THE BLESSED HAND

The thrills, glitz and glamour of the film industries across the globe are enjoyed mostly by the actors. Nollywood is not an exemption. Meanwhile, behind every fantastic performer as seen on screens, are men of diverse professionalism and expertise. These unsung heroes and heroines enjoy scarce attention during awards, after that, the rest is history. Shoots.ng strongly believe that the technical crew deserves special appreciation and more attention should also be extended to these Men Behind The Scenes (MBTS).

Bukola Lasisi engaged the award winning art director and the man behind artistic direction of King of Boys2, Amina– Olatunji Afolayan in a chit chat, enjoy the excerpt. 

Shoots.ng: Out of different departments in film production, why did you choose this career path?

Olatunji Afolayan : I didn’t set out to be an art director from the beginning. I tell people that come to me and say they want to be actors that there are better ways of entering the industry without being an actor. In my undergraduate days, it was SIWES period back then usually about 3 months long. I went to Mainframe Production by Tunde Kelani for training. He trained me and a few of my fellow undergraduates. The best place we could go was Mainframe Production just for an opportunity to be actors and staff as well. We were lucky to meet Tunde Kelani himself. It’s usually rare for him to conduct interview for interns, but we were lucky. He saw us and just took interest in us.  We were about three of myself, Akinyemi Taiwo and I think Usman.

So, he asked us aside from being students, what other trainings did we have. We were confused because as undergraduates we were only students. Some of us had never learnt anything else apart from education. However, I told him I learnt arts in secondary school. He was silent for a while and then said something I’ll never forget. He asked a simple question, if Emeka Ike, Ramsey Nouah, or any other movie star comes for auditioning, and you are also auditioning for the same role, as a producer who will you pick? You’ll pick the stars, right compared to an amateur?. There and then, he made us realise that it might be difficult to rise as actor without any acting background. So, he advised that we join the crew, that way, we’ll have the opportunity to be where any celebrity will be and then we can now decide if we still want to act or not. I took that advice seriously and today; they beg me to feature in movies. Asides that, I love the quiet life that comes with being a crew member. Look at both of us here talking and nobody knows who I am. just imagine if I was an actor. You’ll begin to see area boys, bodyguards here and there. I see the difference between being on the screen and being behind the screen.

So, out of the three young undergraduates, he chose me and put me in the art department simply because I had a vocational background. So, I was lucky to be trained by the best of the best. That was how I started developing interest and it was fun for me. When I now realized this fun thing, I do could bring in cash, I became passionate about it.

After the internship, I went back to school but this time more determined to work as an art director someday. I kept in touch with Mainframe Productions. One day, something interesting happened. I was in my final year then, when Tunde Kelani sent a group of crew members to my school, in convoy (I finished from Lagos State Polytechnic) to request for permission that, I follow them to a location outside Nigeria to shoot. I was stunned. The whole school was in shock, and they started wondering who was this small boy. I felt like a celebrity though. So, while in school I was already earning but still working under an art director. However, I officially started my career in 2008

 Shoots.ng: All along you had that talent inside of you, but you needed somebody to bring it out?

Olatunji Afolayan: Yes, I didn’t even know it was useful. I grew up with my uncle. Every holiday, he takes me to an artist to learn art. So, I spent most of my holiday learning art. I discovered that in every part of our house, I will be doing different paintings even in my room. The whole neighbourhood knew me as an artist. They will just buy paints for me and then I will do free signboards, free drawings for them. It was something I did for fun because, I enjoyed doing it. Little did I know that my passion will become my career path.

Shoots.ng:  How lucrative is this job and what do you value in terms of Naira and kobo?

Olatunji Afolayan : Ah, when you say lucrative that’s a very tricky question, trust me it’s not lucrative and it’s not bad.  Everybody knows the Nigerian factor and how it affects all of us. So, how do we say something is lucrative in our country. I mean you know, so you can’t say it’s lucrative. But at least anything that puts food on your table and makes you happyis good enough.

Shoots.ng: With the Nigerian factor you have just talked about, what do you think government can do to improve the situation?

Olatunji Afolayan :  This is not about what government can do because to start with, they are not doing anything right now. Thanks for the question though. Is there anything in Nigeria that government should not be part of? Is there anything government is doing right? Maybe we should start from what is government doing right. There’s nothing they are doing right now, we are just wasting our saliva by talking about government in Nigeria. I mean everywhere, it’s everywhere so they should just…. I mean I don’t even know what to say.

Shoots.ng : If you could talk to one of the leaders, what would you say they should do to help you improve the movie Industry in Nigeria?

