The fact is most nigerians are not patriotic. Nollywood is progressing despite the high level of corruption in our country. We have some good films like the figurine which was intriguing and suspense-filled with a very good story line...and the make up artiste really tried with Ramsey's look, i couldnt rexognise him at first. t
They should allow diverse story line ...shun production of 7 movies in a year with same story line...thats boring!
They should shun typecasting. There are people that are sooo typecasted that if giving other roles find it hard to interprete cos of that.

Okay the second point I'm making here today is based on many comments I've read here. People talk about how bad nollywood movies are and give examples of some ghost and Jim Iyke movies they watched ten years ago. And that is very wrong.

Before you can't criticise Nollywood movies today, you actually need to have watched many recent movies. And I would challenge anybody who would boldly say that Nollywood has not improved in many aspects.

True there are still many bad movies. But there are equally great movies. I've seem compelling stories, great pictures, hair raising suspense, digitally mastered sound, intriguing plots and unique characters in many of our recent films. At the recently concluded African International Film Festival I was wowed by the works we put up on the big screen...

I've equally seen fabulous so called Alaba and onitsha movies (even though they were still cut into 4 to 6 parts ). Point is, nollywood is actually improving. If you doubt, go check out the recent movies...

And I even see believable visual effects. I've seen cars crash, bombs explode, avalanches rock the earth, lions roam, creatures fly and walk, bullets scatters cars and glasses, and I must tell you, many are believable.

So some of you should stop condemning nollywood based on the movies you watched when my grandmother was still in her 40s (the poor woman, God bless her soul, recently died in her 80s). Condemn Nollywood of today...

Jade William: Evry movie industry hav their own flaws&mak mistakes.4ppl talkin abt how ghost drink tea&look left&right b4 crossin d road,pls go&watch hollywood movie called "passengers" starring Annie Hathaway.They were ghosts in dat movie but they were changin cloths&drivin cars,eating&so on.

For those sayin dat nollywood movies ar unrealistic;how real is it dat one man lik Jetli or Jackie Chain or Stephen Seagal or Arnold Swa-whateva;James Bond&d rest of those guys dat don't die in their movies; can kill 50-100 guys holdin AK47 wit their bare hands&al d other stunts they pull in hollywood movies?If its Nigerian movie,ppl wil complain.I don't even want 2talk abt d rubbish they're actin in dat walkin dead,vampire diaries,Game of throne&so many others.

Nollywood movies make better sense than other African movies&so many hollywood movies.

Nollywood movies ar even decent.C d Amount of nudity in American movies.Geeeez.

take my message back to nolly wood. Revolution is coming pretty soon.
Congratulations once again. 20years of medeocrity.

I rather advice d watchers

Godmother: They have come a long way but still have a longer way to go.

1 they should become more original and bring out original stories, not ones copied from hollywood.

2. They shouldn't mass produce one storyline. Eg Izaga, ulaga both stories have same storyline.

3. If they can't get their stunts right they shouldn't bother. We will mange the film like that. What's with the fake blows, the banger-sounding gunshots etc

I just want to add to this
1.If an actor or an actress is given a role where he or she ought to dance,sing or do some other art,pls go n learn n be good at it

And now to finally identify the main problem of Nollywood and how to solve it... I start by saying...if Nollywood was a bank, it would have failed. Its not that there is lack of talent, trust me the talent is abundant. But the talent is overshadowed by the non-talent.

The problem is that Nollywood is an open industry where every Ekaette, Mgbafor, Tunde and Gambo can walk in if they can just find their way. School dropouts, okada men, okpa sellers, plantain sellers join in because they feel they're talented. Idiots who can't speak English write scripts and actually sell them for peanuts to marketers who can't read English. Many editors came from villages. And directors can't even understand what makes a movie. Now everybody and his/grandmother wants to be an actor and believes he/she can become a star.

Quacks. Illiterates. All mixed with the few really talented and intelligent people. Its those ones that kill Nollywood. and since there is no standard organization of Nigeria to regulate film standards, it becomes an industry of children playing with toys.

A producer puts up a few million, calls some quack director and pays him 50k and pays mercy Johnson 1m plus, buys a script for 20k and a movie is made. And such movie is actually put in the market.

The greater clamor here should be that films should be put in the hands of qualified film makers only. Actors should actually be educated in film acting before they are eligible for roles.

Directors should receive formal training in film making. Because many of them are not trained and hardly know what film making is about. And producers should stop casting girls just to get in their pants.

Most important of all, the government should set up laws to standardize and regulate film making. If not that, film will remain in the hands of mostly illiterate traders with a few millions to make them feel like movie moguls

they should larn from Hollywood, the way they make there films real,

Stick to our culture and produce long lasting movie,not short 1-2,change name 3-4,change name 5-6,kind of make me wonder do they care about entertaining ppl or are they intrested in the money

Advice? Actors and actresses so-so, but the rest... they should all change their careers and go sell Gala.

