BayelsanSilhouettes.org – “The Making of Bayelsan Silhouettes”

What is Bayelsan Silhouettes?

Bayelsan Silhouettes is an exciting, cutting edge film and capacity building project which produced seven entertaining short movies.  The films deal with critical issues affecting young people in Nigeria, and specifically, in the Niger Delta. This website and an avant-garde magazine (check out the Magazine section of this website) are also part of Bayelsan Silhouettes. Look out for the Bayelsan Silhouettes dramas airing on TV stations across the country! 

Where did the idea come from?

Young people in Nigeria face many challenges including a lack of basic resources in their communities, rising unemployment, and social and cultural pressures. These pressures have led to a host of problems, including a high rate of HIV infection among youth.  The Community Health Services department of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) and their civil society partners wanted to empower young people to be able to make informed choices and live better lives.  The project team thought about exciting new ways of using the media (film, radio, magazines, websites) to entertain, empower, and at the same time educate Bayelsan and Nigerian youth about HIV & AIDS. Bayelsan Silhouettes emerged as one of SPDC’s major social impact management initiatives to support the Gbaran Ubie Oil and Gas major project in Bayelsa state. The initiative was created to help people make the right decisions towards reducing high-risk behaviour. Bayelsan Silhouettes also trained many talented young Nigerians dreaming about getting involved in movie-making.  Many youth who had never acted before got a chance to work alongside seasoned movie professionals, and were also trained in scriptwriting and directing. The project was spearheaded by Communicating for Change (CFC) a research-based development communications organization committed to empowerment, education, and entertainment.

What were the different phases of the project?

Research: The CFC team travelled to Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, and surrounding areas to develop local partnerships and work out project logistics. The team visited many local communities, youth groups, NGOs, and traditional rulers, informing them about the project and getting their opinions and advice. After this initial recce, in-depth-interviews & focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with young people (aged 13-25) and stakeholders to learn more about youth lifestyles, sexual behaviour, HIV & AIDS knowledge and media consumption patterns.
CFC is a research-based communications organisation, so click here to find out about all the different types of audience research that has gone into Bayelsan Silhouettes.

Scriptwriting: Impressed by the enthusiasm and interest generated in Bayelsa, CFC invited aspiring young writers to audition and do a writing test. The idea was to give young people in the Niger Delta a chance to make their own movies. Many secondary and university students took part, and eleven of the best writers were invited to a one week scriptwriting workshop in Lagos.  The writers learned about health, gained computer and research skills, and were trained in writing dramatic stories.  The course was facilitated by two accomplished Nigerian scriptwriters, Dr. Ahmed Yerima (Director of the National Theatre & National Troupe of Nigeria, and winner of the 2006 NLNG Nigeria Literature Prize) and Ms. Ita Hozaife (writer for the TV show Doctor’s Quarters and editor of The Muse magazine), who later took the seven original storylines and developed them into engaging television scripts. The course was also attended by a producer of the National Television Authority (NTA) and a State Action Committee on AIDS (SACA) health professional, both from Bayelsa, who contributed creatively to the process.

Click here to find out more about our Bayelsan scriptwriters!

Film Production: Because home videos are such a hit in Nigeria, CFC worked with three accomplished directors on the films: the international celebrated and award winning director Tunde Kelani (The Visit, Only Once, and You No Be Man), Awoba Bob-Manuel, one of Nigeria’s best young women directors who comes from the Delta (Catch Them Young and I Am Prepared), and experienced commercials director, Mellamby Ileogben (Juju Doctor and My Brother’s Keeper). Members of the script writing team also starred in the films, such as Humphrey Odoko (Catch Them Young), Evelyn Torru (Juju Doctor), & Isayah Ahara (I Am Prepared). These three talented youth auditioned alongside many experienced actors and eventually won roles and were cast with seasoned Nigerian actors including Jude Orhorha (You No Be Man) and Emmanuel France (Juju Doctor).

*Click here to find out more about the directors of the Bayelsan Silhouettes films.

Film Post-Production: the films were post-produced between October and December 2007.  This phase consisted of several editing stages including colour grading and correction, laying the music soundtrack and sound effects, graphics design and animation, subtitling, opening & closing montage, credits, and audio sweetening. All the films were subtitled with the help of local Bayelsan translators who translated the Ijaw and Pidgin dialogue into standard English. Information frames on facts about HIV & AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment were developed in consultation with partner organizations: Hope Worldwide, Society for Family Health (SFH), and Family Health International (FHI). The films’ soulful soundtrack was produced by Cobhams Asuquo (check out an interview with him here!) and Wole Oni, giving the stories depth and color.

Acknowledgements

Making films can take a cast and crew of hundreds of people!  CFC would like to recognize all the talented actors and actresses, all the amazing technical crew, the creative and health consultants, and of course the researchers, writers, directors and producers who all helped to make the films entertaining and endearing.  Special thanks also go to Prince Victor Eweka whose creative storyline contributed to the plot of My Brother’s Keeper, and to the many host communities where our eleven talented scriptwriters are from.