A Study of the Theme of Ritual in Select Nigerian Video Films

Abstract

Film production cannot be said to be new on the Nigerian landscape as attested to by such varied titles as Ajani Ogun, Mosebolatan, Aiye, Bisi Daughter of the River, Blues for a Prodigal, Kongi's Harvest, Black Gold and Death of a Black President amongst others. Indeed, the long list of Nigerian film makers includes Ola Balogun, Eddie Ugbomah, Jab Adu, Francis Oladele, Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) and Hubert Ogunde. However, apart from the recent effort of Silverbird Cinema owned by Ben Murray Bruce to exhibit films in designated places in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the patronage of cinema/theatre has reduced drastically in Nigeria. This is as a result of the molestation of innocent cinema/theatre patrons by hoodlums as well as the country's unfavourable economy and its consequent negative impact on celluloid film production. This trend has given rise to video film production - a less powerful but more convenient form of filmmaking which relies on the use of U-matik, Super VHS, ordinary VHS cameras and, quite recently, the HD camera. Femi Shaka (2003, p.42) traces the use of the video equipment as a narrative medium of popular entertainment in Nigeria and other third world societies to two impulses:

The fascination with modern technology and the creative adaptation of such to solving pressing domestic problems, often in manners that original producer of such technological equipment never envisaged.