Special effects in Nollywood, to say the least is still in its infancy stage, despite the SPFX revolution taking place in Moviedom. Special effects are deployed in creating effects which ordinarily can't be achieved via the normal way. Even prior to the CGI evolution, special effects had been used to project the reality of certain scenes that were considered apt to the movie's story, such as the parting of the Red sea in "The Ten Commandments", the werewolf transformation in "America Werewolf In London", the Ape in "King Kong". Special effects are created on set and are two fold; Mechanical and Optical. Special effects are different from Visual effects, the former is done on set while shooting, while the latter is created during post production by a visual effects supervisor.
CGI's have become the in thing. Special effects have been said to be expensive and reasons adduced for such aren't farfetched. For one, developing CGI (Computer generated imagery) is expensive, passing through so many stages and hands with professionals working for long hours using their talents and skills. Just as the director sees to the directing of the movie, the special effects supervisor creates all the spfx during the production. Movies such as Lord of the Rings, Transformers, Independence day, Matrix, King Kong, Deep Impact had cool effects in them. Bollywood has towed the special effects path with movies such as Dhoom, Robot, Curling blade. Notable SPFX companies include but not limited to Cinesite, Industrial Light And Magic, Weta Digital, Digital Domain amongst others.
In Nollywood, special effects has been a thorn in the flesh of producers, who patronize studios with off the shelf software programmes that make the intended scene look very unrealistic. Back in the days, during the reign of the home video revolution, Macro studios was known for handling the effects in the industry at that level, but really nothing mind blowing. At best the art of vanishing and appearing, rainfall, car explosions (depending on the brand and newness) and a few elementary tricks, seems to be what the Spfx supervisors know how to do best. However when it comes to the real deal…they're nowhere to be found.
In recent times, theatrical releases have proven to be the best alternative platform being used by producers/filmmakers and with the demand for good quality movies, they're leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that SPFX are worth believing. Notable Nollywood movies that have infused appreciable level of effects so far are "Twin Sword", "The Awakening", and "Last Flight to Abuja". Certain script writers who are creative might have stories that require good amount of special/visual effects to be used, and where such is not readily available, then there's a problem, which stifles the creativity drive. Well equipped SPFX studios manned by professional Special effects supervisor should be established which would make the creative aspect of the scriptwriter come to life.
So long… auggiepo@yahoo.com
CGI's have become the in thing. Special effects have been said to be expensive and reasons adduced for such aren't farfetched. For one, developing CGI (Computer generated imagery) is expensive, passing through so many stages and hands with professionals working for long hours using their talents and skills. Just as the director sees to the directing of the movie, the special effects supervisor creates all the spfx during the production. Movies such as Lord of the Rings, Transformers, Independence day, Matrix, King Kong, Deep Impact had cool effects in them. Bollywood has towed the special effects path with movies such as Dhoom, Robot, Curling blade. Notable SPFX companies include but not limited to Cinesite, Industrial Light And Magic, Weta Digital, Digital Domain amongst others.
In Nollywood, special effects has been a thorn in the flesh of producers, who patronize studios with off the shelf software programmes that make the intended scene look very unrealistic. Back in the days, during the reign of the home video revolution, Macro studios was known for handling the effects in the industry at that level, but really nothing mind blowing. At best the art of vanishing and appearing, rainfall, car explosions (depending on the brand and newness) and a few elementary tricks, seems to be what the Spfx supervisors know how to do best. However when it comes to the real deal…they're nowhere to be found.
In recent times, theatrical releases have proven to be the best alternative platform being used by producers/filmmakers and with the demand for good quality movies, they're leaving no stone unturned in ensuring that SPFX are worth believing. Notable Nollywood movies that have infused appreciable level of effects so far are "Twin Sword", "The Awakening", and "Last Flight to Abuja". Certain script writers who are creative might have stories that require good amount of special/visual effects to be used, and where such is not readily available, then there's a problem, which stifles the creativity drive. Well equipped SPFX studios manned by professional Special effects supervisor should be established which would make the creative aspect of the scriptwriter come to life.
So long… auggiepo@yahoo.com
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