Five years ago we were frequently punished with the worst crap we could endure on T.V. I am talking about music videos. Radio on the other hand was different; we could listen to music from talented musicians. Even then i craved something better, I did try to get involved, It wasn’t easy, people just wanted quick cut and paste instead of the well done job. Nobody would pay for better quality (can you imagine). The consequent results were the eye sores we sat through in the late 90s and early 2000s. So what happened?

A REVOLUTION! First it was CHANNEL O then MTV. Channel O asked for videos from musicians, blah blah and musicians suddenly realized that in order to really be seen by Africa, you needed to be on one of these music channels, and how else could they do this but make a video that wouldn’t end up in the dustbin. One or two people put good stuff on there (JJC & 419 Squad, MODE 9, Ruggedman, etc). Then all of a sudden everyone was in on the act. This gave rise to new wave directors like DJ Tee, Woody and now Clarence Peters….etc. Now do you see the results? Awards, International recognition, International shows, Endorsements, etc.

NOW “NOLLYWOOD”: If you have been here even for a short while you would have realized by now that there are people here who love Nollywood films and don’t want anyone sating anything negative about them, and those who think “Nollywood home videos” are the biggest abomination since film was invented and only wish for a change or REVOLUTION.

Under this topic/subject, I want us to actually discuss what Nollywood is, how it is, what is wrong, what can be done, what should be done, etc. Because it is embarrassing that we are where we are and the world moves forward leaving us in the dust.

So Nollywood lovers, haters, critics and all…Lets start a revolution. If we don’t start somewhere we’ll never go anywhere. Trust me it will not be easy, Some might say we are just talking and can’t do nothing of our own, but criticism is a tool that aids change, I dare any to say Ruggedman’s “Ehen” did not contribute immensely to the hiphop music industry. Who knows, a movie making alliance can be formed here (fingers crossed).

Oh Yeah! We need a Revolution!

Taking a page out of Obama’s CHANGE message.

The Nollywood Revolutionist Band concert.

Introducing the Band

Drums – Thirdborn

Guitar – Mooretes

Conductor– Vesc

Singing – Sisikill

Sax – Chrisbenogor

DJ (after concert) – Kanto



Sing with me all ye who believe

And 1, 2, 3. . . .

WE’RE going to CHANGE NOLLYWOOD

We’re going to produce intelligent movies
We’re going to spread Satisfaction
We’re going to change it
We’re going to lead ‘em
We’re going to change it
And rearrange it
We’re going to change the Nollywood.

SING FOR CHANGE

Now’s the moment,
Open your mind to change
Accept it in your heart!
For our movie lovers at home and abroad
Come together all joined as one.
Join heads for Excellent scripts and better actors
Producers, Editors, Cinematographers!
Think together, hold each precious hand,
Lifting each other up;
Open your mind for a better vision,
Time for a revolution in Nollywood

YES WE CAN

Yes we can
Lift each other up
For good movies
Great acting
A better movie industry
Change! Change!

Revolution Party-ers





You don't have to tell me I have time on my hands. . . I know already

@ Siskill. I knew i could count on you. You too much Jare. but abeg find us another DJ.

LMAO! Give Kanto a chance. I think he can persuaded and if he doesn't play to our tune. . .

So Caught up in the singing and dancing, I forgot to ask how do we go about this? What if we discuss the elements of Movie Making sorely lacking in Nollywood movies?

Anything goes here. Throw in anything that can help, get people thinking, make those who feel they are getting the best from Nolly realize they are being fed cow dung, make people want to belong, make them want to participate (criticizing and hands on participation) in making the film industry an industry worth mentioning. All we know is that right now it's an apology. So anything that even scratches the surface is welcome. WAKE EM ALL UP.

I'm not in the mood for witty talk and I've also decided to see what can be done to salvage the industry. So I'll go straight to the point. The singular most important factor against the industry is money. Nobody spends more than a few million to make a movie. In as much as I think some low budget movies can be quite good but a movie goes beyond just making it. There's a lot of post-production gimmicks that have to be performed. I get really tired when I'm analysing nollywood's problem cuz when I'm concluding I always remember some other thing I failed to mention. So I'll stop here till I have more time on my hands. One things for sure though WE NEED A REVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sisi, I thought you were good with a big stick or is this not the same kind of revolution? I'd say it is, first we lynch that guy that tells us all to buy our copy NOW!

Yes! Yes! I found the perfect article to start us off or rather, continue from where Vesc started. Ironically, his first point - FUNDING is one of the two major problems the writer of this article mentioned!

Brilliant!!!

[QUOTE][B]THE FLAWS IN NIGERIA MOVIES[/B]

As a movie critic for I have seen more than a thousand Nigerian movies since the end of the 90s and I am very often asked why Nigerian movies are so poorly produced and executed.

Don’t get me wrong, I have laughed, cried, screamed and learned a bunch from a couple of great movies that remain the reference till today in Nollywood history, to name but a few: The Price, The Intruder, The Issakaba franchises, Little Angel, Old School.

There are two kinds of flaws that rampage the quality of Nigerian movies:

- the lack of funds and technical knowledge that hamper movies in the fields of sound and image, special effects, scenes choreography and structure, and so on. . . 

- the lack of creativity and the greed to push to the market a movie that is a carbon copy of another or develop a theme already seen a million times before and counting.

The ride will be long and chaotic, so fasten your seatbelts, here we go:

Introduction at the beginning
Is always way too long, it sometimes takes a third of the space on the disc to advertise other movies from the same production house. The advertising guy sounds like he has 2 minutes to read an A4 sheet and at the same time the house is coming down because the roof is on fire. He has to get out of there in 1 and a half minutes or he’s dead!

The beginning of Part 2 usually has 15 minutes of part 1 before it properly starts. Just put on a Hallmark production and you’ll see my point.

The soundtrack: Headache alert!
It plays continuously over the dialogues to the point that at times the viewer doesn’t understand a word that is being said.

