Screen Africa May 2015

uction d o r P t s o P BROADCAST, FILM, TV, COMMERCIALS, NEW MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY NEWS

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VOL 27 – May 2015 R38.00

Connectivity.

Communication.

Collaboration.

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| IN THIS ISSUE

10 New Santam TVC celebrates our ‘one-of-a-kind’ country

20

16 Director Speak: John Savage

Elements of cinema: the test of time

30

18 The slothful pace of the Kenyan film industry

Prizefighters of colour grading

Special Features Post-PRODUCTION

Comedy Central® names

ADCETERA

Documentary

Trevor Noah as next host

African commercials industry

Eco-centric local ‘produce’............... 22

NLEs are NOT all the same!............ 28

of The Daily Show.................................... 3

There is no ‘I’ in A+E......................... 10

Alternative editing.............................. 29

Namibian filmmakers fear increased

New Santam TVC celebrates

Prizefighters of colour grading........ 30

state control of the media................... 4

our ‘one-of-a-kind’ country.............. 10

A renewed focus for

2015 Jameson First Shot

Phantom Flex 4K scores a whole in

Editors’ rates under the spotlight... 32

winners announced............................... 6

one on new Nike Golf campaign.... 11

General Post grows its

GREEN PRODUCTION

NFVF announces 2014

Banking on behavioural economics.12

pool of talent....................................... 33

co-production report............................ 6

Taking green to the big screen........ 24

Why advertising needs idea flow.... 13

Sasani embraces

South Africa’s first green film........... 25

Mobile cinemas to boost

tapeless workflow............................... 34

entrepreneurship in

Orchestra Blue

rural communities.................................. 6

celebrates 25 years............................. 34

2015 NAB –

The Upstairs Ludus –

technology at its best............................ 8

changing the status quo..................... 34

‘A breakthrough

Refinery streamlines

in intelligent flight’.................................. 8

post-production workflows.............. 36

The mini-camera of the show............. 8

FiX post production........................... 38

Wireless broadcast solution................ 8

Deepend Post has a new home....... 38

A major innovation in onset audio.... 8

News NFVF presents findings of South African audience research........ 3

Innovation deluxe................................... 9 Thunderbolt 2......................................... 9 SmallHD’s Sidefinder............................. 9

kids in new reality show.................... 23

LOCATIONS

How to make a musical..................... 14

The many faces of

A man of the people:

the South Coast.................................. 26

Sana Na N’Hada ................................ 15 – filmmaker........................................... 15 Director Speak: Jon Savage............... 16 The slothful pace of the Kenyan film industry........................... 18

TRAINING & EDUCATION Founding the future............................ 40

NEW MEDIA APP-titude............................................. 42

Quizzical Pictures sets up studios and production facility......... 19

UPCOMING EVENTS

Elements of cinema:

Box Office............................................. 44

the test of time................................... 20

Production Updates................45 – 47 Events..................................................... 47

Storage shake-up.................................... 9

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Vuzu Amp unveils SA’s rich

FILM

Social...................................................... 48

Weapon of choice.................................. 9

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From the editor Moving forward…

Ours is not a publication that usually concerns itself with the latest trending topics in the mainstream media and I have always disliked the practice – usually employed by politicians – of bothering to condemn something that is so patently abhorrent that its condemnation should go without saying.

Having said that, we at Screen Africa, as a proudly South African publication with strong ties to our neighbours throughout the continent, felt compelled to speak out against the recent spate of xenophobic attacks that have been taking place within our borders.

Pan-African cooperation and understanding is one of the cornerstones of Screen Africa’s content. We may refer to these within the limited sphere of the film and broadcasting industries but our belief in a wider intra-African sharing of cultural, economic and social resources is implied through the subject matter we choose and through our interactions with members of the industry in capitals as far flung as Cairo, Maputo, Kigali, Nairobi and Ouagadougou. These events are startlingly close to home for South Africans and a source of shame – especially under the scrutiny of our bewildered neighbours. We hope that these tragic events will fire us up to work even closer together – maybe even start taking advantage of those co-production agreements I keep going on about.

On quite a different note [steps down off soapbox],we have here quite a varied issue that we, as always, hope will appeal to techies and creatives alike. Our resident technophile Ian Dormer returned from NABShow with a long list of new toys for you to factor into your procurement budgets for the coming year. Andy Stead spoke to South African editors to get a balanced comparison of the various NLE packages out there. Sam Charo delved into an investigation of the state of the Kenyan film industry and Claire Diao spoke to Golden Bear winners Mark DornfordMay and Pauline Malefane about how one crafts an authentic South African film from an Italian opera.

In an exciting new development at Screen Africa, in-house journalist Carly Barnes stepped up to her new position as deputy editor this month – a move that, we have no doubt, will help drive Screen Africa’s print and online platforms on their present upward trajectory.

Many thanks to our constant readers and a warm welcome to those who are opening the covers of Screen Africa for the first time. We love what we do and we hope it shows.

– Warren Holden

The Team

Editor: Warren Holden: editor@screenafrica.com DEputy Editor: Carly Barnes: carly@screenafrica.com Journalist: Chanelle Ellaya: news@screenafrica.com Contributors: Claire Diao, Andy Stead, Ian Dormer, Louise Marsland, Sam Charo, Gethsemane Mwizabi

Sam Charo is an independent writer, producer and filmmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. His passion is sharing great stories about the continent with rest of the world.

Editor Warren Holden is a writer and journalist whose lifelong love of film and television prompted him to study for his BA in Motion Picture Medium at AFDA Johannesburg, specialising in writing and directing. After graduating, he worked for three years in the television industry before following his aptitude for writing into the world of publishing. He then worked for five years as assistant editor on the arts and culture publication Classicfeel, before taking the helm of Screen Africa, where his experiences in the separate streams of motion picture and publishing have finally come together. In addition to his work on Screen Africa, he is also hard at work developing stories for film and television and studying for a second degree in economics and African politics.

Deputy Editor Carly Barnes is a writer, journalist and self-professed documentary geek.

Before joining Screen Africa, Carly completed a BA honours degree in Live Performance at AFDA Johannesburg, was named one of Mail & Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans (2011) and wrote and performed a one woman show at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. She ran a small entertainment and production company for more than six years before she began a professional writing career – as a contributor to Oprah Magazine. When she isn’t blogging, exploring the local festival scene or dreaming about travelling abroad, Carly is connecting with creative leaders and filmmakers who are shaping the future of content creation on the continent.

IN-HOUSE JOURNALIST Chanelle Ellaya is a writer and a journalist. She completed her BA Journalism degree at the University of Johannesburg in 2011. While writing is her passion, she has a keen interest in the media in various capacities: In 2012 she co-presented the entertainment and lifestyle show Top Entertainment on TopTV and later that year she was handpicked as part of a panel of five dynamic young Africans to interview Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on a youth focused television show called MTV Meets. Chanelle is an avid social networker and a firm believer in the power of social and online networking. Between writing and tweeting, she finds time to feed her love for live music.

SCREENAFRICA Publisher & Managing Editor: Simon Robinson: publisher@screenafrica.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Sub-Editor: Tina Heron Design: Trevor Ou Tim: design@sun-circle.co.za Website & Production Updates: Chanelle Ellaya: news@screenafrica.com Subscriptions: Tina Tserere: tina@sun-circle.co.za Delight Ngwenya: admin@sun-circle.co.za Accounts: Natasha Glavovic: accounts@sun-circle.co.za

Advertisement Sales: Marianne Schafer: marianne@screenafrica.com Michael Cronje: sales@screenafrica.com Graham Grier: graham@sun-circle.co.za Sales Broker Emmanuel Archambeaud: earchambeaud@defcommunication.com Tel. +331 4730 7180 Mobile. +336 1103 9652 Sun Circle Publishers (Pty) Ltd Tel: 011 025 3180 Physical address: First Floor, Process House Epsom Downs Office Park 13 Sloane Street, Bryanston, Johannesburg South Africa

Claire Diao is a French and Burkinabe cinema journalist. A member of the Burkinabe Film Critic Organisation, she covers the African film industry for various international media and moderates the Afrikamera Festival in Berlin each year. Since 2013, she has curated a short film touring programme, Quartiers Lointains, which is held in both Europe and Africa. In 2015, she, together with various African film critics, launched Awotele, a digital magazine that focuses on African cinema.

Ian Dormer – ‘Technophile (n) – a person who loves or is enthusiastic about advanced technology.’ Born in Zimbabwe, Ian has been in the TV business since the 1980s, having served in various positions at the SABC, M-Net and SuperSport. He has carved his career path by embracing technology, breaking it and fixing it again…just better than it was! Ian currently works and resides in New Zealand.

Louise Marsland is a veteran editor and journalist with over 20 years experience in the advertising, media, marketing and communications industries. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, she worked as the editor of AdVantage and Marketing Mix magazines, as well as industry portal Bizcommunity. com. She is currently publishing editor of TRENDAFRiCA.co. za, and is an industry columnist, speaker and content specialist.

Anne Koefoed is a freelance photojournalist with a passion for the African continent, its culture and people.

She has worked for the Danish publication Magasinet Afrika covering a variety of human-interest stories around Uganda. You can view her online portfolio here: www. annekoefoed.com.

Andy Stead is a broadcast industry professional with over 40 years’ experience in both South Africa and the United Kingdom, having applied his trade at a number of leading industry organisations including the BBC and Chroma Television. Now retired, he remains an active contributor to technical publications in the fields of film, television, broadcast, motoring and travel. He is based in Cape Town.

South African actor Reynard Slabbert studied Drama at Technikon Pretoria.

After that he traveled the world for six years – working at places like Disney World in the US and London. He also did humanitarian work all over the world with Global Challenge. Back in South Africa, he worked for the United Nations before stepping back into the arts world. He has played starring roles in several stage productions, including Houtkruis: Die Musical and Disney’s Aladdin. TV work includes Getroud met Rugby, Binnelanders, 7de Laan, Donkerland and Inside the Baobab Tree, as well as several ads. He was a field presenter for Kwêla and will soon be seen as the lead in the new Afrikaans movie, Somer Son. He has also done voice work for numerous radio ads. He is also a travel writer with articles published in several magazines.

Postal address: PO Box 559, Fourways North, 2086

Editorial Disclaimer The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of Screen Africa or any employee thereof. Sun Circle Publishers makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Sun Circle Publishers reserves the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner it sees fit comments that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, or is otherwise unacceptable.

All contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, in any form whatsoever, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publisher.

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South Africa

| News

NFVF presents findings of South African audience research On 16 April 2015, South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) presented the results of a research project it commissioned to understand the perceptions and preferences of South African audiences when it comes to domestic film and television content.

The survey was carried out by Cape Town-based research and analytics company, Devnomics, headed by Kola Joloalu.

Prior to presenting his company’s findings, Joloalu outlined the five main objectives of the survey: to generate a demographic profile of the South African audience; to identify audience content preferences in terms of language, platform of distribution and other factors; to evaluate spending patterns pertaining to film and video consumption; to gain insight into the general perception and attitude towards South African film and videos; and to assess the audience’s access to cinemas.

While some of the results confirm what many in the industry already know to be true from intuition and experience, others are either quite surprising or provide deeper insight into recognised truths.

Overall, a number of trends came to the fore. First of all, for South African audiences, content is king – they will watch

Comedy Central® names Trevor Noah as next host of The Daily Show In 2012, South African comedian Trevor Noah made his US television debut on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Receiving rave reviews and gaining a large international fan base in the years following, Noah went on to join The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a contributor in 2014.

Fast forward one year, on 31 March

PANEL MEMBERS: Dr Kola Joloalu (Devnomics CEO), Vuyo Sokupa (NFVF Head of Production and Development) and producer Dan Jawitz (Fireworx Media) an engaging story, regardless of where it comes from. In this respect, they do not discriminate for or against South Africanmade content.

Secondly, notwithstanding the first point, South Africans do have a strong desire for marked cultural identifiers and points of reference in movies and there is a feeling that domestic filmmakers are not providing enough of these. Thirdly, audiences feel that local filmmakers are not sufficiently mindful of consumer preferences.

Fourthly – an observation certain to spark considerable consternation in the industry – there is a perception among South Africans that locally made content ought to be much cheaper than imported films and shows. Some even went as far as to say that is should be available free of charge.

INTERNATIONAL BREAK: Trevor Noah 2015, Comedy Central announced that the 31-year-old comedian was to be the next host of the Emmy® and Peabody® award-winning The Daily Show. Noah is to be the first non-white, non-American to host the show.

Born in South Africa to a white Swiss-German father and a black South African mother, Noah has used his cultural heritage and experiences as a mixed-race child growing up in Soweto, in apartheid South Africa, to successfully become the African continent’s top comedian.

