Nigerian filmmakers and creative professionals say artificial intelligence is reshaping  the visual storytelling ecosystem in Nigeria. They stated this in separate interviews on Wednesday in Abuja, noting that AI is reimagining visual storytelling by making filmmaking faster and more accessible, reducing production costs and creating new opportunities for independent creators.

The filmmakers and other creative professionals, however, noted that although AI has a great impact on contemporary visual storytelling and the future of Nigeria’s creative industry, it would only complement, not replace, human creativity.

They maintained that authentic storytelling, originality and human emotion remained the defining qualities of impactful visual content.

Onesiphorus Enwerem, founder of ONIZ Creative, described  visual storytelling as the art of communicating emotions and information through images, lighting, composition, movement and performance rather than dialogue alone.

He said storytelling in Nigeria had traditionally relied heavily on expressive dialogue and long conversational scenes to drive plots.

According to him, audiences are now becoming more visually aware and increasingly appreciative of cinematic language, colour grading and emotional cinematography.

Mr Enwerem said AI had made high-quality filmmaking more accessible by enabling creators to generate concepts and storyboard ideas. He added that AI also helped creators edit faster, enhance audio, remove distractions, generate subtitles and pre-visualise scenes.

Mr Enwerem said AI had become particularly valuable during pre-production and post-production. According to him, AI is assisting with script development, scheduling, editing, colour matching, audio enhancement, visual effects, subtitle generation and marketing content.

A documentary filmmaker, Jerry Laz, said AI had levelled the playing field for filmmakers by making professional production tools more accessible.

He listed scriptwriting, storyboarding, editing, voiceovers, visual effects and content distribution among areas where AI was making an impact.

He added that AI-powered tools had significantly reduced production costs and enabled the production of films with rich narratives without traditional  high budgets.

“Services such as voiceovers, transcription, editing and visual effects have become more affordable for creators, and documentary filmmakers can now transcribe hours of interviews into text and organise content more efficiently. AI-powered software also enables faster editing, thereby saving time and production costs,” he said.

Mr Laz, who has produced documentaries for international organisations, including United Nations agencies and humanitarian organisations, said AI should enhance creativity rather than replace the emotional depth that defines compelling storytelling.

(NAN)