While Cameroon keeps hitting the threshold of movie premieres, awards and festivals, Nigeria uses the same film titles and release on YouTube for immediate consumption.
“Silent Storm” , produced by Destiny Etiko was released yesterday, while “Silent Storm” by Hero Entertainment seems to be in a state of inertia.
The Cameroon Film Industry has been making significant progress, with immense efforts by filmmakers like Kang Quintus, Syndy Emade, Eystein Young-Dingha , Stephanie Tum etc.
Albeit the production of valuable movies, Cameroonians are complaining about the inaccessibility of the movies. Where can we watch these movies ? Is the question that treads in the comment sections.
There has been a traditional procedure of announcing movie premieres with captivating flyers and trailers, then the premieres come and subsequently, the movies are kept under the carpet.
Film stakeholders need to seek a solution to this problem.
Noticeably, Cameroonian filmmakers go for high-end production, which is invariably costly. The producers are scared to risk it for YouTube, which takes time to start recouping. With the high cost of production, the filmmakers aim to start making immediate profits. With the premieres, most filmmakers end up losing.
The objectives are counterproductive because most of the movies are not acquired by Netflix and subsequently kept in the dusty cupboard for no one to consume.
It seems Nigerians have understood the trick;
Ruth Kadiri, Uchenna Mbunabo , Destiny Etiko etc produce moderate quality and moderate budget movies with exciting stories and locations.
They focus more on the plot. So, moderate quality+ good story.
Predominantly, our filmmakers have a sole competitive objective; to produce topnotch quality for Netflix acquisition, festivals and awards.
Maybe, we need a mindset shift.
To have our movies on YouTube, we need daring people to invest on moderate quality movies with engrossing stories. With that, our movies will develop a lovemark on the audience. The audience do not really bother about the RED cameras and employment of Nigerian actors.
Movie makers on YouTube can monetize their content through various channels. They can join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) and earn money through ad revenue when viewers watch ads on their videos. Additionally, filmmakers can leverage YouTube’s Merchandise Shelf to sell branded merchandise directly from their channel.
Furthermore, creators can generate income through channel memberships, allowing viewers to subscribe for exclusive perks. Partnership with the owners of the big Nigerian YouTube channels can also be a solution.
Lastly, Cameroonian consumers have to embrace digital literacy; to stream on film apps. Even when coupons were distributed for free to watch Cameroonian movies on Filmroom, very few people were interested in going through the procedure.
#nexdimempire
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