It's amazing how easily we all point our fingers at Nollywood movies and criticize them by calling them wack, and so on. I have a few questions,
How many of us have EVER made a movie that was not wack? How many of us have ever contacted a Naija movie maker and offered suggestions on how to make their movies not wack? Does your definition of wack mean non-hollywood-like?

I do agree, however, that we (Nollywood) should improve our movies with better quality (both video and audio), original storylines, innovative concepts, raw accents (as opposed to fake accents) and stop trying to imitate Hollywood. I've seen lots of Nollywood movies that make you wonder whether the movies were ever reviewed before releasing them (poor sound quality, with background music louder than the actors' voices, etc).

All I'm saying that criticizing them nollywood movies would not make them any less wack .

Why don't we list what we hate about Naija movies, and how they can be improved upon. Some things I wish they would improve include,
[list]
[li]Stop using fake accents (nothing wrong with hard-core Naija accents)[/li]
[li]Stop making movies in multiple parts except where absolutely necessary (waste of money, if you ask me)[/li]
[li]Improve sound quality (background music should never be louder than actors' talking) [/li]
[li]Diversify the storyline (how about a Naija sci-fi movie? )[/li]
[/list]

Let's all contribute to making nollywood non-wack. Any ideas?

3rd Most Corrupt country! 3rd Biggest (WACK)movie industry! 3rd in everything!!! Are we cursed or blessed? Why can't we move out of 3rd, why can't we be 1st or better still last!!! 3rd makes us look stupid and dumb. Everyone wants to shoot a movie when most don't have the TECHNICAL know-how.

Why can't we have a cast and crew of about 300 in a movie? Its either Obi is d Screenplay Writer, d Editor, d Caster
d Producer, d Associate Producer, d Director, d Everything. Can anyone pick up SITANDA and watch and see why it won d AMAA Award. 3 competent artise wrote d story in d person of Emma Ayalogu, RMD and Fidelix Akpoms and did nothing again in terms of being d producer or whatever, d STORYLINE was realistic, concise and to d point, d SOUNDTRACK was mmmmmm, oh la la(Not telling us wat will happen in d movie b/4 we finish watching), d CAST was really audtioned and selected(Not I know he/she can fit in or she has done it before stuff), d shotting was out of dis planet compared to d "WACK" we are fed daily in d name of movies.

Men, lets change d face of Nigerian Movie Industry before we go NUTS! Lets SANITIZE, STRATEGIZE and RELAUNCH d industry.


Well, am a cameo writer and need to partner with someone. I have about 3 Synopsis/Storyline at d moment and I need to develop it into a full Story!!! Interested to partner with me Rreach me pls, who knows, we might make d much needed difference!!!

Good talk.
But the support the bad movies gets makes it almost impossible to get these guys to listen.

You have one business man in Alaba/Surulere/Onitsha/Nnewi/anywhere.
He puts up N3m for a movie, and he says he needs his returns - i hear its about 5m profit or more - in a month.
So the director quickly arranges for someone to write 3 scripts/rush to Surulere to pick "actors", and adds one or two "stars", then they start filming, oftentimes three films and all is done in 2 weeks.
Then the posters come out, and line the bridges in ikeja/oshodi/upper iweka/pound rd Aba/alaba/ etc
and the film is out, the "actors" are settled, and business man gets his money back.

or something along that line,

_{meanwhile I saw "The pursuit of happyness" yesterday. Nice.}

@kpomkwem
I really think a very important part of improving this Nollywood of a thing is improving the quality of life of the average Nigerian.
As long as the average Nigerian is illiterate, and does not know the taste of good soup, he does not reject bad movies.
Oh yes, we should try and influence it so that they improve but I tell you, you will be shocked at the level of sheer ignorance and illiteracy, especially in the Niger Delta i have called home for close to a year.
Just a few movie producers -the Tade Ogidans- last.
If we can get rid of all this hunger and rubbish, there will be improvement.

