In this paper, I will be critiquing ‘Tahidi High’ which is a local program aired every Tuesday from 7.35 to 8.00 pm on Citizen Television. They also air the repeat every Sunday afternoon. Tahidi High is based on high school drama. It brings out the daily conflicts between the teachers and the students and the struggle to solve these conflicts. It has been produced by Catherine Wamuyu and the script is written by Naomi Kamau. Below is the critique for ten episodes.
Tahidi High 21st September 2010
This episode of Tahidi started with the Kiswahili teacher telling the students that they could not go for the ‘Mjadala’ because the invitation had come in late. The students are unhappy because of this. O.J, Freddie and melvin decide that the class has to go for the ‘mjadala’ and therefore hire a matatu and a teacher to take them. On the other hand, Omosh who is O.j’s uncle has been left for a suit to watch it and instead hangs it on a tree. O.j bumps into it and it provides a suit for the teacher they had hired.
Tahidi High 28th September 2010
This episode was a continuation of the previous one. We have the principal of the school that they had snuck into calling their principal Mr. Tembo to congratulate him because his students had done such a good job in the ‘mjadala’. Mr. Tembo calls the Kiswahili teacher to find out what is going on but he is also not aware. They investigate and later come to find out what happened.
Tahidi High 5th October 2010
It was based on the three tickets given to the school by the United States embassy. These tickets were to be used by three students to fly to the United States over the holidays and Mr. Tembo and Miss Morgan engaged one of the teachers Mr. Kilunda in choosing the three best students in academics, discipline and sports. As usual the he asked the students for money and gave the chance to the three students who gave the highest amount. The students Freddie, and Melvin were up to no good as usual as they framed O.j as having been smoking so that he cannot get considered for the trip. Omosh, O.J's uncle was also not upto any good as he got the trip cancelled by damaging the forms while trying to put O.J's name on them so that he can get a chance to fly to the United States. And towards the end we have Miss Morgan warning O.J about smoking which is a moral lesson to us that smoking is bad for our health thus we should not smoke.
The images were good and they mostly used medium shorts an example where we had O.J and Omosh conversing about the opportunity to go to the United States and close - up shots. At some points they also used long shots like when they were showing Omosh hiding from Miss Morgan. The framing was good as they gave head room and nose room.
Tahidi high 12th October 2010
This week's episode of Tahidi high was mainly based on the form 3's who have a problem understanding their physics and they are behind with the syllabus so they have to move fast to be able to finish. This makes them attend after class tutoring. It also revolved around Mr. Kilunda who is having problems at home and he needs money to solve them and is too proud to ask for a salary advance. When he goes to ask a fellow stuff member for money and finds out she is also in need of money herself because she has to pay for her daughter's tuition, he discovers he can also use the excuse of tuition to get students to pay up. he gives the form 3's a tough business studies exam containing topics they have not covered so that they can fail and they have to attend tuition after classes and at lunch hours. He tells them to pay up the normal tuition fee and as usual the program ends in suspense when Mr. Temo the schools principal finds out what Mr. Kilunda is up to.
The lighting was good. We saw close up shots in some scenes for example where we had Mr. Karimi teaching the students after class. I do feel though that this time there was no lesson for the young people to learn in this episode.
Tahidi High 19th October 2010
This episode was about Julia one of the students who had ran away from home by drugging her mother to go live with her tout boyfriend and she missed a week of school. When she finally goes to school skimpily dressed, and trying to hide from the teachers, she runs into shish who forwards her to Ms. Morgan and she receives her punishment.
In this episode we also had various shots. We have long shot when Julia’s boyfriend was strolling outside the school gate waiting for her, medium shot where Miss Morgan is seated in her office talking to Julia. We have good head room and nose room through out the program.
Tahidi High 26th October 2010
This episode was mainly based on O.J’s fight with Freddie over Tanya and they were set up as someone filmed them as they were fighting and posted that video online.
Tahidi high 2nd November 2010
It was on the form 3’s who were competing on who will hold the best birthday party ever. This competition resulted to conflict because the two opposing groups of girls set the party for the same day and none of them was happy about it despite the fact that they had not invited the same people. The girls were caught fighting and forwarded to Ms. Morgan and on refusing to reveal the truth they are told to go kneel outside with heir hands raised up. In this episode there is also product placement of ‘always ultra pad’ through the dance competition that will be held in the school for the always sanitary towels.
In this episode we have long shots when we are being shown one of the two opposing groups of girls cat walking because the leader is a model and the other two follow suit. They are cat walking around the school as an emphasis of their status. Then we have a medium shot of the boys staring at them when they stop in front of them.
Generally, the lighting is good.
Tahidi High 9/11/10
This episode was based on one of the student’s father who came to school looking for Omosh to pay him a debt he owed him and in the process collects money left behind by students who saw him and ran away. He lands himself a job there as a watchman after opening the gate for Mr. Tembo the school’s principal and therefore Omosh is told to give him the watchman uniform he is wearing as he was to act as a standby watchman till they found someone new. The students are also having trouble because they are in conflict whose group will win the Always dance competition.
We have an extreme long shot when we were being shown this man approaching the school looking like a drunkard and a medium shot for the students who saw him and ran away betting and a long shot of them starting to play before they ran off. We tilting up to show Omosh in the watchman’s uniform.
Tahidi High 14/11/10
In this episode, Oj gets punished because of pranking the teacher Mr. Kilunda and stealing money from the school all so as to impress Tanya the gal he loves. His punishment is sitting in the middle of the field talking to no one. But mama jimmy offers to talk to him and asks Miss Morgan for permission and it is granted to her. Meanwhile shish and Oj’s partner in crime Julia, work on a plan to blackmail the head girl to help him escape the punishment but he declines.
We have a long shot of mama jimmy walking towards O.j to give him his lunch, medium shot when mama jimmy is talking to Miss Morgan and a close up shot when Julia goes to talk to O.j to let him in on their plan.
Tahidi High 16/11/10
Here, the conflicts between the students concerning the always dance competition and we have the boys being more engaged than the girls despite it being an all girls competition. It comes to a point where the students are failing their mathematics because they are spending most of their time practicing instead of studying. And at one point, their teacher goes to class and finds the boys missing and it turns out it’s because they were practicing. Miss Morgan threatens to scrap off the competition and the boys agree to take any punishment for the sake of the competition not to be scrapped off.
We have a long shot for when some of the boys are practicing their dance moves, medium shot for when the head girl and her dance team are trying to open the door to the room they were to practice their dance and the camera is panned right to left when they are waling away after the door refuses to open. We also have a medium shot when Mr. Karimi walks into class and finds the boys missing and a long shot of the students in class and also when the boys are dancing in front of Miss Morga and Tr. Karimi for their punishment.
In summary, I find ‘Tahidi High’ to be one of the best local programs that is aired. I see ‘Tahidi high’ making good use of the different camera shots and movements that we have and I also like their lighting. This makes them to have good quality production. The actors of ‘Tahidi High’ also seem to be enjoying themselves while acting and also take the roles seriously such that it looks real. ‘Tahidi High’ also has good background music that gets you into the mood they are trying to create. For example, if it is a scene where one of the students is sneaking around, the put music that makes you wonder why is this student sneaking around? Is he or she going to get cought? I think this program has good production with a Kenyan setting.
Posted by : Githinji Cynthia
: 09-0850
E-MAIL : cindybiris@gmail.com
Presented to : Mrs. Rosemary Kowuor
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