“This gathering was to share research-based knowledge, something from research which I have been doing for a couple of years about how to light the black race.” The director/cinematographer, Stanlee Ohikhuare, said this while speaking at a one-day workshop on the 23rd of April, 2022. The workshop was organised by the Nollywood Studies Centre of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University and supported by Zenith Bank Plc.

During the workshop, Stanlee Ohikhuare presented a formula for lighting the black race in film. According to him, “the entire film world is actually just configured around making movies and lighting Caucasian actors, and the emphasis on people of the black descent has not been really strong.” Stanlee, a trained fine artist and painter who communicates strongly with visual images, added, “So I went ahead to do some research and to find out the best practices that could help us to get this lighting done in a way that can be called a formula, something that is consistent, something that can be replicated, something that can be repeated and works every time that it is done.”

The research was carried out over various years under the auspices of the collective, Native Doctors. In the words of Stanlee, who is also the founder of M-JOT Studio, the goal is “to share the results in the midst of academic people, schools, universities, both in Nigeria and abroad so that we can add this to the archive, and people can go back and use it as material for research in the near future.”

The workshop was the first public presentation of the formula, which is a major contribution to filmmaking. The formula will subsequently be presented to a global audience via an international tour. The workshop was a success and had many young industry practitioners in attendance.