“Trevor is not the first African comic to have had overseas success…but he is certainly the first comedian from Africa to

The demographic sample used in the survey broke down as follows. Two thousand nine hundred and eleven survey responses were analysed. Of these, 2 753 were from South African audience members, three from international stakeholders, 49 from various distribution channels and 106 from a group described as ‘strategic stakeholders’, which mainly included NFVF employees and members of other government agencies. Of the South African audience sample, 1 706 were adults and 795 were classified as youth, with 252 children in the group. Just over half of the respondents were female and 68.64% lived in urban areas. Black Africans made up just over 80% of the respondents, followed by coloureds at 9.64%, whites at 6.7%, Asians at 2.76% and ‘other’ at 0.24%.

The nine provinces were represented in proportion to their respective population sizes, with 777 respondents coming from Gauteng and only 48 from the Northern Cape.

Aside from the four notable trends mentioned above, the majority of the sample also expressed the following insights or preferences: South African films should provide broader and deeper insight into local culture and society for the international community; films should

unashamedly and without reservation, express South African demographic peculiarities – filmmakers should not shy away from showing these; certain actors have their own audiences – the implication being that star cultures can and should be built. On this last point, it was noted that soap stars build large and loyal audiences that will follow these performers if they make the transition to the big screen.

Another major finding was that the platform of consumption was a major driver of whether or not people chose to watch certain films. South African viewers watch most of their content on DVDs, followed by pay-TV (DStv and StarSat) and then cinemas. Language is another vital factor. The survey asked what language – apart from English – consumers would prefer for their content. The responses reflected the mother-tongue make-up of the country, with the top three languages of choice being isiZulu, Afrikaans and isiXhosa in that order.

The top three genres among South Africans are action, comedy and drama while war, western and science-fiction scored the lowest.

The complete results presentation is available on the NFVF website (www.nfvf.co.za). – Warren Holden

headline a classic late night franchise like The Daily Show and as we saw, it was a global news event,” comments Evert van der Veer, head of Comedy Central Africa.

“Trevor got the gig because he was bold, smart and funny with a razor sharp wit and a distinct and authoritative voice – but also, I think, because Comedy Central wanted to try something different and exciting with the show.”

“When you hear that a South African comedian is going to replace Jon Stewart as the host of the most trusted satirical comedy show in the world, you know it’s a great day for Trevor Noah and an extraordinary milestone for African comedy,” says Van der Veer.

While South Africa and the African continent as a whole were ecstatic at the news of Noah’s appointment, it took all of 24 hours before he came under fire over a series of offensive tweets he had previously posted about Jewish people and women.

Social media users, more specifically in America, labelled the comedian antiSemitic and a male chauvinist. Noah responded to the allegations on Twitter,

saying: “To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn’t land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian.”

Comedy Central defended the comedian in a statement saying: “Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included…To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central.”

Noah was the subject of David Paul Meyer’s award-winning documentary film You Laugh But It’s True, which chronicles the story of his successful career as a comedian in post-apartheid South Africa.

At the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe, Noah’s one-man show The Racist was a sold out run that became one of the most talked about shows at the festival that year. More recently, Noah performed in front of the British royal family at the Royal Variety Performance.

Noah’s The Daily Show premiere will be announced at a later date.

– Chanelle Ellaya

News

|

NAMIBIA

Namibian filmmakers fear increased state control of the media In April, the Filmmaker’s Association of Namibia (FAN) submitted its responses to a new bill recently tabled in the country’s parliament, which would convert the extant Namibian Film Commission (NFC) into a state-owned enterprise called the Namibian Film Regulatory Authority (FRAN).

FAN, an association of independent filmmakers set up to promote growth and development in Namibia’s film and video industry, issued a statement not long after the draft bill came to light. In the past, the association has expressed its doubts about the NFC’s capacities to carry out its mandate of promoting the Namibian film industry and feels that the new draft bill, not only does not bring any improvements to the current state and

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NEW BILL TABLED: Namibia’s parliament, the Tintenpalast functions of the NFC, but offers a few additional hindrances.

At the top of its list of objections to the legislation, FAN notes that the objectives of the new regulatory authority suffer from the same drawback that they have long complained about in the NFC: it over-emphasizes the positioning of Namibia as a production location for international films, rather than developing local cinema production and culture.

FAN also questions the accountability chain between the new authority, the industry and the government, saying in its statement: “The structure of FRAN seems to serve the line ministry rather than the industry and accordingly there are no provisions for communication or accountability to the public or the industry, only to the Minister of ICT.” The bill also includes what FAN describes as a ‘secrecy provision’. In

addition FAN believes that the board of the authority would have too much power relative to the CEO, whose role is not properly described and provided for in the bill.

Possibly the biggest worry for the association is the provision that would require all film productions in Namibia to take place only with the express authorisation of the new regulatory authority. As the bill says: “no person may carry out any film production in Namibia without the prior written authorisation of the board”. Every single film unit in Namibia, it seems – local or foreign – would therefore have to apply for permission before going into production anywhere in the country, no matter how big or small the production. The bill also makes provision for an ‘entertainment levy’ to be imposed on industry members but it is not made clear what purpose this

levy serves or how it would be administered.

In short FAN is concerned that the legislation will bring about unnecessary administrative burdens, a curtailment of creative freedom and unjustified additional costs for independent filmmakers whose resources are scarce as it is.

At the same time that FAN members met with the NFC to discuss the proposed bill, the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN) presented its proposed Broadcast Code, which media professionals also regard as a major setback for media freedom in the southern African country.

One of the main objections to the code is that it contains stipulations relating to matters such as journalistic ethics and the objectivity of news coverage. These are matters that the industry feels able to manage with self-regulation through such platforms as the Namibian Editors’ Forum. Including such matters in government policy, it is argued, seems overly prescriptive and outside the usual jurisdiction of legislative or executive power in a modern democracy. The code also includes quotas with respect to local content.

These measures have been introduced only a month after the new government, under President Hage Geingob, took office. – Warren Holden

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News

|

WEB NEWS

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Mobile cinemas to boost entrepreneurship in rural communities

2015 Jameson First Shot winners announced Kevin Spacey (left) The three winners of the 2015 Jameson First Shot competition are preparing to fly to Los Angeles to bring their short film scripts to life with the expert help of Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, president of Trigger Street Productions.

Travis Calvert from the US, Mark Middlewick from South Africa and Stephan Tempier from Canada have been chosen by the internationally acclaimed

short film competition, which gives undiscovered filmmakers a real chance to break into the film industry.

This year the chosen three will be directing Adrien Brody as the lead in their films, Brody commented: “Jameson First Shot affords talented writer/directors an important gift: the confidence to exercise fearlessness and the opportunity to materialise their dreams.”

From April 2015, the Nkangala district in Mpumalanga will be the backdrop to an innovative technology experiment which will turn 14 micro entrepreneurs into mobile cinema operators.

Funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the European Commission, the Cinema-in-a-backpack initiative is a mobile, easy to use product incorporating a projector, speakers, a battery and a tablet. This enables micro entrepreneurs to project films, which becomes part of their business offering to local communities in villages.

The technology developed during the initial phase of the project includes the development of a cost effective delay

Cinema-in-a-backpack

tolerant network (DTN) through which content is sent to the cinema operators using public busses carrying ‘infostations’ to bus depots in rural areas.

NFVF announces 2014 co-production report The National Film and Video Foundation, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture, presented the annual coproduction activity report for 2014. South Africa has a total of eight co-production treaties with the following countries: United Kingdom, France, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Germany and New

6 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Zealand and is currently finalising a treaty with Brazil.

Over the past three years South Africa recorded a decline in the number of co-production projects: in 2014 a total of seven projects were recorded, one less than 2013 and five less than 2012.

The report revealed that out of a total

of 586 crew members used in the projects, 36 were South African.

South Africa however enjoyed a wider distribution in casting. Of the 120 cast members used in the co-production projects 71 were South African, with 61 featuring as leading cast.

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News

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TECHNOLOGY |

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NAB 2015 –

The mini-camera of the show Blackmagic Design, the Australian company that took the indie film world by storm a few years ago, has been making waves again and launched no less than four new cameras. It’s the Blackmagic Design Micro Cinema Camera that really tickles my fancy and I reckon it has to be the mini-camera of the show. Its Super 16 1080p sensor with Global Shutter and MFT lens mount and ablility to record on SDHC and SDXC is nearly the same as the Pocket Cinema Camera BUT it has so much more… a magnesium alloy body which is just 0.3kg, meaning it could be used as an action camera on drones, motorsports, and so on. Could this be a new upmarket competitor to GoPro?

technology at its best The NAB Show has long been the world’s largest gathering of innovators and vendors that drive the media and entertainment industry. Every year one thinks: “it just can’t get better than this…” well NAB 2015 has come and gone and shown us all that it can!

W

ith a million square feet of exhibition space to explore and over 1 700 stands to visit, the NAB Show 2015 has provided the broadcast and media industries with fresh perspectives on innovation and cutting edge technologies.

The annual conference and expo has become a favorite for many African visitors eager to get a sneak preview of the next-generation technologies displayed through the many interactive exhibits, live demonstrations and technology-focused pavilions.

From creation to consumption, across multiple platforms and countless nationalities, the NAB Show is home to the solutions that transcend traditional broadcasting and embrace content delivery to new screens in new ways. This year saw a repeat of the newly introduced SPROCKIT programme, showcasing a unique collection of 30 market-ready startup companies positioned to transform the media and entertainment industry. The new Aerial Robotics and Drone Pavilion featured dozens of aerial robotics companies with a fly-it-yourself demonstration area and daily training sessions.

The opening day was filled with a buzz of absolute frenzy that one can really only understand if you have been there to witness it. Thousands of people scurried around to get a glimpse of what’s new. You soon get an idea of what’s trending by the queues forming in the labyrinth of isles linking the vast halls together. Is it Sony, Panasonic or Blackmagic? New cameras perhaps or a cheap 4k monitor…umm no, it’s a drone!

‘A breakthrough in intelligent flight’ Yes a drone. Startup Company, 3D Robotics showcased SOLO, a quadcopter drone that can only be described as “a breakthrough in intelligent flight”. Its unique camera automation software allows the user to set the drone to follow a subject, draw a path on the handheld controller screen that the drone will follow or set it in orbit mode allowing the drone to circle in a set flight plan. The best thing is the price – US$995 – and even better open platform, allowing full access to the hardware and software. For an extra $400 you can get a three-axis gimbal – perfect for the next item that caught my eye…

8 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Wireless broadcast solution Actually GoPro is next on my list anyway with their release of a very clever wireless broadcast solution for live television, which attaches to their GoPro cameras. The HEROCast™, is the smallest, lightest and most cost-efficient wireless HD micro transmitter to hit the broadcast market. Developed with Vislink, the HEROCast transmitter enables professional broadcasters to deliver engaging, live content with immersive POV footage and unique perspectives that one expects from GoPro.

A major innovation in onset audio The name Sennheiser has become synonymous with audio. Their innovation has always impressed me and the launch at NAB of their new Digital Wireless Microphones AVX Series shows just how they follow trends and needs. AVX Wireless Microphones work on the1.9Ghz frequency range. If there is any interruption on a channel it jumps to another one automatically without any artifacts or interruptions. The AVX receiver has its own XLR port so you can connect it directly to your camcorder from the XLR port or, when you want to use with a DSLR cameras you could connect it using the supplied XLR to 3.5mm converter – nice!

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Innovation deluxe

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| TECHNOLOGY

| News

Storage shake-up

Most filmmakers have used a Zoom H4N portable audio recorder in their productions.

Innovation deluxe – the only way to describe the introduction of Zoom’s new gadget – the Q8. The Q8 is a very desirable 2K camera built around Zoom’s great audio performance. The camera has interchangeable capsule microphones for different purposes, (Shotgun, Condenser, Stereo) and it also has two XLR inputs to connect your other microphones. So overall you could get four tracks of clean audio recording. This ‘run and gun’ model makes for the perfect B-roll camera with the advantage of being a great audio field recorder using reliable technology.

Storage just keeps on improving both in technology and cost, my favourite this year was the Pegasus2 R2+ from Promise Technology. It combines separate pods that can operate individually via USB 3.0. You can also swap between the hard disk drive pod, solid-state drive reader pod and compact flash/secure digital card reader pods. The Pegasus2 R2+ is designed to bring data together from Thunderbolt-connected devices, Windows computers and through USB 3.0. The hot swappable 2-bay enclosure gives versatility or added protection by supporting RAID 0 and RAID 1. So when you need your video files stored or accessed, Pegasus2 R2+ can keep mirrored copies with RAID 1 or speed up computer processing with RAID 0. When you’re ready to leave your editing station, grab a Pod and you’ll be able to work elsewhere with the CF/ SD Reader. In storage terms and technology this is a real shake up to watch out for.