The Themes
They are repeated times and times over to the point that the viewer can just see the title, listen to the soundtrack and just five minutes into the movie, they know already where the storyline is heading to.

How many times is a bored married woman going to get an accident and fall madly in love with the passerby/doctor/mechanic who comes to her rescue?

How many times will a rich man/woman conspire to have their offspring marry the rich offspring of their friend/business partner/political godfather?

How many times will a match made in heaven be undermined by trouble brewed by the boy/girl best friend?

How many times is a woman in love going to finance the wellbeing of her jobless, parasite boyfriend who will eventually abandon her? How many times?

Action/Thrillers
The fighting scenes and the shooting scenes are poorly choreographed and amateurish. Action heroes in Hollywood are also masters of martial arts which takes time and discipline to learn, you don’t improvise that. Gunshots sound like firecrackers.

Punches and kicks sound like they have been stolen from scenes from other movies.

Actors
For the great majority of them, they lack formal and basic training in voice coaching, body language, and impersonation of the character. They don’t feel their characters and don’t play them convincingly either.

Acting is a formal training, a great figure or a cute face are far from enough to be a credible actor or actress.

In “Touch My Heart”, Desmond Elliot plays a loud and rowdy illiterate to the perfection. He really became that man and who is totally opposite to the person Desmond is, and despite all his flaws, the viewer comes to feel empathy for him. That’s what acting is all about! More examples: RMD in “The Price”, Stella Damasus-Aboderin in “Standing Alone”, and Patience Ozokwor in “Old School”.

Sex, sex, sex
It has become indispensable to the narration of every story, and rather too much of it than too little. It is for the most part senseless sex that the storyline doesn’t justify. It is either sex between lovers or sex for money between pot-bellied middle-aged fools and girls the age of their (grand) daughters.

Why can’t a man and a woman be lovers without jumping in bed with one another? Isn’t there anything else lovers ever do? Is sex the only means of communication between lovers?


Rape and pregnancy
Rape scenes abound and there seems to be a general rule to it: the girl gets pregnant. In almost 90% of the cases. And when a woman is pregnant, she “must” have morning sickness.

Problem here is that a pregnant woman gets sick in the middle of the day. The nauseous state at the beginning of the pregnancy is called morning sickness for a reason, it gets the woman out of bed in the morning. The nausea can continue throughout the day, but as a general rule, it happens in the morning, before a woman is out of bed. Ask your wives and sisters! Then again, some actresses are mothers and know that all too well, still they play pregnant women who have nausea in the middle of the afternoon.

Part 1 - 2 - 3.
Stories drag on unnecessarily for the sake of selling more cds/vcds. The popular fashion of making 3 parts to a story has proportionally decreased the viewing pleasure. “Standing Order” is the most grueling, senseless piece of nothing I ever sat down to watch 9 hours long! People, 9 hours long!

Spelling Mistakes
Does anybody ever review the finished product before pushing it out to the masses? Actors names are very often grossly misspelled in the credits and subtitles are a serious hazard to your health.

Since 2006, the fashion is to put the summary of the story on the cover. Really? Has anybody ever tried to figure out that garbage? Syntax nonsense and spelling mistakes will kill you before you ever get there! Don’t even try!


Editing Mistakes
In “The Intruder”, Rita Dominic is talking about Chief Jacobs calling him Chief Douglas who was another character in the story. Sometimes, actors call fellow actors by their real names or by someone else’s name. Continuity!!! It also happens that the title in the movie is not the same on the cover. The movie “The Invisible man” is called so on the cover, but is “The Invincible man” in the movie. Go figure!

Fake Accents
When an actor is given a part of someone returning home from abroad, they feel that they have to fake the American or English accent. Mike Ezuruonye in “Beyond Reason”, Bob Manuel Udokwu and Oge Okoye in “Beyond Dreams”.


Storyline
A movie hardly ever keeps the same storyline from begin to finish. A story that began as a money ritual movie ends as a Christian movie (Dwelling in Darkness and Sorrow)and a Christian story ends as a money ritual movie.(Bless Me)

The boxing in of the actors
Patience Ozokwor is the evil mother (in-law), King Joe Okechukwu is the pastor who speaks in tongues, Kanayo O. Kanayo is the cultist, Benita Nzeribe is the husband snatcher, Clarion Chukurah is the prostitute, Chioma Chukwuka is the nice girl, Rita Dominic loves rich older married men, Mike Ezuruonye throws tantrums and slaps women around, Genevieve Nnaji is the high-class, expensive call girl, etc,


Make-up, wigs and garments
The circus is in town! Women have their faces made up like clowns with sometimes each eye brow in its own colour! Eucharia Anunobi-Ekwu is a specialist at this kind of nonsense. Wigs and hairpieces are a national disaster and look like bird nests on a rainy day!

Granted the fashion these days is low waist. Does that mean the viewer has to get dizzy roller-coasting up and down the fat rolls on the hips and buns of Uche Jombo and Monalisa Chinda to name but a few?

Actress get sausaged in tight outfits that don’t fit their generous shapes and make them look outright ridiculous while they could be regal in African attires. Do they sign a clause in their contracts that forbids them from wearing African attires?

You said International Film Award?
How can an industry that churns out an average of 300 movies on a year basis not be represented nor win any prestigious International Film Award? You said The Cannes Festival? The Oscars? Or even Fespaco?

If movies like Sarafina, Blood Diamonds, Hotel Rwanda, or the recent The Last King of Scotland have proudly represented the continent and won international awards as well, why can’t we? It’s high time we put our money where our
mouths are.

Husbands
They are always right and they always get away with all the evil they ever commit against women. A man will chase his wife away from his home for 3 years, and marry someone else who will off course disappoint him. In the meantime, the wife is beating the path to the local church every hour of the day and praying and fasting continuously to get back her cheating, back-stabbing husband. All he has to say, but it’s not compulsory, is that he is sorry. And she’ll come back running with the blessings of her family and this will be a day of great joy for her. She’ll confess to him that she never lost hope while he was enjoying himself with someone else.

