Growing appetite for Nigerian-made animation

In 2010, Eguvwe Yugbovwre, 30, realized that being an animator was an actual job. The Mass Communication graduate invested N3 million to set up Ajebotoons Animation Studio, a 2D studio in Nigeria. For the first few years she worked alone.  She rose above the cynical “go and get a real job” comment she constantly heard […]

In 2010, Eguvwe Yugbovwre, 30, realized that being an animator was an actual job. The Mass Communication graduate invested N3 million to set up Ajebotoons Animation Studio, a 2D studio in Nigeria. For the first few years she worked alone. 

She rose above the cynical “go and get a real job” comment she constantly heard in the beginning, to having 10 core staff, making an income of between N10 and N15 million and becoming one of Nigeria’s leading home-based animators, from selling her products. 

For the first four years after the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) started in 2005, there were no entries submitted in the animation category of the award.  

The dynamics however changed in its fifth year. The category has consistently received entries, “except for one or two editions in between when the jury decided it would not give any award because of the quality of entries,” said Shaibu Husseini, head of board of jury of the 2016 edition of the award. 

He however said, “We have had an unbroken run for that category since 2010 and that is commendable considering the state of animation production on the continent.” 

This year, five animations from Nigeria competed for the AMAA alongside others from Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique. ‘Got flowers’ by Jibril Mailafia, who was trained at the National Film Institute, Jos, won the prize.  

Three years ago, the Japanese Embassy, Abuja and the Institut français du Nigéria started an animation film festival. The first two editions featured only French and Japanese animations with the second outing creating a films and panel discussion on ‘Animated Cinema: A developing industry in Nigeria?’ 

This year six of the 10 animations featured, had Nigerian storylines and were made in Nigeria by Nigerians. Whilst the first two outings catered to an audience of about 200, this year, the opening night of the festival, alone, had no less than 300 guests.

At the 2017 edition of the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) an annual film festival that takes place in Nigeria, there were sixteen nominations in the animation category with entries from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South America and Asia. Six of these were from Nigeria. 

There is clearly a growing interest in Nigerian animation both for consumers and the animators who have been challenged to step up their game by improving on the qualities of their works. 

For a consumer like Azuka Kalu, who use to be more entertained by the flaws than the storylines of Nigerian animations, productions like Crush and the Aje vs Kpako, among others have made her take them more seriously. 

She said, “I used to have such hearty laughter at the way the sounds came before their lips moved or the lack of coordination in their body movements as if the parts didn’t belong to the same unit. But after watching Crush and Aje, I have gained some respect with the quality I see.” 

Husseini also attests to this. 

He said, “There is a marked improvement from what our animators are churning out now and what they churned out say five years ago. I think we are building capacity in this area and I find that commendable especially because animation is a timeless genre. 

“You can watch a good, well-rendered animation over and over again without getting bored. There was a time I used to joke about some animations that I see where a car will be racing with its tyres rolling. But I don’t think I have seen that in recent times.” 

From local to international landscapes 

Originating from studios in Nigeria, homemade animations are now entertaining global audiences and gaining recognition. 

One such is My name is Leila produced by Lanre Oluwafemi of Lafem Animation, which was officially selected to screen at the 58th edition of the Dok Leipzig International Film Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, Germany.

Oluwafemi said, “It’s been a very rewarding experience for our studio because we were actually surprised by the enthusiastic reception and attention it has received since its release. 

“We still get requests from international film festivals asking our permission to screen it. This year alone, we’ve received no less than seven of such requests. My name is Leila is our second most requested title by international film festivals and content buyers.” 

Aude Urcun, Deputy Director of the Institut Français du Nigéria, said it is now easier to find accomplished animators with more and more animated studios opening in Abuja and Lagos and self-taught producers daily joining the ranks of professionals. 

She said, “A dynamic community of animators is working hard to penetrate Nigeria’s market. It is the vast range of stakeholders that gives this sector its dynamism and variety. Nigerian animations have been selected in both national and international festivals. Crush, for example, which was directed by Stephen Shima Iosun, was awarded by the Silicon Valley African Film Festival. It also won the best animation award at the Lake International Pan African Film Festival 2017 held in Kenya.”

