​As films need actors, actors need films. To achieve this, the casting process must take place. Many independent films, web series to student films and big budget films and television shows require a variety of actors and all one needs to do is audition for a part. For that reason, here are a few behind the scenes tips concerning auditions.

​Casting directors see many people for one role, therefore, provide a headshot to remember you by. They use this to review your look for the role in harmony with your audition tape. Do not send these pictures through chat apps (It’s happened). If it is required before, send it on email or have your agent send it.

​Understanding terminologies is very important. Casting calls bear terms such as, open audition, closed audition, callbacks etc. They hold meaning and will help you prepare for the right story to audition for. They also contain character details meant to clue you in on the inner workings and behavioural traits of the character. These will help in giving a very character specific performance.

​Importantly, callbacks simply mean that a few selected individuals the casting director has in mind, return for another round of auditions. Callback dates are listed on casting briefs, take note of them. Calling prior to the date is something casting directors’ view as a faux pas, I would rather you do not. Wait to hear from them. If the date has arrived and there is no word, steel yourself and prepare for the next audition.

Unless stated, do not turn up for an audition in outlandish clothing and makeup. This goes for both men and women. Personally, I find it better when the actor appears as a blank canvas. A clean white shirt and jeans, or an outfit in this vein of minimal style are universally complementary and really prevent chaos in your performance.

​Oh, hello there aspiring screenwriter, cinematographer or any of the above the line titles. Are you looking to start your own show? Are you an aspiring Djibril Diop with an explosion of ideas you want interpreted on the small screen? Well here is a step by step guide on how to ensure it lands its tv spot on many networks… primetime preferably??

​Rom Com? Thriller? Sci-fi? Nope. Step away. Make sure your story falls in the ambiguously defined genre of general viewing. What is that? Well throw in a family… or two. In fact, make one extremely rich and the other ridiculously poor. Easy conflict right there, basic screenwriting 101. Now what is the story about, hmm… a love story! Yup make sure you have a girl… make her the poor one or rich one, they are easily interchangeable. To put it simply, it does not matter. Give this girl a basic name and make her really… uhmm nice. Yeah as nice as can possibly be, with a drunk abusive father, a dead mom (or runaway) and some siblings she needs to take care of or scheming in laws or whatever…
Now for the story… uhmm… class bias, because class bias is the ONLY real problem in Kenyan Television along with second wife issues, secret illegitimate children hidden away and a will from a fat old patriarch. That for sure will take you to 100++++ episodes.

​Exotic locations, utilising the amazing views Africa has to offer, a set that actually uses its production designer? Screw that. Just get us a REALLY BIG HOUSE and a VERY POOR LOCATION (read slum) done. Oh, for the really daring ones an OFFICE SPACE where we really only get to see the C.E.O’s/ Manager/ Dude who has some type of authority office. Now for décor… please let it not betray the inner workings of your characters. It will only lean along the lines of Super Gaudy Fancy and Super Duper Poor. This are the only places that your characters exist.

​Static Camera alone. No camera movements that could possibly help the story along. None at all, except for of course the slow dramatic Tilt up or down and dramatic Pan left or right. Got it? Good! In the case of composition, lines, lights, framing techniques? Annoying, just point and shoot!

​Dialogue should alternate between how you think the entire demographic of youth in your country speak. Also, how you envision All rich people speak. In other words generalize everything. Your dialogue should not have any personal signature a fully formed character usually has.

For the daring ones, screw having a script just improvise the damn thing they are actors aren’t they? They will make it work. Bonus point make sure they have A. Melodramatic. Stare
Also colourism is hot stuff these days, please exercise discriminatory practices.

Use sub standard “Rich People Clothing” and "Poor people clothing". Please do not research on the real thing or anything for that matter.  For actresses in the poor girl role, please let them have half undone hair or she is not poor.  Are you treating your character in a terrible financial situation with any dignity? Sacrilege!!! Rip them off it.
Actresses should have makeup in the morning… full face Kim K. style.

Give one word.

One.