Olatunji Afolayan: I think first, they should make the basic amenities available. It will affect the country for the better. Light, water, and good road. If we have just two, three things it will affect every other sector of the country.

Shoots.ng: Does it bother you in any way that you work behind the scene putting so much efforts, yet you are not as recognized and some of the actors ?

Olatunji Afolayan : I think I have talked about this before. I don’t even want to be recognized as a matter of fact. I don’t want to. Okay, let me give an example. I have been forced to be in the film field, like on set where we were stranded there was nobody to play that role because the actor didn’t show up. Sometimes, you travel to countries that they don’t speak English like Benin Republic, shooting an English film. And we needed extras, there was no even shop attendance who can speak English, so you as a crew member was pleaded with to play the role, they will shoot the film in 2002 it will now come out in 2006. One of your neighbours who has not seen you for 10years will now say that oga we don see you for film give us money. So like me, I choose not to be famous. I have seen it all, on screen and behind the screen. I know both feelings, but I choose behind the scenes. I know the difference yes, being popular has its own advantage however, at some point, these actors begin to live beyond their means in order to live up to the expectation of people around them who think they are rich. I know them, I pity them and I am like how do they do it? How do they survive? People are enjoying and some people are not enjoying it. I remember an actor that I said he prayed for fame and now he has fame, he doesn’t want fame anymore. Yeah, he was tired he was tired of it. We were filming and everybody was hungry and wanted to eat, so we went to one buka and nobody knew us but they knew him. Area boys filled the place and he didn’t have money. The guy is poor yet he is an actor. People were like ( o ni a wun). We know him, he’s stingy, that’s how he is. But me here,  nobody will know if I’m stingy or not.

Shoots.ng: How do you stay motivated in this field?

Olatunji Afolayan : You know when you have few people that believe in your craft it helps you a lot. A few producers or directors would say, give it to this guy, he’s going to deliver. It gives a sense of motivation even if it’s something you think you cannot do, the mere fact that someone believes in you will motivate you. I also don’t see anything as a limitation.

Also, I don’t send people to do my jobs, though I have lots of guys working with me. I go there myself and deliver. Some art directors do three to five jobs at a time, but I do one job per time simply because I don’t want to disappoint anyone, and I don’t want to do a bad job. For instance, the job that gave me my first break was Lotanna. The set of that movie was crazy. It took longer than agreed, we ran out of money, and even food. As a matter of fact, some people resigned. But I just said to myself that, since we have started it, we should as well finish it no matter what it takes. So I just take every job serious. I don’t look at any job like a small work. I do all my jobs with all my might.

Shoots.ng: Can you discuss  the start to finish process of production design?

Olatunji Afolayan: The start to finish is just the same process of the scripting. So, you get the script, read the script, get an idea of what the producer or director wants.  If you don’t understand it, you can have a talk with the director.

But when you read the script, it is like a blueprint somebody has a deeper idea so we speak with the director, and then you do a movie board on the look, the colour pallet, the styling and every other aspect as agreed on. Then you have a meeting with everyone in the art department; make-up person, costume designer etc just to be sure they understand what they should do.   Then you move on to budgeting. Budgeting is so important because it will either enhance your design or diminish it. If you want a house to be flying in the sky and the budget cannot fly, you have to bring it down (both laughing). That is the pre- production. The major part of film production is where you start construction and start making sets so the available resources determine how long it takes to build the set. After every production, the art director still stays back to wrap up the scene.  That’s basically the process.

Shoots.ng : Apart from Lotanna, can you list some few other film projects you have done?

Olatunji Afolayan : I can’t list o. Where will I start from out of over 100 feature films, above 50 musicals and lots of reality TV shows? There are so many of them but the recent ones are King of Boys, Merry Men, and Amina, Foreigners God,  Power of One etc. As a matter of fact, Amina is one of the biggest jobs I have ever done. I even did Amina before Lotanna. Amina was shot in 2006 while Lotanna was shot in 2008. However, Lotanna was released before Amina.

Shoots.ng: What was your experience like on the set of King of Boys?