Thunderbolt 2 Speaking technology, Intel had a number of new products in its booth from multiple vendors to highlight the expanding number of Thunderbolt 2 products on the market. Thunderbolt 2 is well suited to media professionals due to its flexible nature and high bandwidth. The jump to Thunderbolt 2 actually didn’t increase bandwidth, but it provides channel aggregation of the previously-separated 10Gbp/s channels. This enables new capabilities, such as simultaneously transferring and displaying 4K video. By far the most exciting had to be the 31MU97Z from LG Electronics. The 31” 4K display monitor sports two Thunderbolt 2 ports and pushes a 4096 x 2160 resolution (17:9) to the IPS panel. This display will definitely set you back a few clams; LG isn’t commenting on the price list or availability as of yet.

SmallHD’s Sidefinder Seeing is believing and sometimes the smallest of gadgets steal the show.

SmallHD launched Sidefinder, a versatile 2-in-1 fully featured HD viewfinder with a flip-out 1080p 5-inch display. The Sidefinder attachment itself has tons of features, including an adjustable field of view and a mounting bracket that has mounting options suitable for just about every rig out there including ARRI Rosette, 15mm rod, and 1/4”20 mounts.

Featuring incredible resolution for such a small device, it is a must-buy for serious filmmakers.

Weapon of choice Speaking of which, RED is used to shaking things up on the technology front. They have been the most responsible party for making waves in digital cinema camera technology since their inception in 2006.

This year is no different and they continue to deliver on their promised upgrades.

From Epic, to Dragon and now Weapon, RED is still leading camera design and technology. The Weapon is a full-frame 8K camera built for the future. Japan is talking about covering their next Olympics in 8K, in a time when the most dominant economies are barely upgrading to 4K. More than increased resolution the Weapon offers the ability to stabilise and offer greater detail, even in the pixels you don’t see. The indie film world will undoubtedly clamour over Weapon. The picture should be improved over Dragon and if nothing else it ups the competition requirement and brings down barriers to entry.

Final note Finally, something that I was totally fascinated (actually the phrase is gob smacked) with was a codec. London based V-Nova demonstrated a new video compression technology called Perseus. Dubbed ‘the next-generation digital TV standard,’ Perseus allows more efficient use of the spectrum to deliver SD, HD and 4K/Ultra HD by tackling image compression differently than other algorithms by imitating some aspect of the human visual system. Get it…no nor did I but trust me the test transmission that they showed was great!

I am always hungry for learning more about new technology and how technology is driving our industry. The 2015 NAB Show certainly allowed me to taste the future of what’s being cooked up in the wonderful world of media and entertainment and just looks like it’s going to get better and better!

– Ian Dormer

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 9

ADCETERA

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Report on the South African commercials industry

There is no ‘I’ in A+E Viviane Paxinos is senior director of Advertising Sales at A+E Networks UK. She’s also the firecracker behind the company’s collaborative and holistic approach to advertising; a marriage between what brands and viewers want.

With three established A+E channels airing in South Africa – Crime+Investigation®, Lifetime® and HISTORY® – Paxinos is keen to see local brands take the kind of creative risks which are giving those in international markets an edge in audience engagement.

“I still think the 30-second advert is quite powerful and plays an important role; but with viewers being fragmented and there being so much choice available, we came up with the idea of creating brand partnerships,” Paxinos explains.

Rather than be an interruption to the viewing experience, this approach aims to integrate brands with content in such a way that they become an entertaining extension of the content itself. Take for example a campaign in which a brand was incorporated into a recreated funny scene from Lifetime’s Devious Maids using lookalike talent. Or Canon’s original reality series Photo Face-Off, an advertiser-funded programme on

HISTORY which sees amateur photographers compete in a series of photography challenges.

Paxinos adds: “We do things that stimulate emotion – it could be something funny or something that surprises you in a way that makes you react. Our partnerships need to add value to the viewer and to feel like entertainment. It’s something I love to do and I’ve seen lots of success from brands doing this around the world.”

Because A+E has taken such an open-minded approach, brands are able to play in a space without limitations and produce tailor-made ways of communicating with audiences. A brand could be included in show storyline if it makes sense, or be portrayed in a clever vignette which leads on from something relevant which happened in a show before it breaks for commercials. Paxinos believes working together with brands in this way encourages more creative advertising strategies.

“Viewers are really clever and they’ll watch what they want to watch. It’s about giving the audience what they want and delivering great content. Be there and they’ll follow you. With these creative partnerships we can be part of that

Viviane Paxinos conversation while also creating more noise and activity for brands. When you are looking at shifting a brand, creating a new brand perspective or launching a

new product, you need to do something more inventive to cut through and stand out,” Paxinos concludes. – Carly Barnes

New Santam TVC celebrates our ‘one-ofa-kind’ country As South Africans, we have become accustomed to some rather peculiar day-to-day occurrences that are completely foreign and in most cases somewhat baffling to the rest of the world. The new Santam insurance commercial strives to highlight these ‘proudly South African’ idiosyncrasies in a lighthearted and surprisingly heartwarming manner.

Conceptualised by King James Group in Cape Town, the spot features foreigners from Russia, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands who have recently visited Mzansi, recounting their ‘one-of-a-kind’ experiences with their friends back home – experiences like loadshedding, baboon visits, or the presence of a car guard, which outside of South Africa are thought to be completely bizarre.

According to director Kim Geldenhuys from production company 0307 in Cape Town, the brief from the agency was merely a script, with the instruction to 10 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Still from the new Santam one-of-a-kind commercial Geldenhuys and his team to capture the essence of what it was like for people who have been to South Africa to return home and reflect on the peculiarities of the country that they found both charming and unusual. “The trick was to capture this dialogue in a way that wouldn’t be perceived as negative. We didn’t want people to feel like we were taking a poke at the country or at the government, we wanted it to come across as humourous, reflecting on those eccentricities in a fun way.”

The commercial was shot in Slovenia in January this year. Geldenhuys says that Slovenia was chosen for its extreme diversity and strong production facilities, making the entire production process

particularly cost effective. “We were able to go from the snow to the Mediterranean coastline in a matter of hours, allowing us to achieve that authentic international feel that the ad demanded, without too much trouble.”

Geldenhuys and his team wanted the spot to translate into something that felt cinematic. In order to achieve this, the crew tackled the production process as one would approach a feature: “We wanted it to feel very honest, not over-lit or immensely art directed. This played into the authenticity of the dialogue.”

The commercial was shot by German DOP Julian Hondorf – who captured the visuals on the standard Alexa package and the old Canon Mark III – with an end

product in mind that translated on screen as authentic and not excessively stylised, “we didn’t work with any zooms, it was all performance driven,” says Geldenhuys. “We didn’t have a long post production schedule either. The grade was pretty much set up into the art direction and in-camera…none of it was over thought.”

The new campaign’s positioning is driven by the brand’s philosophy that all insurance is not and should not be created equal. The spot’s narrative message is further supported by the tag line, “a one-of-a-kind country needs one-of-a-kind insurance.”

– Chanelle Ellaya

| ADCETERA

Phantom Flex 4K scores a whole in one on new Nike Golf campaign The new Nike Golf campaign – shot over four days in January at Salt River Studios, Cape Town – saw some of South Africa’s top HODs come together to undertake the intricate technical tasks set out by the U.S based creative team at Curious Beast Portland USA. The commercials strive to give the viewer a sneak peek into the mind of a golfer, moments before he/she takes a winning shot. According to writer Josh Bletterman, the brief for the campaign was simply to shine a light on the specific innovations across the entire 2015 range of Nike Golf products in order to prove they are the best in the game.

Bletterman says that the team wanted to show how exceptional the new products were by rooting them in the deep fundamental truths of the sport.

“We proposed to do so by recreating the

Science of the Beautiful

Still from the new Nike Golf campaign precise on-course in-game moments, when each technology does its thing in a dynamic way. And delve into the golfer’s mind as he processes them.”

According to Bletterman, the production team had brainstormed a few ideas as to how they wanted to shoot the campaign, however the client was persistent that the previsualisation animatics – which were crafted for four weeks prior – determine the way forward.

DOP Johan Horjus from HIGHSPEEDWORX was asked to film the four commercials with director John Robson at the helm of the campaign. In order to achieve the prescribed look and feel, a fresh approach involving minimal

CG and a lot of in-camera effects would need to be executed by Horjus, with a little help from the Phantom Flex 4K. Robson comments: “The idea was to create a world around the product that combined projection mapping to create a bigger environment, but to work on a smaller stage, using props by the art department to create that world.”

The crew, with some assistance from the art department, immersed themselves further into the brand experience by creating a ‘course-like’ environment in studio in order to break the conventions of heavy CG in floating black space: “…we rooted our execution in physical space. Inspired by theatrical

stage design, it was our goal to create a dynamic, malleable course-authentic set and incorporate as many real elements as possible,” explains Bletterman. “What would normally have been done in CG, was shot practically.”

“To achieve this there was tremendous emphasis on the preparation of the film set, to create live sets, able to morph in shot! The key to capturing these remarkable effects in-camera was the genius of correct and dynamic lighting by the DOP and the use of specialised lenses and camera grips. The skater scope was used with tremendous success to capture a golf ball disintegrating in flight, inside a specially prepared ‘macro’ set,” explains Lucan Visuals’ producer Werner Uys. Horjus says that the Phantom Flex 4K – which was used for all primary cinematography – was more than up to par, it scored a hole in one with its variable frame rates at 4K resolution.

“The flexibility of being able to shoot variable frame rates from 25Fps-1000Fps at 4K resolution, with great colour space was fantastic, the images had perfectly constant black levels throughout.”

The South African production for the campaign was handled by Fly On The Wall, in association with Cape Town based Lucan Visuals, which handled the projection and animation presented in the brief. – Chanelle Ellaya

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May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 11

ADCETERA

| Report on the South African commercials industry

Banking on behavioural economics Former Red & Yellow School graduates David Perrott and Sebastian Thompson decided to launch their own agency specialising in behavioural economics rather than work for anyone else, because they believe this is the next ‘big thing’ in marketing.

Gravity was born after the 24-year-old co-founders saw a gap in the South African market to integrate the discipline of understanding context-based consumer behaviour for the marketing industry.

They also admitted to spending more time on coming up with the name and brand identity than a comprehensive business plan on how to make money!

It was while they were doing internships at other agencies as students that they realised that behavioural economics was not really being applied or included in campaigns. This motivated them to strike out on their own.

“It was either work for some brand in the marketing department or an agency as an AE (account executive). We could learn an enormous amount; and we could fail if we launched our own agency. We workshopped it with our lecturers and were told to go for it. We’re young, we’re made of rubber!” Thompson quipped.

Behavioural economics blends economics, psychology and other disciplines to model factors that influence consumers when they make decisions.

Consumers are influenced by a range of irrational and often unconscious factors – stereotypes, common sense, rules of thumb and other cognitive filters and short cuts – all on the pathway to making a decision.

The idea around behavioural science is that people may behave in ways that seem irrational at times. Yet human behaviour follows a set of principles that 12 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Gravity co-founders, David Perrott (left) and Sebastian Thompson

are consistent and can be predicted.

Perrott and Thompson pointed out that behavioural economics is changing the global marketing landscape, but that South African companies are not yet building business processes around behavioural economics or applying it to external marketing communications and internal communications.

They believe it is the next big wave in marketing and Gravity, in fact, uses ethnographic research and analyses the context in which people take the steps that influence their decisions. They then come up with tactics that their clients can use to impact customer decision-making processes.

Gravity’s first client was The Big Issue and a pro bono campaign which saw homeless vendors wearing handwritten signs that highlighted their life goals and why they were selling the magazines and how many more they needed to sell to reach their goal, tapping into drivers’ empathy. They even equipped vendors to receive Snapscan mobile payments.

Thompson said they aim to close this communication gap. “The study of how people make decisions differs fundamentally from neo-classical

economics. We create heuristics and shortcuts to translate those decisions on the fly. We explore the ‘blind spots’ in decision-making that we as individuals are not even cognisant of.”

Rory Sutherland from Ogilvy Change pioneered the idea that behavioural science makes sense for application in advertising.

“Our main part of the business is looking at how consumers behave, what motivates them, what guides them in making the decisions they make. The world of advertising builds a lot of desire and want, but what is not being focussed on is making that intention an action. We are closing this gap,” explained Perrott.

“What the field is starting to uncover is this disparity between people’s decision and actions. People are not introspective about their decisions. We need to get out there and focus beyond quantitative research to get an in-depth perspective and understanding of consumers.”

Most of their clients are currently in the financial services industry, including Capitec, Allan Gray and Southern Charter; as well as two travel app start-ups; and a storage company.

One well-known example of the kind of

‘tweaking’ that the correct understanding of consumer behaviour can bring to a brand, is when Amazon changed the word ‘Register’ to ‘Continue’ on their site and upped sales to multi-millions of dollars more.

