THE MEDIA INVOLVEMENT IN REBRANDING NIGERIAN FILM INDUSTRY

CHAPTER ONE

1.1       INTRODUCTION

Branding is prerequisite for successful outcome of a nation or company, rebranding is how the world is run. Rebranding, marketing, product promotion, product placement are synonymous themes and terms in efforts developed by individual person, nation or by company who intend successful outcomes. In today’s world, it is not attractive producing a good useful product with bad contents.  

A fundamental aim of all film production is to arouse in our audience certain definite ideas, and emotion to stimulate their thought along particular pre-arranged lines. A producer then must organize, shape and reshape and also rehearse the idea with the help of his talents. The importance of the audience members in any film cannot be over emphasized. It is the audience that determines the quality of the film. The audience decides whether a particular production is in any way interesting or important to the social, religious, cultural, economic and political aspect of our lives.

Film production according to Akpan (1987) is usually determined by national 0bjectives as well as collective needs, desire and urges of the people for whom the films are designed. Therefore any film produced is the brain child of the producer in relation to the audience. The producer tries to put his significant vision into significant form for a better perception by the target audience.

Therefore, the Nigerian film industry has on its sleeves a lot of work to do, to ensure that their films meet the desire of the people and that of national objectives, by producing film that presents the nations positive image. The notion over the years has been that Nigerian film industry only portrays Nigerians as ritual killers, voodooist, and corrupt citizens. Despite these negative portrayals of the Nigerian home movie, its demand is still on the increase. There is a global misconception about Nigeria hence the media and the Nigerian film industry needs to brace up to correct this negative impression.

The rest of the world thinks of this country as slow in advancement. This is unfortunate because this image is mainly formed by stereotypical perception of the population in the country. In other words, it’s due to lack of understanding of people residing in Nigeria and people outside of the country who doesn’t understand culture and this lead to misconceptions. The people of this country understand that it’s going to take a lot of time and resources to help reshape the image that has taken root throughout the years, for this reason they turn to popular culture-educating through movies and films. This is because films are one of the fastest ways to communicate important messages across the globe, and they are created to educate, entertain and inform, they often attract huge crowds. A well made award winning film can attract a lot attention from the media, they are showcased in film festivals and people from other nations can exchange ideas and appreciate the work of others.

An active movie industry is another indication that a country is doing well, more and more talented artists are coming forward to become directors and actresses armed with great story lines, they have been known for a quality movie even with a limited budget. It’s just showing how resourceful and creative the young citizens of Nigeria can be, the future looks better than ever.

The Nigeria movie industry (NOLLYWOOD) is standing as the image maker of the nation since these films are seen in faraway countries where they have pleasantly gained prominence, artist like Pete Edochie, Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Patience Ozokwo, Jide kosoko etc. can be used by the government to achieve positive aims of rebranding the image of the nation.

The involvement of the media in rebranding Nigerian film industry is going to make a meaningful change in our quest for national re-birth, Nigeria is known for other good things. This time around, we must exploit that good virtue and develop story lines that will document our effort in peace keeping operation, our contribution to regional peace initiatives and our exploit in the field of education, sports and culture. But we shall also not forget to mirror those areas that are still crying out for attention, at least as a way of reminding ourselves of the need to keep up the pace.

Doing with this re-branding train, Nollywood would have effectively launched itself as a new brand capable of always doing the right thing with its highly persuasive medium but the Industry also needs the government.

This is a perfect season to actually rebrand Nollywood and begin afresh, not just for Nollywood but for Nigeria and its people as another round of sensitization begins. Indeed with Nollywood, we as a people can embrace positive trait and be truly good people living in a Great nation.

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the fact that Nigerians patronize the home movies they do not seem to know the inherent dangers some movies pose on their lives. Some movies are so bad that they can imbibe immorality on the generality of the public, movie like “OUTCAST, DISTRICT9”etc. Yet they prefer such to morally sound ones. The greatest problem is that the audience has yielded little or no dividend as the society cleaves strongly to those movies that are inimical to positive humanconnections and that of national objectives.

Like every other area of human endeavour, the video film industry is faced with challenges which if surmounted will contribute to her development and growth. But the researcher tends to find out the involvement of the media in rebranding the content of Nigerian film industry.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions in this study are:-

Ø  How relevant or what effect do the media have in rebranding the Nigerian film industry?

Ø  What impact has the Nigerian film industry created at promoting the positive image of the people in Nigeria?

Ø  What strategies/tactics are adopted to ensure the viability and the quality of the film produced in Nigeria?

Ø  What are the problems associated with the media/film industry at achieving its organizational goal?      

1.4    OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This study sets to unravel the following objectives:-

Ø  To ascertain the level of media involvement in rebranding the film industry in Nigeria

Ø  To know what level of impact the film industry has created at promoting the positive image of the people in Nigeria and that of national objectives.

Ø  To ascertain what strategies or tactics that is adopted by the media and the film to ensure the viability and quality of the film produced in Nigeria.

Ø  To unravel the problem associated with media/film makers at achieving its organizational objectives.

1.5    IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

The research strongly believes that the outcome of this research will be of great importance to directors, producers, movie practitioners and to other related outfit. Just as education must march with ones level of intelligence, this work will further provide relative materials to students and researchers who may wish to benefit from the information provided herewith. It is also believed that this study will broaden individuals the horizon and much more help to develop their interest on watching Nigerian films, especially the morally sound one and more to help them to know their areas of weakness in life and areas to make amend. It is also important that the film industry provides the necessary panacea that will help it meet national objectives and to further showcase the positive image of the nation.

1.6 DEFINITION OF TERMS USED

MEDIA: the various means of mass communication considered as a whole including television, radio, magazines and newspaper, together with the people involved in their production.

INVOLVEMENT: to contain or include something as a necessary element.

RE-BRANDING: introducing another use of advertising, distinctive design and other means to make consumer associate a specific product with a specific manufacturer.

POSITIVE: encouraging behavior, especially in the young, that is considered morally good.

IMAGE: describing something or somebody vividly or in visual terms.

FILM: movie collectively, considered as a medium for recoding events a form of entertainment or an art form.

INDUSTRY: organized economic activity connected with the production, manufacture, construction of a particular product or range of products