One of the coolest things about living in the era of the digital age is discovering how the stuff that we all carry around can be used to create just about anything. Take this delightful story about some teens in Nigeria, who used broken phones to create a Sci-Fi movies.
All jokes aside about Nigerian internet scams, Africa has become an interesting place for real innovation. Creating content and being entrepreneurial is made possible by the investments in high-speed broadband. You may have heard about how Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter and Sqaure) is planning to move to Africa, at least spending 6 months of each year there.
For a long time, I personally have used Kiva as a platform to invest in entrepreneurs in Tanzania, much like Norwalk 2.0 does in Norwalk in supporting the creative economy locally.
But back to the kids. They made a tripod from a broken microphone stand and use a phone with a cracked screen, and using apps that can make a green screen. using a fan to blow air, they recreate a CGI effect of an actor flying through the air. No need for big budgets here.
You can watch a video about them here.
Not surprisingly, they’ve become social media darlings, and have caught the attention of filmmakers globally. Nigeria’s Nollywood is ranked second largest in the world after Bollywood by the number of films produced.
Which brings us to the Norwalk High announcement. While the local media is searching for controversy, the real news of the announcement was that Norwalk High was going to create a content production studio program.
No one is talking about the slow and expensive internet that Connecticut slogs through daily, along with our perennial traffic congestion and poor road conditions. But all this is interrelated. To develop a digital economy, you have to create opportunities for access. Upgrading our high school is one way to do it.
But being smarter about the global economy is just as important.
