Assistant Professor and Chair of Film & Video at the Columbus College of Arts and Design, Kingsley Lims Nyarko, has outlined the requirements for producing quality films.
According to the expert, attention to detail and being meticulous is the key to producing quality films.
In an interview with Samuel Eshun on a special edition of e.tv Ghana’s ‘Fact Sheet’ show under the #MadeInGhanaMonthOnEtv initiative on the topic; “Selling Ghana’s Culture Through Arts and Culture”, Mr. Lims Nyarko reiterated that the period for film production is dependent on the production process and narrative.
“If it is a longer story or a feature length film, you’re looking at between a 90 to 120 minute film. We have shot films as well from 1min to 30min films depending on what you’re doing,” he said.
“In terms of filming a short movie of about 4mins long, you’re looking at pre-production which is the planning and mostly that’s what takes time. You can spend a week or two for pre-production, planning and all that. That film can be shot in a day and then post production also takes some time. That’s for a short film. For a narrative or a feature length film, then you’re looking at months. Any film more than 45minutes or above 90 minutes, it’s months and you have to take your time to produce that,” he explained.
Kinsley Lims Nyako further urged producers to factor the various elements such as the scripts of filming in creating quality motion pictures.
“We have some of our folks rushing through the process. They want to spend 2-3 days shooting a 150mins long film which is not possible. You can do it but you’ll be missing certain aspects of it. You have to consider all these elements to tell the right story. Even the camera itself is a storyteller. Those are some of the things we don’t pay attention to because the camera also speaks. They also talk and the person pushing the camera is communicating something to the audience. That is look and look harder at what or who they’re pushing the camera at. Understanding those languages make you spend time to prep for your film, shoot it within a period, go into post production and spend quality time to make sure the film is done and done right,” he added.