Samuel Masaku Makau has a deep fascination with Ancient African studies, “The best thing about Africa is that thousands of years ago our ancestors civilised the earth,” says the 24-year-old Kenyan videographer and editor. He wants to research and narrate forgotten African tales and the stories of elders to the rest of the world. One day he hopes to travel to Egypt to quench his fascination with the hidden texts, symbols and knowledge found inside the ancient pyramids.
Samuel wants to infuse Africa’s creative industries with originality and a new African style of filmmaking. “As much as we are inspired by Hollywood and want to do things in the Hollywood style, we have to make way for what is ours. We need new African meditations in the way we script, cast and work in the video entertainment industry,” he explains.
Through MTF, he looks forward to expanding his knowledge, learning editing and motion graphics skills, as well as various tricks of the trade that will help him transform into a professional, empowered with hands-on industry experience. Samuel aspires to become a film director and video graphics and editing specialist.
His vision is that local TV shows need to move with the times and understand that their audiences are evolving and want to be entertained differently – in an intellectual manner. He says that Africa’s creative industry needs to keep pace with international productions by investing in motion graphics and learning quality cinematography and videography techniques. Then it all comes down to marketing – understanding the importance of packaging and selling a story.