Runaway bride: The short film

This short film was written, directed and produced by my students at Pan Atlantic University. It is their novel attempt at filmaking. Please enjoy.

Review of 76 movie

Written by Emmanuel Okomanyi

Directed by Izu Ojukwu

Budget: N600million

Box office: Unknown but more likely the figure is farther away from budget than it is closer.

I was poised to watch the film with my eyes peeled to see the errors because a colleague has told me it has some flaws but I didn't quite notice much flaws. Is it perfect? No! But it is a film well made. Did I spot any flaw? Yes! At the end Ramson Noah's jeans look more 2017 than 1976 but no big deal. Could the climax be more dramatic? Yes but let's cut it some slacks.

It probably didn't make as much money in the box office to match its budget because it is not a comedy film. My observation reveals that most financially successful films in Nigeria are comedy films. That says something about us as Nigerians.

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:
Begin a memorable image/hook	Present
1.       Find the catalyst/motivation e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	present
1.       Raise the central question	present
2.       Establish the conflict.	Present
3.       Establish the antagonist.	Present
4.       Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves: 1.       Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
2.       Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Present
3.       Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Present
4.       Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present
5.       Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Present
6.       Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:
1.       Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Present
2.       The big finish/climax	Present
3.       The question is answered/not answered.	Present

THE VERDICT

Emmanuel now has a place in screenwriters 'HALL of Fame'

The film is no longer in the cinema but you can watch/rent it on Dstv. Don't patronize pirated copy CD.

Review of ROOM 315 short film

Written By Abosi Ogba
Directed by Niyi Akinmolayan
Produced by Emmanuel Uduma

The screen opens with a message: 1 in every 5 people will have mental health issues... this week. Beautiful opening, I must say. And this gets you thinking... I am about to watch how people develop mental health issues or watch someone with mental health issues being rehabilitated and the challenges, stigma, myths associated with the mental health patients.

It is a 27 minutes long short film and when the film end credits rolls, you are wondering, what does this have to do with mental health. Because Niyi is a genuis, you are struggling to understand how the anecdote of a counsellor's daily encounters with his patients is linked with mental health issues.

I still don't get it. Please watch it and educate me if you do find the connection.

My #BBOC film

I made a short film last year which was inspired by the controversy of the bring back our girls. I won't do a review because it is my film. YOU get to be judge. kindly leave comments below. Gracious.

Review of American Driver: WARNING: Don't watch it unless you are in a dungeon

Film title: American Driver

Written by Patrick Nnamani

Directed by Moses Inwang

I honestly don't know why the movie was produced. Film production is very hectic and it seem ridiculous to me that someone will just gather actors together, spend money and produce a ridiculous film. Although I have to admit there were some people laughing in the cinema hall but I guess they are people who are easily amused. 

Moses Inwang is the type that makes me fear going to cinema to spend hard earned money on a Nigerian film. Needless to say it is a ridiculous film. Nothing coherent. Just a bunch of senseless series of events. To add insult to injury I went to watch it on my birthday so you can imagine how disappointing it is for me.

A story structure has the beginning, middle and end.

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	American  Driver
Begin a memorable image/hook	Absent
1.       Find the catalyst/motivation e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Present
1.       Raise the central question	Absent
2.       Establish the conflict.	Absent
3.       Establish the antagonist.	Absent
4.       Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Absent
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves: 1.       Begins with the 1st turning point.	Absent
2.       Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Absent
3.       Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Absent
4.       Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Absent
5.       Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Absent
6.       Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Absent
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:
1.       Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Absent
2.       The big finish/climax	Absent
3.       The question is answered/not answered.	Absent

Verdict

Patrick Nnamani is sentenced to life imprisonment in write better villa

Review of the multiple award winning short film Bout

Story by Chucks Okoye

Screenplay by Bode Alao/Jide Alli

Awards: Best Actor at Eko film festival

              5 awards at In-short film festival 2016 including Best Actor and best film.

Okay, what is not to love about this film? The first time I watched it, I felt it was boring and talky. It could be because I was critically assessing it to know why it won 5 awards at a film festival where my film was also nominated (and mine didn't win so there was a heavy dose of envy somewhere). But then I took off my envy cap and wore my creative hat and saw the brilliance of the film for what it is.

