Challenges of Directing in Nollywood

Last year, we got such positive feedback from Webcitizens on our insightful discussion with Adze Ugah, acclaimed Nigerian-South African filmmaker and director. So we went for an encore due to popular demand (and because there’s still a lot to learn!) to know his thoughts on the challenges of directing in Nollywood.

Originally from Kaduna, Adze is an alumnus of the National Film Institute, Jos, where he graduated with a distinction in Motion Picture Production. In 2001, Adze wrote, produced, and directed his first video feature, VIYA, which earned him a Nigerian National Film and Video Censors Board award. He later attended the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance (AFDA) and majored in Motion Picture Directing and Scriptwriting. He is currently based in SA, where his accolades keep growing.

Adze is one of the directors of the popular Showmax epic series, Shaka Ilembe, whose long-awaited second season premieres next month. He won a Golden Horn Award for Best Achievement in Directing in a TV Drama for the series, along with Zeno Petersen. Mqondisi Ngubane, and Angus Gibson. Shaka iLembe is the SAFTAS’ Most-Awarded Drama Series ever. He has also won the award twice previously- in 2014 and 2015- amongst other awards. His touch in the award-winning Isibaya, Jacob’s Cross, Jewel and his award-winning documentary The Burning Man is well-acclaimed.

So here’s Part 1 of the interview:-

Let’s talk more about Nollywood and directing, or storytelling as you like to call it. What’s your view on it?

Thank you so much for having me back on this platform once again. I love talking about stories, especially when it comes to motion picture stories and, yeah, with regards to directing. To be honest, it is one aspect of Nollywood that I feel is still lacking. We’ve come a long way in cinematography, scriptwriting, and set design. Nollywood has come a long way in terms of all other aspects of the value chain. I feel that in directing, though, we are still lacking.

Take a look at the literature landscape, there is no doubt that Nigeria is a powerhouse when it comes to writing novels, telling stories, and even the way stories are captured vividly. You cannot top Nigerians across the board. We just excel there. We have award winners and nominees when it comes to our novels and prose. So you can imagine when it comes to screenplays, which is an extension of writing, we excel in that too. But when it comes to translating those scripts into motion picture, I see that abused. So, the short answer to that is, in my view, there is still a long way to go. The director is the person who encapsulates the vision and translates the script to screen.

There’s been amazing material from Nigeria that we know of, like Chimamanda’s Half of a Yellow Sun, which, when translated to film, didn’t look like the same material. I can give many examples where movie adaptations of novels and plays by famous Nigerian authors and playwrights have more or less failed. A recent one is The Man Died. The material itself is just formidable but the adaptation was weak. And that tells you something, in terms of Nollywood films winning international awards, Nigeria doesn’t have a track record of victory, except the ones we organize ourselves. When it comes to translation into film, which is the work of the director, we do not have many accolades in that area internationally. That speaks to the point I’m making.

What do you think could be the reason for this? Is directing a free-for-all, perhaps? Is it a lack of film schools or a lack of innate talent? How do you think this can be improved?

That basically is the million-dollar question, right? Because I remember when I started out, before I went to film school, I had a fair perception of what films should look like when they played out on screen. Even after my training in Nigeria and South Africa, where I studied motion picture directing, and even while working, I realized I was still lacking. It took a long time before I could see myself as a director. A lot of that had nothing to do with what film school was offering. It didn’t have a lot to do with actual talent either. If I tell you how I eventually elevated myself as a director, it had more to do with being mentored by the right people and just being able to tell a story and, of course, being critical of what was tasteful on screen.