In “Naked Sin”, Bob-Manuel Udokwu rapes the dead body of Chioma Chukwuka who not only gets pregnant in the process, but also sees an act of salvation in it!

In “Games Men Play”, the same Bob-Manuel Udokwu plots the rape of his own wife, the same Chioma Chukwuka who eventually forgives him because he’s sorry! Next, please!

Women
Should an alien come down to Earth and watch exclusively Nigerian movies, what do you think they would go back to tell their folks about Nigerian women? Women are mostly cast in a negative light that portrays them as dumb, submissive, nymphomaniac, slaves, immoral, and greedy gold-diggers.

The minute a woman gets a man, the only thing on her mind is to get him to marry her the fastest  way possible and she will stop at nothing to make that happen. All the women in her direct entourage have nothing else in mind but to snatch him away from her by all means.

Her mother, sisters, best friends, colleagues and even her housemaid are now a threat, they all become her worst enemy. Women walk around hunting for men to marry them at any cost.

In “Honey Desire”, a single mother and educated woman with a comfortable situation throws herself at an illiterate street bum who can’t tell his left from his right.

She fights tooth and nails to keep the idiot to herself and even fights her own daughter who off course throws herself at him as well. And since the bum thinks with his third leg anyway, he gets himself the best of both worlds by taking them both to bed and eventually abandoning them later. A woman who’s kind, a true friend and a caretaker of another woman is always a victim.

The Bible Says
Every time a husband is facing domestic problems with his wife, that he would call insubordination, the next thing you hear him say is :”The Bible says…”

The Holy Book is the ultimate justification for all the evil men commit against their women and it’s an incredibly powerful tool to keep them submissive and obedient.

As far as I know, the Bible was exclusively written by men, there isn’t a single line in it that was ever written by a woman, let alone a verse. Is it that back in those days women couldn’t read nor write?[/QUOTE]

You can read the comments about this article here

http://nigeriamovies.net/news/news181.php

@Vesc
Nah, we are bring out the big guns for this. LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!!!

Ah, Sisi. Your guy killed it. I must say he's a hero for watching naija movies up to a 4 digit number. I can't add all mine to more than 2 after all the I saw as a result of having trailing the sun's path as the only other option. Maybe I should have taken that route sef. Anyways, the problems nollywood has is legion. Even his article is hardly a synopsis of the wahala we have up nollywood's arse. One day is gonna be one day though. I just hope I live to see it.

what up my peeps. took a time out to read some other stuff posted on Nollywood related pages. Ammo is always needed in these situations you know.

@vescucci, about the budget thing, If a nolly director brags that he made a movie with over 10,000,000 naira (which is always the case, but we know they are lying) don't you think that can make a good quality movie? i bet ya it sure can. Blair witch project cost $25,000, even though there were some unfavourable reviews about it, it made a mark in Hollywood. There are a bunch of hollywood movies that were made for less than $100,000 (hollywood shuffle, clerks, brothers mcmullen,etc.) a lot less than many claim to make their Nollycrap with. Some of these films ended up with awards. Blair witch at that time entered record books cos of the profit it made ($120,000,000). So you see, budgeting shouldn't really constitute a problem.

@Sisikill, nice article you put there. its a wonder i hadn't seen it before cos i'm always out for stuff like that. Who even wrote it. Him try well well. ride on

I keep wondering why Nigerian film makers and their public announcers don't get it. Apart from the brain bruising episode of REEL NOLLY i had the misfortune of watching today, i also read some other stuff on nairaland. Do you know people are still bragging instead of waking up to smell the coffee or akamu or what ever they drink. I hear say them say, Genevieve (i spell am correct so?) can make it in Hollywood and that they should be lucky to have her, blah blah blah.

One question to those people. If Genevieve deserves that much how come she hasn't been cast in a single Hollywood movie that has been shot in Africa? e.g LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, HOTEL RWANDA, SHOOTING DOGS, SCENES OF LORD OF WAR, SAHARA,etc.

I am not saying she's a terrible actress, but if Nollywood was as respected as some brag it is, i believe they would have invited many Nolly actors and actresses not T.V stars from other African countries. Anybody feel me here?

Let’s talk Story Telling Baby!

Any primary 2 pupil, who has ever told a folktale during Story time in school, can tell a good story must have 4 things to keep the audience interested.

For our purposes and because I think story telling in all of it forms should be a religion, I’ll call these rules THE 4 TENETS OF STORY TELLING.

Introduction - this is the beginning of the story, where information is given to the reader about the story's characters, location and time period.

Conflict - this is generally introduced near the beginning of the story we learn that the major character has a problem or conflict, either personal (internal) or with someone or something else (external).

Climax - this occurs when the conflict is pushed to its limits, something intense, important, or climactic occurs, usually near the end of the story.

Resolution - this is the continuation of the story after the climax. The resolution may answer questions you are left with after the climax, or it may leave questions intentionally unanswered

To show the above is not new, let’s take one of our African Fables and see if we can apply the four rules to it.

Once upon a time in the Animal kingdom, there lived a tortoise. They tortoise always slept while others farmed because he thought he only needed his brains and not brawn to survive (introduction)

The other animals hated him because they thought he felt he was trying to say he was smarter than all of them. They decided to deal with him by lying to the king that they overhead the tortoise saying he more intelligent than the king (Conflict)

This made the king angry and he decided to put the tortoise to death. When the tortoise was brought to the presence of the king, he was asked to make one request before his hanging. (Climax)

The tortoise requested to be have his life spared and since it was the law of the land that all last requests must be granted, the king had no choice and that’s how the tortoise was spared (resolution)

See, it’s been there since beginning of time!

A good story should progress like the diagram below

[img]http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/literature/fiction.gif[/img]

Simple as ABC isn’t it? Then why oh why is Nollywood having a hard time applying these simple rules in their story telling?

