INFLUENCE OF NIGERIAN HOME VIDEO FILMS ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN URUAN
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
1.1 Introduction
Film is a team that encompasses individual motion picture, the filed of film as and art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recoding images with cameras, or by creating images using animation or special effects. Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures which reflect those cultures, and in turn affect them. Film is entertainment, and a powerful method for educating or indoctrinating citizens.
The visual elements of cinema give motion pictures a universal power of communication. Traditional films are made up of a series of individual images a called frame. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flicking between the frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision (i.e. a situation whereby) the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed). Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
The origin of the name “film” comes form the fact that photographic film (also called film stock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures.
In Nigeria, the cinema is a developing industry that has become increasingly productive in recent years. Although Nigerian film have been produced since 1960s, the rise of digital cinema has resulted in growing video film industry.
The Nigerian video feature film industry is sometimes known as Nollywood. In area of presentation, Nigerian early film has presented common occurrences prevalent in Nigeria and tropical at that time. For instance, in “Kongi’s Harvest”, the first Nigerian film which has a satirical commentary on the Nigerian’s first republic, the intrigue of power and politics in a newsy independent state was vividly portrayed
Unlike recent productions, early African films presented true life situations and environment. It didn’t employ the special effects since there were no computers to aid the technology. The early films were landmark production because of the language used and the novelty of the medium. Thus they were considered best in the history of films in Nigeria and African in general.
Since films combine sight and sound, it makes double impact in affecting the psychology of one who is involves in the sensory process of watching the film (Adesanye, 1997
:15). This impact could be either positive or negative. The ranks before the movie industry: is affecting the society through its audience, is presented and how is presented are very necessary for the sake of the audiences and societal development.
1.2 Historical Perspective
In pre-colonial Nigeria, the village folktale and festivals provided enough entertainment. The grand parents used to put out mats and bamboo seats outside and tell stories whenever the moon lit in the sky.
The story teller started to die when the colonial masters brought the cinema. This marked the advent and development of film in Nigeria. The colonial master’s cinema presented film of the western colonies and colonial rule, and were initially presented in the English language.
The colonial Cinema was not good enough for the Nigerian people because it presented only what would interest the colonial society. The cinema was also used as a medium through which the information was disseminated. There was only cinema for instructions and documents,. The colonial government first brought instrumental cinema to Nigeria in the 1920s to counter the influences of Nollywood film in its colonies. Therefore, according the Shaka (2000:1).
Through the successful pioneering effort of William sellers, the use of film as a medium of instruction and propaganda of government programmes was extended to other British terriortiries. Inspite of its success, serious effort was made to institutionalize the practice of instructional cinema until 1939 when the colonial film unit (CFU) was established.
The colonial film units on its establishment in 1939 by the ministry of information become not a medium for further information and educating the colonies, rather it was for furtherance of British defense and war strategies in the ongoing world war II. It was used as a medium of spreading war propaganda in the colonies in aid of the British war effort.
The propaganda films went on till after the war when the Central Office of Information (COI) replaced the Ministry of Information (MOI). Therefore the colonial film unit became a unit or department of the central office of information between 1945 and 1950, the British colonial film unit established about twelve film producing units in Africa including a film training school.
This development could not blind the Africa film scholars as they saw that the colonial film unites instructions film could not be separated or distinguished form a propaganda against the black race. The cinema continues in Nigeria but on a different pedestal and under the supervision of a different body. The distribution system continued to be largely closed to indigenous film masters, supplying American, India and Chinese film. This was in 1970s when the Nigeria feature production began.
British colonial film unit helped in introduction some cinematic technology and skills into the country. The early Nigeria film has some connection with African-Americans, one of which is Ossie Davies who has directed several films in Nigeria in the 1970s, with (Okome, 1995:25).
The Nigerian film industry came into existence as revolt against colonialism, since film is believed to be the most potent weapon by which one identifies a nation. Its images, culture, aspiration and achievement. The early Nigeria film-makers tried to impress these ideas on the minds of their audiences through their films. The ability of the film to combine sight and sound (seeing and hearing) is to create its powerful attribute.
The establishment of film industry in Nigeria was to serve as a tool for moral and cultural instruction and projection in the hands of those who are anxious to improve their country. One may not be totally wrong to say that the Nigeria film industry in the process of projecting this rich cultural heritage has also
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