Filmmaking techniques keep expanding and it is almost impossible to make films today without certain techniques. In Nollywood today, you need more than acting skills to make it in the industry.
There are three stages of filmmaking – Pre-production, production and post-production stages. Each stage needs an almost new set of people with a new set of technical skills.
You can choose to appear in all stages in as many Nigerian movies as you want if you have one or more of these skills.
Camera Operating Skills
Good knowledge of cameras is a useful skill to have. It means you know the right shooting techniques to apply for every scene and how to capture actions.
Camera techniques help to tell a good story well as it allows viewers to see things from different angles. You can use your spare time at school and at home to practice camera operating skills and camera navigation like:
Extreme Long Shot
Point-of-view Shot
Bird’s Eye Shot
Close-up Shot
Depth Creation
Colour Mixture
Special Effect Skills
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If you have a knowledge of mechanical engineering, you should simply apply it while learning this skill. Having this skill means you will be able to design and incorporate certain props like rain and cloud.
These kind of props are not readily available, and there are technologies that allow you to add them to movies. Try to get your hands on these technologies and software to learn special effects.
Drone Piloting Skills
This is a new kind job offer in Nollywood. Its been in use in many other film industries. Lately, Nollywood is beginning to make use of drones in shooting movies.
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The ariel shots in Nigerian movies like ‘Bling Lagosians‘ and ‘Lionheart’ were taken with drones and by people with drone control skills. You will be needed in all three stages of film production if you understand certain drone features like:
- Autopilot
- Using the high-resolution feature
- Using the gimbal feature to get stable and still images
Drone piloting and camera operating skills work hand in hand. Although you can simply settle for normal camera operating skills.
Important editing software and tools to practice include:
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Sony Vegas
- Avid Media Composer
These are the key skills that will rule Nollywood in the next years. Take courses and practice on software teaching sites to develop your skillset.
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