than "talk it".
Every soul on this planet,who is not blind,understands what they see much more quickly than the spoken languages they hear.

Right now,the verbal/visual usage ratio in most yoruba flicks is about 90/10 in percentage in favour of the verbal.Give or take 5%.That is way way too high,IMO.Almost every scene is a damn conference with the actors just sitting around like logs and blabbing away!The "igboenglish" movies can get away with that,but not indigenous lang movie sectors like yoruba and igbo.
If verbal percentage can be cut down from 90% to say, under 60%,yoruba movies will be a lot easier to watch,follow,and understand by non-yoruba speaking audience.All that should,ofcourse, be supported with a very precise and professional subtitling.
The producers of igbo language movies can also take a cue from this suggestion,too.

Picture this scenario in your minds eye;A Yoruba job seeker goes to an office in bid of a job, he was hinted prior to the interview that the interviewer is a yoruba man and h enters the room greeting- EKARO SIR the response was reciprocated in yoruba language, same thing applies to a Hausa man man in same circumstance and he was replied in same language which he spoke(ina-kwana), in the case of an ibo man in the same circumstance this is the case
JOB SEEKER:  Nwanne ndewo!
INTERVIEWER: Yes, may i help you?
    How can he make an igbo movie when im never form yankee finish, haha- definitely not possible.Picture the likes of Jim iyke,segun arinze,chididi mokeme,stephanie okereke and the likes, i guess that answers your question, 

So Igbo people enjoy the English Language a bit too much.