As we already know, the Nigerian movie industry is one of the biggest in the world, with millions of movies sold annually. In Africa, Nollywood is in fact, the largest movie industry in terms of value, popularity, revenue and number of movies released annually.
The Nollywood industry alone contributed 2.3% of the Nigeria's gross domestic product...that's great to hear right?
How To Start Film Production Business In Nigeria
Steps involved in producing a movie in Nigeria:
• Laying the groundwork (Preproduction)
Pre-production involves the works done on a film or broadcast program before the full scale production begins. In short, it is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film production such as the script, casting, location scouting, equipment and crew.Pre-production in video production formally begins once a product has been greenlit. At this stage, financing will generally be confirmed and many of the key elements such as principal cast members, director and cinematographer are set.
Other issues that will also be settled during pre-production include the location, how the interior sets will be designed/built, who will be handling the sound effects, costumes and more.
• Get sponsors
As a beginner, you might not have enough funds to keep your business running. One of the ways of getting funds is by approaching investors who might be interested in sponsoring your movies.A sponsor will only invest if he or she sees market potentials in your business. Working with an already famous actor might be expensive, but will go a long way towards promoting your movie in the later run.
• The production proper
Shooting a film can be very tedious, expensive and time consuming. In fact, a single minute wasted in the movie set can cost you thousands of Naira. You'd be needing several equipment which may also need to be transported from one location to another. All these costs money and should be included in the budget.The first set of people to arrive in the movie set are the lighting crew, hair dressers and makeup artists. The actors will be among the last set of people to arrive, and may spend several hours getting ready for the camera.
The director will be doing a lot of work supervising the filming of each movie scene. If you're already in the industry, you'd know better on how much work it'll take to film a relatively small scene. Most scenes will be filmed with a single camera, hence they'd be done over and over again for each camera angle.
In addition to this, each shot may need to be done more than once to get the best performance or in some cases, correct a technical problem.
• Post production stage (bringing everything together)
At the post-production stage, all the film footage will be edited to form a cohesive motion picture. The thing the editor will do is to synchronize the audio track with the film. After which he'll then assemble the raw footage into a rough cut (a preliminary version of film). The sound and visual effects will also be added at this stage.One skill every video editor should posses is the special-effects cinematography. Though the special-effects cinematography has over the years been considered as one of the most complex elements of film-making, many editors have been able to accomplish a lot on it with the help of computer graphics.
How do Nigerian movies make money?
This is a very important aspect of film production. As we all know, the primary goal of every entrepreneur is the final profit, not the clout that comes with the job. Due to the nature of the entertainment industry, you can easily get famous without getting the real cash, especially when you don't have the right strategies to monetize your fame.That's the reason you'd see some Nollywood actors asking for help online in times of needs despite having a huge fan base.
Some different ways Nigerian movies make money include:
• DVD sales: Ah..this is old fashioned, but permit me to write it here before we proceed to the other ones. Some years back, almost every household had a DVD (or VCD) player at home and you'd see tens of movie packets lying in the sitting rooms.This was really the norm then and many film producers cashed out millions of Naira from the sales. The internet has however replaced this so I won't be advising any producer to go this way in 2020.
• Television rights: Many producers all over the world make millions from selling TV and international rights. In this case, the producer doesn't have to pay for any marketing and P&A costs.
• Video on demand (VOD): The VOD is a video media distribution system that allows users access video entertainment without a traditional video entertainment device and without the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule.
There are three main types of VOD models you can adapt: Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD), and Ad-based Video-on-demand (AVOD).
- Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD): In this type of VOD, users are allowed to access the contents for a small recurring fee which may be charged daily, weekly, monthly or annually, depending on the service.
A user will automatically have access to all the videos he or she wants to watch on any device with internet access immediately after making payments.
A good example of the Subscription Video on Demand in Nigeria is the Sceneone TV.
- Transactional Video on Demand (SVOD): Users are allowed to buy contents on a pay-per-view basis. I'd say that this is entirely the opposite of the SVOD.
- Ad-based Video on Demand (SVOD): This is the most popular type of VOD service among consumers. In this case, users are allowed access to all the contents in the platform for free, while the owners of the contents generate revenue from adverts.
• YouTube: YouTube is the most popular ad-based Video on Demand (SVOD) in the world and the second most visited site according to Alexa. As we all know, YouTube pays content creators for displaying paid adverts on their contents.
If you're yet to create your YouTube channel, you can find out more on how to do it by reading up this beginners' guide on how to create a YouTube channel.
• Sales of tickets in cinemas: If you have a great movie, you can consider showing it in cinemas around Nigeria. For your movie to be accepted, it should have the potential to draw crowd. Having popular faces in the film can go a long way towards helping you achieve that.
• Sell your movie to airlines: If the cinemas refuse to pick up your movie, you can as well approach the airliners who'd show your movie to their passengers during flights. This you know isn't free, they'd off course pay you if they accept the movie.
• Mobile cinemas: You can form a kind of mobile cinema where you'd charge people a little fee to view the movie. Alternatively, you can decide to premier the movie at the various campuses for a fee.
How to sell a movie in Nigeria
You can market your movie via the traditional media or the new media. In the traditional media, you can advertise on billboards, radio channels, TV channels and more. Please read more about traditional advertising by checking out our previous post on the 7 types of advertising every business owner should know.In this post, we'd be focusing on the new media (the internet) which is more cheaper than the traditional media.
- Social media marketing: This is one of the most efficient methods of advertising on the internet. You can reach millions of Nigerians without having to leave your bedroom. One good thing about advertising on the popular social media platforms is that you'd be able to decide who sees your post.
- Search engine marketing: Search engine marketing involves leveraging the power of the various search engine platforms like Bing and Google. It is also efficient and will help you sort out the people you want to view your ads based on their interests, age and other factors.
- Online display ads: This involves working directly with publishers or via an intermediary known as ad networks. Depending on the way you choose, you can decide to pay per click, or on a recurring basis.
- Influence marketing: In this type of marketing, you can work with influencers who'd get your movies in the faces of their followers. One good thing I like about this is that many people trust whatever they see on their favourite star's Instagram page and wouldn't hesitate in patronising you.
What more:
Film production is really one of the most lucrative business in the entertainment world. With the right marketing strategy, you can be counting in millions of Naira from your movie. Before you leave, if you need a professional website for your business at a very affordable rate, please click HERE now. Delivery is also very fast and we offer support even after delivering your work.
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