And after launching their agency on the back of their behavioural economics class at the Red & Yellow advertising school in Cape Town, Perrott and Thompson have now taken over lecturing the course they are so passionate about it.

“We really want to see this field of applying behavioural science in the industry grow. We really believe in it.

Guys are missing the point – if you aren’t thinking with this lens in your business, you are missing out. We want to push the thinking on this as much as possible. It is a big shift,” Perrott admitted.

They even welcome competitors because that will grow the industry and add more relevance.

As Thompson concludes: “We are a behavioural change agency. And this is the future science of the industry. We truly believe it is the science that will underpin communication going forward.”

– Louise Marsland

Opinion

| ADCETERA

Why advertising needs idea flow

By Oresti Patricios

IN VE ST IN CR

EATIVITY

at ca nn eslions

.c om

Oresti Patricios

There was a time in the 1980s when advertising agencies were largely based in Sandton City and surrounds. Creatives and strategists would meet regularly, sharing ideas about their work and pitches to launch new campaigns. In retrospect, those seemingly insignificant coffees and lunch exchanges are what helped to drive cutting-edge ideas.

It was healthy competition. These fledgling agencies, though still playing their cards close to their chests, had each other as part of the idea flow that permeated the industry.

Could it be a coincidence that this was also the time when the local industry made the most waves at the Cannes international awards? Over time, the industry developed, agencies moved away from the heart of Sandton and industry awards returning to South Africa were also fewer and far between.

In his book Social Physics, Alex Pentland investigates why some ideas take off and others do not. Pentland uses a series of mathematical and data science studies which prove that the flow of ideas among social networks lead to greater success among people. The data and behavioural findings linked to the studies, point to how the flow and spread of ideas in a social network contribute to both the collective and individual intelligence

of communities.

Silicon Valley, aside from the fact that it grew up around what was once a handful of technology companies, became successful globally and attracted more venture capital funding which grew the industry. It can also be attributed to the fact that Google, Facebook, Apple and many others, share ideas to keep this flow of creativity within close proximity.

Similar to the technology industry and its continued innovation, the advertising industry also thrives in the continued flow of ideas and the impact of this collective intelligence in other business sectors. In the age of data and what can be learned from it, we are able to connect the dots with greater ease and influence human behaviour far better than ever before.

As a community whose objective is to primarily drive actions and human behaviour, the advertising industry occupies an invaluable position to help brands understand their colourful and multi-faceted consumers in Africa.

Oresti Patricios (@Orestaki) is the CEO of Ornico, a brand intelligence firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand monitoring, analysis and research.

Follow @OrnicoMedia on Twitter for advertising trends, updates, some of the latest media analysis and research in Africa.

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May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 13

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SOUTH AFRICA

Mark Dornford-May and Pauline Malefane are the first Africans to have ever won a Golden Bear in Berlin. That was in 2005 with uCarmen eKhayalitsha, a retelling of Bizet’s opera transposed into 21st Century South Africa. Ten years later, they have adapted Puccini’s La bohème into Breathe Umphefumlo, which premiered at the 65th Berlinale. They took time out to share their recipes for modern musicals with Screen Africa.

The adaptation: From 19th Century Paris to contemporary South Africa Mark Dornford-May: It wasn’t really difficult if you want the truth. A lot of the conditions in Paris in the 19th century are quite similar to conditions which exist now in South Africa: in terms of poverty, in terms of people who do not have access to medicine when they need it, these kinds of issues were easy to deal with.

Both with Carmen and this film, the move from the original setting to the contemporary one was never really a problem. Once you’ve made that first step, all sorts of details fall into place. It was a relatively easy adaptation. The music is extraordinary, and that was Mandisi Dyantyis who transposed the Western score. That’s not easy.

How to transpose a Puccini opera – originally in Italian – into Xhosa songs.

Pauline Malefane: It’s not Puccini or the Xhosa that is important, but the story. We didn’t want to make a film purely for commercial reasons. We have issues in South Africa that need to be dealt with and this is one of them. It’s how we tackle our work, really, but also to help and entertain. If there’s an issue that needs to be dealt with, we’re more than happy to tackle it. Puccini was fantastic, brilliant; he composed fantastic music. South Africa has a rich musical culture and we sing anything at anytime. You can compose or come up with a song about anything: people sitting by the fire or washing up.

And that is the link between our culture 14 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

musical

How to make a

Photo by Wynand Vlok

FILM

THE ITALIAN JOB: Two men selling lillies in a scene from Breathe Umphefumlo and Puccini. It’s people telling stories through music. TB is really an issue in South Africa and we wanted to raise awareness with the help of Puccini, in a way.

Financing Mark Dornford-May: We had partners: ARTE ZDF in Europe and Mzansi Magic in South Africa and then the rest was through the production rebate system offered by South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry. We didn’t get any funding from the National Film and Video Foundation – they objected to the original script because someone died of TB. So it was really ARTE and Mzansi Magic who supported us. Then Preplan Film, in Germany and Film & Music Entertainment (F&ME) in the UK, also helped in terms of guiding us through various processes and making things happen. And then of course, Fortissimo Films brought it to cinemas.

The budget Mark Dornford-May: It was around US$1.5 million. We raised the money in two months. We were in Berlin last year with a short film (Unogumbe) and I met Dieter Schneider from ARTE. A year ago, we were sitting here talking about this and now we’ve finished. It happened really quickly. The good thing about films that do not have enormous budgets is that you can move a lot faster, and for us, in the way we made it, that was important. The difference, I suppose, between the way we work and how people normally work on a film is that we rehearsed for two or three weeks with

elements of the set… In none of the films we’ve done, have we had to reshoot a scene. That means that the performers are really confident about what’s happening there because we’ve done so much rehearsing.

The cast Pauline Malefane: Because we are in Isango Ensemble (a South African theatre company), our 30 actors are in the film. So it was not made like a normal film where you have to go to a casting agent and look for people. We used who we have within the company.

The location and sets Mark Dornford-May: We moved the first part of the story to a university residence and it had to be a bleak place, an empty place. We found a residence hall at Stellenbosch University. Then the second half of the film was in Khayelitsha. I don’t know Khayelitsha half as well as Pauline but I do know it better than most filmmakers. It’s quite easy to find locations. We try to work consistently with the same sound and camera crew. So that helps as well, it’s a group of people who know each other and what they are doing.

And the community is very welcoming, which is nice.

Pauline Malefane: It can be quite irritating for some people. You come from work and you’re tired and then you’ve got a group of people who have taken up residence on your street and you don’t even know what they’re doing. So you get irritated and just walk through the shot.

But like Mark says, it’s mostly a delight. It feels a bit like you’re performing on stage

because there are so many people watching while you make the film. People come and ask questions: what is this about? And then they sit and watch us work – it brings an energy that you wouldn’t normally get on a film set.

Mark Dornford-May: It’s great when people come. It’s in Xhosa so people can understand and have an immediate response. It’s not like if it was in Italian and no one could understand.

Pauline: And the playback is so loud that it entices people from the vicinity to come and see and then after seven takes they’re singing along as well.

Editing and post-production Mark Dornford-May: It’s quite complicated obviously because the sound element is as big and as important to the visual. And only if we have extraordinary performers can we make it happen. What we do, which is quite unusual, is we have people who are singing to the pre-recorded track but we are actually also recording them live and then we mix the two together to get a different feel.

The impact of a Berlin Golden Bear for uCarmen.

Mark Dornford-May: Of course it’s fantastic to have a Golden Bear! It certainly helps. I suppose it lets people know that you are capable of making a film of a high standard. It’s a fantastic honour and achievement to be the first Africans to win a Golden Bear. Plus a lot of the people who worked with us on uCarmen are still working with us now.

– Claire Diao

| Film

Photo © LX Film Lisbon

GUINEA-BISSAU

A man of the people:

Sana Na –N’Hada filmmaker EVOCATIVE FILMS: Sana Na N’Hada during the making of Kadjike in Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagós archipelago.

In a cinematic career spanning four-plus decades Sana Na N’Hada has borne witness to the best and the worst times in Guinea-Bissau.

H

e joined Amìlcar Cabral’s revolutionary army in the heady days of the war for independence.

In the restive years following self-rule he set about making evocative films that, at their very best, captured and challenged the prevailing zeitgeist. Today, approaching his 65th year, undiminished and evermore imaginative, he is still hard at work shedding light on the political and social realities in his homeland.

N’Hada’s latest film Kadjike (Sacred Bush), 2014, is set on the pristine shores of the Bijagós Archipelago, and follows the lives and rituals of the islanders as they face up to the threat of drug traffickers in their midst.

In the past decade Guinea-Bissau has become the key transit hub for cocaine trading between Latin America and Europe. The Bijagós Archipelago, a sprawling mass of largely uninhabited islands, has been the focal point of trafficking activity in the country that has

turned it into what some observers call a ‘narco-state’.

On a simple level Kadjike is a coming of age drama. On a deeper level it is a meditation on the schism between traditional Guinean customs and the rising tide of modernity – something which has been a constant theme throughout N’Hada’s cinematic career.

On the eve of his initiation into adulthood Ankina is torn between his responsibilities to his people and his love for a girl with whom custom forbids a relation. Drug traffickers, promising a better life in the city, lure his boyhood friend Toh away from the island. Facing important decisions at the crossroads of their young lives, both boys must find a way out of their predicaments – a way back to their people.

The poignancy of this film lies in the juxtaposition between the natural beauty of the archipelago and the imminent dangers that lurk in the shadows of this fragile world.

“I want to show people why the natural beauty of my country is so important and why we need to stand together to prevent our nation and culture from harm,” N’Hada says.

Kadjike is only N’Hada’s second feature film. His first, Xime (1994), follows the struggles of a rice peasant confronted with losing his influence over his two sons during the fight for independence.

In the intervening years N’Hada has flirted with both documentaries and shorts. Despite his minimal output he is arguably one of the most important filmmakers on the continent today and has long been regarded, along with his

contemporary Flora Gomes, as a titan of Guinean cinema. Both are credited with producing the first ever fiction film (Mortu Nega, 1988) to be made in Guinea-Bissau.

N’Hada’s career in cinema began during his days as a revolutionary in Amìlcar Cabral’s independence movement. He was taught first aid to help out at the local field hospitals, and with the remaining part of his time he went from village to village to educate the people about the fight for independence. It was during this time that he began to turn his back on his medical studies in favour of cinema. At the behest of Cabral he travelled to Havana along with Gomes, studying under the auspices of legendary Cuban cinematographer Santiago Àlvarez.

Upon his return to Guinea-Bissau he rejoined Cabral’s movement and set about documenting the war of independence on film.

“I didn’t come into cinema because of talent but because I felt obligated to tell certain stories. There has always been a question of necessity,” N’Hada says.

In 1976, shortly after independence, N’Hada co-directed two short films with Gomes: The Return of Cabral and Anos No Assa Luta – both tributes to the revolution and to their great political icon, Cabral.

His life-long friendship and collaborations with Gomes has produced some seminal works in the canon of Guinean cinema. His greatest recognition however has come in the form of Sans Soleil, a documentary

collaboration with French filmmaker Chris Marker. Shot in the early eighties, it was recently voted one of the top five best documentaries ever made.

As well as Gomes and Chris Marker, N’Hada counts celebrated Senegalese filmmaker Sembène Ousmane and Cuba’s Santiago Àlvarez among his great cinematic influences.

Despite all the uncertainty facing his country today N’Hada remains hopeful about the future. As we speak, he is already turning his mind to his next feature, a film documenting the positive effects of independence in his homeland.

With Luta Ca Caba Inda (The Struggle is Not Over Yet), an ongoing project first shown in 2012, N’Hada may yet bequeath his most profound legacy to Guinean cinema. Along with Gomes he has set out to find and make accessible the remains of raw film material made in the country after independence but either lost or damaged in the era of political upheaval.

For a man who has seen so much and lived through such uncertain times it is perhaps the defining point of reference for his dedication to his country and his people that he has found time, since 1979, to head the National Institute of Cinema of Guinea-Bissau.

– Anne Laerke Koefoed

Kadjike, Sana Na N’Hada, Guinea-Bissau, 2013, duration 115 min, production LX Films (Screened at Film Africa London, November 2014) Trailer: http://vimeo.com/82445317 May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 15

FILM

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SOUTH AFRICA

Director Speak

Since he was six years old, John Savage has only ever had two passions: music and film. His latest movie Stone Cold Jane Austen, is a comedy featuring two wannabe musos who will do just about anything to break into the local rock music scene.

In reality, Savage is anything but a wannabe, having been the lead singer of local rock group Cassette and a 5fm DJ. What is your experience in the film industry prior to Stone Cold Jane Austen?

JS: I was always making films when I was kid. I actually made my first feature film when I was 19 years old – a TERRIBLE Hitchcockian black and white thriller that played at cinemas in the Eastern Cape for a time. I had my own film company, Kryptonite Productions, for a few years and worked as a director for Terraplane for a few years. And I’ve always been involved in documentaries and film projects.

