₦airaland Forum

@seun
wrong again seun. Many Nigerians at home have won awards in fiction. Helon habila won the Caine Prize from home. There are many more. It is true that most major awards are won by Nigerians abroad but that's not because they are better writers or more talented; it's largely because they are exposed to better structures that enable good writings to thrive. one of such structures is editing. there's a dearth of good book editors in Nigeria and in writing, as it is true of every art form, talent alone is never enough. there's something quality editing brings to a book and sadly, many of our home based writers lack that support. CORA has organized a book editors workshop to redress this situation and the second editionn of that workshop will come up in November.

@seun
Nigerians can't write very well? You miss am bro
How come Nigerians are winning all the awards in fiction. The Truth is that those who have at least some talent have been corrupted by the 'man must wack' mentality. Others are writing well for other developmental and short films but refuse to write for nollywood. Other write for TV.

@denex

HD cameras? bro, they 2 for 5 kobo in naija now!! the problem is not the equipment. those cameras are used to record weddings and funerals in naija now!! the problem is that those videographers who call themselves cinematographers cannot put the camera to good use. they cant friggin us edit well!!!!!

@ who talked about Adobe premiere and Final cut pro?

Final cut is still scarce but it is very available in naija. As for Adobe Premiere, I think the CD is N150 at computer village!!
see, the problem again is not the equipment or software but the users!! there are few, very few, good film editors in naija. the others are basically 'cut and paste experts' who do not have the foggiest idea about film editing and are too arrogant to learn.

@whitelexi

Thanks. I am looking at a continous investment portfolio. i have followed this thread for a long time and I know that i'm not looking for a fast one. More funds will be available to trade on the second market in a few months. I am just thinking that what would be best with the insurance sector (crusader for instance) being talked about so much and everybody waiting for jaipul and so on if buying dangote flour IPO will not tie my money down unneccessarily while i could have been making money in other areas.

@other Gurus
still waiting for you o

@ All gurus

Plzzz help a broda out. I am putting 150k in stocks this week. Will you say i should buy 10k units of Dangote flour or split into let's say crusader, jaipul and others? (which others?) would you plzz advise. And would you pls say way i need to go this way or that? Thanks a great deal.

Tammie10 - could you pls confirm if this is your email add temitope@gmail.com?

Thanks all.

@ warfy boy

Bro, u got some fundamentals wrong.

some of the directors you named are the wackest in the industry!

the time it takes to shoot a film is not a determinat factor in the overall creative quality of a film! case in point: it took forever to shoot and edit Jeta Amata's Amazing Grace. He even shot on 35mm format but at the end of the day is it a good film? NO. That film as beeen unable to get international distribution even aqfter it was "screened" at cannes. Why? simple: the fundamentals were wrong from the word go.

today, even major hollywood players are moving onto didital technology. Filmmaking is becoming no more about time but about the substance of the people involved.

@ 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.

HI all, please am in need of a quick answer: does anyone know about the reputation of Sterling Assets Management Trust Limited? I am about to do some fund management business with them and i need to know about their reputation: can they perform? are they good? or should I vamoooooze?

pls i need replies quickly!

Why are you guys so bothered about hereafter? I dey bow for una o! I am more concerned about what here and now!

I don't care about hell, 666, endtime and all other escapist ideas. I am concerned about what i do to my neighbour, how i can help make the world a better place for all, that's what christ and all other great masters thought: Love thy Neighbour as yourself!

I am more concerned about what i can do to help the next man achieve his dreams.

I know where i'm going when i die: six feet under! Period!

You all can play football with my head when i'm dead for all i care.

To re-emphasize: BE VERY CAREFUL how you expose your story idea! No where else are ideas stolen more often than in the creative sector.

If you can, quickly grab a copy of Robert Mckee's book called Story. it's a great book. if you can wait i'll have a couple of copies to sell next month. if you can't, get someine to buy it for you abroad, it should be about £20.

Goodluck and hope you get your story filmed someday!

Guys, here is what to do the next time a bank messes with you:

send a mail to a guy named Ozie Williams (oziewilliams@yahoo.co.uk). he writes for guardian Life. He writes a column called Convenience. You should see how those banks quickly react when he takes them on. he basically visits banks, eaterries, hotels, multinationals and so on and reports on their customer service and toilets. his reports are always hillarious. Life is a supplement of the Guardian on sunday and it is free, just buy guardian.

he has yabbed UBA, First bank. union Bank and others on the state of their services and toilets. You will not believe how terrible they can be. the guy is very funny in his description. if those people catch that guy! and it works because they dont want bad publicity

Let her go. If she left you once for what she thought was 'greener pastures' she'll do it again.

But forgive her. not because you want to but because you have to. Only when you forgive her can you truly move on.

don't be held back by her smallness. Don't also judge her too harshly; who amongst us can claim perfection?

You will find love again, but first let it go. Your life will be better for it. It's up to u.

Peace

Comfortable - John Mayer. i listen to it every morning and night and many times in between! fantastic, especially for a white boy

I was at the premier of The Concubine in abj in march. as Viee as said, that book is a classic and should be treated with respect. what i saw was an eyesore. Pls, i am not a nollywood basher. in fact have been involved in different aspects of filmmaking for the past 10yrs and i'm proud of what nollywood has achieved in its infancy. however, that was an slap on our literary history.

I was only able to stomach about 10mins of the film before i walked out. The saddest part was that elechi amadi was part of the filmming from begining till end, although you cant blame him since he is not a filmmaker. Sad.

Hi guys, just got unto nairaland and was looking for where to pitch my tent. Wow, i don find am with u guys. grt work. i've bn doing stocks for about 3yrs now and will gladly share my experiences and learn from the gurus!!! great work

seun, you went about it the wrong way. you are attempting to get into this business from outside in. you should do it from inside out. you actually do not need to go and get equipment first. what you need is a number of technical partners, people who are knowledgable about these things and can make their expertise available on request.

go ahead and get the jobs, then contract them out; both coverage and editing, and put your stamp of style on it. after a while you would have wprked with a set of people you can trust then you can buy equipment based on advise and form a proper production outfit.

I don't know how many proffessionals you actually talked to b4 buying ur equipment (internet research is not enough; the reality on ground is often drastically different)

digital technology has made filmmaking available to a larger no of people, so you'll get guys that would say they can deliver, be careful.

call this guy Detola Adebowale (Wapa Apparel) 0802 329 2279. he is the best shirt maker i know and he's very affordable. Goodluck