Wednesday, August 27, 2008

POSERS ON FILM PRODUCTION

WHAT MAKES A FILM GREAT!!!

PEDANTICAL APPROACHES TO EFFECTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF STORY FOR A FILM

Ahmad Abubakar is a professional scriptwriter based in Kano , Nigeria .

drahsak@yahoo.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writersforumkano



Story is the key basic element of any movie; when the story of a film is professionally designed with elaborated set-ups, the resultant end of the product (the movie) will be one amongst hundreds. The major problem encountered in Nigerian movies (both Nigerian films-as they are been called, and Hausa home videos, and including the soap-operas in our television) is the lack of setting the story on pedantically theories of three acts structures.

Most of our films now are just a mere plain drama, though they make sense, but professionally it does not communicate effectively. Take in cognisance some of this soap-operas that are been targeted as educative-piece, the writers do not use a comprehensive approach to impart the message, they do a little-but the audience may interpretate the manners at which the message is been conveyed as a dictatorial formula of transforming them to some thing new, something they may emotionally dislike not because it is good or bad for them, but they just don’t want enforcement. Here a writer should have use the conventional methods of sending messages consciously or unconsciously with out the audience been recognising it as a way of forcing them to change. The same methods also fell to other genres of a film with different archetype. They said you can not force Donkey to drink water, but there are many ways that fool him to drink

Story is a series of events, with a beginning, middle and end. It has a main character who tries to achieve a goal, confronting obstacles along the way. It’s about development process and journeys. One may have a story in his mind, may even be a good story teller, a novelist or just somebody with willingness to write for a film, how can he set his story pedantically to be suitable for screen? I always emphasized that writers are born to be writers, they write with instincts and intuition, but that is writers, when it comes to scriptwriting a writer needs to be guided, he need to know the rules, the way of transforming his imaginations into a visualise form, he need a talent worth for manoeuvring story in to a moulded script that focused and original and leaps off the pages. A script that gives a great actor something to works with. It’s about creating stories that touch and intrigue an audience and perhaps transform lives in the process. A good writer is always on training and researching in order to reinvent himself and explore his potentials.

The craft of writing involves how the writer is able to communicate with his audience, how he can create problem and solve it. He clearly communicates his ideas in ways that will excite, enthral, and engage an audience. He develops a sense of how the audience feels at various points in his story.

A story may flow this way about a competition of football game, and the resultant end of the match. This story easily falls in to a three acts structure: the preparation of the play, the match and the climactic event when the match is finished and the resultant result after the match. In it there are many narrative elements which include conflict, action, tension and momentum.

Here, we may see that the story goes on linear line, about a character with definite goal, and then this happened, then he takes action, then obstruction, then reaction, then insurmountable conflicts, and obstacles, a point of no return then finally a resolution. This kind of set-up is what hooked audience gloomed with the film and carries their emotions altogether.

A lay man may see it ridiculous, he had assumed a story just flow as happenings in the past.Perhaps, it tells events, but in a chronological settings, it contains a visualise ways of satisfying audience.

One problem again commonly associated with our film is unconventional used of dialogue. Audience learnt their character by the actions he did, not merely by what he say. Dialogue in our film is too much. “We must kill the dialogue” (Noelle smith-one of my instructors says) audience need to see not to be told. The solution of this entire problem is by employing professionals that will work on the script and guide the writer for a successful great film. Again the writer should bear in his mind that a good script is about writing, rewriting, and rewritings.

The professional may not work on the basic of creativity; this will be the work and right of the writer. Their job is to polish the script, analyse and be critique its content for making it a good piece.

Logically and dramaturgically, there is a writer who is the master craft-man that make the script; then a mentor(coach or teacher)that helps and guide in facilitating the writer for a good job; then a script-editor or in other name a critic, that helps the writer in identifying any lapses, mistakes and loose threads in the script; then the other important one a “Reader”(as called by Rothy Cullen-my lecturer)and I called it a Surgeon, this is because he looks at the script as a patient,diagonised any disease in it, and treats it some how surgically by removing any unwanted piece(weeding-especially with the dialogues).Of course some professional writers and consultant like Antoine Jaccoud from Switzerland called it a Script-Doctor, but I prepare a Script-Surgeon, even though I like the idea of calling him a ‘Doctor’.

Nevertheless, ‘writers’ we are not late, we have time ahead of us, we are still moving, developing and one day our Nigerian movies will dominate the Oscar and other international and local awards. We just need to create a link of interaction and sharing ideas where we can concatenate our ideas together, marry them and set back or let me say set forth our style of films. To academics, let us encourage our dear writers by organising workshops and training so as to enhance the vocational approach to film production. I see it as a means of poverty eradication and job opportunity. We should never down grade our potentials in this time of development. We know that our films represent us any where in the world, let us enrich it with limpid and original setting. The world should know that we too are not only good in corruption and 419, but with a lot of creativity.

THE UNFORGIVABLE MISTAKE(Short Story)

THE UNFORGIVABLE MISTAKE

BY: AHMAD ABUBAKAR



http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writersforumkano



He ran to me with opened hands, smiling cunningly,"APPA-APPA-APPA"He said, his mother standing by the door looking at us admiringly. I opened my hands and held him by shoulders, rising him up so that we face each other’s. I kissed his fore head"Hm-mts my young freind, how you doing today?". He opened his small beautiful lips"pine".I laugh always when he pronounced 'fine' as 'pine' with that speed like the word pine is the only word he knows. I put him down, opened my briefcase brought out something confined in my palms,streched my hand to the boy “take this" I said, as he stretched his hand, I held mine “what is your name?”. He drew, stepping back alittle,turning his head left and right, his face changed, he twisted his mouth,"uhm-uhm-uhm my chocolate Appa".I opened my mouth wide in amazement, “who told you it is a chocolate?”. He just stayed starring at me, with that searching gaze of kids, that send a person asking himself questions he never knew the answer. I opened my palms, there is a chocolate on it, he took it and ran back to his mother.