Even during the Cassette years, we were always making crazy videos.

How does someone go from musician, to radio presenter to filmmaker?

JS: My passion is making things! Music, films, stories, art, noise, trouble, etc. Even when I was on radio, I treated each show like a performance in which I would have to create content.

When did you realise you wanted to direct a feature film?

JS: I was eight years old and was watching a Bruce Lee film called The Big Boss. I saw him jump over a 10 foot high gate and I thought: ‘How the heck did he do that?’ I took my dad’s Panasonic camera into the garden and started working out a way to recreate that moment. I’ve been hooked for life.

Describe yourself in three words JS: Always in trouble.

What is your favourite oneliner from a film?

JS: “You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologise,” – Mr White, Reservoir Dogs.

What songs make up your most recent music playlist?

JS: Alabama Shakes is the hottest band on the planet right at this moment. Fact.

16 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

How has your background as a musician shaped you as a director?

JS: I think they go hand-in-hand. I’ve just finally been able to make a film about music which is perfect for me!!!!!

What was your most memorable moment on the set of Stone Cold Jane Austen?

JS: The absolutely incredible stunt driving by the guys at Hard Drive who literally drove their asses off and risked their lives for the most stunning car chase! That was incredible to be a part of.

Who are your favourite SA entertainers?

JS: I still think that Rob Van Vuuren and Louw Venter’s The Most Amazing Show was one of the greatest pieces of television ever! aKING are one of my favourite local bands. Laudo is so insanely talented, he blows my mind.

I think Reason is a genius too.

Which international actor would you love to direct in a film?

JS: I keep coming back to this question and I’m struggling to answer it. The reason is that the story/idea always comes first in my brain. I’d need to know what I was shooting before choosing the person that I’d like to direct in it. I’m not interested in ‘directing’, I’m interested in creating stories.

Who would you like to work with in the local industry?

JS: Rob. Oh wait, I just did.

What would surprise Screen Africa readers most about you?

JS: I tried to start a project that would transform the local film industry when I was 22 years old. I worked on it for three years before it broke my soul into tiny pieces.

I’m better now, thanks for asking.

What do you think are some of the defining characteristics of the South African creative industry now?

JS: The industry is changing dramatically internationally. Locally, creatives are very isolated. Everyone is finding their own way.

It’s cool but it would be cooler if there were more collaborative groups of people working together.

What are your top three favourite films and why?

JS: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – Not to be a cliché but this is the greatest film of all time, ever. Its tone, its pace and its clever storytelling has never been beaten. There’s just something about it that is so original and that can’t be duplicated by anyone. I think that has been my single most inspirational film ever.

Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof – This little independent Tarantino film reignited my love for filmmaking after coming to terms with the fact that I would probably never make a proper film in my life. It was so small and low-budget, yet so brilliant and exciting that it lit my brain on fire. Tarantino is such a natural storyteller that it physically hurts to know that you can never make a piece of cinema as good as him.

Garth Marengue’s Dark Place – This is not a film but a hugely influential comedy show on my life. It is such a crazy concept and executed so brilliantly that I highly recommend the effort to find it if you have a warped sense of humour like I do.

– Compiled by Carly Barnes

FILM

|

Kenya

The slothful pace of the Kenyan film industry Kenya’s film Industry is growing in leaps and bounds. There have been some significant developments that have made the cinema industry in the country attract global attention, from Lupita Nyong’o winning an Oscar to Nairobi Half Life being nominated at the 85th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film.

But even with these achievements, there is still a long way to go, reports Sam Charo.

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K

enya’s film industry has the potential to generate about half a billion US dollars annually and employ a quarter of a million people, but the slothful pace of the industry has impaired the progress of the film trade.

In a report released late last year the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) cited numerous reasons for the shortfall, among them is the fact that the local film industry lacks exposure, returns and profitable strategic business relationships amongst the government, public and private sectors.

The report says a lack of sound policy governing, protecting and rewarding creatives in the country is a pressing issue. For more than a decade several drafts of such policies have been worked on but no conclusive decisions have been made.

“The film industry has tremendous potential to boost other key sectors generating the nation’s wealth,” says Judy Kibinge, a veteran filmmaker. “But the progress for the inception of the policy has faced a lot of roadblocks such as the film industry’s conforming to the 2010 Constitution.’

In 2010, the government, under President Mwai Kibaki, passed a new constitution whose mandate was to enable youth and women to access 30% of government tenders and to have creative talent nurtured and enabled through the Youth Fund.

‘The Youth Fund was and still is a great initiative,’ says filmmaker Ayaz Rajput.

The thing is, execution is the problem because most youth cannot even afford to have food on the table so when you give them any money, they’d rather take care of their basic needs than get creative with a DSLR.”

There is a lot to do to make things work in the film industry. Kibinge adds that the search for quality screenwriting, great cinematography and sound is a challenge.

“In this age of digital photography, most young people want to have a quick fix and get famous,” she says. “The quality is poor, the story is lame and the sound is pathetic.”

The present national film and television arrangement in the country is not ideal to take care of the current-day professional needs of the industry. The KFC report mentions that bodies li such as the film commission, as well as the Kenya Film Classification Board, Kenya Institute of Mass Communication and Department of Film Services (DFS) are not equipped to handle the industry requirements.

Stella Otieno, a film critic and producer, thinks the whole affair of film in Kenya is faced with poor decision making on the part of government and the private sector.

“Look at South Africa or Nigeria,’ she says. ‘These are so advanced compared to our country because we have poor policies that curtail creative work, unlike in these countries.”

Mrs Otieno worries that the artists’ talent and hours of toil are likely not to be rewarded and even if they are, it does not measure up to the international industry standard.

‘You have a filmmaker who works hard to do a film and then he prints the DVDs and then next thing, his work of art is replicated in River Road by some unknown and untraceable pirate.’

Piracy is one of the most challenging aspects of the Kenyan film industry.

Kenya loses almost five million dollars annually through piracy of music and films.

The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO), a state corporation under the office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, was established by section 3 of the Copyright Act 2001. It is mandated with the administration and enforcement of copyright and related rights.

The body has been working with the arts trade to curb the challenge of piracy and other forms of copyright infringement.

“We try as much as we can to have the intellectual property of the content creators paid for handsomely and rewarded and protected,’ says Alfred Simiyu, a case officer. ‘Yes Kenya has great potential and we are working on how we shall have eyes everywhere and gain the trust of the artists so that they know we are here for them.”

Most Kenyan filmmakers feel out of touch when it comes to KECOBO’s dealings. “I have had a bad experience with KECOBO officers,” Otieno says.

“First they harassed me when they visited my studios. This misunderstanding led me not to have confidence in their work.’

The youth feel sidelined and blame a lot on the corruption that is deeply rooted in government offices designed to protect them and enable them to meet their visionary goals.

‘The youth out there have an adrenaline rush and it’s incumbent on the government to make sure that their energies and drives are channeled on a productive, creative course,’ says Sam Maina, an indie filmmaker.

For now the pace of Kenya’s cinema trade will move by inches as it hopes for greater measures that will make it Africa’s future film frontier – Sam Charo

ADVERTORIAL

| Studios

Quizzical Pictures sets up studios and production facility With the current boom of local productions filming around Johannesburg, the need for affordable production space and facilities has increased to such a degree that most of the facilities currently available are booked up to a year in advance.

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oticing a need for additional facilities, Quizzical Pictures acquired a beautiful series of warehouses in the Ferndale area of Randburg, Johannesburg in early 2014 and has been constructing and outfitting a studio and production facility spanning over 4 000sqm for their own use, but also for dry hire space.

Facilities include two 300sqm shooting studios with good acoustics capable of handling various productions from music videos, commercials, television dramas and comedies as well as feature films;

post-production suites for edit and final mix; production offices; dry hire space for audio and video control rooms; hair and make-up rooms; wardrobe rooms; green room; kitchen and catering area; art department workspace; on-site generators; and all additional facilities required for a smooth running production.

There is WiFi and in time, the studios will have live broadcast capability.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a long time,” says Quizzical MD Harriet Gavshon. “There is such a

demand for studio facilities, for our own work and for other production companies. We wanted to create a facility which people like us – long form television production companies – can afford and which is geared to their budgets and needs.”

Quizzical Pictures has also made its mark in the commercial and branded content world.

“As a progressive production company continuously looking at breaking new ground, we are excited to now own our studio space in which we can produce the

best quality commercials and branded content,” says head of marketing and business development Sizwe Kumalo.

Located in Ferndale, Johannesburg, Quizzical Pictures’ studios is easily accessible from Malibongwe Drive and a stone’s throw from MultiChoice.

Quizzical Studios will be operational from June 2015 and the company is offering discounts for the first six months of hire. For bookings please contact Mariki on (+2711) 726 2828.

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 19

FILM

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Elements of cinema: the test of time Re-creating a world from another time requires meticulous research and creativity from modern filmmakers, who must serve the story whilst staying true to its origin. The team behind SAFTAwinning film Faan se Trein, set in the late 1950s, describe how they brought an Afrikaans classic to life on the big screen.

TIME WARP A scene from Faan se Trein

Barry Donnelly on sound design:

Koos Roets on directing:

Helena Spring on producing:

Though I don’t feel there is any difference in directing a period or contemporary movie, as it depends entirely on the subject matter, I tend to concentrate more on the visuals of a period piece. The look, which is achieved through close collaboration with a number of departments, is of cardinal importance as this is the most powerful way to create the historical mood required.

In a period piece I make sure the walls in a scene are a good 10 to 15% darker than the faces of the actors. I use an old fashioned Weston light meter to determine this as it can be very tricky to judge. In this scene the walls of the set were painted dark green and a lot of shadows featured in the image.

A period film requires a great deal of research and planning as well as a balancing of the director’s wish list and the needs of the story against the available budget. This film called for a steam train which could not be sourced in the Karoo, as well as bulldozers which would have been new in the fifties. These are just two examples, but challenges such as these extend to every aspect of period work, from wardrobe, to make-up and hair, the nature of the dialogue and even the posture and attitude of the actors.

Achieving a high level of authenticity was something we all worked hard towards achieving as a period film is unforgiving if you get it wrong.

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Designing sound for a period film means paying a lot of attention to accuracy and subtlety, according to the era it is set in.

We were after a quiet feel and so any noisy exterior sounds had to be stripped away and all sound replaced from scratch.

I treated all dialogue and a lot of the sound design in such a way that it reflected an old 1950s vintage film quality, but for the big scenes we decided to leave them with full frequency response so they would really stand out and soar.

In this part of the story things are starting to spiral out of control and so we used music to heighten the emotion. The stove was a more subliminal element which we use to build tension, increasing the volume and intensity as the scene progressed. Floorboard creaks were also added to heighten the tension.

| FILM

Amelia Henning on cinematography: The main character in this film is honest and unpretentious and this was reflected in the shooting style. The Karoo offers that honesty naturally and so no complicated camera shots, cranes or moves were needed. We wanted the audience to be captured by the story of this film rather than the technical aspects.

Waldemar Coetsee on production design: On an era specific film, a production designer is tasked with balancing an accurate visual history as well as the elements which the story requires. It is really important that the research and design complement each other. When an actor walks on to set, they need to believe they are in the world that is scripted.

In this scene, Faan is portrayed as a naughty child while Truia is portrayed as a motherly character. The colour of the wall reflects Faan’s simplicity while his khaki clothing reflects the strict/limiting government and church of the time.

Truia’s background is supported by components of the train taken apart, which resemble the town. Her costume screams freedom and the white and blue colours are representative of her as a guardian angel.

Theola Booyens on hair and make-up: Designing make-up and hair for a period film like Faan se Trein begins with character research, mostly from family albums and archives, as well as research on the narrative setting. A crucial part of designing how a character looks is understanding their history and motivations. Faan for instance is a boy in a man’s body and so his haircut is one which his dad would’ve given him. He works outdoors and so he is tanned and has dirty hands. Truia has no make-up on and keeps her hair pulled back in a uniform practical style. These details give the audience subtle insights into who each of the characters are.

Amelia Henning on lighting: Nicholas Costaras on editing: To highlight the era of the film, the director chose to keep the camera still with little or no movement. Initially I found this quite unsettling, being accustomed to more modern filming techniques. But there is something great about creating space in a frame for the actors to move around in and keeping the performances undiluted. The edit was straightforward: cut to what needs to be seen and let the characters tell the story. The calm frames also created the right contrast for the train to burst through at the end of the movie.

We shot Faan se Trein on the Arri Alexa with Arri Alura Zooms. This allowed broad spectrum for lighting ratios ranging from light starvation to extreme brightness with all detail still intact. With this technical back up we were able to utilise natural light and use small sources for outlines.