Instead of the diagram above, a typical Nollywood movie goes one of three ways

1) A flatline where nothing is happening and everyone just sleepwalks through the entire movie



2) In circles where it seems like the actors know they are meant to do something but for the life of them, they are not sure what it is, so they just keep doing the same thing over and over again. In this scenario, the movie peaks at two points - The beginning when the audience is optimistic about seeing a good movie and at the end when the audience is overcome with relief that the movie is over.


3) All over the place, too many things happening at the same time, the audience can’t keep up with it. This is where you find yourself asking questions like “wait isn’t this the dead guy” and getting answers like “no, that was his brother in law’s son, the one who they first thought was dead but we found out wasn’t and was only pretending to be the other one who is really dead. . . I think, I’m not sure”


Introduction! Conflict! Climax! Resolutions. . . Nollywood writers, please learn it, embrace it, apply it and if it is too difficult to do, just ask your 7yrs old folktale telling daughters and sons to write your stories for you, okay? Thanks 

The 4 Tenets of Storytelling. . . brought to you by the NOLLYWOOD REVOLUTIONIST BAND!

Coolio!

Thirdborn:

I keep wondering why Nigerian film makers and their public announcers don't get it. Apart from the brain bruising episode of REEL NOLLY i had the misfortune of watching today, i also read some other stuff on nairaland. Do you know people are still bragging instead of waking up to smell the coffee or akamu or what ever they drink. I hear say them say, Genevieve (i spell am correct so?) can make it in Hollywood and that they should be lucky to have her, blah blah blah.

One question to those people. If Genevieve deserves that much how come she hasn't been cast in a single Hollywood movie that has been shot in Africa? e.g LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, HOTEL RWANDA, SHOOTING DOGS, SCENES OF LORD OF WAR, SAHARA,etc.

I am not saying she's a terrible actress, but if Nollywood was as respected as some brag it is, i believe they would have invited many Nolly actors and actresses not T.V stars from other African countries. Anybody feel me here?

Rotflmao! They did not! Oh come on.  . . I know they are a wee bit deluded but surely they wouldn't go that far!! Hollywood will be lucky to have her Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

@Sisikill, oh you no believe me abi, just go back and check TV/Movies there is a subject titled Genevieve Nnaji ready for Hollywood?, you'd be surprised what you find there. Happy reading(or not).

All I wanna know, Sisi is who the girl with the ponytail is in ur band. Maybe u need to lecture her in curbing over-zealousness. We ain't out to destroy nollywood, we just wanna change it. About AIM, I can't manage that cuz I hop from cafe to cafe. And that messenger is rarely installed on em. Mail me already. Or I'll come to Yo**** rd in KD and hunt u down.

enough with the criticising and be pro active, rather than being arm chair critics,it ll be more productive to actually get involved and do your bit to fix something in the industry,haing said that i reckon the main problems are the alaba marketers breeding ethnophobia in the industry, i saw a nollywood movie a couple of days ago on ait intern and rita dominic and another girl(cant rem her name)were acting a part of yoruba sisters and it was so obvious that they had ibo accents,theres nuifn wrong with that but to me thats pathetic if it has come to extent when they ll rather use her than a yoruba actress,
the problems in nollywood is the marketers promoting the ethnic divide
the marketers imposing family members,friends e.t.c who are not qualified stifling the real professionals because they hold the pursestrings
nollywood not being united but fragmented along ethnic divide
non government participation
non participation of the real professionals,script writers,directors e.t.c making the banks,multi nationals e.t.c scared of investing
distribution network, the only distributn network available is alaba,iweka road,lagos island

Err. .  .I thought being proactive is what we are doing here? If we just said the movies are bad without saying what is bad about them, then I'll understand your stop criticizing talk. We are talking about what should be changed and how it should be done. . . starting with the basics. It does not get any more proactive than that.

Pray tell, how you know we are not involved in the industry? Would you rather we peppered the thread with our work, blowing our own trumpets? Knowing how we Nigerians are, how long do you think it would take before our points are summarily dismissed as jealousy? There is a time and place for everything, this is the time to talk about what can be improved in our movie industry and I don't think it takes someone who is already in the industry to know that something is wrong somewhere. Please don't assume because we haven't shown the movies, scripts or whatever else we are working, we are armchair critics. Honestly, I will never understand this whole you can't criticize something until you've shown yourself worthy mentality.


Now getting back on topic, I agree with you on Marketing but the ethnic divide (I’m going to assume that’s your PC speak for Tribalism) Like I stated on one of the "Tribalism in. . . . Wood” threads" I see it more as a Geographical divide than an ethnic divide. I think it is more of a decentralized movie industry. Most of these movies are shot on location and often times; they are done in the states of the people behind the camera or the target audience.  For instance, Hausa Movies are shot in the North, Yoruba movies in the South and Igbo movies in the East (oh let’s also keep in mind that not all English movies are Igbo movies) Knowing that, let’s be realistic, how many actors do you think will go on location for days on end (if it’s not oversees), especially the women? I honestly believe if the Industry itself was more centralized like Hollywood, with one body governing it. . . like Hollywood, where the actors and actresses are all under one union. . . like Hollywood,  and all the writers were all under one umbrella, like. . . well you get the picture, this won’t be that much of an issue.

Honestly, we need to stop looking at things from a tribalistic point of view because it only stops of from digging deeper. Please note that I am not saying centralization will eradicate the problem completely. What I am saying is that, let’s look at all the other very legitimate factors first before using tribalism. If after we have a centralized movie industry and it continues to happen. . . that is, we see Onyeka instead of Oyin or Bowale instead of Obioma, then we can yell ethnic divide aka tribalism. You know, there are some people who will swear on their father’s graves that the Jews control Hollywood despite all the centralization and whatnot and if that’s the case, then it is truly tribalism at work.

vescucci:

All I want to know, Sisi is who the girl with the ponytail is in ur band. Maybe u need to lecture her in curbing over-zealousness. We ain't out to destroy nollywood, we just want to change it. About AIM, I can't manage that because I hop from cafe to cafe. And that messenger is rarely installed on em. Mail me already. Or I'll come to Yo**** rd in KD and hunt u down.