Olatunji Afolayan: It was indeed a King of Boys’ experience. I have always wanted to work with popular producers. I had never worked with Kemi Adetiba. Generally, this is what I do, I pick up a movie, I watch it, and I look at it with the eye of an art director. I try to see what I would have done differently if I was on that set. So, this was what I did with King of Boys 1. I wasn’t the art director for 1. However, I watched it and wrote down some of the things I would have done differently. Just because it’s something I’m used to doing. I never knew I’ll direct 2. One day I was on a set and Toni Tones was one of the casts of the movie and she loved my work so much that she recommended me to Kemi Adetiba. So, Kemi got my number, followed my Instagram page watched all the movies I worked on, and she was impressed. Unfortunately, she couldn’t finish the script of KOB 2 on time, but she had a commercial to produce which I worked on, and she was more impressed. When it was time to shoot KOB2, I wasn’t available however, one thing led to another, and she couldn’t do it too at that time. Eventually when she was ready, I wasn’t engaged in any project too at that time. Kemi is such a good producer and director. One time, I broke my leg while on set and we had to shoot the next morning. And I couldn’t move my leg at all. When I told Kemi, she took it overboard. She sent doctors to my hotel room that same night and made sure I got treated.

It was an interesting set. Kemi made sure every cast and crew member delivered their role perfectly. So, King of Boys was a wonderful experience, working with great actors and actresses and producer. When I firs saw the script of KOB2, I almost ran away. It was like a Bible, almost 300 and something pages. We shot in the middle of end SARS, corona virus and all the drama going on in the country. However, look at what we did with it today. I’m glad to be a part of that movie.

Shoots.ng : How do you ensure effective communication amongst your own crew members?

Olatunji Afolayan:  its usually tough because while on set everyone sees us as the magicians. Nothing must go wrong on the set; everything must be available as at when needed. Like it makes us to have more people working in our department. I will always tell my protegee that 75% of art directing is carpentry work. Take it from me, so you need a brain of a carpenter and an eye of an artiste to be an art director. For instance, you have to fabricate something through the cheapest of the materials. You want to make this windows, if you go to somebody that makes windows now they will calculate aluminum, stuffs and it’s going to take like they can say come back next week because that guy is going to go to the market to buy stuffs. But as an art director, I will just see how I can instantly use wood to make this thing right now and its going to be done right now. You are not coming back, am bringing it right now. So, I need to have plenty woods, then have my tools and the right guys who know how to fix things.  Because, what you do is that you know carpenter will have background of a carpenter, then now train them from being a carpenter to an art director. Our own is make believe, you don’t need to make it real it’s just what the camera will see and let it look good.

Shoots.ng : Is there a retirement plan for this job or you intend to do it all the rest of your life?
Olatunji Afolayan: Yeah, thank you for mentioning this retirement plan. I wish to do this job till forever,  though there are some of my mentors that I envy the grace of God in their lives, that I wish God can give me that grace.
I have mentors who are over 70 and are still doing this job. They are still doing well and there are some mentors who are 60+ and can’t do the work again. I think, the only thing that retires people from the job is health. If your health status cannot carry it anymore, you just have to stop and take a bow. You don’t have the strength again, there’s no way you can do it. I wish that at 60, I would voluntarily say I have tried, I am not doing again. You get my point. I also discovered that, in this industry, I don’t know if it applies to all other industry, producers want art directors they can relate with, someone they can shout at. They are not looking for who they will address as sir. Someone that can be scolded once he messes up.

May God help us, I think it Is God we are praying to give us long life and good health. It is not a plan, it is God that should help us.

Shoots.ng: so, would you rather miss a deadline and deliver a perfect job or meet a deadline and compromise on the quality of the job

Olatunji Afolayan : Well, no excuse. Absolutely no excuse will be good enough for failure. I tell my crew, the only thing that will not make you to deliver is when you are dead.
If your wife is dead it’s not an excuse. I mean, the only excuse that can make you not to deliver is when they call your number and it says the man that owns the line is dead. If you are alive you just have to deliver.
Our job doesn’t really come like impromptu. Once you tell me about a job, tell me the date. When I look at it and I know I will not deliver,  I will not take the job. I have had opportunity with the likes of Clarence Peters. This was a guy I have been longing to work with. He called me for a job and I told him I won’t be available to do it, and he was wondering. He was like ‘you have plenty of boys’ that can fix the job’. I told him, if am not doing it with my hands, am not taking the job. He was surprised, that’s my own style and I don’t want to compromise it. I don’t want people to go and spoil my name by doing a bad job, so instead of me taking a job and compromise the quality because of deadline, I will rather not accept the job.  For instance, I had a job to do within 4 days, I accepted it and did it. However, it rained and everything we had done was destroyed. My crew and I had to re do the work and made sure we delivered.

Shoots.ng: After designing a set, is the final product always as you visualized it?