A director’s first and most important tool is his sense of taste. And taste is not something you’re born with. Taste is something you acquire over time. Many things in the art space are about acquiring tastes. Directors have much more to do than just directing the actors’ performances. That’s just one aspect of it. There is also directing cinematography. Now, even though there is a director of cinematography or photography on set, ultimately the quantities and qualities of cinematography on screen required to tell a story are up to the film director. Then there is also the editing. Editors should edit, but the final purview of what should be in the final can of film, in terms of pacing, tension, how much or little of this or that is required for a scene to play out, is the director’s. How much music is used, what kind of music is used, also the director’s responsibility. Lighting, the mood, the atmosphere, the emotional context, production design- the entire calibration of every aspect of the value chain is what the director does. He basically juggles every department and determines what’s enough.

Everything should be a perfect blend, like a good meal. Is it supposed to be a cold, warm or hot meal? This brings in the question of genres and tonality. So it all comes down to pace. If the director has no sense of pace, it will be impossible for him to determine what amount of everything should be contained in a meal or on screen. That is the director’s responsibility and it really isn’t easy. Not everything that is acquired in a shot deserves to be on screen.

You look at the story that you want to tell, and it might require a certain way of telling it. Different types of approaches for different genres. Having to decide, for example, that you need just one shot from Scene 1 and then connect it to Scene 2. Perhaps you need more volume of a particular element in Scene 2. You understand? The problem with Nollywood is that everything is given equal attention. It can’t be that way… and that is how the film is shot. It’s literally about the calibration of emotion. It’s called emotional scene bonding in school. What is the scene doing and what is it not doing and how do you crystallize emotions? Because the first person to experience a film is always the director. You should be able to be honest with yourself as you view it.

It’s about juggling a billion and one things. That’s why editing is difficult. That’s why there are very few successful directors in the world. It’s not about throwing tantrums and shouting ‘Action!’ It’s not about the ego. That’s the last thing that directing is really about. Even directors like Spielberg tell you that their best movies were made possible because they were able to engage as many people as possible who gave them hints about what’s working and what is not. Because sometimes you can’t tell. You are a human being as well. Also influenced by personal things- things that happened to you at home, biases, etc. It impacts your ability to assess things. So there is that place for constantly interrogating what you need to make a scene work, and if it isn’t working, what to change. With my over two decades of experience in this field, I feel the amount of work Nollywood directors are putting into their projects is not enough.

Could tight production schedules be part of the issue? Should they accept them?

Well, definitely it is part of the issue. I’ve always said storytelling is not like baking a cake. It is never really that prescriptive. Some things do require more time and some less. And that should be part of the ecosystem. When you know the nitty-gritty about putting up these structures, as a professional, you can’t accept that. Someone who doesn’t understand what it requires to put together a story and then says, “Okay, I can do it in this amount of time because this is the time I have,” doesn’t get the profession. So, time and money are certainly required to interrogate everything you have put together to make the film.

Do you think a director should have input in casting choices? I know certain productions have casting directors.

That goes without question. The thing about the casting director is that he (or she) finds what the story requires. He knows where to find what the director is looking for. The director may not know what they are looking for, but they are very sure what they are not looking for. Words that exist on a page are just words. An actor who will bring sensibilities to a scene is not something a director knows till he sees it. A casting director assesses and acquires all those options.

But you’ve made a very powerful point. Casting is 90% of directing. So the film director and casting director need to get that right. Because when you get on set, you’re not going to teach an actor how to act. That’s not your job. And you cannot cast bad actors. The idea of casting a bad actor shouldn’t even come up because that’s not.. this is not a high school play if you know what I mean? Everybody who is cast is cast because there is an expectation that he or she is bringing something to the table. That they can embody their characters in ways that go beyond even what the script describes. Now, when you get that right, it’s really about making choices. And that’s where the issue is.

I mentioned pace, now I’m mentioning choices. Choices, choices, choices. Every single choice has a domino effect on every other single choice in directing the value chain. A director making the wrong choice is already doomed to make a product that basically does not work. Once you get casting right, you are literally free to explore your choices. So a director assigns choices, and to be honest, it does come with experience. It’s not a profession space at all. It’s layered and quite nuanced. It ultimately depends on what the story is demanding of you. It’s like music- it’s all connected.

CONTINUED IN PART 2!