Africa in Pictures
A sneak peak behind the scenes of Nollywood.
Commentary
Discussing cellphone filmmaking in Africa
Tutorial
Character development with Oladipo Agboluaje
With Emeka Mba
Director of NFVCB speaks on regulation.
Jozi Kings rules!
Justice Umeh speaks on his new film, Jozi Kings.
The Figurine unveiled
Kunle Afolyan looks deeper into the film.
Egyptian Animation
Mohamed Ghazala speaks on African animation.
> Isi-Agu, one of Azuka's friends
> Azuka grown into a young woman
> Etido comforting little Azuka
Very few countries rival the diversity of Nigeria across the world, 250 ethnic groups, 500 languages and a population of over 160 million. Such diversity brings with it unique experiences and stories that need telling, whist Nigerians have explored film, music, arts and literature to tell their stories, animation has been absent; but this is about to change.
Obinna Onwuekwe, an upcoming animator, has successfully created an animation web series called Mark of Uru, to popular approbation.
Mark of Uru is an animation series set within the Nigerian Igbo tradition; it follows the challenges of a young girl, Azuka, born with a ‘cursed’ birthmark on her left palm - similar to that on the forehead of Uru, a deceased sorceress.
African Screens speaks to the creator Obinna Onwuekwe, to give us an insight into thoughts behind this animation web series and its uniquely African aesthetics.
African Screens: Where did you draw your inspiration for the imagery in Mark of Uru?
Obinna: Mark of Uru is an original concept inspired by African folklore and mythology and especially through my Grandmother's tales involving these elements. I was driven by the heavy integration of humans, animals and elemental beings in African folklore.
The characters are original and have no connections with the characters of the African folklores that I know of, with the exception to my own impression of a few notable mythical characters derived from Igbo mythology, like the god of thunder, Amadioha.
African Screens: With a lot of serious films, 'comic' characters are usually used to lighten intense moments. Have you used a character to provide comic relief?
Obinna: Mark of Uru will have a fair share of comic relief. Be rest assured, there won’t be any imbecilic character gallivanting from tree to tree trying, so as to make everyone crack a couple of ribs or pull out a few strands of hair in frustration. The comic relief will come from characters with very unconventional beliefs and convictions.
Their actions and utterances are not always in sync with the norm. Tari, the reckless warrior princess is one of such characters, because of her absolute lack of understanding of the concept of pain, death and fear.
African Screens: There is something very romantic about Isi-agu speaking in Igbo. Does your decision to make him speak in Igbo have something to do with the romanticised manner in which some folktales are narrated in the Igbo language?
Obinna: I felt that it was necessary to inject a Nigerian language into the series. And so I thought it would be nice to have Isi-Agu speak in a different language since he is an elemental being, instead of fabricating and subtitling some incoherent gibberish.
Also the truth is that there are numerous comments in Igbo that cannot be replicated in English, without eroding most or all of the effects. The moment you translate a line to English, it becomes a simple line dealing with a serious topic with no iota of humour.
African Screens: What do you think makes animation story telling different to storytelling through film? Do you think Mark of Uru can be realised as a series with real actors, just as it is realised as an animation?
Obinna: I do not think there is any difference in terms of story telling. The differences creep in during the production process where you make use of virtual cameras (animation) and the synchronization of audio with animation.
Mark of Uru can be realized as a series with life actors. Actually, I started working on the script back in 2004 as a life feature film but my skill in animation then was not sufficient for the accompanying visual effects. But in 2007, I dusted the script again, modified and converted it to the animated web series.
> A Screen shot from the inspired web-series, Mark of Uru
Interview by Chinaka Iwunze | Images courtesy of Obinna Onwuekwe
Mark of Uru : A gem in the Nigerian animation industry