In summary, our pervasive hunger makes us settle for much less than we deserve. Simple.

As an aside, I have friends/acquaintances presently learning the ropes in schools of film directing (Florida, USA) and also in South Africa.

Most of us have learnt how to recognise quality but not how to make it.
When people that have learnt how to produce quality talk, and show us what they can do, then we're making progress.

Jiddah-well, you are right but some still have good script but locations, directing and the producers makes it look that whack as they call it.

Benit--you are right. the same old fools who cannot act. thereby limiting the few who can do the trick, at least try.

the '3rd biggest movie industry' sh!t is getting 2 their head. releasing complete rubbish!

u just have a group of igbo traders coming together to shoot a movie drama, what do u expect.

just one car chase scene on bourne ultimatum of abt 10mins took the directors 6months to shoot (not including post production). in that period, our naija back at home would have done and released at least 18 full movies of 2hrs each!

silver bird in ph ke easy means to kidnap people oh .Abeg ben bruce please i beg you we still like your face around oh.u no say u resemble onyinbo and then your name no kan help matters at all .

Jokes apart though,Nigerian movie director/producers and actors(in fact all stakehlders) should take a good look at their contemporaries in music.See how well they are doing.They should stop being fools among themselves(classic case of the blind leading the blind)

they should step up and seek to improve themselves.See this chick Sandra achums i heard she is in yankee doing movies am sure she has either been reduced to level zero or has jumped ship.Our local champs here really can't take the heat if placed on foreign soil.The training is exhaustive and interpretation of character is thorough.

Pity monarchs in the trade like Taiwo ajayi and joke silver have not been given the opportunity to train people and our young actors themselves are too excited to learn.

3rd largest my foot.U think a genevieve or an omotola can match an angelina jolie or a jennifer anniston. it will surE be a sorry sight.WE GO JUST FALL OUR HAND BIG TIME!

Meanwhile people watch out for my write up titled  BRT: A DISATER WAITING TO HAPPEN!

@ kpomkwen

they know what 2 do. they don't need ur ideas trust me. if they can't improve commensurately in over 15 yrs, then its a shame.

they don't want 2 spend money 4 d best. they don't want to pay good for scripting. I mean how can u do a 2hr movie in a week?

I don't care what is said. am not a director; they are so they must do their jobs and not wait for ideas from me.

are they not ashamed of the enormous progress in the music industry?

rubbish!!

You guys should understand that it cost lots of money to produce, direct and make a movie. If Nollywood

have to invest all those money to make quality movie, will they get it back in return? That's the question.

Because we Nigerian find every means to watch these movies for free by borrowing them from friends.

If Nollywood have to spend millions of naira to produce a movie, i bet they won't get it back in return.

Movies is a business for Nollywood and they have to benefit from you. You basically get what you would pay for.

the solution to that is definitely not to reduce the quality.

It should be art paying off, not business imitating art

the best way to watch naija movies
defers from one movie to the other.
some, you just wacth the flick,
other you just listen to the audio
dont try to watch and listen to the audio at the same time
becous you will be discouraged

80% is a high figure

For me Nollywood movies are fine its just that as someone pointed

kpomkwem:

It's amazing how easily we all point our fingers at Nollywood movies and criticize them by calling them wack, and so on. I have a few questions,
How many of us have EVER made a movie that was not wack? How many of us have ever contacted a Naija movie maker and offered suggestions on how to make their movies not wack? Does your definition of wack mean non-hollywood-like?

I do agree, however, that we (Nollywood) should improve our movies with better quality (both video and audio), original storylines, innovative concepts, raw accents (as opposed to fake accents) and stop trying to imitate Hollywood. I've seen lots of Nollywood movies that make you wonder whether the movies were ever reviewed before releasing them (poor sound quality, with background music louder than the actors' voices, etc).

All I'm saying that criticizing them nollywood movies would not make them any less wack .

