Thursday, February 26, 2009

FILMING THE FILMS !!

FILMING THE FILMS !!
NIGERIAN MOVIES ON ANALYSIS ........'FIRST DISCOURSE'
February 2005
Ahmad Abubakar is a professional scriptwriter base in Kano
+234 8039 666 036

Films or movies are more than what we takes them to be,they are made with attributes of skills and sequential arrangement of logics,that results in a strong desire by audience to watch it from the first scene down to the penultimate scene,and eager to find the resulatant end.
Creating a story for a film is not an easy job,it perhaps looks simple and many think that they can just write a story and shoot it directly in to a film,as simple as that;some even have the audacity to transformed books(novels)directly in to what they called a 'movie'.
But is that a movie?
Or an adaptation of its kind?
So what are the rules of the game?
To make a story convenient for a film script be it a creative idea,myth,poem or adaptation of a book,there is need for one to recall this "A film is a debate,that rays a problem,and rise a Question(will,wishes e.t.c)to keep the audience want to know the answer and interest in it"
Titanic is one of the world's most famous film ever produced,which economically got an unexpected well turn over beyond expectation of the producers.In the movie, this story is presented to the audience as a flashback. The narrator is Rose, 101 years old, with the last name Dawson. She tells the story to a treasure hunter (Bill Paxton), who is looking for the famous (and valuable) Heart of the Ocean, a diamond that was given to Rose by her fiance, Hockley.The fact that the writer (Cameron) takes his time in telling the story makes it all the more tense. Cameron could have skimped in any of these areas (dialogue, cinematography, effects, authenticity) and still come out with a great movie, but he doesn't. He sticks to the formula that has worked in other great epic movies, and he pulls it off one hundred percent.
The producers of this film has endured alot of critics prior to the production of the film.Because the critics believed that the basic of the script will not attract audience need,nevertheless,the writer intellectually stick to the style.
A film may not necessary be a continues narration,a three acts structure which skilfully and tactically be set-up.with protagonist and antagonist in a conflicts,then follows the obstruction,solution,point of no return,resolution,climax and end,including other narrative devices.
Movies are not just a descriptive imagination of the director,been layed on screen as we see it.Most films now are understandable as we watches them,but lacks tactics of hooking audience.The audience do watch it only for some reasons mean by them,but in it there is no hooking phenomenon.The cultural or traditional line of a film as it is carried along the film is what triger the audience to watch it,no more no less of any logics.
One film Director JOHN FORD use to say"a film is a great film when it's long on action and short on dialogues"
Really,a film is supposed to be rich with visualise means of satisfying the audience not just a mere long dialogue,which makes one bored.Audience need to follow the film step-by-step with out the film telling them,they need to see and identify for themselves.Here,a movie film is not like a novel,where one can flip forward or backward easily to recall what he had read,or connect a character with a particular happening.In film,there is no need for that,the audience are carried with the story elaborately.Books are reflective,while films are layed on present tense,even if the story is in past,it is been shown as though the audience are there watching it alive.
Nigerian movies have a high demand in the local market,and more market is there hanging there out in the abroad for them,because other parts of the world are thirsty and in need to watch how Africa is,they are tired of watching themselves.Hausa Home Videos which are produced in the northern part Nigeria,and other movies been produced in Nigeria commonly known as Nigerian films have alot of challenges ahead of them.

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