By Desmond Ovbiagale
Production Quality: Contemporary Afro Pop music videos are among the most edgy visual content you could hope to see. From their flamboyant costumes and dance steps, to the props, set design and special effects, the creative effort that has been invested to achieve a product of international calibre can be clearly seen.

Combined with professionally mixed soundtracks, it’s no mystery that doors are opening left, right and centre around the world for our artistes. They have studied the competition, identified exactly what is required technically and artistically to mix it with the best, and are leaving no stone unturned to do just that. Kudos.

In fairness to Nollywood, the value chain for its end product is considerably more challenging. From story to script, casting to locations, funding, preproduction, principal photography, post-production, distribution, etc, there are several elements that are all required to be absolutely on point (or at least as close as possible) in order to deliver the requisite quality. And, by inference, several things that can go very wrong. Ignore them at your own peril.

The process is unforgiving; it accepts neither excuse nor complaint. So greater diligence is required to excel. To do things properly, professionally, requires patience, skill and effort. But a dishearteningly large proportion of the industry appears content to cut corners and compromise technical values for various individual reasons, thereby forever consigning their end-products to the mediocre status of guilty pleasures.

Budget: I was intrigued, upon a little research, to discover that several of the top end Nigerian music videos could cost upwards of 7 million naira to produce. Wow! For a mere three or four minutes of gyrating up and down??

How many full-length local films (including parts 1, 2 & 3) have been shot and edited for half of that amount! But here you have an interesting example of the radically different mindsets that seems to exist between these two important and influential pillars of the entertainment sector. Perhaps the musicians and their producers have an unfair advantage —they generally tend to be younger than their film counterparts and are not saddled with the mental baggage of ‘the way we have always been doing things before’ since the Afro Pop phenomenon is still in its infancy relative to Nollywood.

They are therefore more flexible in adapting to the modern professional (and financial) requirements of their craft, whilst their counterparts on the other side of the fence are perhaps still struggling to revamp longstanding habits that brought them through the wilderness to the edge of Canaan but definitely cannot take them further. Obviously, film budgets are dependent on the specific story to be realized, but there is definitely a minimum financial commitment required to achieve a product of international grade.

Product Design: Nigerian music has been around for as long as any of us can remember. Domestically, we have enjoyed it in times past, and will continue to enjoy it in the future. But there’s a specific reason why it is, at this point in time, going mainstream internationally.

And that’s because of the design and packaging of the product. Our music in its purest traditional form has historically found limited acceptance and patronage beyond the shores of our continent.

But a common denominator of the modern-day exports presently making waves around the world is their clever (deliberate or accidental, who knows?) and powerfully effective fusion of local and western contemporary hip hop beats (in effect, a redefinition of Nigerian music) whose outcome is a product that resonates aesthetically and commercially with global audience.

Domestically, we have enjoyed Nigerian films in times past. And we will continue to enjoy them in the future. And if that is the ultimate ambition of our industry, then no further action is needed. But if we also seek acceptance by a global audience, then a redefinition of our exports is required.

If we desire to penetrate a market beyond our diasporites, black Africa and the Caribbeans, then a design recalibration is mandatory. Because what may crack ribs in Umuahia and Yaba (or even Nassau) often fails to crack even the barest of smiles in Leicester Square, Berlin, Manhattan, Paris or Toronto.

Which, like it or not, is where the global industry’s power and prestige currently resides. Our local modes of self-expression (including acting style and sensibilities) are not instant world travellers. Invariably they get apprehended at the industry ‘border controls’ abroad (i.e. by the overseas film distributors and cinema houses) and advised (politely but firmly) to return from whence they came. As a famous management guru once said: Adapt or die.

So whether it’s in terms of the composition of the cast & crew, the complexion of the story, the choice of locations, or all of the above (but especially in adherence to international film production values), our movies need to achieve the right blend of local flair and global aesthetic appeal in order to command the universal attention and respect we strongly believe we are entitled to.

The two standing ovations recently accorded to the premiere of Half of a Yellow Sun at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival is a telling example of the reward for success on this point.

Marketing: To put it baldly, Nollywood comes nowhere close to the music industry’s acumen in engaging its target audience. From Facebook to Twitter to Blackberry Messenger to bulk SMS to blogs to whatever.

Our artistes and their promoters are new media specialists (perhaps because they are active users themselves); they know exactly where to find their market, what makes it  tick, and adapt their publicity strategies accordingly to fit seamlessly into their lifestyles. Words like ‘viral’ and ‘trending’ are the Holy Grail of their quest; they rely heavily on multiple social networks and word of mouth to compensate for limited marketing budgets.