Being a period film set in an era where electricity hadn’t yet reached all parts of the country, it was relevant to use paraffin lanterns in night interior scenes. The shadows created by the lanterns added texture to the visuals and supported the emotion of the scenes.

Compiled by Carly Barnes May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 21

Documentary

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FESTIVALS

Eco-centric local ‘produce’ From 26 March to 2 April the South African Eco Film Festival screened a number of significant documentaries in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Eastern Cape. Organised by Dougie Dudgeon and Andreas Wilson-Späth the festival aims to raise awareness about important social, political and environmental issues.

“Documentary films and environmental ones in particular, hardly ever make it onto the mainstream cinema circuit in South Africa. There are many fantastic doccies out there that are well made and speak to important topics. The festival aims to give South Africans a chance to see these films and to engage with the subject matter they raise. In this way we hope to increase public awareness and initiate public debate,” says Wilson-Späth.

Abalimi

(En)Snared

Msobomvu

Once Upon a Time

By Marysia Makowska

By: James Walsh 15 minutes

By: Sara C F De Gouveia, Kofi Zwana

By: Hermien de Vos

22 minutes

10 minutes

12 minutes Abalimi addresses the issue of food uncertainty in poverty-stricken communities around Cape Town. This has resulted in a gardening initiative by local women with the support of non-profit organisation Abalimi Bezekhaya, which helps disadvantaged communities find strength and drive in their daily lives despite their current, unavoidable struggles.

“We hope that people who see this film decide to switch to purchasing and consuming local organic small/ independent farmed produce. We hope it communicates to a global audience the possibility of peaceful local revolutions that can impact the way we farm on a worldwide basis. We hope Abalimi Bezekhaya – and other organisations like it – grow and become a force to reckon with,” says Makowska.

Visit www.sceniccollection.com to watch Abalimi.

The changing landscape of South Africa’s wildlife conservation is explored in (En)Snared. With rural communities now the effective custodians of remaining wildernesses, the role of conservationists is challenged. No longer just scientists, modern conservationists need to employ a strong sociological point of view.

“So often middle class city dwellers react to poachers with comments like ‘shoot them on sight’ or demand harsh punishment for their actions. We wanted to find out what actually happens in the communities that surround conservation areas,” says Walsh. “We have some huge structural problems in our country that often paralyse us into inactivity. But if we just have the opportunity to listen to other people’s stories maybe it’s the first step.”

Visit www.sinamatella.com for more information.

In the village of Msobomvu near East London, limited and unreliable access to power and water supplies has presented a number of challenges for the community. Over the past two years, non-profit organisation Project 90x2030 has worked with the community to create improved energy and water solutions.

“I think at a time where climate change is a hot topic worldwide, and where in South Africa we are still experiencing load shedding, it is important for people to understand that there are alternatives and that it is possible to have access to electricity independently, in a green way,” comments De Gouveia.

Watch the film at https://vimeo.com/81513184 or visit www.lionfishproductions.co.za for more information.

Stepping Stones

The Artist

Nature’s Pharmacy

By: Laurence Dworkin

By: Laurence Dworkin, Tonia Selley

By: Kgomotso Molebatsi

20 minutes

19 minutes

13 minutes

In Stepping Stones City of Cape Town Nature Conservation manager Bongani Mnisi discusses his ongoing MSc project, which involves establishing indigenous gardens at schools across the Cape Flats.

Filled with nectar producing plants, these ‘stepping stone’ gardens attract sunbirds and sugarbirds which serve as pollinators, transferring up to 300 fynbos species as they fly between the areas.

The Artist features Ebraime Hull, a horticulturist at the Harold Porter Botanical Garden in Betty’s Bay, who shares with audiences his love of plants and how it has inspired him to become an accomplished botanical painter.

In Nature’s Pharmacy Sinegugu Zukulu, an environmental activist in the Eastern Cape’s Pondoland Wild Coast, visits rural inhabitants to speak to them about the value of wild plants in the area. Zukulu is one of many community leaders and organisations trying to create awareness about the area, now threatened by highway extension plans and a mining proposal.

22 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

For years African penguins lived in peace with humans in Stoney Point until local government and Cape Nature converted part of the area into an official nature reserve and tourism facility. A fence separating the penguins from the humans cut many off from their established nesting sites, lifelong partners and chicks.

“The main issue I am trying to address is the old school style of nature conservation still used by our authorities, where man and animal are segregated and cut off from interacting with one another. The modern international trend in conservation terms is to manage wilderness areas as a ‘living landscape’, ie. no fences and man living in harmony with nature,” comments De Vos. Watch Once Upon a Time at: https://youtube/Sn0QadMwIv0

Nature’s Pharmacy, Stepping Stones and The Artist are part of the CareTakers project, an ongoing partnership between non-profit documentary production company STEPS and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).

George Davis, an associate on the CareTakers project, comments: “Our reference frame is one of storytelling by ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things to both conserve nature and bring citizens of the country closer to their biodiversity heritage.

Without people understanding very well the role which nature plays in providing human society with essential goods and services, civilization will collapse.”

Watch these films and find more information at: www.caretakers.co.za

| Television

Vuzu Amp unveils SA’s rich kids in new reality show The best things in life are free’ – or so the saying goes. However if Vuzu Amp’s new reality show Rich Kids is anything to go by, that saying couldn’t be more wrong. A first on South Africa’s television screens, Rich Kids season 1 is an eight-part reality series shining a light on the lavish lifestyles of eight young South Africans between the ages of 18 and 24. These kids have it all; they live in mansions fit for royalty, drive flashy sports cars, wear expensive designer labels and vacation in exotic dream locations.

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he opulent and somewhat ridiculous reality series, made by production company Something’s Cool – which was founded by Mi Casa lead vocalist J’Something and producer Dale Herbst – was an immediate hit with the M-Net executives it was pitched to: “This has never been done in South Africa and having the opportunity to be a fly on the wall for one or two days in the lives of these kids was one that we could not say no to,” says Teddy Geldart, content executive at M-Net. Geldart says that when watching the show, the viewer will learn that while the ‘rich kids’ are privileged, they are still just ordinary youths at heart, “these kids are human, they have struggles and desires like any other kid. They are endearing and charismatic…”

“The show allows the viewer to follow the lavish lifestyles of these kids but also to journey with them on their day-to-day trials, tribulations and encounters,” comments Rebecca Christensen, series producer from Something’s Cool. “There is a misconception that rich kids do not go through ‘normal’ human encounters.

Viewers can expect to see a different side to the kids, proving that, money or no money, we all experience the same emotions and have to deal with the same problems regardless of where we come from.”

Christensen explains that in order to show versatility and contrast between the characters on the show, the casting process involved extensive research into a selection of South Africa’s richest youngsters, after which interviews were conducted and the final eight were selected for their special brand of pizazz that caused them to stand out from the others.

Each episode of the eight-part season will focus solely on showcasing the enviable life of one rich kid. “All participants are extremely different, with different stories, interests and career paths to share,” says Christensen.

The first season of the show took three months to film and was captured on the Sony Alpha A7S Digital Camera with a “fast-paced and urban-edged” look and feel in mind. While the hours varied depending on the daily lives and activities

of the rich kids, the cast and crew shot for 14 to 16 hours on an average shoot day, “some characters liked to sleep in until midday while others liked to party into the early hours of the morning,” comments Christensen.

“The structure was to shoot the reality of the situation and not to ascribe to set-ups…Naturally the characters that took part in the show have lifestyles that are packed with content. The recording was honest and raw…no dramatization was involved. It was part of the format that nothing would be a set up or re-enacted. The production crew did not intervene allowing the show to be seen as more of a documentary.”

Naturally, with a reality show titled Rich Kids, these subjects would have to be filmed doing something that would be considered to be, well, ‘rich’, by the average South African. In Episode One, which aired on 16 April this year, viewers got to witness 21-year-old Nape Phasha convincing his parents to drop a staggering R60 000 on a Tag Heuer watch for his 21st birthday – chump change to his businessman father who

has an insatiable appetite for sports cars and watches. At the end of the episode Nape shares a heartfelt sentiment about how his true riches are in his relationships and not in what he owns, however the message comes across as somewhat contrived after an entire episode spent watching the undeniably likable ‘born-free’ youngster spend copious amounts of money on clothes and shoes.

On social media, the show received mixed reviews, with a large Twitter contingent verbally expressing their utter dismay at these youngsters flashing their parent’s wealth in a time where South Africa has immense social, economic and political inequalities to deal with. One must ask, in a country where the gap between the rich and poor is extremely vast and said to be widening every day, is a show like Vuzu AMP’s Rich Kids sending out messages of hope to those struggling to make it in these trying times or is it only highlighting just how vast that gap really is?

Rich Kids airs on Vuzu Amp (DStv channel 114), Thursdays at 19h00.

– Chanelle Ellaya

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF ‘NORMAL’ LIFE: South Africa’s rich kids Don, Nape, Olivia, Bob and Alex.

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 23

GREEN PRODUCTION

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Taking green to the big screen As global consciousness surrounding environmental sustainability and the conservation of the earth’s resources increases, the concept of ‘going green’ is being applied more and more in almost every sector of the economy – including the film industry.

South Africa is taking considerable strides towards sustainability and was ranked 34th out of 60 countries featured in the Global Green Economy Index in 2014.

The local production sector however, is still a fledgling contender in green practices when compared to its international counterparts.

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common perception is that green filmmaking is complicated, expensive and time consuming – an immediate deterrent for an industry which is by nature fast-paced and budget constricted. But producers who are successfully applying green methods claim the opposite is true – ‘going green’ not only serves the environment but can save on production budgets and increase overall efficiency on set. The secret lies in careful planning, teamwork and an adjustment in thinking.

Emellie O’Brien, the founder and president of Earth Angel Sustainable Production Services in the US, has eco managed a number of green produced Hollywood films including The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was named the

24 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

DOING MORE WITH LESS: Emellie O’Brien most eco-friendly blockbuster in Sony Pictures history. “I think green filmmaking is still viewed as a luxury or a nuisance, which is ironic because in fact being green really comes down to being more resourceful,” she explains. “It’s all about how we can do more with less, and I think that filmmakers often associate green practices with impeding their creativity.

Unless audiences begin to demand it or we as an industry create an internal demand for it, it will unfortunately take a while before green filmmaking becomes common practice.”

Eco-producer Elle Matthews of KwaZulu Natal-based Green Shoot Films, one of a few local production companies which produces green, echoes this sentiment and admits that converting to an environmentally-friendly business requires an initial investment of time and money. She explains: “I saw it as an investment in the future of our company… and the planet. And one which over time works out to be more cost efficient.”

In the UK, productions funded by the British Film Institute are required to complete a carbon calculator. Holland has elected sustainability manager Els Rientjes, facilitated by the Netherlands Film Fund, and is the birthplace of the

Green Film Making Project, a Strawberry Earth initiative which encourages and educates filmmakers on sustainable film production. Although green production is currently optional, Rientjes believes it will soon become standard practise for the next generation of filmmakers.

“Companies adamant about sticking to their old methods will be out of business in 10 years while producers who believe in creating a circular economy will benefit from their way of working,” says Rientjes.

“Government and subsidies will in the near future expect transparency from companies and will want to see them adopting a sustainable working process.

If not, their subsidies will be refused or significantly reduced.”

O’Brien too would like to see green workflows become a production pre-requisite and comments: “I would like to see mandatory carbon tracking in place for all productions. I would like for the eco-supervisor role to become as commonplace on a film set as the camera operator. And I would like to see the city/ state film commissioner offices incentivise shows that strive to reduce their environmental impact and protect their local communities.”

Matthews finds that appointing an eco-supervisor is one of the most

effective ways to ensure green practices are carried out during major productions.

“A green steward helps cast and crew implement sustainability practices by sourcing eco-friendly vendors and products, disseminating information and resources, and working with department heads to green their divisions. Eventually, small, simple changes make a big difference, like using eco-friendly cleaning products on set, banning smoking during shoots and choosing to film in environments that benefit crew, cast and clients.”

Rientjes maintains that there are greener options available for every production department, but that the easiest wins are in transport, recycling (costumes, decor) and camera/lighting choices. She adds that aside from the environmental and cost saving benefits, green producing “appeals to the interests of big budget studios whose social corporate responsibility platforms are becoming just as important to consumers, as the big budgeted spectacles they produce.”

While working on Paramount’s NOAH O’Brien collaborated with non-profit Rock and Wrap it Up! which collected 5 919kg of leftover food over the course of shooting. These donations went on to provide an estimated 10 038 meals to local shelters, which as a result saved 4 439kg of CO2 from entering the atmosphere by keeping that food out of landfills. This is just an example of how planning and adjusting to new methodologies can have huge environmental and ethical impact.

