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October 2003, Week 1

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Subject:
From:
Leo Aristimuno <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 2 Oct 2003 11:49:33 -0700
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Ken/Carmela
This has turned out to be an interesting thread.

Are these video titles you describe available in the
US or Canada (whether formally or informally
distributed)?

I know there's a huge black market for pirated
Bollywood films, Hong Kong Action films, etc, mostly
available in corresponding "ethnic" neighborhoods, do
the African films you describe have a similar
audience/draw from African communities in the
diaspora?

Leo Aristimuno


--- kenneth w harrow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> i am not competent to answer these questions. so i
> asked carmela garritano,
> who has written a dissertation and will be coming
> out with a book on
> ghanaian video. here is her answer:
>
> it looks like you've conflated analog video(smooth
> gradations on magnetic
> tape converted to electric impulses) and digital
> video(stores data in binary
> intervals). in ghana, they have been using analog
> video -- to capture and
> edit and duplicate. it is only very recently that
> folks have been using
> digital cameras and non-linear (digital) editing.
> here is the reason i need to get back to ghana:
> digital video is shaking up
> the entire system all over again. now a
> video-filmmaker can do everything
> himself if he can purchase a computer and editing
> software. in the past, the
> editor was the one essential "professional" in the
> video-filmmaking team
> because it takes a lot of training to operate an
> analog editing bench. with
> the advent of digital video editing software, almost
> anyone (who has access
> to very expensive computer equipment and LOTS of
> storage space) can edit his
> own films. i know of at least two independent
> filmmakers who are trying to
> cut-out the editor and edit their own films on their
> own PCs.
> most duplication is done on VHS tape although Safo
> [Socrates Safo is a
> Ghanaian filmmaker]  tells me that video CDs
> are also very popular. yes, they are packaged with
> exciting titles, enticing
> blurbs, lively images and all the other trappings of
> commodification. movies
> run from 90 minutes to over two hours in length. the
> last question is a
> funny one -- this is the point of the first chapter
> of my book!!!
> [I guess
> everyone will have to wait to get the answer on the
> last question! but i
> will introject that many who have started making
> video films, and acting in
> them, have not been trained previously in the film
> industry...ken harrow]
>
>
>
>
> At 09:22 AM 9/30/03 -0700, you wrote:
> >Thanks, Ken, for the info about the use of video in
> African movies.
> >Nevertheless I have some questions about the
> following:
> >
> ><all that started to change when the first
> nigerians and then ghanaians
> >dared to pick up a video camera, and even without
> training began to turn
> >films with their friends. they created an
> astonishing industry in the
> >past
> >ten years, with more video films being produced and
> exhibited in nigeria
> >in
> >one year (over a thousand) than in all the history
> of celluloid film in
> >africa. these are popular films, not socially
> relevant or high culture
> >films; they are filled with scenes involving magic,
> romance, killing,
> >etc.,
> >and can be made in a week or two on a shoestring
> budget. they are hawked
> >off the backs of trucks, shown in local parlors,
> and have responded to
> >the
> >audience's expectations so successfully as to be
> wildly popular. in
> >short,
> >digital has saved film in Africa>
> >
> >Are you talking of plain video or digital video?
> Since you mention a
> >time span of 10 years, I assume the former.
> >What distribution format is being used: vhs?
> >Are they packaged with titles, pictures, etc. so
> customers know what
> >they are buying?
> >Do these movies stick to the usual 90 min length?
> >Are they made by "filmmakers" or ordinary people?
> >Thanks
> >Jean-Pierre Geuens
> >
> >----
> >For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives:
> >http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html
> >
>
> Kenneth W. Harrow
> Dept of English
> Morrill Hall
> Michigan State University
> E. Lansing, MI 48824-1036
> ph 517 353-7243
> fax 517 353-3755
> e-mail [log in to unmask]
>
> ----
> For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives:
> http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html


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