My number 1 grudge is poor sound quality (sometimes it's too low to be heard, sometimes it's too loud so it makes an unpleasant noise). Just use microphones, it can't be that hard.
Filming technique could also be improved, especially cameras being kept on stands so the picture won't shake.

KAYCEEJUNIOR: NOLLYWOOD GHOST SHOULD STOP PICKING CALLS IN D MOVIE.....GHOST DNT TOUCH A TIN........AND DEY SHOULD STOP SITTING ON A CHAIR WAITING FOR DER PREY......GHOST DONT HAV ENUF TIME TO WASTE.
OYA NA IMAGINE DIS ONE.....EVEN PUT ON GOLD NECKLACE CUM SOW WEAVON JOIN FOR HER HAIR.....NOLLYWOOD BE LIKE KINDERGATIN DRAMA

Hey hey.
I watched that movie, chika ike 's face was supposed to transform into that of a devil to scare her opponent.
If u guys have not seen ghosts yourselves, how are u sure Nollywood is making a mistake?

They should stop mass production of films daily, spend longer time producing their films, in order to come out with quality films.

ugojamali: I love this thread. Kudos to the OP. Kudos to the people that commented. A thing or two can be learnt from your comments.

Truth is, and let this serve as an education for people who have certain misconceptions, Nollywood as it currently is, is funded mostly by individuals who have no technical know how about making movies but who can put up a few million, shoot a movie in a week with Mercy Johnson, edit it and rush it to the market. Its more of business but less of artistry.

And therefore most Nollywood practitioners are made slaves to the demands of the financier. Most directors are dependent on financiers because they cannot fund their movies on the grand scale required of them and to gain film funding from corporate institutions is like an impossible mission to the land of the dead to retrieve some magical sword...

Funding controls quality. Low funding...low quality. So what we should really clamor for is better funding for movies. The average film maker understands how to make a good film. But because of limited funds, he can no longer think outside the box. And that is his downfall... That's my first major point today.

@ugojamali...you are on point!

The Rate of Nudity in the industry is @ it peak.,. Since i can no longer watch Nollywood movies with my younger ones,.i dont even care to rent or tune in on cable,. END-TIME producers & ACtors.

Adflex1: The Rate of Nudity in the industry is @ it peak.,. Since i can no longer watch Nollywood movies with my younger ones,.i dont even care to rent or tune in on cable,. END-TIME producers & ACtors.

My advice is to leave film making to those who know to make movies.90% of those standing behind the camera should be barred and 90% of those infront of the camera should be banished. They are very unprofessional, arrogant and a disgrace to all Nigerians since people abroad would think they are the best available. There are so many Nigerian stories to tell...and can be well scripted by local script writers but noooo....clowns want to repeat American stories. What is the point having better equipment when the storyline and acting suck?...Which is better...poo in a paper bag or poo on a plate? Nollywood need to stop beating a dead horse with their royalty and rich and poor story. They can do issues of concern to the youths...do they?...then if they do..they would use like the very hippy Omotola to be secondary school student...is no way one can suspend reality with such a casting.Yes Nollywood runs on a super low budget...but it can do much better. Chide made very interesting movies with his cheap camera. There are young blood out there...right here on NL that with one eye closed can do ten times better than 90% percent of these clowns claiming to be celebrity. Give new blood a chance.

They should not STOP!

If dere is one tin i love in dem den it's d humour they engrave in d films,but d advert 2 dey plenty, haba especially dat "muka ray lo directee,baba ray lo produceee,emaaraa...........ooo "guy.

There are some good movies nowadays, but a majority of them are simply...wack!
I believe the following should help:
1. SOUND...They need to work on the sounds. A shout is almost sure to grate the ears in a nollywood movie. Most times, the sound is uneven-some parts too loud, others too low...but there's been some nice exceptions.
2. STORYLINES... Repetitiveness of storylines has come to be the bane of nollywood with titles like *royal princess, royal queen* etc as if one can be a princess if not royalty. On many an occasion, we end up watching the same story by different producers, featuring about the same actors and actresses.
The second part of this point is that most of their storylines are not ON POINT. Drowse inducing, drab and meaningless storylines are being produced too much for comfort. We have many novelists and writers whose published works can be adapted for great movies. Why not patronise these? Even nairaland has some forward thinking writers whose stories, with little editing, will make great and suspense filled movies.
This affects most of their comedies too, which seem like unscripted apparitions. All you see is one man, prob John Ibu or two kids running around from one unfunny mischief and silly act to another. They end up like dogs unleashed on a criminal to do ONE THING-CATCH THE CRIMINAL. It doesn't matter how they go about it as long as the criminal is caught. We can have serious comedy, with the comic effect only coming up at the end of the movie. Then, there'll be no need for silly actors like...
3. EDITING: The *englishes* of some of our actors and actresses is simply headache inducing. Sometimes, they have to do with mistakes, but other times inability. I wonder why directors will be in so much a hurry as to let such pass, when a voice over could do the magic or totally remaking the scene.
But sometimes, it's like the blind leading the blind with semi illiterate camera men doubling as directors. This affects other things like a stranger unconnected with the movie cast moving past the background of a movie scene...e.g, while the whole family is at the dining table. Etc. My fingers hurt from typing with a phone. I CASE MY REST HERE.

