Digital Communication, Social Media Animations and the Transformation of Film Industries: Views from Africa

Abstract

This work was on the topic, Digital Communication, Social media animations and the transformation of film industries. It was a survey to obtain the views of residents of three select African countries. The countries affected are Ethiopia, Egypt and Democratic Republic of Congo. The objectives were: To know the category of social media animations preferred by viewers of films in select African countries; assess the major gains of social media animations to viewers of films in select African countries; analyze perceptions about social media animations by viewers of films in select African countries; find out the proportion of relationship between social media animations and the growth of film viewership in African society. The two communication based theories which were adopted to support this research were the Uses and Gratification theory and the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. The population of the study was pegged at 348 million persons and a sample size of 768 in consideration of the limitations of the scope chosen for the research. Data was collected through the use of questionnaire through electronic mails. The findings was that 527 persons or 69% of the sample size agreed that animations contribute with positive relationship to the growth of the film industry in African countries. It was in part recommended that film makers sustain the tempo of presenting animations for simplification of concepts to viewers.