Tee hee. . . oh alright, I'll tone it down a li'l bit.

_{Why aren't ya accepting me?}

Me again. . . .

Just want to post this article from the PM (Project Management) World. I love it because it looks at The Nigerian Movie Industry from a Managerial Point of view. I don't agree with some of his points (like SUCCESS. . . our defination obviously differs) but that's neither here or there coz this article has what we need.


REGIONAL REPORT – NIGERIA – NOVEMBER 2007

Current Developments Affecting Project Management in Nigeria

End of October 2007

By O. Chima Okereke, PhD International Correspondent for PM World


Today in Nigeria Nollywood and Tinapa Nollywood, the Nigerian budding film industry, is a widely acclaimed success. Its success hassome object lessons for project and operations management in Nigeria. The establishment ofTinapa, with international commercial significance, is a major project recently completed by theGovernment of the Cross River State of Nigeria. This report will touch on the commercial importance and potential for national economic development of these two subjects.Nollywood Nollywood, the Nigeria’s equivalent of Hollywood, is reputedly the third largest film industry in the world; that is behind Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. It is estimated that within this year,the industry will produce about two thousand films. This underlines its description as a multi-billion dollar movie industry, churning out some 200 videos every month, with each film selling over 50,000 copies.


The industry is relevant to project management as the production of a given film is a project inits own right. Besides, it may be rewarding to explore the significance of Nollywood and itsimpact on the Nigerian economy, some of which are covered in the following statements:

1. The industry employs so many Nigerians that the number is allegedly higher than that inthe oil industry. This point is more of an assertion than a fact until proven with comparative figures on the two industries. Clearly, the message here is that the filmindustry employs thousands of Nigerians.

2. The success of the industry is a vindication of the benefits of integrity, honesty, and enterprise. These are ethical values which are lacking in most government and private operations and projects in Africa. For, it is reported that tribalism, nepotism, and corruption in its various forms are unknown in the industry. Rather, factors that have engendered success are skills, hard work, entrepreneurial ability and performance.

3. It is claimed that there is a lack of governmental support, which paradoxically is seen as a blessing and not a hindrance. For, it is reasoned that absence of government funding means absence of government interference, therefore; this has enabled the performers and artists to excel in the acting and production of their films without let or hindrance.

4. The industry has significant geographical spread, and a national representation which isnormally difficult to achieve in government operations. To expatiate, its main studio is in Tinapa, Calabar. However, most movies are not produced in studios; rather video moviesare shot on locations all over Nigeria with appropriate and relevant distinct regional variations. For example, northern Nigerian movies are shot in the northern part of the country in the Hausa language where the language is dominant, Yoruba-language moviesare produced in the western part of the country where Yoruba is the dominant language; lastly, Igbo movies and a lot ofpopular English movies are shot mostly in the south-east where Igbo is dominant.

For coordination andcontrol purposes, many of the big producers have offices in Lagos, the commercial capital of the country.In conclusion, the future of the industry is described as very promising especially as its moviesare said to be so popular in Africa that they record more sales than Hollywood films. Up till now,the films are low-budget, and shot in private homes. The films will in the near future beproduced in the large professional film studio in a big new commercial complex in Tinapa, in Calabar, in the Cross River State of Nigeria.

Tinapa The building of Tinapa is such an important major commercial project, estimated at $540million, that it may interest foreign investors to be informed of its economic and commercial potentials. It is the brain-child of Mr. Donald Duke, the US educated Governor of Cross RiverState, Nigeria, from 1999 to May 2007. His vision was to build a world-class integrated businessresort, comparable to free zones in Hong Kong and Dubai.

The multi purpose business resort provides international standard integrated shopping complexeswith distribution schemes supported by business tourism and entertainment facilities. It has been built on the principle that the creation of a trade hub will attract investors, traders and businesstravellers and subsequently domestic,regional and international leisure tourists.

It is expected to achieve the followingamong others:
•To attract 1.6 million visitorsannually,
•To yield income to investors from2007 and
•To employ 1,820 people.The complex will incorporate incentives,described as “a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)”, for investment purposes.

It will be granted FreeTrade Zone (FTZ) status and the incentives it will offer to investors include the following:

•Exemption from all Federal, State and Local Government taxes, levies and rates
•Entitlement of approved enterprises to import, without payment of customs duty, any capital goods, consumer goods, raw materials, components and articles intended to beused with an approved activity
•Freedom from legislative provision pertaining to taxes, levies, duties and foreign exchange regulation
•Repatriation of foreign capital on investment in the zone at any time
•Unrestricted remittance of profits earned by investors•No import or export licence
•Rent free land during the construction stage, thereafter rent shall be determined by themanagement of the Zone
•Foreign managers and qualified personnel may be employed by companies operating inthe Zone In conclusion, Tinapa is promised to provide investors with a robust platform to explore and exploit the commercial and business opportunities in Nigeria.


http://www.pmforum.org/library/RegionalReports/2007/PDFs/Okereke-11-07.pdf

Okay, I know I'm pushing it now but I thot this topic won't reach it's full potential if I didn't post this comment from another thread, written by someone I think is just BRILLIANT. Someone who GETS IT!!!

iukpe:

We can only say the movie industry is young and experiencing "teething problems" when there is a serious effort by all involved to make good movies and eventually it doesnt turn out so good. Technology is one of the most important things today in making good movies. The equipment, the set and editing software etc, all add to the ability to produce a good movie. Even adding computer generated images.

I have been in a small movie village in Mumbai, India sometime and I had the opportunity to see a movie being made. I believed if a fly went past the camera it would be part of the script. They were repeating one part over and over, there was a market place put together just for this movie a train station with two coaches with handles that allowed them to be rocked to imitate the train behaviour on the rail, flashing lights manually operated to look like the train was moving past light posts. It looked pretty easy especially when you realise that these were not real coaches nor real rails, but just fabricated for this purpose and repainted or relocated to fit any movie.