Na dat gun sound dey annoy me pass...make dem try change dat tin

Godmother: They have come a long way but still have a longer way to go.

1 they should become more original and bring out original stories, not ones copied from hollywood.

2. They shouldn't mass produce one storyline. Eg Izaga, ulaga both stories have same storyline.

3. If they can't get their stunts right they shouldn't bother. We will mange the film like that. What's with the fake blows, the banger-sounding gunshots etc

Orikinla: We need to avoid contradictions and be able to give recognition to those who deserve them for what they have truly achieved in both Nollywood and Kannywood that is in fact older than Nollywood. And lest we forget, "Living in Bondage' did not launch the Nigerian home entertainment industry of Nollywood, and it is not the first best selling home video movie in Nigeria.
Eddie Ugbomah’s movie “The Great Attempt” (1989) was also released in video and heaven knows that Late Alade Armoire who produced Ekun, Omije, Obirin Asiko, Ayo ni o, Adun, Orire and other commercially successful home videos between 1985 and 1991 is the father of Nollywood and not Ken Nnebue with his “Living in Bondage”.
Moreover chicanery and tribal bigotry must stop in Nollywood.
Nollywood has become synonymous with the Nigerian film industry and so we must not turn it into sectional enterprise of nepotism and tribal-racism.

We must reject all lies and fraudulent practices now common in Nollywood, from hijackers of film festivals and awards to shameless liars distorting the history of the Nigerian film industry, because of their intellectual ignorance, greed and selfish opportunism.

See exclusive video interview with Ghanaian Nollywood star Majid Michel on the Success of Nollywood on http://nigeriantimes..com/2013/12/majid-michel-celebrates-success-of.html

Then Kunle Afolayan sent the following link on Dictionary of African Filmmakers by Roy Armes that is a must read on the facts of Nollywood and African cinema.
http://books.google.com.ng/books?id=88sTRTl6yKwC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=adeyemi+afolayan&source=bl&ots=VqaWIMNDXh&sig=e55gNXi1213EPPqi_ITyIsXzcHA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=F5qbUq7zGMHU0QWMroCQDQ&ved=0CCkQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=adeyemi%20afolayan&f=false

you operate on false consciousness. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubts!

they should get their movies more realistic rather than presenting us with drama calling it movie.


they should spend money to get it more real

Pangea: 20 years?
I grew up watching Baba Sala and Hubert Ogunde's films
Their production are way older than that!
Why are these people attributing 20yrs to Nigerian film industry?

Ppl have been making films since ages but Nollywood industry officially started in 1992 with Living in Bondage- the first breakthrough Nigeria had with film making.

Adflex1: The Rate of Nudity in the industry is @ it peak.,. Since i can no longer watch Nollywood movies with my younger ones,.i dont even care to rent or tune in on cable,. END-TIME producers & ACtors.

Lol
I don't feel comfortable watching Ghana films with my mum either, I had to wait for one elderly visitor we had to go, before I settled down to watch college girls and Garden of Roses.

ngozievergreen:

Lol
I don't feel comfortable watching Ghana films with my mum either, I had to wait for one elderly visitor we had to go, before I settled down to watch college girls and Garden of Roses.

the day I watched that college girls on youtube there was one scene that I watched and "I opened my mouth and I could not close it"as in I was a little bit shocked,gholly-wood na soft porn industry I tell ya.

That none of them has any business in movie industry. They should all close shop and go and sell spare parts in ladipo

leavestory: the day I watched that college girls on youtube there was one scene that I watched and "I opened my mouth and I could not close it"as in I was a little bit shocked,gholly-wood na soft porn industry I tell ya.

lols.
Which scene was that?
Because there are so many of them in that single movie!

ngozievergreen:
lols.
Which scene was that?
Because there are so many of them in that single movie!

the one that is like a lesbian scene!!!where those girls were with their teacher,and also a place where one alhaji like that dey follow those girls play,

Nollywood should Go and Die