Formalistic Analysis Of Nollywood Film: A Study Of Selected Films

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

Nollywood specifically refers to the Nigerian video-film industry and generally to similar late 20th- and 21st-century video movie industries in other African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania built on the populist and commercial model of the Nigerian example. Nollywood originated in Nigeria at the end of the 20th century as a national media form that emerged free from the control of the state and has subsequently become the most visible cultural machine on the African continent. The explosion of video production in Nollywood and other African video movie industries arguably represents the most significant cultural phenomenon in Africa in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. During this period Nollywood grew rapidly to become the one of the largest film-producing industries in the world in terms of actual films produced. With the production of an average of 2000 movies per year in the first decade of the 21st century, Nollywood has begun to command attention by its size and work rate and has rapidly become a major force in the emerging global identity of Africans at home and abroad. Nollywood stepped into the vacuum caused by the decline and collapse of the auteur tradition in Nigerian films in the late 1980s. Moving from celluloid to video film as its primary medium, the industry produced a vast number of movies between 1992 (when Kenneth Nnebue’s NEK Video Links released Living in Bondage, widely regarded as the first Nollywood movie) and 2010, at the rate of over 1500 movies per year. Although it is usually discussed under the rubric of ‘African Cinema’, Nollywood is quite a different phenomenon; its films are almost exclusively produced in video format. Since the early 2000s, films have been executed exclusively in digital video. Also, the films are produced in the English language, distinguishing them from contiguous ethnically oriented films made in Nigerian languages such as Yoruba and Hausa. Nollywood has subsequently become a truly pan-African cultural machine and a nexus of transnational cultural productivity. Nollywood builds on a significant history of television broadcasting in Nigeria; moreover, a mass migration of staff from television to the new video movie industry was instrumental in its early success. The films are shot on video, edited on personal computers, and distributed as cassettes and digital videodiscs. Through this process, Nollywood films have achieved a global footprint connecting Africa, particularly Nigeria, to its diverse and far-flung Diasporas. Their global distribution initially depended on the international trade links forged by Igbo traders who continue to be major factors in the production, financing, and marketing of Nollywood films from their headquarters at Idumota market in Lagos and the Onitsha market in eastern Nigeria. Nollywood films largely deal with the ambiguous modernity of contemporary Nigeria. Although most analysis of Nollywood movie genres stresses its melodramatic nature, the industry has matured and diversified its subject-matter. In addition to the ubiquitous Pentecostal themes of transgression and redemption, principal themes in Nollywood movies include love and romance, horror, comedy, urban legend, mythology, witchcraft, historical epic, and, recently, science fiction. In 2003 the Nollywood comedy Osuofia in London, starring Nkem Owoh, received significant international attention and was a box office hit. Principal figures of the industry include Chico Ejiro (the subject of a documentary film by James Meltzer titled Welcome to Nollywood, 2007), Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, and Charles Novia. Top actors include Genevieve Nnaji, Patience Ozokwor, Rita Dominic, Jim Iyke, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Sam Loco Efe, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (included in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2013), and the actor/director Zac Orji. Most of these constitute the first and second generation of Nollywood celebrity and are mostly self-trained. The research seek to proffer a formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The industry though full of dreams has its growing challenges which lies much on disagreements , conflict of interest, diversity of opinions which has resulted in disunity and discord in the industry. Disagreements sometimes results in healthy growth when the parties involved are opened to suggestions and friendly in the expression of their objections. But the case in the industry is different .character assassination affects the integrity and image of the industry as a whole. The problem confronting the research is to proffer a formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films

1.3 Objectives of the Study

To appraise the general nature of the nollywood film

To determine the effect of nollywood films

To determine the significance of nollywood films

To proffer a formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films

1.4 Research Questions

What is the general nature of the nollywood film?

What is the effect of nollywood films?

What is the significance of nollywood films?

What constitute the formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films?

What is the nature and impact of Nollywood film: A study of selected films?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The study proffers an appraisal of formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films

1.6 Research Hypothesis

HO The impact of nolly wood films in Nigeria is low

Hi The impact of nolly wood films in Nigeria is high

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study focuses on formalistic analysis of Nollywood film: A study of selected films

1.8 Limitations of the Study

The study was confronted by some constraints including logistics and geographical factor.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Nollywood Defined

Nollywood specifically refers to the Nigerian video-film industry and generally to similar late 20th- and 21st-century video movie industries in other African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania built on the populist and commercial model of the Nigerian example. Nollywood originated in Nigeria at the end of the 20th century as a national media form that emerged free from the control of the state and has subsequently become the most visible cultural machine on the African continent.

Literature

Literature constitute as a linguistic art; a creative art which is produced by an author through use of skillful words.

Film

Film consists of a creative and performance art. It constitutes the product of team play of skills in arriving at the final product – the film for distribution to the public.