O’Brien concludes: “Hearing the long-term effects of running a sustainable show is incredibly rewarding – whether it’s a crew member who now composts at home, or a local charity which has made a difference in the lives of disadvantaged folks as a result of our show’s donations.

Sustainable filmmaking has a much larger impact than the recycling bins at craft service. As soon as our industry wakes up to that fact, we can really create some incredible change.” – Carly Barnes

CASE STUDY

| GREEN PRODUCTION

South Africa’s first South Africa’s first ‘green film’, a comedy-drama called Somer Son (‘summer sun’), has just recently seen the light of day. Directed and produced by Clinton Lubbe, it was shot on location in Legogo, Mozambique.

S

omer Son tells the story of a 30-something South African couple (played by Reynard Slabbert and Juanita de Villiers) who decide to take a romantic getaway to Mozambique in an attempt to get their marital spark back. An accident along the way sends them on an unexpected adventure.

With the uncertainty of Eskom, Lubbe believes that filmmakers will soon realise that ‘greening’ is not just a PR exercise, but saves production costs and can be a viable option in the long run.

Lubbe started his career as a stills

green film

photographer for the likes of Afrikaans singer and television personality Nataniël.

In 2014 he became the DOP for season 4 and 5 on the hit KykNet series Die Nataniël Tafel. He saved the producers over R250 000 by changing the outdated cameras to a Canon Cinema C300 multi-cam environment and adapted the lighting configuration to suit these light sensitive machines. A passion for greener filming was born and he demonstrated that it is profitable for producers too.

He further proved his concept for a ‘leaner film production model’ in 2014 while filming Bok van Blerk’s Land van Melk en Heuning (‘land of milk and honey’) music video in Mozambique.

“You read all about the Canon Cinema camera’s ease of use and how it allows you to move and shoot faster and lighter but only in practice do you get a true sense of its worth with how many more shots you get in a day,” says Lubbe. There wasn’t a single crew member on set – only Van Blerk and Lubbe and the results were still big, breathtakingly cinematic and professional. A dream to shoot a movie in this paradise was born and soon after they started writing Somer Son. Greenflim SA was born in an attempt to produce the first ever carbon neutral green film in South Africa. The goal was to make the entire set, with all the departments, more environmentally friendly and to leave a lower carbon footprint. At the beginning of the process a carbon assessor, Susan Scholtz was

brought in to advise and guide from the perspective of The Carbon Protocol of South Africa. She warned that it would be near impossible to be carbon neutral but incredibly impressive if they were to end up anywhere close. Although the production did not end up meeting the requirements for being carbon neutral, they did come close and in the top category prescribed by Scholtz.

The biggest change was the use of solar panels for all power requirements.

Energy and lighting company Ellies, along with Procos Energy Solutions, assessed the energy requirements of the project and custom built a power solution for the set. This included six large 235watt solar panels feeding a 24volt battery bank with a 3 000watt inverter. This might not sound like a lot of power but, according to Lubbe, that is the point of greening – to use fewer resources.

“Ultimately it has to be a total solution – from how you write your scene to which camera you choose down to your lighting requirements.” They stuck with the tried and tested Canon Cinema C300 with a C100 as a B-unit camera. “I understand arguments for various other more expensive camera systems and some are absolutely valid but you don’t always need to drive your 4x4 down to the shops!”

Attention was given to every department, and to Lubbe’s surprise, hair and makeup was the most difficult department to make more energy

efficient. “I could replace a 1K light with a 150w LED but a hairdryer seems to be 1200w minimum. For the power it took to do hair in the mornings, I could run a set and production office for the entire day.”

Sponsors also added to the greening process. Action Ford provided fuel efficient 4x4s with the new EcoBoost engines. Ripcurl provided iron free swimwear from recycled materials. Paul Mitchell supplied environmentally friendly hair products. They made use of gas stoves for cooking and replaced all plastic items on set with reusable glass and metal cutlery and crockery. Even the occasional pee in the bush was encouraged – the guys were calculated to have saved over 5 000 litres of flushed water!

The pre- and post-production office was a paper free zone. Only the final script (version 21) was printed for the actors. The greening extended through into the post-production process which was also solar powered.

This included editing, sound, mixing, viewings and colour-grading.

Lubbe said that to be 100% carbon neutral would take another attempt, implementing what they learnt, but that they are determined to get there.

Meanwhile, they planted a few trees along the way to make up for it.

Somer Son opens in South African theatres on 8 May. – Reynard Slabbert

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY: A scene from Somer Son

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 25

LOCATIONS

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SOUTH AFRICA

The many faces of the South Coast For most South Africans, the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast is best known as a long strip of beaches and resort towns. Indeed, this is a prominent feature of the area. But in addition, these towns and the rural areas just inland of them offer a remarkable variety of locations for film, video and television production. In the first of a series of articles on the region’s possibilities for production companies, we reveal some of the many faces of the South Coast.

Beaches

Town scenes

We couldn’t discuss the region without touching on this. The South Coast includes 120km of beaches – six of which are Blue Flag beaches. From the relatively built up beachfront of Margate, with its high rise accommodation in the background, to the wilder looking lagoons of Uvongo, the South Coast can easily provide any sundrenched beach scene, featuring swimmers, surfers, boaters and sunbathers.

Turning our gaze inland, we find that the towns running along the coast provide a variety of urban settings. Margate plays host to a number of events during the year that bring it to festive life, while in Port Shepstone, one can capture scenes of bustling, everyday urban life, not unlike that of any other large town in the world.

For something quite different, take a short trip northwards to Port Shepstone and you’ll find the remains of what was once a thriving river-mouth port. The air of solitude and the debris, with the railway line in the background, can quite plausibly set a rather desolate, even post-apocalyptic scene.

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Into the wild

Moving further inland, beyond the sugar cane and banana plantations that have almost become synonymous with the KwaZulu-Natal province, you will find untouched natural splendor to rival any wilderness you can think of. The Umzimkhulu river valley and the Oribi gorge offer scenery that is genuinely breathtaking.

A variety of wildlife can also be viewed here at the Lake Eland reserve. Wildlife documentary makers, take note: several species of antelope graze on these rolling hills while Cape vultures soar overhead.

This was once cheetah territory – although you will not find many of those here anymore. The locals do, however, talk of one or two leopards residing in the terrain. Be warned though – this is also black mamba country!

Accommodation out here brings peace and isolation that one could barely imagine only few kilometres away in the town centres. Not far south of here, just over the provincial border, the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast, which features very similar landscapes, played host to the film Blood Diamond.

In upcoming issues, we will continue to explore the visual and production possibilities of the South Coast and the plans that South Coast Tourism, together with the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, have for the region.

For more information, visit www.tourismsouthcoast.co.za or contact South Coast Tourism on 039 682 7944 or marketing@tourismsouthcoast.co.za.

– Compiled by Warren Holden

Only 90 minutes from Gauteng.

Direct flights from OR Tambo - Margate.

POST-PRODUCTION

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NLEs are NOT all the same!

In order to compare the attributes of the industry’s top three non-linear edit systems (NLE) – Apple’s Final Cut Pro X (FCPX – the successor to FCP7), Adobe’s Premiere Pro, and Avid’s Media Composer – Screen Africa will look at each of them through the eyes of several South African editors and trainers.

Avid Media Composer This is the longtime industry standard, delivering with precision and few glitches.

It also enables every editor working in a team to look at exactly the same project and when changes are made and saved they ripple to everyone else’s view.

Megan Gill, a well-known South African editor, currently working in LA on Gavin Hood’s latest movie Eye in the Sky, is an Avid user. “Editing is editing but to a certain degree, you get what you pay for.

Avid is the priciest but, for me, it is also the best. Essentially they all do the job, some just a bit more efficiently than others. Avid is by far the most reliable, least likely to crash and easiest to use.

FCP7 gets the job done for less money but it crashes, has a low RAM capacity and needs a little bit more care when it comes to media management”.

Greg Shaw of Upstairs Post adds “Avid will always continue to be a favorite with seasoned craftsmen. The problem with it is that very few younger people get the opportunity to edit on such software and to assist editors who cut on it. The other software is cheaper and so film schools have opted to teach on these. We find that we have to re-skill all our junior edit assistants when they join our company, due to the fact that they have never been exposed to Avid. Once they learn they never look back”.

“Avid was designed by editors for editors,” says Cape Town-based Maryke Kruger, who runs Post Production CC with her partner Babette du Toit.

“With the rand to dollar being what it is these days, we see a lot of international companies running not only their production, but also their postproduction from South Africa. Nine out of ten times they will insist on Avid. That means in the last two years there has been a dramatic shift back to Avid. Those who know Premiere will find the shift to Avid less dramatic because the two systems are very similar in their basic approach, but I’m afraid the FCPX editors will find the shift very difficult.

“Avid is reliable and fast, and some of its new features were designed specifically for the high-end broadcast market. From the moment you start your project, Avid makes sure that your final product will meet international standards.

It will correct or transcode any format that has a funny frame rate or size so that your base time is correct. This limits syncing

28 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

issues where audio originates from a different source than your video”.

Daniëlle Faria-Nel is currently one of only a few certified instructors teaching all three platforms. She is also an editor specialising in long-form work. “For long form I use Avid Media Composer, mainly because of the Integrated Science Instrument Server (ISIS) which allows access to one project for multiple editors.”

Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) FCPX may be seen as the new kid on the block, but by most accounts, it’s growing up. It seems that Apple didn’t just build FCPX from the ground up; rather, it set out to revolutionise the entire editing process.

Gone is the traditional track-based paradigm as well as the bin-based organisation. Instead, among other innovations, FCPX offers a trackless, ‘magnetic’ timeline intended to help editors work more quickly without having to worry about creating tracks, assigning destination tracks, and moving clips between tracks.

“For my day-to-day work I use FCPX” say Faria-Nel. “A TV programme I used to cut in two days using FCP7, I cut now in six hours. Basically I use FCPX for speed and its ability to work seamlessly with Da Vinci Resolve.

“When I used FCPX for the first time I immediately felt the leap into the future,” says Tongai Furusa, senior editor at Johannesburg-based post-production house 14 10th street. “The magnetic timeline is probably what stands out the most. This is a complete paradigm shift as you literally see time and space collapse in front of your eyes. It worries editors because you are not sure what has happened to the rest of your project.

FCPX boasts a magnificent, easy to use multi-cam system that allows you to edit up to 16 streams at a time”.

Annamarie James, SAFTA 2015 winner for Best Editing on a Documentary Feature, is dubious. “My relationship with FCP has been mostly love but more recently, a lot of hate,” she says. “Four years ago, Apple shocked and deserted all the old school FCP users by introducing the new funky FCPX. Shock, Horror! We all held on desperately to 7 in the hope of a miracle but finally had to relent and make the call. Avid, Premiere, or X – this is the big debate all editors

have been having non-stop ever since FCPX made its unwelcome appearance.

“Personally I’ll edit in FCP7 for as long as I can, I’ll edit in Avid when I do long form or work for a large company and I’ll struggle on trying to get my head around, and heart into, the FCPX revolution. In the end, the quality of the edit lies with the calibre of editor and whatever the software, the job will get done.

Willem Grobbelaar of Funki Designs recalls: “I decided to take a leap of faith and bought FCPX. The look and feel of the new user interface was appealing, but suddenly you needed to learn a whole new way of editing. For example, there were no more different audio channels/ layers that you could switch on or off separately. Everything was magnetically linked. And the way you grade footage in FCPX is different from grading in other NLEs. “Because you edit differently and need to apply different editing styles and techniques in FCPX, you will definitely see two different types of editors/generations emerging: Those who edit in the new way like with FCPX, and those who edit in the traditional way.”

Adobe Premiere Pro It seems the transition from FCP7 to Premiere is relatively simple. Premiere has its quirks and differences, but time spent learning them is rewarded by features such as seamless integration with Adobe’s creative tools, including After Effects.

“Adobe Premiere Pro is a solid work horse albeit somewhat clunky to work with,” says Michael Kruger, whose main focus is training. “It is popular with photographers and DSLR camera users due to the integration with Photoshop and the excellent Adobe Media Encoder software, which is great for transcoding media. Unfortunately it is sold with a floating licence which requires annual subscription renewal, making it an expensive option when measured over a four to five year period Liani Maasdorp, currently teaching at the University of Cape Town, notes: “We still predominantly use FCP7 in the Film and Media labs, as we have so many suites that will have to be upgraded if we change. For now 7 is working well for us.

It’s stable, reliable and we know what we’re going to get. We also have Adobe Premiere available in these suites and a

few students prefer it. Hardly anyone uses Avid, but probably because they don’t get any structured training on it and because it’s only available on about five suites at the UCT TV Studio.”

Maryke Kruger notes that Adobe is not known for use on big productions. “The company is more known for its stills photography and special effects software packages. I suppose that in terms of its interface, it is so close to Avid that most people rather spend a little more and get Avid and then add Adobe’s supporting software like Photoshop, After Effects and the new Speedgrade.