It is well made, well plotted and it deserves the award it got.

Here is how the score board stands.

A story structure has the beginning, middle and end.

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	Bout
Begin a memorable image/hook	Present
1.       Find the catalyst/motivation e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	present
1.       Raise the central question	Present
2.       Establish the conflict.	Present
3.       Establish the antagonist.	Present
4.       Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves: 1.       Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
2.       Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Present
3.       Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Present
4.       Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present
5.       Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Absent
6.       Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:
1.       Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Present
2.       The big finish/climax	Present
3.       The question is answered/not answered.	Present

By now you've guess what the verdict is right?

The writers have a place in my Hall of fame. They are hereby crowned screenplay Kings

Wedding Party Review

Story by Mo Abudu, Tosin Otudeko, Kemi Adetiba & One other person I can't remember
Screenplay by Tosin Otudeko and Kemi Adetiba
Box office: N200,000,000 and counting (In 16 days)
Budget: N60,000,000


Strongest Feature: Effortlessly hilarious, great picture quality, fantastic acting, appropriate sound tracks and sound.

Screenplay review: Almost flawless, whatever flaw it has has been swamped by the humor and great acting. I even had to shed a little tear at some point... yeah it got me. Interestingly the story is pretty much about forgiveness than it is about a wedding party. If it were a core christian movie, I'm sure the title would have been coined, 'forgiveness'.

The opening hook was fantastic. We started and ended with the zealous wedding planner. The epiphany Dozie's mum had while at gun point was subtly created without verbalizing it... That's another definition of awesome.

So, this is how the scorecard stands...

A story structure has the beginning, middle and end.

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	Wedding Party
Begin with a memorable image/hook	Present
1.       Find the catalyst/motivation e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Absent
1.       Raise the central question	Absent
2.       Establish the conflict.	Present
3.       Establish the antagonist.	Present
4.       Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves: 1.       Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
2.       Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Present
3.       Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Present
4.       Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present
5.       Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Present
6.       Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:
1.       Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Present
2.       The big finish/climax/ The question is answered/not answered.	Present
3.       Resolution.	Present

The only missing plot are the inciting incidence and central question. I wonder why that plot was omitted. It's something one scene could fix but a lame man wouldn't know any plot was missing. It was too much fun.

I love wedding party for many reasons; top of which is that the film vindicated me. Most people I have been in conversations with, tend to believe global best practice for screenplay is for the West... the oyinbos, that it doesn't apply to us, Nigerians. I have always argued without proof that the Nigerian audience is not averse to the classical 3-act structure for screenplay.

And there you have it, wedding party is trumping at the box office, beating 30days in Atlanta, Jenifa and other erstwhile box office hits with skewed storyteller style.

My Verdict

Kemi and Tosin are discharged and acquitted for 'slaying' the screenplay and given a
copy each of Linder Seger's 'making a good script great' 

It's her Day Review

Story by Bovi Ugboma
Screenplay by Bovi Ugboma
Box Office: Unknown

Strongest feature of the piece is the good picture quality, great acting and sprinkle of humor.

I unfortunately entered the cinema hall late for this one so I missed out on the first crucial minutes of the film, probably ten minutes or so. So, I met the film at the stage where Bovi and his girlfriend were planning this fairy tale wedding.

Bovi's fiance is so vain, it will leave a sour taste in your mouth (but there are people like that). 
Still on the script, the story doesn't have any apparent antagonist. Bovi's motivation was not strong enough and the rich girlfriend's persona is unbelievable... talk about unbelievable character. Why do I say that? 

She is the rich daughter of a very rich man (of  Otedola's status) but she is a leech on Bovi who is not one tenth as rich as her dad. And so is her mother that is so keen on draining Bovi's purse. I mean, this people are so rich and yet they don't want to spend their money on their daughter's wedding but prefer to task salary-earning Bovi for the wedding expenses.

I believe Bovi wanted the story to be hilarious but I find what should somewhat be funny, troubling. Like for instance I can't understand why rich girls from a wealthy man would be dragging Bovi by his tie, literally compelling him to buy them things from a luxury shop. I could be wrong but I felt they could afford it. It is just unbelievable for me. 