Nigerian movie companies should begin to think of putting some life in movie production. acquire some acers of land in one of those villages we make our movies and begin to set up movie style villages. This takes some time but will go a long way in making our next generation movies better.

After a while we will no longer need to come out to open streets to make movies where we cannot stop the public from hanging around to watch.

Some things can be made just for movie purposes when you have the determination, and with this other support talents will be discovered, like stunt men, stunt drivers, special movie technicians etc.

I specifically would like to develope special effects for the movie industry. For instance in a high tech communications center, all of the flashing light panels and screens are just dummies made for that purpose. People will be willing to invest in all kinds of things the movie industry might need.

We can't talk of teething problems when movies starts from crappy storyline and no talent displayed by the characters. A movie with a good storyline may turn out very yukky if all characters say their parts as if read from the pages of a book they've seen for the first time.

The Nigerian music industry is good today because its backed up with a lot of technology and good talent. A bit of innovation could make a lot of difference in our movie industry.

By the way, he didn't pay me 

I read this thread before and I agree with you.

Sisikill:


_{Why aren't ya accepting me?}

Because I do not use AIM. Add me in through the YIM. YIM accepts foreign messenger services. I rarely browse with my laptop and most cafes think 'messenger' is proprietory to yahoo.

well OK lets talk revolution

First : we need a MENTAL revolution

not every inteligent young man needs to have gone to Havrd or Oxford or Standford or whatever other fords there are in the world,

Second: we need a Biological revolution

you cannot take some fat ass girl to act as an Action heroine just because she is a Tom boy
and dont our male actors need to do something about their stomachs?

third: we need a Make up revolution

there is only one time in a year the ladies are allowed to make up teh way they do in the movies, and that is on Halloween's night

Fourth : we need and writting revolution

Poor scripts, make poor comprehension , and unnecessary repeatition

Fifth : we need a Directing revolution

the actors cannot just ACT, they need to be directed to give teh emotion to the scene that shd be
and when u are acting in front of the cameras there are certain things that the actor might be unaware of which the director has to detect from behind the scene and correct

in short i don tire!!!

Sisikill:

Err. . .I thought being proactive is what we are doing here? If we just said the movies are bad without saying what is bad about them, then I'll understand your stop criticizing talk. We are talking about what should be changed and how it should be done. . . starting with the basics. It does not get any more proactive than that.

well,i meant being pro active as in stepping up to the plate and getting stuck in,enough discussions n stuffs has been done even by the nollywood practitioners,the problem with us nigerians have never been what needs to be done and how to go about it but atually the will to do what needs being done

Sisikill:



Pray tell, how you know we are not involved in the industry? Would you rather we peppered the thread with our work, blowing our own trumpets? Knowing how we Nigerians are, how long do you think it would take before our points are summarily dismissed as jealousy? There is a time and place for everything, this is the time to talk about what can be improved in our movie industry and I don't think it takes someone who is already in the industry to know that something is wrong somewhere. Please don't assume because we haven't shown the movies, scripts or whatever else we are working, we are armchair critics. Honestly, I will never understand this whole you can't criticize something until you've shown yourself worthy mentality.

well,the way i see it,discussions and identifying what needs being done has never been the problem which is obvious from the numerous threads both on nland and village square e.t.c about nollywood,evrybody knows the fundamental problems so going a step further either by better scrips,involvment of people who actually know what they r doing,people who have been to the four walls of a univerity of school of cinematography e.t.c is the way to go,and i dont see talking about one's work as blowing thr trumpet.no one is saying you have to be worthy to criticise all we r sayn is concrete actions rather than multiple pages of debates,discussions without any action following is just what it is,

Sisikill:






Now getting back on topic, I agree with you on Marketing but the ethnic divide (I’m going to assume that’s your PC speak for Tribalism) Like I stated on one of the "Tribalism in. . . . Wood” threads" I see it more as a Geographical divide than an ethnic divide. I think it is more of a decentralized movie industry. Most of these movies are shot on location and often times; they are done in the states of the people behind the camera or the target audience. For instance, Hausa Movies are shot in the North, Yoruba movies in the South and Igbo movies in the East (oh let’s also keep in mind that not all English movies are Igbo movies) Knowing that, let’s be realistic, how many actors do you think will go on location for days on end (if it’s not oversees), especially the women? I honestly believe if the Industry itself was more centralized like Hollywood, with one body governing it. . . like Hollywood, where the actors and actresses are all under one union. . . like Hollywood, and all the writers were all under one umbrella, like. . . well you get the picture, this won’t be that much of an issue.

yes its a geographical divide ONLY IN SOME CASES, thats why i gave the example in my previous comment of rita dominic and another chick acting the part of yoruba girls when it was obvious they couldnt utter more than the popular yoruba phrases, what that is sayn to me is that the producer will rather use them than getting a yoruba actress,well even if some of these movies are shot not far from the target audience most of these movies are shot in neutral locations like lagos and abuja but the same thing is still obtained, i totally agree that the whole industry should be centralized but disagree that they have any excuse not featuring artiste from other tribes even directors no matter how qualified, the thing is that this is one of the most important drawbacks to nollywood attaining its true potential

Sisikill:







Honestly, we need to stop looking at things from a tribalistic point of view because it only stops of from digging deeper. Please note that I am not saying centralization will eradicate the problem completely. What I am saying is that, let’s look at all the other very legitimate factors first before using tribalism. If after we have a centralized movie industry and it continues to happen. . . that is, we see Onyeka instead of Oyin or Bowale instead of Obioma, then we can yell ethnic divide aka tribalism. You know, there are some people who will swear on their father’s graves that the Jews control Hollywood despite all the centralization and whatnot and if that’s the case, then it is truly tribalism at work.