Why don't we list what we hate about Naija movies, and how they can be improved upon. Some things I wish they would improve include,
[list]
[li]Stop using fake accents (nothing wrong with hard-core Naija accents)[/li]
[li]Stop making movies in multiple parts except where absolutely necessary (waste of money, if you ask me)[/li]
[li]Improve sound quality (background music should never be louder than actors' talking) [/li]
[li]Diversify the storyline (how about a Naija sci-fi movie? )[/li]
[/list]

Let's all contribute to making nollywood non-wack. Any ideas?

I go with you all the way.Remember Nollywood is still new compared to Hollywood

Nigeria is considered a third world country, i don't think most Nigerians understand that.

Most of these producers don't even have the talent or experience to produce good sound and

visual effect movies compare to Hollywood. They don't even have the equipments. If Nollywood is

interested in pleasing the viewers rather than how much will go in their pocket in a short period of time,

Nollywood would have improved by now.

80%? I dnt think so. I think 95% or more of nigerian movies are wack. Can u imagine a Mariah Carey song as the sound track of a yoruba movie. LORD HAVE MERCY! Or do i just see the wrong ones.

such FLIMPSY excuse 4 arrant nonsense.

why is the music industry making it in flying colours? is the industry as old as that abroad?

3rd largest in the word because the release movies shot in 3days so there is a new movie once every 4 days. they made it to the 3rd by releasing sub standard stuff every 3 days.

people like u hv made them lazy giving them praise 4 rubbish. lots of nigerians who want a bright future 4 d industry refuse to take that.

if the music industry can do it even with bootleggers, then ur 'trusted' producers should bow in shame.

for one if they have standard stuff, they will make it 2 the cinemas where they will make money before cds. but for now, ben bruce can't kill his standards by showing their stuff. TAKE IT!

i love my naija movies but the only thing i don't like about it is the way they end. they have part one, two, and three, but at the end it doesn't tell you what happens. it just ends like that. but i will have to say that the quality of the movies have improved such as the audio and the picture quality.

Yes, Nollywood films are messed up. But lets be realistic. Alot go into making good movies (even the simplest looking ones). It's all about details and I mean detailed scripts, cutting edge directing, well sculpted and properly detailed sets, custumes (even varieties of custumes to reflect diferrent scenerios - like having a copies of a particular shirt for the everyday scenes, anothe copy for the post action scene where the shirt is all stained and messed up, etc). The the killer - EDITING.
You need experts who are well trained to handle all the chores. and these chores take a lot of TIME and commitment. Since time equals money and most Nigerian movies are extremely low budget, there is only so much time any one can give to the chores they have to do on set. If you get peanuts as wages, you tend to deliver like an ape.
Budget is the bane of Nigerian movies. Americans spend over $100M and sometimes years to make block busters, How many nigeria movies have ever had 1/20th of such a budget?

so why can't they get d training? it really doesn't take that much. first make sure ur script is good, make the actors asc; not just perform.

those in the music industry are more focused than ur movie traders-cum- producers . beive that

ya. nigerian movies r so bad. true. they reduce the IQ. honestly. one actually gets up dummer than when he sat down to watch. my youngwer brother used to turn to me while watching and say "boysgofolo, these people think i'm stupid!"

who wants to partner with me? lets produce a good movie. an intelligent movie. a standard, model movie, done by young people to put those old, idealess 'producers' to shame.

some of us here are talented actors, some are talented script writres, some can raise enough money to put it together, and we can share the profit.

what do u think?

@ jesoul


lol!! tell me about it! i know what u mean.

but i must say there are a few movies that were actually given some thought. i actually like Patience Ozokwor, she is an excellent actress and i look for movies that she is in. I like The Evangelist 1 and 2. I also liked Face Me I Face You.

but the majority of movies are so low quality, low budget and rotate the same actors and actresses it becomes a bore to watch.

i wish someday Nollywood could be as big and better than Bollywood.

i believe the major problem in our homevideo is the storyline. this is because many of those involved in producing, financing and even directing are illiterates and uneducated. directors, scriptwriters and producers are supposed to carry out researches and take time to bring out quality.

i believe another problem is greed. the producers are so eager 2 make their money that they produce substandard.

well obiwanne, i am also commited in bringing about a change in the movie industry in nigeria, firstly by bringing good scripts. i think we can work together. my mail is jemit2002@yahoo.com.

well all has been said, there needs to be a revolution in the industry. The corruption that scathes the country has found its way into that industry as well. People just make movies anyhow because they will always get their monies from the marketers!