Because the story doesn't have a motivation per-se for Bovi, neither does it have an antagonist, nor does it contain story plot points must-haves like inciting incidence, 1st turning points, etc, (global best practice) coupled with characters that are not authentic it comes short of the screenplay test and therefore finds Bovi GUILTY of screenplay massacre.

My Verdict

Bovi is hereby sentenced to 11 months to behind 'write better villa'

30 days in Atlanta film Review

Story by Looking Suave

Screenplay by Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani

₦137,200,000 (domestic gross)

Running time: 108 minutes

Strongest feature: One of the good things about the film is the picture quality, good acting and humor. So let’s get to other essentials of a great story. Since Screenplay is my forte, I will analyze the story and leave technical scrutiny to those who knows best. 

A story structure must haves.(Global best practices)

1st act/The beginning/set up must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begin with a memorable image.	Absent
Find the catalyst/motivation/Inciting Incidence e.g information about the situation, where are we? What’s going on here? Or something or an event to start the story. It could be a gun shot, an explosion or a letter arrives.	Present
Raise the central question	Absent
Establish the conflict.	Absent
Establish the antagonist.	Absent
Ends with the 1st turning point. It is a twist and turn that changes the story’s direction as new event unfold and new decisions are made.	Present
The 2nd act/middle/development must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 1st turning point.	Present
Momentum (a cause and effect/action and reaction scenes)/Action points/dramatic event that causes a reaction.	Absent
Barriers stop the action for a moment, and then the character goes around it and continues.	Absent
Complication is an action point that doesn’t pay off immediately but we wait for it and anticipate the inevitable response. And it gets in the way of the character’s intention.	Present mildly
Reversals change the direction of the story 180 degrees/ moving it from positive to negative.	Absent
Puts the central character in jeopardy.	Present mildly
The 3rd act/resolution/end must haves:	30 days in Atlanta
Begins with the 2nd turning point and speeds up the action here, makes it intense, and gives a sense of urgency like a ticking clock.	Absent
The big finish/climax   The question is answered	Absent
Resolution	Present

 Verdict 

Patrick ‘Coinage’ Nnmani is found guilty of  error of plot deficiency
 and hereby sentenced to 'write better villa' for 9 months without parole 

It doesn’t really have the classical 3 act structure that we are taught in film school. It is a 108 minutes film and at the 6^th minute we got our inciting incidence, which is a good thing. A little conflict was established also at the 6^th minute via the break up issue with Richard’s girlfriend, ESE.

By the 16^th minute, we got our 1^st Turning point. The story is about Akpors and Richard and at this stage, all we know is that they want to travel to Atlanta because they got a free visa/ticket. No major conflict in the 1^st act. By the way, 16^th -19^th minute was used to establish 1^st turning point (which is way too much time to establish a plot point).

Since we entered 2^nd act at the 19^th minute, we began following Richard and Akpors in different series of events of culture shocks for Akpors then at the 35^th minute, Richard spotted a girl, Kimberly who he wanted badly and it was until the 48^th minute that Richard begins to timidly approach his love interest, Kimberly. At the 54^th minute, Akpors gets a job offer he didn’t apply for and which he isn’t supposed to do because he has a visiting visa. 

Akpors also develop love interest towards an older woman at the 60^th minute. Pretty much we started seeing serious conflict at the 80^th minute ( which is too late) with Ese lying to Kim that she is Richard’s wife and Akpors getting into trouble with the police and later having a misunderstanding with his woman. By the 105^th minute, we entered the 2^nd turning point and the resolution, reunion with the estranged love interest of both men takes place and the happy ending of a Romantic- Comedy occurred.

Now, here is the catch, the story doesn’t have major plot points expected of a screenplay as tabulated above. It is mostly a chronicle of the times of the two friends in Atlanta but hey people loved it. At least the cash register reflected it.

This is a movie you watch, sitting like this... but that's what we want right? 

Happy, relaxed and entertained. This is a movie you can watch and still keep up with social media chats while at it. It doesn’t keep you at the edge of the sit at all but gives you a good laugh nonetheless in some scenes. 

The film broke some of the rules in a screenplay textbook but who cares, people loved it and the Producer made money. If you are a sucker for great storytelling then you might not like the film much but if you are big fan of humor, AY, Ramsey Noah, RMD and good picture quality, then this is for you. It is no longer in the cinemas but you can buy a CD copy.