According to Ekwuazi (2007:131)
Film has a higher potential for social impact… by its compositional code (the visual image), it appeals to that sense data on which we place the most trust.
Nowellsmith (199: xix ), on the other hand, defines the Film as popular art. But, not in the old fashion sense of art emanating from the people. According to him:
It is popular art not in the old-fashioned sense of art emanating from the „people‟, rather from cultured elites, but in the distractively twentieth century sense of an art transmitted by mechanical means of mass diffusion and drawing its strength from an ability to connect to the needs, interests and desires of a large massified pubic.
The Film has been in existence since 1895. Issues in Film discourse are many and complex. Even the history of Film, how it came into existence and the stages of its transformation varies from one writer to another. Because of this and for ease of comprehension, this study has divided the history of Film into two parts: the history of the cine Film and the history of the video Film. This is because they differ in their emergence and technological orientation.
43 2.2.1 History of the Cine Film:
The first documented account of the use of a mechanical device to record human motion was by the Lumiere brothers in Paris,in 1895. Balazs (1931:23) In 1895, using a crude photographic device, the Lumie‟re brothers, recorded the arrival of a train at a railway station in Paris. Another Film, recorded by the same brothers showed workers leaving their factory. The two Films were titled: Aroive d‟een train en Gare (arrival of a train at the station) La Sortie de l‟usine Lumie‟re (workers leaving the Lumie‟re factory) Dancyger (2007:3)
The two were screened at regular intervals to a fee paying audience. Thus, commercial cinema began in Paris. 1895 marked the emergence of the „magic latern‟ in human society. Film was given the name magic lantern, because the entire screening exercise was like magic to the audience Balaz (1931).
The success of the Paris screening motivated the Lumie‟re brothers to tour Europe and America with their new mechanical device.. At every screening, people always marveled at the new technology of Film Balaz (1931). This marks the beginning of visual form of (mass) entertainment. America quickly realized the economic and entertainment potentials of this new medium of relaxation.
It invested heavily in the Film industry and Hollywood came into existence.
According to NowellSmith (1991:3). The United States was and has remained the single largest market for Films‟. With support from society, Hollywood has been transformed into the world‟s largest Film industry. The star and studio system originated from Hollywood. Bollywood and Nollywood are generic names derived from Hollywood.
The history of the cine Film is divided into three broad periods by Nowellsmith (1991:3). The first period, 1895-1930, was the era of silent Films. During this period, the technology of synchronizing sound and visual was not, according to Nowellsmth, available. Films were therefore produced without sound. In the second period, 1930-1960, the technology of matching sound with visuals became available. Many Films produced during this period, according to him, were accompanied with sound. This period is generally known as the era of the sound Film. The last period, 1960-1995, is generally referred to, as the modern era of Film making. This era, in his opinion, is characterised by
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the emergence of cheap, portable, digitalized, user friendly multi-media Film technology.
In this modern era, even with a cell phone, an individual could record/edit a „Film‟.
Monaco‟s (1995) account of the evolution of Film is very different from that of Nowellsmith. Unlike Nowellsmith, Monaco (1995:197) spread the history of Film into eight distinct periods as follows:
- 1896 – 1912, the emergence of the Film as an economic art.
- 1913 – 1927, the silent period - 1928 – 1932, Film was in transition
- 1932 – 1946, the emergence of Hollywood and its domination of the Film industry.
- 1947 – 1959, emergence of national cinemas and the decline of Hollywood
- 1960 – 1980, the emergence of the new wave in France, technological innovations, a new approach to the economics of Film production.
- 1980 – End of the new wave period, emergence of audio recordings, video tapes, discs, satellite and cable television. Film now no longer exercises the economic leverage it once did…”
The features of the cine Film include:
- The use of expensive reversal stock - The reliance on the lab for editing - The technology is time consuming
- Editing/retakes have to wait several days after the initial shooting - The technology is cumbersome with many encumbrances.
With the cine camera, Film production gradually spread to many parts of the world. With time, Film began to evolve into genres. Before the video revolution, Croft (1998) has identified eight types of cinemas: the cinema of the United States, Asian cinema, entertainment cinemas, totalitarian cinemas, art cinemas, international co-production Films, third cinema, and sub-state cinemas. The video is not part Croft‟s broad classification of Films/cinemas because video technology (although available) was not used for large scale commercial Filming as is being done now.
45 2.2.2 History of the Video Film
The integrated electronic news gathering machine (ENG) was designed to enable reporters cover events outside the studio, edit the events using the camera and send the report simultaneously back to the studio from any location. The video camera was a great relief to the reporter. It also made television news reporting more real and more like virtual reality. Burns (1997) Live events are covered and accompanied with crystal clear pictures/images from outside the studio.
Gradually, people started experimenting with the idea of using the video for Filming. Its ease of operation, portability and mechanism for immediate editing made it an irresistible Film tool. Above all, according to Burns in Keyes (1997: 2.3) it is cheap and affordable. As he puts it:
In the field of the video… the skills required to operate the camera were not out of reach for non professionals. The cost was not prohibitive and for the first time, it was possible for ordinary people to make their own video documentaries. Interpreters became un-necessary. An option was available that had not existed before…
This option was explored by third world countries. In third world countries like Nigeria, the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme and the subsequent collapse of the economy, forced many Film makers to abandon the cine Film and began experimenting with the ENG as a Film tool. According to Ekwuazi (2001:6)
The slump in cine production is directly traceable to the structural adjustment programme which brought about the low performance of the Naira at the international market place – the source of all cine equipment materials and to a significant extent, services. Cine production went into a decline and then pattered off: within the last one and half decades, only two Nigerian cine Films (Oselu and Babaxak 2011) have been licensed by the censor for public screening.
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While the cine Film was declining, the „video Film‟ was experiencing a boom.
Nigerian „video Film‟, is defined by Haynes, (1997:9) as „dramatic features shot on video and marketed on cassettes and exhibited with video projectors or television monitor‟, The home video has become the most visible artistic medium in contemporary Nigeria. It has evolved into a distinct creative and artistic medium. Nigeria is arguably, the largest producer of „video Films‟ with other parts of the world now under studying‟ its new „Film industry‟.