well,i think you should turn it round and ask how far has tribalism affected nollywood?why isnt there a trully nollywood movie?with the example of the jews you made,imagine what it ll look like if we only had jewish movies and storylines in hollywood like its happening in nigeria, you get what im saying now?
im not even concerned about the various ethnic stereotypes that go on because tribalism and the ethic fragmentation in nollywood going on is much more of a serious problem
as for me,allim saying is that,even though the alaba marketers controll the purse strings,if a yakubu dntata is the best director for a movie then use him and not nnamdi just cause he is your brother,if a segun olu is the best artise for a movie use him instead of an emeka the priority should be whats bst for a production and not advancing a particular ethnicity,same goes for yoruba and hausas,also true professionalism should be allowed back in the industry or else the banks and multinationals will never throw their money on a movie that they r not sure will appeal to the various ethnic groups in nigeria,common its not even making sound financial sense to make a movie appealing to one ethnic group when you have 14smthn million potential movie goer(dont get me wrong both yorubas,ibos are guilty of this)the only epic that we have had so far is the sango movie and thats a major shame

its all very well and good telling nigerian movie practitioners to acquire land,equipment and the likes btwe seem to be forgetting that even though we acknowledge the many problems in the industry,these guys have not had any major funding since the movie "sango"
in a country where a plot of land goes for an average of 200,000 naira i wonder where the millions will come from to buy hectares of land talk less of building on it,these guys dont have the support of government which india has,they dont have the support of multinationals,banks e.t.c which india has,more over india has been in the industry for more than 50 years at least

you talk about special effects and ill tell you to get real,special effects on the basic will cost tens of thousands of dollars at the very least for a movie that is not sure of selling 1 million copies no matter how good?? piracy?

we are so quick to judge,and compare them to established industries without looking at the underlying factors, no sensible bank,financial institution or private individual will invest their hard earned millions into a movie industry with crap distribution network,piracy without government intervention,tribalism and these are just the start of the problem

lucabrasi:

its all very well and good telling nigerian movie practitioners to acquire land,equipment and the likes btwe seem to be forgetting that even though we acknowledge the many problems in the industry,these guys have not had any major funding since the movie "sango"
in a country where a plot of land goes for an average of 200,000 naira i wonder where the millions will come from to buy hectares of land talk less of building on it,these guys don't have the support of government which india has,they don't have the support of multinationals,banks e.t.c which india has,more over india has been in the industry for more than 50 years at least

you talk about special effects and ill tell you to get real,special effects on the basic will cost tens of thousands of dollars at the very least for a movie that is not sure of selling 1 million copies no matter how good?? piracy?

we are so quick to judge,and compare them to established industries without looking at the underlying factors, no sensible bank,financial institution or private individual will invest their hard earned millions into a movie industry with crap distribution network,piracy without government intervention,tribalism and these are just the start of the problem

There is a little thing called INVESTMENT, ya know? Many Businesses, Organizations, corporations with goals to become bigger and better. People who don't have mediocrity in their dictionary understand what it means to make investments.

If many of the top corporations out there sat back and said where will I get the money to move from my parent's garage or "oh no, this is too pricey" , instead of strategizing. . . well let's just say we'll all be wallowing in crappy things right now.

Nollywood is quick to shove the fact that they are the 3rd biggest Movie Industry down our throats. . . okay, we believe them. Are you telling me acquiring land and special effects technology is beyond their reach? Come now! They are either new babes in the wood or adults in the movie making business. They can't be boast about making so much money, then turn around and cry " give us a break, we're just starting out" when it comes to making improvement"

A $250 Million Industry. . . oh yeah, acquiring a land and advanced special effect technology is way too pricey for 'em.

Emad:

well OK lets talk revolution

First : we need a MENTAL revolution

not every inteligent young man needs to have gone to Havrd or Oxford or Standford or whatever other fords there are in the world,

Second: we need a Biological revolution

you cannot take some fat ass girl to act as an Action heroine just because she is a Tom boy
and don't our male actors need to do something about their stomachs?

third: we need a Make up revolution

there is only one time in a year the ladies are allowed to make up the way they do in the movies, and that is on Halloween's night

Fourth : we need and writting revolution

Poor scripts, make poor comprehension , and unnecessary repeatition

Fifth : we need a Directing revolution

the actors cannot just ACT, they need to be directed to give the emotion to the scene that should be
and when u are acting in front of the cameras there are certain things that the actor might be unaware of which the director has to detect from behind the scene and correct

in short i don tire!!!

Rotflmao!!!! A++++++++++++++++++++!!!!

We need a full body revolution!

Sisikill:

There is a little thing called INVESTMENT, ya know? Many Businesses, Organizations, corporations with goals to become bigger and better. People who don't have mediocrity in their dictionary understand what it means to make investments.

If many of the top corporations out there sat back and said where will I get the money to move from my parent's garage or "oh no, this is too pricey" , instead of strategizing. . . well let's just say we'll all be wallowing in crappy things right now.

Nollywood is quick to shove the fact that they are the 3rd biggest Movie Industry down our throats. . . okay, we believe them. Are you telling me acquiring land and special effects technology is beyond their reach? Come now! They are either new babes in the wood or adults in the movie making business. They can't be boast about making so much money, then turn around and cry " give us a break, we're just starting out" when it comes to making improvement"

A $250 Million Industry. . . oh yeah, acquiring a land and advanced special effect technology is way too pricey for 'em.