Olatunji Afolayan : That’s tricky, sometimes it comes out better, sometimes it comes out not as we planned. To me, the most important thing is the director’s happiness. I look at what I have done sometimes, am not satisfied and the director says it’s cool and he said now its fine let’s go. Sometimes I am happy and the director is not happy, we have to make him happy. What do you want? Tell me exactly what you want. It is the director that has the final say.  It is the director’s picture, so we have to work according to his picture. It is not as if every job I have done in my career has been approved, I have worked and they cancelled it. It has happened like that.
I was employed by people I look up to and have done work with, they loved the effort I put in the project. I have also done a job and they come on set and they are like what is this nonsense?

Shoots.ng : Which of your works has been the most tasking?

Olatunji Afolayan: Every one of them, but I will say Amina. Amina took my sweat and blood, it was one of my first biggest jobs, it was the first time I was working with Izu Ojukwu ,who was a director. I have studied his films, I have watched his films with rapt attention, I have adored him, I was now privileged to work with him, so I put up my best. He had challenged the producer that he didn’t want me because he didn’t know me. There was somebody he preferred but the producer insisted that this guy (Tunji) is going to deliver more than that guy he wanted. However, when we started the work, and I did some sketches and started explaining some things to him, he began to have a change of mind. And then he (Izu) said, ‘Tunji I challenge you, go ahead and prove yourself’. That was the moment, I was sure I will do the job. I called all my guys and told them that we would die on this set, whatever it takes we must deliver and impress. As we started working, Izu was wowed.  However, the production had too many challenges because there was no adequate fund. It became a serious issue. People were leaving, even my crew members were leaving at some point. Initially we agreed to work for 21 days but we ended up working for four months. Yet I stayed put. On that set, we celebrated our Christmas, new year, valentine and Easter. I also cancelled a lot of other jobs because I had already committed to this one. I had just one of my guys who stayed back, the rest left. So, I was literally doing everything on that set. Because we ran out of funds, so we had no money to even employ more people. It was so stressful and demanding. But I couldn’t leave it halfway.

In fact, even as were managing our resources, a particular set, after spending hours to build, got burnt. There and then, the producer broke down and started crying. Thank God we had some building materials saved up. So that was how we started building again and panting and it even looked better than before. Amina was really challenging. Financial challenge, manpower challenge, it was low moment. My family even came down all the way to Jos to see me. They wanted to be sure I was okay because four months was a long time to be away.

Finally, we did a superb job, and the director was glad he choose me. He even gave me a compensating job for all the ones I had missed.

Shoots.ng : How do you balance work and family?

 Olatunji Afolayan: It is not only for film makers. I always advise that people should marry somebody that understands their job. It is not every woman that understands your job. Especially we that always fly around if your understanding is 50%, that woman must have 150% to understand that leaving your house for four months, and you are not coming back with money. Ironically, those jobs that take a longer time do not have pay well, the ones that you have money is the one you do for a short period and everybody is done and happy. You now come back and say after we don go come back nothing you bring come(laughs)

Shoots.ng: Apart from the Lotanna and King of Boys which other of your works has been awarded?

Olatunji Afolayan:  Most of the movies I worked on has been awarded generally, then some of them had my department awarded too. Lotanna, King of Boys, had my department awarded

Shoots.ng: If any of your children decides to go into this line of yours, what would you advise?

Olatunji Afolayan : I want them to, but I have not seen them doing it. I really wish they can ,the question is why should I do all these and I can’t even transfer it to any of my kids? I know I can’t finish everything I have in my head, I want somebody that can take it up from there, even when am on wheelchair at old age. A child that can come to me for advice and I can tell him or her do it like this.
It’s not my wish now. Why I said that is that, I have started putting people who are related to me on my job. If my kids are not interested, there is somebody close to me that can take over. So far I’ve trained a number of art directors who are doing well today, and all the people working for me are men. This is because I don’t want distractions whatsoever. I realize that once I’m on set, I’m a totally different person.

Shoots.ng: What is Telegenic all about?

Olatunji Afolayan: I started telegenic media because I realised that I needed to focus on one thing.  I was doing too many things at a time. I was into editing, shooting, art designing, costume, lighting etc. then I realised that I can’t be jack of all trades and master of none. I was struggling with all of them but then, I noticed that I do the art directing effortlessly. So, I decided to focus on one thing which for now is art directing and that is what telegenic media does. We do commercials, films, music videos etc. Someday, I hope it becomes really big umbrella and be able to accommodate other departments like cinematography, editing and all of it.

Shoots.ng:  Who is Olatunji Afolayan? And what do you do in details?

Olatunji Afolayan : My name is Tunji Afolayan. I am a production designer, art director for audio visuals and I do sound proofing. I do a lot of things, anything that has to do with audio visuals, art element generally that’s what I do.

Picture credits- @telegenicmedia