Its a big shame i must add

at least it is rated 3rd best movie industry in the world.

we are number 3 in the world in term of quantity not quality abeg no claim wetin you never get

and i hate it when people say things like: what have you done?, duhhh we are the customers they are the bloody directors! our job is to review/criticize products we buy and use not just sit there and keep patting them on the back with, well they are trying small small all those ones na ego massage!

weird thing is majority of them claim they went to school to study film making/acting, its like they dont have friend that tell them the truth! simple editing mistakes that dont take 10 seconds to shoot they just leave it and sometimes its like they are bloody deaf!! you have to be with the remote all the time!!

asalam alaikum

we recognise good naija films when we see them by the way

true!

Since my years of watching nigerian movies, i've learnt the
following:

1. Every problem you have is spiritual.
2. In every romance movie, someone must die.
3. It is possible to hit a person without actually
touching them!
4. Anyone who gets hit by a car dies immediately.
5. Poisoned food always tastes better.
6. The best way to make money is by visiting a
babalawo/joining a cult/sleeping with rich men.
7. One of a pair of twins (identical or not) is born
evil.
8. There is never an end to your suffering, except
death!
9. With a pastor, all things are possible.
10. A movie can be titled anything such as:

*The boy is mine, The girl is yours, The child is theirs
* Face me, I face you  
* Kill me,I kill you,
* Two cockroaches in Africa
*Two rats,
*Spanner,
*Calculator,
*Computer
*The Driver  
*Igala,
*Ijele,
*Olodo,
*Mumu,
*Wawa,
*Igodo,
*Igudu
*Shigidi
*Wakadugu
11. A movie has not been made if at least one
actor/actress has not twisted his/her lips to speak
wrong phonetics.  
12,  You are in love. You want to take your girl out
and the best place you take her to is:
*Mr. Biggs/Tantalizers: where you'll most probably see an ex while feeding each other.
*The beach: where it is imperative that you ride a
donkey and carry her playfully.
*Or the best: take her to buy some new ugly clothes.
13. An Igbo movie has been made if
* You visit a babalawo
* A fleet of cars is shown off at regular intervals
for a total of half of the movie time.
* Kanayo O Kanayo is in the movie. Pete Udochie is
also there too!
* To get rich it is mandatory you join a cult
14. Gun shots and knock-outs sound the same!  
15. Sometimes the title has absolutely nothing to do
with the movie and other times, once you read the
title and see the poster you know it all!!!  (Also the
soundtrack gives you a headache because it just
narrates the whole story repeatedly - so much for
suspense and intrigue!)
16. A love story has not been produced if it does not have one or two of the following actresses-
* Stella Damasus
* Stephanie Okereke
* Genevieve Nnaji
* Omotola Jalade
* Rita Dominic
* Ramsey Nouha
* Desmond Elliot

17. The police are extremely 'efficient' unlike their
counterparts in real life.
18. An actress can wear the same hairdo for more than 3 years and even in longer flashbacks.
19,  It is permissible to wear very dark shades at
night!
20. When you are shot in the chest, it really doesn't
matter; your head will be bandaged! Same for your
legs!
21. When advertising a movie, you really should shout because,  people are deaf?
22. When you are extremely poor, you will still be
able to afford- very good furniture, T.V., but you
won't be able to send your kids to school.
23. Most especially in Yoruba movies, your gateman
must be inefficient and comical. He MUST dress like a freak, be rude to all your visitors and never mind his business,  
24. My personal favourite- the bad guy always dies or gets caught by none other than the police  

What else can i tell you,

Classic!

