Will The Delivery System Deliver The Ultimate Irony?
Maybe I’m an alarmist, but I couldn’t help but see parallels between the the Nigerian movie industry, and a director trying to elevate it, and the US movie system, which may be heading in a different direction. (Click on the title above for a link to a wonderful NY Times Magazine article on the Nigerian Film Industry, below for the video story, and how it relates to our situation).
The Making of the Nigerian Film Industry
A little about the industry in Nigeria, a $500 million “business (that) churns out more than a thousand titles a year on average, and trails only Hollywood and Bollywood in terms of revenues. The films are hastily shot and then burned onto video CDs, a cheap alternative to DVDs. They are seldom seen in the developed world, but all over Africa consumers snap up the latest releases from video peddlers for a dollar or two.”
I know what you are thinking. ”What is he talking about? The Hollywood system is star-driven, and thrives on big-budget films. The two are completely different.”
On the surface, the two systems couldn’t be more different, but they come closer as we get deeper in the article:
The article describes the distribution hubs for these cheap CD movies, Alaba, with movies piled high in cheap paper sleeves. ”Castoff plastic discs, the detritus of digital replication, litter the muddy ground like seashells.”
The author then makes a connection:
This may not be quite what Jean-Luc Godard had in mind when he recently declared that with digital cameras, “everyone is now an auteur.” But it certainly represents a vision of what the future could hold — and not just for Nigeria — if the practice of making entertainment ceases to be rewarding to professionals. … When everyone is an auteur, who values artistry? (bold mine)
Much is made now of the democracy of both the new technology, and the ability to bypass normal distribution channels and get movies directly to audiences. There are a lot of sites and services that do this now, but short of the genre films, I don’t see many competing in terms of not just the money earned, but, more importantly, the exposure of major motion pictures that are part of “the machine.” Without a doubt, that will change.
While the technical quality might not be as low as it is for many of the movies in the Nigerian market, a look through these sites tells you that for every one bright new director with a unique script and a talented young DP, there are at least a thousand that don’t reach much higher than film school quality. Film school is nice - but is that really the acceptable quality level?
There will always be those who strive to be better, like the hero of this article, Kunle Afolayan, who strive to deliver something better for the sake of being better. Afolayan is not looking to make art flicks, though, but rather big, Hollywood-style movies. The budget for his latest movie is $500,000, way beyond the average Nigerian budget.
The article talks about other Nigerian directors who are also striving to create better quality movies, but the system is a definite impediment.
How about our system, and where we are heading. The thing that may most distinguish us from the Nigerian system is that going to the a movie theater to watch movies is much more ingrained in our DNA (though the article points out it was the same way for Nigerians before their economy collapsed in the 1970s).
That, too, can change here, especially as the economic divide in this country becomes more pronounced. Again, Nigeria today:
One night I took a glass elevator up to the Silverbird Cinema, an American-style mall multiplex in a nouveau riche section of Lagos.(bold mine) After paying about $7 — an exorbitant sum in Nigeria — I watched “The Mirror Boy,” a hot New Nollywood release. It was about an African boy, raised in Britain, who returns home and ends up on a long quest through the jungle, accompanied by a ghostly guide, played by Osita Iheme.
The cinema I go to regularly now charges $13.50 for a ticket. That may not match Broadway or Met Opera prices, but it’s heading upward, and with the financial divide we are experiencing in this country, the thought of a family going out and buying three, four, or five tickets at this price can definitely be a pricey decision, especially when the family is already paying a flat fee to see as many movies as they want on their home screen, screens which technology is making more and more like theater quality and size.
Does this sound that far from where we can be in a short time? Below, a Nigerian marketer speaks.
The marketers contend that spending more would be foolish, because the low price of Nollywood movies is part of their appeal. “You must first identify who your primary market is,” Isikaku, a shrewd and sinewy operator, told me. “If your primary audience is the elites and the middle class, the people that can go to the cinema, fine, well and good. But there are some programs that are meant for the people on the street.”
If your primary audience is the elites and the middle class? Some programs are meant for the people on the street? As delivery to the home becomes cheaper, and attending the cinema becomes more expensive, are we really that far behind the system described in this article?
Yes, as the article points out, our own movie system started with the nickelodeon. My mom, who is 91, talks about seeing double features for a dime. Those double-features were not divided by class; she was seeing the same movies in East Harlem that the folks on Fifth Avenue were seeing. We managed to evolve to a system that allowed everyone to afford to go to the movies, much as Henry Ford understood that he would sell more cars if everyone could own one.
I’m not so sure that is where our economy, or our industry, is headed. I welcome new auteurs, and costs that are within reason to allow them to bring their talents to the forefront. Still, I worry that the digital divide we may be approaching may create a two-tier system where quality films in the cinema are thought of as a luxury for hedge fund managers on a date.
Will the ultimate irony be that as making movies becomes more accessible for the aspiring movie-maker, going to see it in the theater will become less accessible for the aspiring movie-watcher?