I went directly to my room, I was very tired my wife came in to the room, she handed me a chilled glass of juice,sincerely,I was very thirsty and it took a strong force within me that prevented me from buying the so called 'pure water' along the road side, to me they should have honestly named it table water, as there is nothing pure about it hygienically. I drank it in gulped, I sat at the edge of my bed, she switched-on the room's fan, and directed it towards me. I felt relieved after long hours of work.It was really hectic for me in the office. As I lied on my bed my wife started to massage my feet,"thank you very much my dear, they really hurt painfully” she just smiled. The boy licking his chocolate came to the bed side with his ever ready smile.He climbed on the bed."Appa-Appa",he lied beside me facing me face to face, his nose touching mine. I felt his respiration, and it smelts me. I look at him thinking in my mind” the boy looks like his mother, I like him, this is the most important treasure I have in this world, I will use all what I have to see that this boy get the most qualitative available education, I will train him to be a medical Doctor, he looks caring and gentle and very intelligent.So he can be a good Doctor. I drew him to my chest “sleep boy let have our siesta now".

Suddenly it came to my mind, I left my car wrongly parked outside. I rose up from the bed telling my wife “let me drive my car in to the garage, I parked it wrongly outside”. I went out holding the car keys. I entered the car, turned-on the ignition and stepped my feet on the gas pedal, it came to life again. I drove frontally at least two metres and moved to the left, so as to give enough space for me to drove back in to the garage. I held the gear lever, drew it in to reverse, I stepped on the gas pedal the car moved back abruptly with a high speed, and I felt the tyres are prevented to move by an obstruction along the line, I said to my self “it is a stone”. I shifted the gear and drove forward three yards, I steered the steering wheel a little to swap the imaginable stone and back the car moved. It stepped again on something and this time I pushed hard on the gas pedal, aiming at the garage door, I drove straight in to the garage.

As the car entered the garage, I look through the windshield to see the sort of stone that was there,"Ah h h h! What I saw transformed my whole life, my heart was in my mouth, my eyes widely opened in search of what was there lying smashed flatly by my car's tires, because of my careless driving. I rushed out and quickly on my kneels, I looked at the mess down there,ofcourse, this is unmistakable'Farhan' my lovely child, who was lying lifeless, he has gone with all my dreams. Tears rushed on my cheeks like a flowing river, I wept bitterly, how can I forget this ‘unforgivable mistake'

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Poems for Soul

EXPLOSION

My tears flow,
Burning the fleshy cheeks
Cheeks -the apple of happiness
Tears scrapping skin
Cutting my flesh
And making deep tunnels
For tears flow like molten Magma
Dropping as beads of mountain rain
My heart cries and disintegrated
Like explosion of nuclear bomb in Hiroshima
Oh my heart!
How dare you explode?
Curse! a battle of confusion
Then the heart touched my heart
Embraced me like the sky to the land
Snagging the me in she!
Hugged as skin wrapped a body
SHE kisses my heart with eloquent speech
Her words are like milk to a baby
Oh my God! what a blessing?
For my soul has been reincarnated
Exhuming the dead in me
SHE the caller to the promised land
The bringer of Joy-tranquility to our heart
Take my words:
“For your heart has arrested mine”
January 2008

‘TAKE A CHANCE’

(After Explosion)
The sun is set
Light emerged at once
Like a razor cut to a body
Must resulted into a dripping blood
O’ the star of my kingdom
“Ya Ruhil Qalby”
‘the begetter of my happiness’
“I have often been afraid
but I would not give in to it”
open your mind, blow the trumpets
“Thee shall not hide such a feeling”
be like a front line War Horse
like a speedy Rocket on course
like the sight of water upon thirst
like the feeling you get in your mind
when my eyes gazed in to your eyes
when my picture appears in your mind
Be BOLD, blow the trumpet !
Put that confidence
It must overpowered other minds

Why are you hiding like a crawling ants !
Come and stamp your legs like a Giant Elephant
This is your time
I challenge your wits
And pass my request
“should the living die
‘Cause the mind is tempted?”
January 2008


Treasure along the way

In my mind,she looks gorgeous.
Cheerful,meekly with behaviours.
Benignant,educatively richious.

Her smile sends me confusious,
am I alive,dead or dormanttous.
It send chemical waves tortous.

Talking to me with dexterous,
soft - eloquent-systemic voiceous,
the accent tone is invicious.

Our manners,attitudes is congrous,
the same mother field as studyous
family of scientist,am I bathous?
Copyright © 2005 Dr Ahmad Abubakar

ROUGH JOURNEY

Gyrating, side walking the car creeps.
Like a cat it moves,
Creaky, the hinge of an old door.
Its engine is a trumpet,
Waving trees are lost from sight

Pungent, smelling of dead bodies
Congested mucus fills my nose.
My ear’s insensitive to touch,
The dusty wind blows us all-
Imponderable sufferings all alone

Complaining of the walk I’m tired,
Meekly myself, I am a pure boy,
Scorched by heat.
Crying bitterly for my soul,
This journey will never END!
Copyright © 2005 Dr Ahmad Abubakar