Weekend Arena - Tiwa Savage, Tonto Dikeh, Janemena Et Al And This Era Of 'Emergency Film Makers'

##In this era of bedroom filmmaking, people need to exercise caution on how they do their ‘kurukere movements’. ...''

The camera is at the centre of filmmaking, which is an interesting occupation. I have a lot of friends in that profession and they are always fascinated with the fact that they lead their audience into their minds with images-still and moving.

That is similar to what a pair of eyes does for the entire body; or what the window does to a house. It helps one to catch a glimpse of what was or what ought to be, and like late Amaka Igwe, a renowned Nigerian filmmaker used to predict, the mobile phone cameras have today changed the dynamics in the film-making, depending on your perspective of the unfolding reality.
Today, our phones are recording all sorts and sometimes the shots benumb our sense of reasoning. As technology advances, flooding the market with mobile devices with cheaper and sophisticated capacities to film, many are becoming emergency filmmakers, recording whatever can ‘grab’ them attention in the media, especially the social media. Interestingly, the quest to impress others about our filmmaking abilities is driving a whole new perception about the thematic relevance of such ‘films’.

Before we all became emergency filmmakers, our first reaction at an accident scene on the road would be to offer help by providing first aid or taking the victims to a hospital, but nowadays, we would be driven by the impulse to be the first to capture it on video and share. Some even add a little of journalism to it by ‘reporting live’! You would hear: “Ladies and gentlemen, I am live at Benin-Ore Expressway where a fatal accident has occurred between a lorry and a hummer bus with 18 passengers. As you can see, blood is flowing everywhere and we are waiting for men of the Federal Road Safety Commission to come and assist the few survivors here. We will keep updating you. Thank you!”. He would beam the camera on victims writhing in pains.

How debased we have become in filming came to the fore when Chike Akunyili got shot in Anambra State. As he was struggling, these emergency filmmakers and journalists were there ‘reporting live’ (they love ‘reporting live’) and it looked so nauseating that I personally wished Nigeria could implement a law to criminalise any action that smacks of insensitivity to persons in trauma like they do in some European countries.

Why are we humans if not to come to the aid of others?

In case you don’t know, these emergency filmmakers are getting specialised too, just like the ones in Nollywood and Hollywood.

 They have genres they are most at home with. Like a John Woo would settle for action and Eddie Murphy for comedy, the emergency filmmakers have their fortes. While some are excited with filming people in trauma, others are more interested in bedroom scenes.

 They have dubbed it sex tapes! And in recent times, that has dominated discussions on the social media.


From Tiwa Savage, Tonto Dike to Jane Mena, it has been sex-tape-this and sex-tape-that and this makes one wonder why we have also decided to take the filmmaking skills into the bedrooms. Perhaps, that has become the fad, but one would not help wondering who the tapes are being made for. Netflix, Amazon or Iroko TV?

I engaged a lady who confessed that she likes being taped and her reasons are really ‘wack’ for me o. According to her, she does it because her man likes it, so it is a sign of love for her man. It is a way of proving that she is in love with him and that means that wherever he goes, he could open his phone and catch another glimpse of their erotic moments! But what manner of man would need sex tapes as proof of love by his woman? I used to think that whatever a man cherishes, he tries to keep away from the prying eyes of others? So with the sophistication in the hacking business who would confidently carry such files in a mobile device and believe firmly that no one can access them? Hmmm!

It has happened repeatedly even in Nollywood. Actress Anita Hogan paid a bitter price when her nudes with her fiance, stored in a laptop got copied after she took the laptop for repairs. For those who want to prove to their spouses that they are in love, I do not think it is by making a film of your ‘acting’ inside the bedroom only; why not have a stage play of it at MUSON Centre or Ikeja Under-Bridge? Yes na!

In this era of bedroom filmmaking, people need to exercise caution on how they do their ‘kurukere movements’. So many pastors and married women are still paying through their noses for sex tapes that were recorded with and without their consent. There are hidden cameras everywhere and emergency filmmakers are working 24-7! I don talk my own o!