@Bencobenz,
I hereby nominate you for the first ever 'Noscar' award in the film reviewer category.

I'm beginning to suspect you are a marketer in idumota/iweka rd/pound rd, aba.

GRAB YOUR COPY, NOOOWWWWW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks adechuks for the nomination, i hope i eventually win
the award


I'm beginning to suspect you are a marketer in idumota/iweka rd/pound rd, aba.

For your information, i'm ordinary nigerian like you wey dey see the posters of nigerian movie
all over the place

i believe that with time the nigerian movie industry would catch up.but there need support from everybody to do this, i love some of them though, and not all are bad and not all hollywood movies are good

@ All

Much of what has been said so far is true of the situation of things in Nollywood presently. But a few clarifications need to be made.

1. Nollywood started by happenstance by a large chunk of people who had no film training at all; with no proper planning or structures. As we like to say in Naija it was a child of necessity.

2. Thank God for Nollywood. But for Nollywood, the film tradition in Nigeria would be dead today. After the collapse of the economy and no more donor funds for filmmakers in the late 80s, the soap tradition of storytelling progressed to the home video medium. While this progression is appreciated it is nonetheless not an excuse for the worthy improvement that has since bedeviled the industry because of laziness on the part of practitioner who have failed to go and acquire filmmaking skills and trainings.

3.In spite of its tardiness, Nollywood is worthy of praise. please note that this is not some concited self adulatory but, if something is worth USD250m
and has put a nations's filmmaking tradition on the global stage - for good or bad - then it must deserve some praise.

4. Nollywood's strength is its biggest weakness. The sense that "we can do it ourselves, we dont need anyone afterall we started this with nothing in place, " has led to ineptitudeness on the part of many practitioners. the can be painfully arrogant and blind to reason when you talk to them.

5. Sadly, most practitioners, especially the so-called stars are so set in their ways that it is practically impossible to straighten them. You know what our people say "when crayfish don bend finish, "

MOVING FORWARD:

1. Let the truth be told: a huge chunk od hollywood films are crap. I speak from a filmmaker's point of view. they may be commercially successful but many are artistically crappy! Please before you scream that I am one of those arty people please be informed that I'm all for commercial films and I've been trained by the most successful commercial filmmaker in Nigeria. While not comparing the level of creepiness of both, we must understand that we see all Hollywood films while we see mainly A-list hollywood films.

2. The revolution has already started in Nigeria. As we speak, there are many young Nigerian filmmakers doing great stuff. just take a look at the concept and quality of music videos. Most of them have training from places like the New York Film Academy, Raindance Academy, NF in Jos and film schools in SA. I should know; I belong to that class. To make any worthy impact at the next level of filmmaking in NCAA, film education (as in training) is a must, not because film sch will make you a great filmmaker but because it opens up options for you.

3. There are quality trainings going on in Nigeria. Amaka Igwe will commence proper training in October. She has a Federal government licence to run a film school now. She will start with Acting and will take only 50 ppl per class for One Week. They will pay a token and get practical and theoretical training classes. If you're interested say so here and provide your email addressand I'll send forth. Screenwriting, Directing, Cinematography and Editing classes will follow.
4.There's a whole lot to do currently and make money outside Hollywood. For a 30minute TV drama script you can make at least 10k per episode. I know you can make more. Talent, training and good placement will get you there. You can make a short film of 2mins and make great impact. If you live in Lagos and watch Nigerian TV stations you can attest to some 2 mins short film (some ppl thought they were commercials) on TV; one on a football pitch, one in a bus and one in a restaurant. each cost less than 400k to make. I was a part of the project. Except for TK (Tunde kelani) all other participants are young Nigerian filmmakers.

Let me stop here. I no fit shout! I can go on forever. Filmmaking is my passion and Nollywood will be restructured by young, vibrant, well-trained people like you and I.

Later people. Halla me if you need any info; I'll be honoured to help.

E go be.