News / Local
Bulawayo digitalisation content producers impress BAZ
13 Apr 2016 at 06:33hrs | Views
Content producers who were tasked by the government to come up with material for the Digital Migration Project are confident that they will produce content which will be compatible with the high definition (HD) television channels.
The country is working on migrating from analogue to digital TV broadcasting, hence the need for new content.
According to the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), the new HD channels which are yet to be availed will be required to have 40% local content. However, if all goes according to plan, there will be 12 HD channels, of which six of them will be owned by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation with the rest being run by private broadcasters.
BAZ Broadcast Content Compliance director – Tabeth Mazorodze who is in Bulawayo said the ZIMDIGITAL Commissioning Committee had received more than 500 proposals from content creators but only selected a few. Four proposals from Bulawayo producers – Raisedon Baya, Zenzele Ndebele, Thulani Siziba and Chrispen Mapuranga were accepted by BAZ.
The four are now hard at work.
"There're four productions that are currently being recorded in Bulawayo. These are Tech Review which is directed by Thulani Siziba, Ratu and Sox – produced by Zenzele Ndebele, Minana Mysteries, Myths and Magic which is directed by Chrispen Mapuranga and Insukuzokucina which is produced by Raisedon Baya," Mazorodze said.
She said the government, in its endeavour to capacitate the film industry had invested in cameras and editing suites which are being used by the film producers.
"Government aims to secure a stable source of local content for licensees on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform. This support is in the form of state-of-the-art equipment and financial assistance," Mazorodze said.
Baya, a seasoned, multi-award winning film producer said he was happy with the swift progress they were making in producing a drama that will be aired on the DTT platform.
"We're working on a pilot Ndebele TV drama – Insukuzokucina which has 13 episodes. It's a family drama that focuses on a young prophet who's having problems with his personal and work life.
"We're happy with progress made thus far and can assure the nation that we're ready to supply quality content," said Baya.
Writer and executive producer for Ratu and Sox, Zenzele Ndebele said they had wrapped up their animation's first episode.
He embraced digitalisation saying: "As local artistes, we're happy that we're benefitting from this government initiative. We believe it'll translate into financial benefits," Ndebele said.
Mazorodze who had an opportunity to watch all the productions in the making commended the production teams for a job well done.
"We're here to make sure everything goes well. We've noted that they're doing a wonderful job from the snippets that we've watched.
"There's no better proof that they're ready for the digital migration commission programme," she said.
The country is working on migrating from analogue to digital TV broadcasting, hence the need for new content.
According to the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ), the new HD channels which are yet to be availed will be required to have 40% local content. However, if all goes according to plan, there will be 12 HD channels, of which six of them will be owned by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation with the rest being run by private broadcasters.
BAZ Broadcast Content Compliance director – Tabeth Mazorodze who is in Bulawayo said the ZIMDIGITAL Commissioning Committee had received more than 500 proposals from content creators but only selected a few. Four proposals from Bulawayo producers – Raisedon Baya, Zenzele Ndebele, Thulani Siziba and Chrispen Mapuranga were accepted by BAZ.
The four are now hard at work.
"There're four productions that are currently being recorded in Bulawayo. These are Tech Review which is directed by Thulani Siziba, Ratu and Sox – produced by Zenzele Ndebele, Minana Mysteries, Myths and Magic which is directed by Chrispen Mapuranga and Insukuzokucina which is produced by Raisedon Baya," Mazorodze said.
She said the government, in its endeavour to capacitate the film industry had invested in cameras and editing suites which are being used by the film producers.
"Government aims to secure a stable source of local content for licensees on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform. This support is in the form of state-of-the-art equipment and financial assistance," Mazorodze said.
Baya, a seasoned, multi-award winning film producer said he was happy with the swift progress they were making in producing a drama that will be aired on the DTT platform.
"We're working on a pilot Ndebele TV drama – Insukuzokucina which has 13 episodes. It's a family drama that focuses on a young prophet who's having problems with his personal and work life.
"We're happy with progress made thus far and can assure the nation that we're ready to supply quality content," said Baya.
Writer and executive producer for Ratu and Sox, Zenzele Ndebele said they had wrapped up their animation's first episode.
He embraced digitalisation saying: "As local artistes, we're happy that we're benefitting from this government initiative. We believe it'll translate into financial benefits," Ndebele said.
Mazorodze who had an opportunity to watch all the productions in the making commended the production teams for a job well done.
"We're here to make sure everything goes well. We've noted that they're doing a wonderful job from the snippets that we've watched.
"There's no better proof that they're ready for the digital migration commission programme," she said.
Source - the herald
