Spotlight on Challenges and Prospect of Directing in Nollywood: A Decade’s Study (2006-2016)

The art of video film directing is all encompassing as the director deals with virtually all aspects of film production. This comes with herculean challenges that tend to mar the efforts of directors if not properly addressed. Film scholars cum critics have done a lot of work investing the challenges of the Nigerian Video Film industry with little or no effort to directly ascertain the peculiar challenges of each sector of the industry. To this effect, the paper seeks to source from the directors what these challenges have been over the decade in view and as well through the affected, proffer plausible suppositions as measure to ameliorate the identified challenges. In doing so, this paper adopts the view point that the director is the author of the film and thus engages the Survey research method wherein Personal interviews are employed as data collation tool and later analyzed with inferences made from the responses. Conclusively, it anchors on the directors’ views of possible ways to improve/enhance the director’s art in future productions. Introduction Today, the place of Nigerian video film as a means of entertainment, education and social enlightenment cannot be denied. Nigerian video films especially those produced in English have continued to enjoy considerable patronage in and beyond the shores of Nigeria. Along with this growing acceptance are questions as regards the challenges of video film production in Nigeria. Against this backdrop, this research intends to reflect from the directors’ perspective on what UJAH Volume 21 No. 4, 2020 (Special Edition) 101 these challenges are and also explore ways through which they can be alleviated; if possible totally expunged from the video film industry. The reason for this is that any film is a result of the director’s effort, his point of view and his feeling which is why films are firstly presented by the name of their director(s), and not the producers or the stars (Sedat Cereci, 1). In some cases, efforts have been made to unravel these challenges as a whole without much work done to identify these challenges from the specific views of select professionals who make up Nollywood as it directly affects them. In particular, this research intends to focus on drawing out to the full glare of both video film practitioners and film scholars, what these problems are; based on the perspective of the film director(s). Who is a Film Director? The director, whether he explicitly controls all the subordinate work of a film or merely creates a certain context through his very presence, is the only participant in a film’s creation whose moment of self-expression is wide enough and thus whose artistic vision may come to characterize the film as a whole. The director’s very role in the film making process forces him to attendexplicitly or implicitly to the entire film (Filmmakers). He shapes it and directs its creativity. Ken Dancyger submits that: In each case, the consciousness of the director’s idea is where progress begins. The competent director conveys a singular attitude about the script, be it romantic, violent, or victorious. The good director conveys a more complex, layered vision of the narrative. The great director transforms the narrative into something surprising and revelatory. Each of these options exists. Only the ambition of the director can elevate the audience’s experience (13). By the same token Sedat, Cereci observes that: Anyira & Joe: Spotlight on Challenges and Prospect of Directing in Nollywood: A Decade’s Study (2006-2016) 102 Director is the person responsible for the creative aspects, both interpretative and technical, of a motion picture production in a film. In addition to orchestrating action in front of the camera and guiding acting and dialogue, film director controls camera position and movement, sound, lighting and all other ingredients that contribute to the final look of a motion picture (3). Contributing the roles of director in film making, Kim Jong Li in The Cinema and Directing states that, “The director is the commander of the creative group. He should have the overall responsibility for artistic creation, production organization and ideological education and guide all the members of the creative team in filmmaking” (2). This is to imply that the role of the director in film-making is unitary and all encompassing in nature. But the way he plays this role can be determined by the society in which he/she is domicile. On this, Kim further notes that: The director in the socialist system of film-making is fundamentally different from the “director” in a capitalist society... In the capitalist system of film-making the director is called “director” but, in fact, he is an agent of the tycoons of the film-making industry whereas in the socialist system of film-making the director is not a mere worker who makes films but the commander, the chief who assumes full responsibility for everything ranging from the film itself to the political and ideological life of those who take part in filmmaking (2-3). Drawing meaning from the above statement, the society is a determinant factor in directorial roles, artistic expression and the end product in film production which also implies that as society differs from another so are the challenges video film directors are faced with. UJAH Volume 21 No. 4, 2020 (Special Edition) 103 A study into what a contractual agreement between a film director and producer reveals that the rights and job descriptions of a film director include many but to mention a few as: monitoring and approval of the final version of the manuscript; appointing artistically executive persons, casting and choice of filming locations together with the producer; approving the production plan, production schedule, budget and marketing plan together with the producer; monitoring of the post-production works; image and sound editing, music selection, mixing, colour specification, monitoring of the image post-processing and approval of the final film form; the director shall decide on the final film form of the film within the frames set by the agreement and in accordance with the Producer’s instruction (Film Director Agreement, 2-4). A careful view of the all aforementioned brings to the fore the thought of what challenges he/she could face to complete the task of film directing successfully. Because of all the work that goes into his job, a film director gets most of the credit for his finished piece of work. This is largely because he is so intimately involved in all aspects of the film’s development (Fransworth). Based on this, the director’s opinion could be regarded to represent to a large extent, all the facets of film production and the inherent challenges there in. Regarding who can be a director in terms of gender in whatever clime or society, the answer is that the both sexes can be directors but it remains a fact that there are more male directors than the females. This is not only in Nollywood but also evident in other video film industries around the world. A study on gender disparity among film directors in the United Kingdom film industry reveals that: “Just 13.6% of working film directors over the last decade were women. Only 14.0% of UK films had at least one female director. UK films are over six times more like to be directed by a man that a woman” (Follows, Kreager and Gomes, 14). Furthermore, Follows, Kreager and Gomes noted that the reason for this gender disparity Anyira & Joe: Spotlight on Challenges and Prospect of Directing in Nollywood: A Decade’s Study (2006-2016) 104 were traced to more of Systematic issues than unconscious individual bias listing these principal four systematic issues as: There is no effective regulatory system to police or enforce gender equality. The pervasive nature of uncertainty which creates a climate of insecurity, leading to illogical and ritualistic behaviours resulting in the industry operating based on preconceived motions of the archetypal director, rather than on the their individual abilities and talents. The permanent short-termism in the film industry. The vicious cycle of individual bias leads to systematic issues and vice versa, so the system is self sustaining (79). These systematic issues raised above tend to be the order of the day in Nollywood as there are only but a few notable female directors in the industry and thus limits the voice of the female folks in what could be the challenges of film directing. Whether male or female, the training of a film director which determines his/her philosophical approach in cinematic expression to a large extent contributes to the challenges that may be encountered in the production of a film. Attesting to this, Rosalind Nugent-Williams in her work Australian Film Directors and Film Performance notes that: In Crombie’s case, it appears that his original training in theatre, where he was steeped in the craft of acting, has indeed influenced his approach as a directorhe is actor focused and his method involves collaboration with actors to develop character. By his own admission, he uses Stanislavskian method, which he learned at NIDA. In at least part of his key work with actors and accordingly his NIDA training has had a marked influence on his later work (59). Considering the enormous demand on Nollywood as a result of the populous nature of Nigeria, the industry has over the years witnessed UJAH Volume 21 No. 4, 2020 (Special Edition) 105 a rise in the number of directors who have contributed in one way of the order to the ever increasing number of film productions that Nollywood has recorded in recent years. Helena Barnard and Krista Toumi observed that “its annual output is estimated at between 500 and 1,000 filmswith The Economists estimating it at as much as 2,000 films” (14). It is against this background that this research work intends to source information directly from the directors in regards to the challenges of video f