Digital cinematography: Institute trains 240 in Jos, Plateau State

The Nigeria Film Institute, Jos has organised a professional training on digital cinematography and non-linear editing for 240 film practitioners, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who covered the training held in Jos between June 17 and June 23, reports that the exercise focused on updating the skills of the practitioners to meet modern standards.

“The film shooting industry keeps changing every day. A lot of techniques, innovations and devices come up every day.

“We want to improve service delivery, so we must keep practitioners abreast of modern trends,” Mr Sanusi Sambo, Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), told NAN.

Sambo, in an interview with NAN, after the closing ceremony of the training on Sunday in Jos, said that the annual “shoot series” training introduced in 2005, was aimed at addressing skills gap in the film industry.

“We also use the training to develop appropriate strategies to address them,” he added.

He said that participants of the training tagged ‘SHOOT 2019’, were drawn from 18 organisations comprising of research institutions, media organisations, tertiary institutions, security agencies and Association of Movies Producers.

The official said that 3,000 professionals had been trained over the years, and expressed happiness that those trained were “doing very well in the business of film and television production in Nigeria”.

He commended Sen Philip Aduda (FCT/PDP), for sponsoring 35 participants from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for the training, and challenged other Nigerians to emulate the gesture.

“We want other Nigerians, especially political office holders, to train people on film shooting so as to create job opportunities for the youths,” he said.

The Acting Managing Director said that the Nigeria Film Institute, which is a subsidiary of the NFC, would soon  commence academic activities at its permanent site located in Nukpis-Lamingo, Jos, in Plateau State.

He also thanked Gov Simon Lalong for donating 168 hectares of land to the institute for the construction of hostels and other structures, adding that the commencement of activities at the permanent site would fast-track infrastructural development.

“I am optimistic that ‘SHOOT 2020’ will hold there,’’ he said.

One of the participants, Ms Zainab Mohammed, who spoke with NAN, commended the organisers of the training, saying that she was taught how to handle a video camera “more professionally”.

“The training also exposed me to more sophisticated gadgets,” she said.

NAN reports that the training was conducted by local and international resource persons while most of the participants were from the FCT, Ekiti, Taraba and Nasarawa States.

(By Martha Agas – NAN)