By Oluwafemi Dosu
Ace cinematographer, Ben Ope Johnson has revealed that he had to spend more than a month studying works of great cinematographers so as to enable him shoot MELITA the movie professionally.
Asiwaju Ben Ope Johnson as fondly called, recalled that during one of the preproduction meetings of Melita, one of the screenwriters said, “the story line is beautiful, but we need a beautiful Director of Photography who can make the movie beautiful.”
“Once he said this, ten time his word resonated in my mind.
After he had said that, my mind wasn’t at rest anymore. I said to myself, ‘If the writer is making the movie Director happy, I must make him happy too.’
“Being a Christian, I prayed to God to enable me with the spirit of creativity and excellence and God granted my request.
“I didn’t stop at that I also applied the principle I learnt some years ago. Which says, ‘God will play his part and leave man to do what man is created to do.
“The first thing I did is staying off social media for more than a month. I dedicated enough time to studying great Directors and cinematographers.
“It’s watched films, read articles on filmmaking, and I watched behind the scenes of great films.
” Finally, I meditated on the works of my mentors in cinematography, Emmanuel Lubeski “Chivo” who won Oscar awards in cinematography category three times consecutively and legendary Alagba Tunde Kelani’s of Mainframe production.Their creativity didn’t leave my altar of constant research throughout my preparation.
Despite my preparations, on the first day of the shoot, fear started enveloping my mind. It was as if I didn’t prepare well.
“In the midst of this, I prayed a simple prayer, I said, Holy Spirit do what you can do through me. I don’t want to do what I think I know.
“End of scene one. To God be the glory.”
I still love you keep loving excellence.