RESEARCH/ PROJECT 1.5
THE OTHER NOLLYWOOD: DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING USING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES TO RE-ENACT AFRICAN HISTORY
The project will demonstrate how digital technology and new documentary filmmaking techniques can be used to contribute to both Nollywood documentary and re-enactment of African history.
There are two aspects to this research:
• The documentary film project and
• The thesis itself, which theorizes on what has been done in documentary film
The project-based thesis/dissertation through practice will contextualize Nollywood’s practice of virtual reality against perceived international best practices. The idea is to explore virtual reality filmmaking and CGI (computer generated Imagery) in Nollywood, in other words, to demonstrate how these digital filmmaking technologies can be used to tell African history (in particular the history of Christian missionaries in Wusasa) to the new and younger audiences in Nollywood. This study is geared towards finding out the inter-related issues of documentary filmmaking in Nollywood and the relationship of documentary filmmaking and re-enactment of African history.
The project will lead to several findings that will be original contributions to knowledge and will examine the practice of digital transformation in documentary filmmaking in Nollywood. This study argues and predicts that Nollywood documentaries can re-enact existential realities.
Within the foregoing context the study will contextualize how digital technologies can help storytellers and documentary filmmakers in Nollywood inform and allow their audiences to experience the time and space of a particular story.
There are two aspects to this research:
• The documentary film project and
• The thesis itself, which theorizes on what has been done in documentary film
The project-based thesis/dissertation through practice will contextualize Nollywood’s practice of virtual reality against perceived international best practices. The idea is to explore virtual reality filmmaking and CGI (computer generated Imagery) in Nollywood, in other words, to demonstrate how these digital filmmaking technologies can be used to tell African history (in particular the history of Christian missionaries in Wusasa) to the new and younger audiences in Nollywood. This study is geared towards finding out the inter-related issues of documentary filmmaking in Nollywood and the relationship of documentary filmmaking and re-enactment of African history.
The project will lead to several findings that will be original contributions to knowledge and will examine the practice of digital transformation in documentary filmmaking in Nollywood. This study argues and predicts that Nollywood documentaries can re-enact existential realities.
Within the foregoing context the study will contextualize how digital technologies can help storytellers and documentary filmmakers in Nollywood inform and allow their audiences to experience the time and space of a particular story.
RESEARCH METHODS
The research will adopt a dual methodology – using both quantitative and qualitative methods of investigation. However, the research will dwell more on the qualitative approach. Using oral sources by interviewing:
• documentary filmmakers in Nollywood
• historians in Nigeria, and
• informants in Zaria, Kaduna state and other participants in the event (the settlement of early missionaries in Wusasa) that constitute the historical narrative that is the subject of the documentary.
Furthermore, the research will utilize written sources and prominent documentary films that include both primary and secondary materials to evaluate the previously collected data dialogically and ensure an actor-centred perspective. All the resources and information collected through these methods will feed into the thesis and final documentary film.
• documentary filmmakers in Nollywood
• historians in Nigeria, and
• informants in Zaria, Kaduna state and other participants in the event (the settlement of early missionaries in Wusasa) that constitute the historical narrative that is the subject of the documentary.
Furthermore, the research will utilize written sources and prominent documentary films that include both primary and secondary materials to evaluate the previously collected data dialogically and ensure an actor-centred perspective. All the resources and information collected through these methods will feed into the thesis and final documentary film.
