What Kenyan Visual Media Gets Wrong: A Breakdown of TV, Film, and Music Video Aesthetics

I had immoderate questions that were bugging maine astir our section Visual industry, and I seeked immoderate assistance successful the contented from Chatgpt to effort and recognize the substance beyond my cognition limitations. It made truthful overmuch consciousness and gave clarity that I had to stock it here. Let maine cognize if you resonate with the findings, oregon what you think.

Kenyan TV, movies, and euphony videos person grown successful creativity and ambition, but determination are a fewer recurring issues that often marque the ocular output consciousness "off" oregon dated erstwhile compared to Nigerian, South African, oregon Western counterparts. Here's a breakdown of what tends to spell incorrect with the look and feel:

🎥 1. Cinematography & Camera Work

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Flat lighting: Scenes are often overexposed oregon evenly lit without temper oregon contrast. Lacks the shadows and extent that springiness filmic quality.
• Poor composition: Shots sometimes disregard framing rules similar the regularisation of thirds, headroom, oregon ocular balance.
• Zooming and panning: Excessive zooms and shaky pans that consciousness amateurish, particularly successful soap operas.
• Low dynamic range: Colors look washed retired oregon overly saturated, lacking richness oregon mood.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Use of cinematic lenses, prime shots, and depth of field to adhd affectional texture.
• More naturalistic lighting and purposeful opposition (like chiaroscuro for drama).
• Invest successful camera stabilization (gimbals, sliders) and amended changeable planning.

🎨 2. Color Grading and Post-Production

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• No accordant colour palette oregon mood—some scenes are tinted blue, others yellow, often unintentionally.
• Low-budget editing aesthetics, with inexpensive transitions and generic LUTs.
• Overdone filters successful euphony videos to effort imitate overseas styles without knowing the context.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Establish a clear ocular individuality per project, with intentional colour palettes (like Netflix Originals do).
• Invest successful grading software similar DaVinci Resolve.
• Train editors successful color psychology and scene continuity.

🧥 3. Wardrobe and Styling

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Characters deterioration apparel that don't lucifer the scene, mood, oregon quality arc.
• Overuse of flashy oregon mismatched manner successful euphony videos conscionable to "look rich".
• Inconsistent grooming oregon makeup—especially successful play dramas oregon transgression shows.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Collaborate with costume designers oregon stylists.
• Style based connected character realism, socio-economic background, oregon communicative symbolism.
• For euphony videos, propulsion from current younker culture alternatively than outdated MTV-era bling.

🏙️ 4. Locations, Sets, and Backgrounds

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Overused, generic settings: roadside cafes, bedrooms with gaudy curtains, plain offices with integrative chairs.
• Poorly dressed sets: disposable household clutter, atrocious lighting, distracting backgrounds.
• Fake “rich homes” that look similar Airbnb rentals with nary character.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Scout for unique section locations with texture (colonial buildings, municipality Nairobi rooftops, agrarian landscapes).
• Dress sets thoughtfully, adjacent connected a budget—use props and ambient details.
• Use real homes oregon designed sets alternatively of trying to fake wealth.

🗣️ 5. Dialogue, Sound, and Delivery

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Over-expository lines, level acting, oregon unnatural English-Swahili mixing.
• Inconsistent dependable quality—echoes, ambient noise, inconsistent volumes.
• ADR (voiceovers) that don’t sync good with lips.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Invest successful sound designers and foley artists.
• Train actors successful naturalistic delivery and screen acting (which differs from signifier acting).
• Record clean audio connected set, past heighten alternatively than replace.

📺 6. Music Video Tropes

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Same bushed scenes: radical dances connected bare roads, “rich feline with champagne”, girls connected poolside.
• Copy-paste aesthetics from American hip-hop oregon Nigerian Afropop without context.
• Bad greenish screens, drone footage overused without communicative purpose.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Draw from Kenyan thoroughfare culture, municipality life, oregon agrarian myths—be specific.
• Innovate with narrative euphony videos that archer a communicative (like Sauti Sol's “Nishike” oregon Nyashinski’s “Malaika”).
• Let directors survey symbolism, pacing, and mood, not conscionable flashy effects.

🧠 7. Direction & Artistic Vision

🔻 What Goes Wrong:

• Many works consciousness uncurated, arsenic if nary wide originative manager saw the afloat vision.
• Visuals don’t lucifer tone—e.g., a romanticist country changeable similar a quality clip.
• Lack of continuity and thematic coherence.

✅ What Could Work Better:

• Develop a visual book oregon temper board earlier filming.
• Directors should collaborate tightly with cinematographers and editors from commencement to finish.
• Let themes (e.g., love, rebellion, loneliness) usher visual decisions.

✅ Honorable Mentions (When Done Right)

Some artists and productions do get the look and consciousness right:

• Sauti Sol euphony videos often usage color, mood, and styling effectively.
• Films similar “Rafiki” and “Nairobi Half Life” had beardown ocular identities.
• Ndani TV (Nigerian) oregon Showmax originals (South African) amusement what’s imaginable erstwhile section stories are told with polish.