Tamale Film & Television Academy of Northern Ghana Commits to Higher Digital Horizons

Northern Ghana’s video and television production industry is ripe for development. Students of production in Tamale are watching this industry boom in Africa’s market, as well as across the world, and they are ready to build careers in the growing array of digital mediums.

Ghana’s video production industry is managed by creative individuals with a collective skill and knowledge, and yet it’s still yearning for more creative personnel to fill the ever increasing video and television business opportunities across the country with the advent of more digital innovations and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok etc.

These mediums offer a greater opportunity for creative contents to be shared and monetized, which means that more creative skills and support is needed to be able to provide content and expertise for the youth to take advantage of.

Unfortunately, the academic institution needed to teach these courses have been few and far between. Almost all these media schools are located in the capital Accra, over 600 km to the south, which is very expensive for most of the youth from Northern Ghana to attend.

My Story

Having observed the marginalization of Northern Ghanaian students who searched for video and television careers, I needed to do something about it. I realized that many youths from Tamale wanted to learn how to operate a camera, edit movies, or generally play a creative role in producing videos, much like myself.

I knew from experience the struggle to learn cinematography in Ghana, and the personal sacrifices I had to make.

I had traveled from Tamale to Accra for greener pastures after completing my secondary education in 1995. I knew that it was important to learn a creative skill which would help me in future.

I was able to write short stories for a few newspapers in Accra, until one day I saw an advertisement in one of the newspapers about a school where one can learn skills in video editing and camera techniques.

I wanted to pursue a career in that field, however I had no money to get myself enrolled into the school which was known as the Academy of Screen Arts (ASA).

It took me two extra years to be able to raise some amount of money through working at a butchery. However, I realized that the amount of money I’d raised was insufficient to get me full tuition in all the modules the school was offering, which included cinematography, video editing, script writing and acting.

The procedure for admission was for a prospective student to write an essay on why they wanted to enroll in the school. It was the essay I wrote which got the attention of one of their lecturers, an expatriate from the Netherlands known as Louis Erwin Stippel.

Louis told the admission officer about my inability to raise the full cost of tuition but they would give me an opportunity to study only one module instead of the four modules the school was offering to its students.

I was therefore to attend school only on days that we had cinematography classes, which I readily accepted.

After completing my certificate in cinematography from the school in 2007 I realized I needed to become a multi-talented individual to get far in the Ghanaian movie industry. I also noted that there was so much I still needed to learn and the only the internet was the only source to do that.

At that time the only online source I knew where one could learn tips and tricks on Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects was through Creative COW, which I got to know because of my frequent search on the internet for lessons on video production.

It was on Creative COW that I first heard about the term “podcast’’, and I would buy hours at the internet café to watch and practice with numerous podcasts on various Adobe software.

Through my online learning I was able to practice and perfect some motion graphic techniques in Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro and Photoshop, which came in handy during my stay in Accra.

Soon, my peers began to call upon me whenever they had issues applying certain post-production techniques, and I would explain the concepts as best as I could. This got me started teaching the Adobe range of software to some colleagues who were having a hard time learning the programs.

It was through these one-on-one lessons for individuals that I thought it would be great if I came back to Tamale to set up my own media school. And so Tamale Film & television academy was conceived.

The History of Tamale Film and Television Academy

Tamale Film and Television Academy (TAFTA) started in the absence any other video and television schools in Northern Ghana. The idea arose between myself and my close friend Ignatius Awafu in 2012. We were both part of the broader media and entertainment industry in Ghana. 

After working together in some media and film related projects, we realized that the youth in Northern Ghana were very interested in video and television production, but did not have money to travel from Tamale to Accra, and to pay high school fees in order to get professional training.

However, it wasn’t until 2014 that we put the idea into motion. We registered the school with the Ghana Register General’s Department with the name, rented one classroom from a proprietor of a secondary school, and began to hold classes on weekends. Posters and flyers were printed to help advertise the school as well as Radio and Television announcements.

Through our community entry research, we came up with a video documentary on the northern film industry in Ghana to highlight some of the challenges faced by the youth in the five regions of the North.

The school officially started in 2014 with four students who pursued multiple programs including acting, script writing, video editing, camera techniques and broadcast performance.

Our first batch of students were made to pay for only the admission form and training handout without paying for tuition. Practical lessons were absolutely free. It was monies realized from these students that we used to pay for the classroom space of our weekend sessions.

Due to the difficulty in getting funds to support the running of the school, we kept on moving the school from one rented location to another, till it’s current location.

So far, over 60 students have been trained by the school, with several gaining employment with media houses and entertainment groups, and others starting their owns businesses with the skills gained from TAFTA.

The number of students trained so far would have been far more than this, but due to the poverty in Northern Ghana, some interested youth still could not afford to pay for the admission form and training materials. Another factor is our inability to have a hostel facility for those who showed interest but are far away in the hinterlands of Northern Ghana.

The School

Tamale Film and Television Academy (TAFTA) is a hands-on vocational training school that realizes the need for the youth to take advantage of the emerging rewards in the video and television industry across the globe.

Our program requires students to complete an eight-month highly intensive hands-on approach to a certificate in digital film making, designed to teach basic filmmaking skills including directing, producing, screenwriting, acting, broadcast performance, camera techniques, sound production and video editing.

Our core objectives are to develop knowledge of the established field in video genres and techniques while allowing the students to explore and refine their conceptual and aesthetic styles, as well as their practical and technical skills.

It is also within our goal to help students discover where their particular interests and abilities lie and to tease out learning and career paths.

Our learning objectives is:

• To feel confident in the basics of creating and overseeing a field production (preproduction, production and direction)
• To master the basics of operating video field equipment (camera, audio, lighting)
• To be able to use digital editing and multiple video elements together (images, sound, interviews, music, archival footage) to convey a message, tell a story, and achieve communication goals
• To apply photography skills ranging from using a camera to understanding what makes a good photo to advanced creative techniques

Although the school started with one camera (a Canon 60D), and a desktop computer, we currently have six Window based computers for the Video Editing Class which runs on Adobe Premiere pro as an NLE, three canon 70Ds, a set of lights, a projector and two voice recording devices. These items were all purchased from the proceeds of making a documentary film.

Student Experience at TAFTA

Since the inception of the school, it has been our focus to ensure students come out with the best experience in practical application of video production theory.

We therefore take our students through video production projects both in class and out of the classroom.

To ensure our students understand the concepts of video techniques we’ve created our own in-house program where the students themselves take charge and responsibilities in the various facets of production including TV program presentation, camera handling, and video editing.

The “E-Highlight” TV program is one such entertainment program for students of Tamale Film & Television Academy where the presenters speak about entertainment stories across the country. The program aired on our community satellite channel for two seasons.

We also created a Television mini-series known as the “The Washing Bay”. Our students took part as actors, actresses and crew which was also shown on a major TV station in the country.

The Future of TAFTA

The Tamale Film & Television Academy looks forward to establishing a digital hub in Northern Ghana to train the youth in journalism, video, and television production. The school will be a place for these students will continue to develop skills for filmmaking with the proper equipment and resources, giving them a future in the industry on a commercial basis. Northern Ghana’s youth will not only be given a creative outlet that provides an income, but can now share their culture in a way that impacts the Ghanaian society and the world.