EMCOAN promotes AI for media industry growth

The Electronic Media Content Owners Association of Nigeria has called on creators to embrace emerging technology to grow their businesses, particularly artificial intelligence.

The conversation around the benefits of working with AI and other videography tech tools was the thrust of the first day of EMCOAN’s Nigeria Electronic Media Content Exhibition and Awards 2024, held on Wednesday in Lagos.

The NEMCEA 2024 was themed ‘Content Production and Emerging Technology: A Panacea for Growth in the Creative Economy’.

The Creative Director of Nollywood Film Factory, Obi Emelonye, spoke on how filmmakers could explore new trends in editing, camera use and artificial intelligence programs, particularly Midjourney.

He said, “My engagement started last year when I made a film called ‘Out of Breath’ in Ogwashi. For the first time, I created a storyboard based on AI. I used software called Midjourney to create it. It was a revelation.”

Emelonye stated that the programme allowed him to visualise some of the things he was going to do and gave him some inspiration on lighting and set design.

He urged participants to find a balance between the tradition of making movies for cinema and the film-viewing innovation of streaming.

He explained the concepts of augmented reality, virtual reality, 3-D visualisation, high-frame filming and drone cinematography.

The keynote speaker encouraged young creators who already used AI but were limited due to the lack of education in their universities or schools to keep pushing and learning.

The President of EMCOAN, Adeniji Omirin, in his welcome address, said that the association introduced associate membership at the EMCOAN level to encourage and accommodate new content creators, who were yet to register their own companies or were in the process of registering,

Omirin noted that the initiative reached out to younger generations with content on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

“We took a step further last year during the 2023 edition to unveil the NEMCEA Creative Academy.

“The idea is to target Mass Communication/Creative Arts students with other relevant disciplines in tertiary institutions to learn the rudiments of the content production business even while in school and having a practical internship programme through our members’ production outfits,” he added.