LONG ROAD
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By Nashon Owano
I
t is an undisputable fact that the
film industry has grown to where
it is today. It is also in public
domain that Hollywood is the trail-
blazer in the number of films and
amount of revenue reaped from the
sales of movies. Industries such as
Hollywood, Bollywood and River-
wood are yet to dethrone Hollywood
as the leading film industry.
According to information from
Statista by the global box office
revenue is expected to grow from
$38billion (3.8T) to $50billion (5T)
by 2020.These statistics reveal the
potential that the film industry has
in generating revenue for countries.
A comparison of the film indus-
try in Kenya and the United states
however reveals a sharp contrast in
the level of growth and adoption of
new technologies. While most film
makers in Kenya acknowledge the
available change in the film Industry
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TECHNOLOGY
FILM
most of them are yet to adopt them
because of financial constraints and
the profit margins raked in from the
productions. As a result, most of the
film entities in Kenya are still small
scale entities compared to the ones
in the United States.
While some people suggest that
the slow development in the growth
of the Kenyan film industry is due
to the lack of proper content from
local filmmakers’ others are quick to
differ with the opinion citing lack of
government support and commer-
cialization of the film industry. Oth-
ers hold on to the opinion that the
American film industry started early
in time and as a result they have
been able to have enough time to
make mistakes and perfect them for
them to be where they are today. Ac-
cording to history, America produced
the first Hollywood film in 1914 so
clearly from that time to now so
much development has taken place
so they have had enough time to
learn from their mistakes and grow
exponentially.
It is difficult to mention the film
industry in the United States with-
out mentioning NBC Studios this is
because it is credited with being the
trend setter in the broadcast world.
This is from the type of content
being broadcast, to the financial
investment they have made. The
state of the art studios has been
”Storytelling is the
essential human
activity. The harder
the situation, the
more essential it is”.
Tim O’Brien
meticulously designed to meet the
growing need for content creation.
Each studio at NBC is equipped with
a state of the art camera that can
be remotely connected during live
broadcasts. In most quarters of the
film industry in Kenya on the other
hand people lack enough financial
capital to acquire the latest equip-
ment in the film industry. This in the
end affects the quality of produc-
tions. While most people in Holly-
wood pursue film production as a full
time activity that provides livelihood
for them in Kenya most film pro-
ducers do film as a part time activity
because it is not able to meet their
needs fully.
For now, film enthusiasts in the
country would have to make do with
what they have until it gets to a point
that they can actually compete with
household names such as Holly-
wood, Bollywood and Bollywood.
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