64 •
The Lion King
• October - December 2017
I WANT TO LAUGH PLEASE!
BY OBINNA OKEREKEOCHA
T
his is usually how a conversation ends when one friend
asks another to the movies to see a sci-fi thriller or a
blockbuster action movie.
Nigerians now seem very obsessed with comedy and
humour-laden narratives at the cinema. It’s almost like an
epidemic sweeping with viral intensity but in all fairness who
does not like a good laugh? It is bad enough we go through
the things we do in Lagos to make a living on a daily basis.
A nice way to unwind is to spend about N1-5,000 naira on a
funny movie with your favourite comedian or funny actor/
actress causing laughter and mayhem on screen.
This is a window into how we are consuming film today. Little
wonder the film by AY the comedian, 30 Days in Atlanta
made N140 Million in 2014, a serious turning point in the
movie industry. Nollywood has indeed grown in leaps and
bounds. Our cinemas and by extension, our industry, are the
third most valuable in the world by its worth and the gener-
ated revenues. I like to say here that ‘film is the new oil’ and
this industry is still not very organized. Imagine the possibilities
for investors.
We have come a long way from the VHS and DVD era
where films were produced in about a fortnight and then
released straight to the streets and then our homes. What
seemed to characterize these films were overemphasized
acting and unnecessary melodrama with very predict-
able plots but for some reason this style of acting birthed
many ‘star’ actors and actresses with a cult following in
Nollywood. We all know and can name all of them.
Today we are in the digital age and we clearly see that
technology is affecting the cinema industry. We now have
younger producers and directors alike who have received
training at renowned film schools abroad and are bringing
their skillsets to bear on the production set. Films now seem
to follow the due process of proper filmmaking, ticking all
the pre-production, production and post-production boxes.
The picture quality has drastically improved thanks to the
deployment of high-end digital cine bodies (cameras +
lenses). On the other hand sound has also improved but
there’s still a lot of work to be done in that regard. There’s
also an issue that grieves me, soundtrack scoring. Up till
now some producers of movies don’t want to pay premium
Naira for an original score and would utilize free stock music.
So what happens is that there’s the possibility you can hear
the same score in 3 separate movies which is really embar-
MOVIES
