From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Jul 15 2009 - 11:01:06 EDT
Eritrean Film Production: Its Challenges and Prospects(Part II)
Tedros Abraham, Jul 15, 2009
How EFRC was established and conducts its activities
The first part of this article concluded stating that a film rating
committee officially known as Eritrean Film Rating Committee (EFRC) has
been established. The committee was set up on the request of various
artists involved in filmmaking. A seminar titled "To Keep Film
Standards" was held on April 1, 2006. The seminar hosted 80 artists
involved in filmmaking; and they discussed the background, challenges
and progress of filmmaking in Eritrea.
The participants also agreed on a proposal on how to solve the problems
that the craft was faced with. The proposal, prepared by eleven
participants of the seminar came up with a list of reasons why films
produced in Eritrea should be rated before they are shown to the general
public. The reasons are summarised as follows:
1 audience should be provided with films produced professionally;
2 film production in the country should catch up with international
standards;
3 as film production is the domain of professionals, it should be
done professionally;
4 film production should develop creativity and create artistic
competition;
5 the morale and value of artists in the field should be
safeguarded;
6 - to discourage films produced by individuals who have no idea about
the art, and are involved in the work for financial returns only;
- to reduce waiting time for cinema halls due to production of many
films of low artistic quality
As a result of the seminar, the participants approved a 'Short Proposal
for Rating Films' and submitted it to the Cultural Affairs Bureau of
PFDJ. The proposal recommended the establishment of a film rating
committee; it also gave ideas on how to rate the films as well as
nominated individuals deemed to be qualified for the work.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of PFDJ also held a preliminary meeting for
the establishment of the committee in mid November, 2006. At the end of
that month, the committee commenced its activities by holding its
meetings once and occasionally twice a week. The committee has nine
permanent and four temporary members. The nine permanent members
actively work in the committee; although they couldn't devote themselves
to the committee's work due to time constraints, the four temporary
members are believed to contribute significantly in the craft and the
activities of the committee.
The committee is mandated to rate and give stars to show its rating to
all feature films with the universally accepted length that are produced
in the country. This doesn't include documentary and short films and
video clips.
The committee members shoulder the responsibility of not involving
themselves in activities that could compromise the integrity of its
members. There are also some rules that they are supposed to follow
strictly. For instance, no member is allowed to participate in preview
shows of films that filmmakers hold so as to collect comments. Where
there is any conflict of interest in a certain film, the member involved
is obliged not to participate in its rating.
Filmmakers hand in their final work on DVD along with its screenplay to
the committee. The committee then has to give its rating within a
maximum two-month time from the date it received the film.
The rating procedure goes through three phases. The first being 'general
evaluation', it is discussions by at least two-third of the members on
the film they watched for rating. On this phase the committee can have a
consensus as to the rating of the film.
Next is 'detailed study' of the work wherein a sub-committee assesses
the comments of the committee closely crosschecking with the actual
work. The sub-committee could make various suggestions including the
change of the rating given by the committee in the first phase.
Upon discussing the findings and report of the sub-committee, as the
third phase the committee takes final decision one the rating and the
critique. The rating is given to the filmmakers accompanied by a
document critiquing the film under question. This document in addition
to justifying and explaining the reasons for the rating, it is believed
to help the filmmakers in their future works.
EFRC ratings are based on factors that are essential in filmmaking.
Screenplay is considered the most important aspect of all the other
factors. The committee looks into how the theme of the film has been
conveyed in the film. It also tries to assess if the events, units and
other details in the plot support one another for a strong ending.
Elements such as characterization, setting, relevance of the topic
raised, presentation, screenplay writing technique and others are also
scrutinized within screenplay.
The discussion on acting also include casting, how effectively actors
reflected certain characters, mood, dialogue with all its
technicalities, and generally acting abilities of actors irrespective of
dialogue. In design and make up, the members expect costumes to give
clues about the characters; the design and make up should represent the
period the film is set in and the make up should look natural.
In cinematography, picture quality, camera techniques, lighting in
producing picture with depth and in creating the mood of the character
as well as sound clarity in relation with natural sound are issues that
are raised in the discussion. Editing is also another aspect that the
committee discusses. It checks on how smooth transitions between scenes
are, the editor's role in controlling time and length of picture, as
well as subtitle and narration.
With these as guiding factors in assessing the films brought to it for
rating, EFRC commenced its work on January 1, 2008. The committee has
made various improvements in its activities. So far it has rated and
critiqued 18 films. Most of the ratings fall under one and half star.
Only few films were able to get two star rating. This reflects the first
decision of the committee to limit its rating to three stars until some
groundbreaking improvement comes up in the field.
http://www.shaebia.org/artman/publish/article_5882.shtml
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