Mohammed Shosanya
9 December 2007
Lagos — Pan-African music entertainment network, MTV Networks Africa and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), are partnering in Nigeria in an uplifting campaign designed to boost Africa's contemporary music industry.
The two brands have joined forces to develop the continent's music video industry, improving creative and technical skills among budding music video directors and moviemakers.
MTV base and Shell are rolling out a series of five music video workshops under the title of MTV Making the Video with Shell.
The initiative, according to a release, is designed to bring together the world's hottest and most critically acclaimed music video directors and artists with talented African music video directors throughout the continent.
The campaign has already visited South Africa, Gabon and Kenya, wrapping up in Ghana in the coming weeks, the release said.
Starting in Lagos from the beginning of this month, MTV Making the Video with Shell - Nigeria will consist of a music video workshop for Nigerian music video directors conducted by an international video director, an SMS campaign to solicit nominations for a Nigerian musician or group to have a new video shot free of charge, a music video shoot for a Nigerian musician or group featuring a cameo appearance by an international music star and a glittering 'wrap party' at Reloaded, Victoria Island with live appearances by the Nigerian and international musician.
Featuring high profile international contemporary musicians and artists, MTV Making the Video With Shell puts young African film makers and music video directors in direct contact with their peers from the international music scene, allowing them to gain new skills and insights while engaged in the creation of a state-of-the-art music video.
Commenting on the development, Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President & Managing Director, MTV Networks Africa, said African musicians need to be able compete against the rest of the world in terms of the skills they harness to market and promote their music repertoire.
"This wonderful project aims to elevate the standard of African music video production, raising the bar in terms of skills and knowledge, so that African artists can access - locally - skills and expertise that truly complement the vibrant music that they make', he said.
Also speaking, Basil Omiyi, Shell Nigeria Country Chair and Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, explained that his company has always been in the forefront of finding innovative solutions to bring the energy that the world requires to develop and progress.
"We believe that this partnership with MTV base beautifully illustrates what we do by linking together the power of music and the energy of the African youth", he said.
According to the release, each MTV Making the Video with Shell workshop will be conducted by an internationally-acclaimed director, covering modules such as scripting, storyboarding, sound-mixing, editing and production.
At the culmination of the workshop, the local directors and movie makers will be assigned specific roles with the international director to shoot the music video for the Nigerian artist nominated by MTV viewers.
At the end of the workshop road show, MTV base will produce a series of 5 half-hour TV 'rockumentaries', also entitled 'MTV Making the Video with Shell', which will chart the progress of the five separate music video shoots and feature the premiere of the African artist videos.
The shows will subsequently air across sub-Saharan Africa on MTV base (DStv Channel 322) and terrestrial partners in Nigeria (STV), Kenya (NTV), Ghana (TV3) and Uganda (NTV).
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