Please be economic
​
If two words, make them suuuuper melodramatic like Lies and Truth, Love and Hate, Family Ties
 

Use the same inane track over and over. Plus for those with amazing music tastes, please use popular western songs, permission or not. Lol, who needs composers these days?

​Skip this, just sell the network a cheap Latin Soap.

Okay so the title may run a tad dramatic (blame click bait internet influences) though, yes, below are the African Films you must watch before you die. So put away your Nowhere in Africa's and Machine Gun Preacher stuff and see these films made by actual African Filmmakers. In no particular order, the films listed traverse the four points of the continent capturing the best of Africa's often captivating, strange and heartwarming stories that always go without mention. Without further ado, grab your popcorn and get scrolling!

The film even scored areview by Scorsese himself. Touki Bouki's stunning imagery in the film serves a visual feast from scene to scene, unmatched for decades to follow.
Note: Nsfw. Contains images of slaughtered animals.

Chouchou in future Cameroon who after killing and disposing the body of a famous politician, gain entry into the enviable glamorous wakes that have taken over the cities nightlife. 

This is by far one of the strangest films I have seen in my long experience of watching strange films. As easy as it is to dismiss the film as such, Les Saignantes never descends into self aware madness. The film endures with its oft funny dark humour in oddly paced sequences and wears its commentary of the political climate and corruption in Cameroon with stylish aplomb.
Note: Nsfw

American fashion model participates in a shoot taken on the coast of Ghana's slave posts, a mystic transports her back to a West Indies plantation as a slave.

At the heart of Sankofa are its emotionally driven characters. The films painstaking focus on characterizing each slave, gives much needed reason to their motivations, a trait shallowly referenced to or blatantly ignored in Western Media. 
Note:Violence

Timbuktu marks Sisako's most successful venture earning him an Oscar nom and the prestige of flooring Cannes audiences. The story follows the growing global concern of radicalism. A peaceful cattle herder and his family living in Mali's ancient city of Timbuktu get swept up in the chaos of rising Jihadists.

To say more would be to spoil this beautiful film. The restrained yet sweeping cinematography from frame to frame captures the beauty of everyday life and courageousness in the face of utter oppression. The opening shots of hand carved Malian Statues shot up by trigger happy youth in the setting of a city once rich and of great historical importance is just one of the many haunts sure to remain with you long after the film is gone.

the backseat of a car he has stolen... ok anymore and all the twists and turns she be ruined

Tsotsi succeeds in drawing out the human face of its characters in a genre so heavily stereotyped. This gritty drama surprised all with its heartbreaking cruelty, depth and human voice.
Note: Violence

Tunisian colonialism is depicted through the eyes of Alia and her mother Khedija set in the local palace in which they work.

The title of the film is spectacularly fitting as we helplessly witness the happenings inside the palace. Alia comes to realize that the female servants in the house must be sexually available to their masters. The stakes are high in this slow burn film which Tlatli effortlessly brings out in a drool-worthy play of deliberate juxtapositions of sound and silence. A pure masterpiece.

This was a hard list to curate, therefore, I would like to know your thoughts on them. Have you seen any of the films listed on here? Let us know and start a conversation!

The rich sets in any Wong Kar Wai film speaks volumes about the importance of location as a defining factor in any production. The locations in your film make the difference between a good film and an excellent film. It amplifies the mood, reveals intimate details about your characters and imbues believability into the world you have created. However, locations can provide one of the biggest headaches in the production process and not without cause, it is a pricey and taxing affair. Here are a few pointers getting around it as a low budget filmmaker.

Your pocket and mind will thank you. I also recently started using Airbnb as an alternative source to hiring a location scout. It is a quick and inexpensive way to find a location.

Organize a technical scout with your Cinematographer and Production Sound Mixer. They will efficiently address/anticipate any problems that will arise on set and adequately advise you on solving them. It is no use finding a perfect location only to battle with footage that is completely unusable.

​Lastly, it is imperative that you dress your locations according to the feel of your film. According to mise en scene principles, all locations hold meaning. Simply put, characters exist and interact in spaces that directly affect them. Dressing each of your scenes according to the atmosphere your story, will attribute your production with powerful visual cues no dialogue could ever be capable of achieving.