I’m really not feeling too well and without any spiritual consultation, I attribute the sickness to the 2015 VGMAs—and I will let you know the reason later in my write-up.
The 2015 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards has already been reviewed by Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri in detail, mostly from the point of a broadcast viewer so I’m not going to bother you about what has been said already.
From his point of view as someone who watched it via the internet, he had several legitimate reservations. On the other hand, I’m going to delve into the entire convention-like event (lasting for about 9 hours for some of us) from the point of view of being present there.
Sound and Picture Quality
It’s a must for me to sympathize with all those who either watched it on television or via the internet. I can envisage how painful it will be to sacrifice your sleeping time for an award show, only to be slammed in the face with poor picture quality and bad sound.
I cannot admit for sure if the picture and sound qualities were that poor or not since I was in the auditorium experiencing the program live with my naked eyes.
For picture quality, I think my two eyes served the purpose of transmitting high resolution pictures to my brain so I do not have any issue with regards to the excellence of pictures.
I’m not a sound technician but what I will say is the sound I heard in the auditorium was okay. At some points in time, the bass frequency went up beyond normal, making it impossible to clearly hear the songs been played though.
Timing: VGMAs Is Not Meant for Sex Workers, Armed Robbers, or Witchcrafts
Now, let me tell you why I’m not feeling too well after the awards night. My reason it pretty simple. It’s because the ceremony was dragged late into the night which made me overly exhausted. This is what I call domestic violence.
In all, it lasted for about 9 hours for some of us media men (7pm-4am). It won’t be a bad idea at all to include in my pastoral theology CV that I have for once experienced a full all night service before– kind courtesy of Charter House.
Next time I expect the ceremony to come to an end very early to allow people enjoy their nights. However, if Charter House intends to drag the program for that long in subsequent years, then they should consider selling tickets to sex workers, armed robbers, and witchcrafts because they are the ones who operate that late at night.
Allocation of Media Stands
It’s so disgusting to attend a program as a media person only to be tossed around, just because organizers did not allocate a specific place for the media.
Such was the case at the just ended VGMAs. Reporters were required to choose convenient places for themselves at the event. Convenient place for reporter A might not be convenient enough for reporter B. As a result of this, media men were found all over inside the auditorium – at times obstructing the view of patrons who had paid to enjoy the event.
At some point, cameramen had to rush in front of the stage to take their essential shots. The most annoying moment was when a crew member (acting on instructions given to him by his boss) asked some cameramen in front of the stage to go out because the cameramen were ‘plenty’ for the event. I wonder what Charter House expected to see when they were giving accreditations to these media houses. It’s not courteous to invite someone to an event and later try to sack him/her when you think you’ve had enough.
If that’s the case, no media man or cameraman should be invited to cover the event in future. In that case, Charter House can take their own photos and mail them to their media partners for publication.
More importantly, websites and blogs with less than half a million pageveiws each month would have to rely on those with the huge following for coverage—instead of inviting a high number of media men out there only to crowd the place and be disrespected.
Again, it will be prudent for Charter to apportion a place for cameramen in order to restrict their movements in the hall. A place where those with long lenses – as well as short lenses – can comfortably sit and take photos…
Overcrowded Red Carpet
For the first time in my life, I witnessed a whole country dazzle on a red carpet. The red carpet experience, as I well know, is meant for celebrities.
Such was not the case at this year’s edition of the VGMAs. The red carpet was left open for the whole award attendees. I cannot really say much if there was anything like security personnel who were tasked to control the crowd on the red carpet. To tell the gospel truth, the whole red carpet was poorly organized.
The Way Forward
I look forward to a day when Charter House will correct all these anomalies to pave way for a very successful event.
We live in a country where people are in fear to tell the truth as it is. Some event organizers resort to blacklisting of certain individuals and media houses from attending their events when they write something about their organizations that they think do not favor them.
Constructive criticism helps all of us. I wish Charter House takes such criticisms in good faith and work on their flaws. We all want the betterment of our music industry.
I therefore congratulate them for their effort. See you again next year!