Also, Bino and Fino has gained fame among children the world over. The animation is now a regular in some schools in Asia and the West where it is a tool to teach young children about Nigerian cultures and languages. 

Where are the women? 

Globally, the animation industry suffers gender disparity. “Only 20% of all animation creative’s are women,” said Urcun.

In a bid to encourage more female participation, organisers of the animation festival screened, we screened Tejumade created by Adebimpe Adebambo during the festival,” she added. 

Two of the nominated animations at AMAA 2015 were by women and one of them, Ebele Okoye, won the award. 

Husseini said, “Women have stepped up but it is still relatively a sector that is dominated by men.  We need to get more women interested because they seem to be better at animation production. You know they naturally have a knack for details and eyes for colours and aesthetics.” 

The challenges

If Nollywood boasts of producing 1,000 films a year, it can’t boast of producing 10 good animations in the same period. Funding is one of the challenges bedevilling Nigeria’s animation industry, according to Husseini. 

He said, “You need twice the amount need to shoot an average Nigerian movie to make a 10 minute-long animation. It is expensive to make and tedious. It is not cheap at all to have those images sprinting and climbing hills and doing the impossible. It is one very expensive area of filmmaking. This is why you can easily put a big figure to the number of feature films that have been produced in Nollywood and Hollywood and animations may just be one percent of that figure, globally. 

Besides funding, there is the issue of the lack of production facilities as animations are not produced on location but are helmed in studios with the right facilities. 

Husseini said, “Presently I don’t think we have more than five studios in the country where you can handle an animation project from start to finish. I am not talking about those animation skits you see around. Feature length animation film projects. There are not more than even two of such studios in Nigeria.

“You need the right facilities including studios that are well-fitted to handle animations and then of course you need the right personnel to handle documentary production. It is not an all comers field. You need to be trained. It is beyond observation. You need the right training to be equipped to make animations.”  

Oluwafemi added that, “there is a general dearth of understanding as to how we can make animation a viable form of not just entertainment but business.”

Nicademia, Nigeria’s Netflix for animation

In order to give more visibility to Nigerian made animations, Valentine Ubalua, 29, in June 2011, started Nicademia an online platform that works like Netflix and Iroko Tv.

It started as an Education Startup and scaled into producing Educational cartoons. The company didn’t make a dime in its first five years after investing about $20, 000. But now with roughly 2, 000 subscribers, a Nicademia tab and a mobile app on the way it is raking in no less than $50, 000.

He said, “We help animators make money by selling their contents via our various distribution platforms. They own over 80% of the revenue.”

To protect its content against piracy he said, “We have developed our platform in a way that you cannot view any of our products without our app and you also cannot download it regardless what device you are using. 

The way forward

According to Urcun, “In spite of the talent, imagination and creativity that Nigerians are known for, the sub-sector still faces some challenges.”

This is the reason the Institut français dedicated a part of its cultural strategy to animation with capacity-building workshops and the festival.

Lafem’s boss said, “To make animation a viable business, there needs to be more collaborations among our professionals, in order to pull our resources and mitigate the challenges confronting this sector. I reckon that, as it stands, it’ll be a herculean task for any local studio to single-handedly churn out  a 22-minute length of a 52-episode animated series within about the same time it’ll take south-east Asian studios to do same. Without the capacity to meet such demands and deadlines, we can’t compete for the multi-million-dollars worth of animation jobs out there.

Whilst the opportunities abound, Oluwafenmi said, there is a lack in the structures and capacity to access them. 

He said, “If we can attract such top-dollar jobs into the country, gradually we would be creating an army of professionals with the requisite experience to make Nigeria a renowned animation production hub. This exact model is what the likes of South-Korea and Thailand adopted. They started by positioning themselves as the preferred destinations for outsourced animation production jobs from the U.S and Europe. 

“In the process they gained the necessary experience (along with healthy and steady incomes) to enable them establish and nurture thriving local animation industries. These countries charge anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 to produce a 22-minute length episode of animation (depending on the quality and type). A complete season would require 13-episodes. In my opinion, this is the best model for our local animation industry if it’s to grow and thrive.”

Although her productions are still viewed mainly via YouTube, Yugbovwre is working towards exploring other platforms and collaborations to make her more visible.