its not about the right or wrong investment,its a given that the industry needs an injection of funds for all these things ,the point here is that money needs to go in before it goes out,if noone is injecting funds into nollywood because of all the problems that have been listed on this thread and more,where exactly is the money for all these land and pricey gadgets coming from?
if u see these artistes looking good some of them are into all orts,at least we heard of the ones arrsted for drug smuggling,some are into glorifies prostitution while some into positive stuff business e.t.c
remember there are no babangida abacha atiku e.t.c s children invloved in the industry,more so they have to give the banks,multi nationals enough reason to invest in the industry

well er, how d i say this now, its like a primary school pupil coming back from lesson/school and saying "im so intelligent dad i came 7th out of ten ppl"same goes for nollywood, pls dont blieve them because its a bunch of bull crap as far as im concerned dyu realise that an average nollywood production costs around 1 million naira and thats with like major stars like genevieve,jim iyke,rmd they will contend with piracy and poor distributn and will manage to sell maybe 50,000 cds, do the maths, and see if they ll ever make enough money to do all these stuffs
im sure others know more about these stuffs than i do but one of these cameras go for around at least £10,000 pounds,some hd cameras go for twice or thrice more and thats just the start, now work that out and factor in the price of a plot of land at maybe 200grand,special effects and watch the money running into multi millions

lucabrasi:

its not about the right or wrong investment,its a given that the industry needs an injection of funds for all these things ,the point here is that money needs to go in before it goes out,if noone is injecting funds into nollywood because of all the problems that have been listed on this thread and more,where exactly is the money for all these land and pricey gadgets coming from?
if u see these artistes looking good some of them are into all orts,at least we heard of the ones arrsted for drug smuggling,some are into glorifies prostitution while some into positive stuff business e.t.c
remember there are no babangida abacha atiku e.t.c s children invloved in the industry,more so they have to give the banks,multi nationals enough reason to invest in the industry

well er, how d i say this now, its like a primary school pupil coming back from  lesson/school and saying "[b]I'm so intelligent dad i came 7th out of ten people"[/b]same goes for nollywood, please don't blieve them because its a bunch of bull crap as far as I'm concerned dyu realise that an average nollywood production costs around 1 million naira and thats with like major stars like genevieve,jim iyke,rmd they will contend with piracy and poor distributn and will manage to sell maybe 50,000 cds, do the maths,  and see if they ll ever make enough money to do all these stuffs
I'm sure others know more about these stuffs than i do but one of these cameras go for around at least £10,000 pounds,some hd cameras go for twice or thrice more and thats just the start, now work that out and factor in the price of a plot of land at maybe 200grand,special effects and watch the money running into multi millions

Roftlmao! Hey, who has been spilling on me? I actually did that once, I went to my dad and said Daddy I came. . . hmm, you know what never mind that now.

I guess I do see your point about not believing the hype but I refuse to believe they are not making because of the flaws we've listed here. Are you kidding me? Do you not see the many, many people ready to nail our collective hides on a stake foe suggesting their beloved movies aren't much to talk about? LMAO! Surely, you don't think they will be defending the industry so strongly if they didn't believe in these movies enough to spend money on them? The flaw pointers are only a handful compared to the movie lovers and because of the enablers, I can safely say Nollywood has the money.

it would be naive of them to think they can get outside money from anyone in their present state. First of all, let's just cancel all talks of Government involvement . . . monetary wise. The Entertainment Industry is low priority for the Nigerian Govt, it always has and it will always be. Let's look outside for potential investors. . . seriously, where is the incentive to when right now for anyone to want to invest in Nollywood, which leaves us with one last option. . . Nollywood investing in itself. If they made themselves attractive enough, they might attract interest from outside investors. Is it going to be expensive? Absolutely but in the long run, they are going to reap the rewards!

Right now, telling Nollywood to seek investment outside is like a sickly looking, pimple ridden, ashy faced girl who is stupid enough to walk up to a potential suitor and saying "I have the potential to be pretty, marry me and you will see. . . " LOL! As If!!

No offense to Sickly looking, pimple ridden, ashy faced girls, of course.

hmmmn,all i can say is that anyone thats willing to fight for these guys over the money they r making, tell them to get their heads out of the sands and see the reality,if you knew half of what these nollywood stars get up to for money yu wouldnt blieve, especially the yoruba/ibo artistes, some of them are into drug running,some are into glorified prostitution,some use the leverage they have gained from being a known face and go into private business, its not coincidence that most of the females make much more money faster than the males(andpls im not being a chauvinist here o) just google nollywood artiste caught with drugs,into sexual vices of all sorts e.t.c
ask anyone familiar with the ibo artiste's base in surulere and what goes on there and the yoruba artiste's base in ikorodu and what goes on there,

its all very well and good for nollywood to invest in themselves but ill still go back to the distribution network being non existent/and piracy having almost no governmental backing, its difficult for strugling artistes even relatively rich ones like the genevieve,rmd,jim iyke e.t.c because they are not sure of recoverring their investmets and im sure you know nigeria and nigerians by now that we are not ready to be the trailblazer for anyone, what most of them do is to invest in safe areas of the industry like buying cameras for rent

this brings me to what i was trying to say in my very fist comment about being pro active,for instance why cant a couple of people who feel stronglyabout this(includn you and i)maybe see about starting a distribution network in nigeria?it can be done albeit with great effort and financial commitment but the rewards ae endless,look at prosthetics in nigeria which is non existent someone can start that and introduce it to nollywood,movie props and costumes is an untaped business in nigeria,renting maybe small caravans for artistes e.t.c these are just a few stuffs i have seen lacking,if we feel so strongly about the industry dyu agree with me that we can channel our collective strenghts into these stuffs?imagine how just distribution will transform the industry, lets be honest most of the bollywood practitioners are school drop outs or te ones who are graduates are not enlightened in what actual movie making entails,they have been learning on the job and nigerians tolerate them because we have no better,it took kenny ogungbe and d-1 just two guys who believed in the nigerian music industry to come all the way from the united states,set up kennys music now look at the likes of 2face,dbanj e.t.c all making millions buying mansions in choice areas, thats a result of the kind of pro activeness(hmmmn not sure if thats correct o lol) im going on about
we can buck the usual trend and do things diffrent,and i be you the alaba marketers who have them in their stranglehold will jump ship soon as they see the potential of a would be hmv,virgin

You fellas are making me sleepy

Simple. We should set up standards for directors actors and scriptwriters. Anyone who falls short would face punitive measures such as public flogging, dancing naked, and a few of those other absurd things we see in Nollywood movies

vescucci:

You fellas are making me sleepy

You think so? wait till you see a Nollywood movie. Begone, insomnia!

vescucci:

You fellas are making me sleepy

Yeah, me too