“I don’t think I’ve ever sat down in front of an Avid or FCP that didn’t also have After Effects or Photoshop installed. For that reason Premiere hasn’t made the same impact on the high end television broadcast and film industry that say FCP7 has,” she says.

Conclusion There is no right or wrong answer regarding each of the three featured systems. Apple, Adobe, and Avid continue to develop and support their products, providing filmmakers with a variety of world class tools.

As Greg Shaw so succinctly puts it: The craft of editing is becoming more and more commoditised – budgets and time have pushed us from seasoned craftsmen into the world of technicians. In the end machines carry no value or worth – human capacity is what makes the difference. All the edit systems are up to the job; the problem is that craft is being compromised for affordability and speed.

Grateful thinks are extended to The South African Guild of Editors (SAGE) with a core body of around 115 members and other editors and trainers who gave of their time to contribute to this article. A large number of editors forwarded detailed comparisons and it is a great pity that these cannot be published in full.

– Andy Stead Apart from sharing editors’ opinions on these three systems it is hoped that this article will engender discussion and feedback. Screen Africa would welcome all comments on the topics on our Facebook page (www.facebook. com/screenafrica) and Twitter account(@ScreenAfrica) let us know your thoughts by using the hashtag: #MyNLE

| POST-PRODUCTION

Alternative editing Lightworks

Video editing applications are relatively complex, highperformance products that address a three-tier market: professional editing for TV and cinema, serious amateur filmmakers and of course consumers making simple home movies.

Historically Non-Linear Editor (NLE) developers have often struggled to decide which of those three market segments to address (and on which platforms).

Commercial developers must choose whether to aim at the massmarket general user with a lower-cost product, or focus on the smaller professional market where much higher prices can be charged, but expectations are very high.

Sony Vegas Pro

T

he recent and rapid growth in the development of higher-quality, higher-resolution digital imaging technologies — new camera file formats, 2K, 4K and even 8K resolutions and stereoscopic 3D — adds further complications to the development of video NLE software that’s in tune with current needs, particularly in the professional market.

Commercial developers, such as Avid, Adobe and Apple are able to keep up with these developments, but charge a correspondingly high price for their top-end products. Surprisingly there are quite a few high-end software varieties that fall into a relatively ‘unknown’ category but are well worth pursuing as an alternative to the mainstream offerings.

Lightworks Perhaps one of the better-known packages comes in the form of an old favourite revamped. Lightworks has been around since 1989 and thanks to renewed development by EditShare (whose main business is in workflow software, media storage and media management) this open source software has a large band of dedicated followers. There are two versions: Lightworks Pro and Lightworks Free Lightworks Pro includes support for Blackmagic, AJA and Matrox hardware I/O’s. Project sharing, enabling groups of editors to all work and collaborate together within their networked environment is included and Vegas supports exports to all broadcast mastering formats such Avid DNxHD, Panasonic and Sony Formats, AVCHD, MOV, MXF, AVI. Interchange with other applications (AVID, Protools, FCP, Resolve) with AAF, OMF, EDL and Film Cutting Lists is part of the package.

As it states, Lightworks Free is a zero-cost version of Lightworks and has all the power of Lightworks Pro but only allows you to export to MPEG-4 (Web, YouTube and Vimeo) at a maximum resolution of 720p.

Sony Vegas Pro Despite its name Sony Vegas Pro by Sony Creative Software doesn’t just offer support for Sony cameras. They have been around for a while and are on their 13th release.

Vegas Pro actually pioneered the concept of format-native editing, and to continue that legacy, the latest version supports today’s most popular camcorder formats including XAVC, XAVC S, XDCAM™, NXCAM, AVCHD, HDCAM SR™, DSLR h.264 QuickTime® and RED®, Panasonic P2 DVCPRO, and AVC-Intra. They offer full support for SD, HD, 2K, and 4K material in 2D or stereoscopic 3D. Not to be scoffed at, Sony’s Vegas Pro does everything other well-known NLE’s do and so much more. Vegas is the only NLE package to include EBU Loudness measurement tools as a standard.

Media 100 For Mac users, don’t discount ‘blast from the past’ Media 100!

The Media 100 Suite from BorisFX is fast, with an easy-to-use, responsive interface and broad support for 4K, 2K, HD, and SD standards. Integration with Adobe After Effects and Apple Final Cut Studio enables you to share projects among After Effects, Color, and Final Cut Pro. You can export projects to Final Cut Pro for further editing and revisions, import Final Cut Pro sequences into Media 100 Suite, or export a Media 100 Suite sequence to Color for advanced colour grading.

Media 100 also supports optional video I/O interfaces from AJA, Blackmagic Design, Matrox and RED and provides AVCHD, AVC-Intra, FireWire, Panasonic P2, and Sony XDCAM acquisition interfaces. With native support for RED (2K and 4K) amongst others, the system supports mixed codecs on a single timeline without converting or rendering.

Media 100

Forscene An interesting development is the rising numbers of cloud based edit systems.

More international group companies are turning to systems that allow users to edit from any location in the world using a centralised production tool.

UK technology company Forbidden Technologies plc has an impressive collaborative edit solution called Forscene, which includes not only the usual editing features such as ingest, logging, editing, reviewing and repurposing, but includes media asset management and syndication. This is a high-end system favoured by many European news agencies and sport channels. Ad agencies have been keen to adopt the system, as have educational facilities, where collaborative edit projects between campuses can be achieved.

In the open source environment Blender is a fantastic application for 3D animation and special effects, is cross platform and, once you learn how to use it, includes a pretty good video NLE. Bet you didn’t even know that...oh and it’s totally free! – Ian Dormer

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 29

POST-PRODUCTION

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Grading and online

Prizefighters of colour grading boxers are equal: weight, skill and strategy all Not ing. box like bit a are ices cho em syst Colour Grading y partake. Boxers develop a style using their play a major role in the type of events in which the tty much the same with grading systems. Some are advantages and hiding their disadvantages. It’s pre like boxers, the performance turnkey solutions, others are software only. Just varies, depending on what they are put up against.

H

istorically, hardware-based systems offered better performance and a smaller feature set than systems based around software or plug-ins.

The real-time performance was optimised to particular resolution and bit depths unlike software platforms that use standard computer industry hardware and often trade speed for resolution independence. While hardware-based systems always offer real-time performance, most software-based systems need to render as the complexity of the colour grading increases. On the other hand, software-based systems tend to have more features such as splinebased windows/masks and advanced motion tracking.

The line between hardware and software is thinning out as many software-based colour correctors use multi-processor workstations and GPUs (graphics processing units) as a means of hardware acceleration.

Added to this, some newer softwarebased systems use a cluster of multiple parallel GPUs on the one-computer system to improve performance at the very high resolutions required for feature film grading. Some colour grading

30 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

systems run as software only and will even run on computers with less grunt quite adequately.

It is important to state that colour correction and colour grading are often misinterpreted and one process is mistaken for the other. While they do share some of the same tools and processes, they are different. Colour correction alters footage to a consistent technical standard of appearance. The goal is to match the recorded image with a standard that is an accurate portrayal of the subject, as it would be viewed from the human eye. It is usually used to conform multiple shots to the same quality.

Colour grading is the process of altering an image for aesthetic and communicative purposes. The colourist creates a look and a feel to further the purpose of a shot.

There are many grading and finishing systems out there so lets take a brief look at a few most popular and compare their features.

was the software-based product built around a Linux cluster. When Blackmagic bought the assets and technology of DaVinci, all of the legacy hardware products were dropped, in favor of concentrating on Resolve as the software, which had the most life for the future.

There are now four versions, including Resolve Lite (free), Resolve (paid – software only), Resolve with a Blackmagic control surface and Resolve for Linux.

Adobe SpeedGrade CC If you are current as a Creative Cloud subscriber, then you have access to the most recent version of Adobe Premiere Pro CC and SpeedGrade CC. With the updates introduced late last year, Adobe added Direct Link interaction between Premiere Pro and SpeedGrade. When you use Direct Link to send your Premiere Pro timeline to SpeedGrade, the actual Premiere Pro sequence becomes the SpeedGrade sequence. This means codec decoding, transitions and Premiere Pro effects are handled by Premiere Pro’s effects engine, even though you are working inside SpeedGrade.

Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve

Avid Technology Media Composer + Symphony

The DaVinci name is legendary among colour correction products, but that reputation was earned with its hardware products, like the DaVinci 2K. Resolve

Although it started as a separate non-linear editing (NLE) product with dedicated hardware, today’s Symphony is really an add-on option to

Media Composer.

The main feature that differentiates Symphony from Media Composer in file-based workflows is an enhanced colour correction toolset. Symphony used to be the ‘gold standard’ for colour correction within an NLE, combining controls ‘borrowed’ from many other software and systems, like Photoshop, hardware proc amps and hardware versions of the DaVinci correctors. It was the first to use the colour wheel control model for balance/hue offsets. A subset of the Symphony tools has been migrated into Media Composer. Basic correction features in Symphony include channel mixing, hue offsets (colour balance), levels, curves and more.

Nucoda from Digital Vision Nucoda colour grading and mastering solutions have been used on many of the best-known films, commercials, documentaries, music videos and television programs around the globe and is considered by many as the premium colour grading and finishing solution for feature films, commercials and broadcast applications.

Nucoda combines a creative tool set with a very tight integration to the Avid workflow, including full support for Interplay. Nucoda is a fully featured ACES grading system, featuring HDR grading and real time EXR file format support.

Grading and online

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Base Light from Filmlight From 2002, UK firm FilmLight has designed, created and manufactured unique colour grading systems, image processing applications and workflow tools for the film and television industry.

Baselight is used for HD, 2K, 4K and 3D colour grading. Grade operations are controlled via Blackboard. Program supports variety of film and video formats and codecs. FilmLight systems utilize cluster and cloud technology in Linux environment.

Mistika from SGO technologies

Pablo Rio from Quantel Quantel Pablo had long been a high-end turnkey industry leader but recently Quantel re-invented their workflows and introduced Pablo Rio, a software based high quality colour and finishing system. It builds on the Pablo pedigree but runs on standard COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) hardware. Offering new levels of interactivity, Pablo Rio handles everything from high frame rate file-based media to multi-layer Stereo3D working.

Scratch from Assimilate Also a software based system, Scratch is a bit of a hidden gem and has advanced colour grading and compositing tools and is used for creating digital dailies and for final finishing. It runs in Mac and Windows environments. Assimilate also has a player that will decode almost any RAW format and is great for use in the field.

Conclusion There are so many systems out there and the features of each have advantages and disadvantages depending on individual

workflow. Not all systems are the same, some are best suited for specific tasks, some are good all-rounders. Budget obviously has a role to play in the effectiveness of the suite, the more you throw at a system, the more powerful it will be. But the true power behind a grading and finishing system is ultimately the talent driving it – and, just as with boxers, it’s training and overall experience that makes a world champ!

– Ian Dormer

Colour grading system features in focus

Mistika from SGO is an advanced resolution independent post-production system that incorporates editing, vfx,

colour grading, text, paint, audio and stereo 3D. Mistika can run on a laptop; a standalone PC with internal storage; open SAN connected; collaboratively networked; multi-GPU; and multi-linked systems.

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 31

POST-PRODUCTION

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Editors’ rates under the spotlight In March, the South African Guild of Editors (SAGE) released their new rate card, which, for the first time in three years, reflects a hike in editors’ fees. For editors and other post-production professionals, the increase is long overdue. Some in the industry, however, may question how useful and realistic the rate card is in an industry mostly based on project-to-project, budget-dependent negotiation.

M

arina du Toit, current SAGE chair, explains how the hike was calculated.

“Until a couple of years ago, SAGE rates increased below the consumer price index (CPI). This unfortunately started to make a career in post-production unsustainable. Bear in mind that editors have to keep up with the newest software and trends at their own expense, and usually work as freelancers. This year we added the average CPI for 2014, at 6.1%. On top of inflation we considered a 15-year career growth, which works out to an average additional increase of 3.6% per year.”

She also makes it clear that these rates are not meant to be prescriptive. “It certainly depends on how big a budget is and therefore an editor’s personal rate is not cast in stone. It is up to the editors themselves to decide when they will lower their rates. Editors typically drop their rate about 10 to 20% for long-term employment, to gain experience or if they have a good working relationship with producers.”

Freelance editor and SAGE member Melissa Parry has worked in the industry for 10 years. She says: “In my experience it is possible to use the SAGE rate card successfully. However I find that I have to be flexible about my rate because of the range of budgets in which I work – SABC productions and commercials.

“Unfortunately a local production is only able to offer me a rate within the top end of the mid-level tier on the rate card… but without the scope the rate card offers

I wouldn’t have the leverage to negotiate a reasonable fee.”

Mid-level editor Edgar Sibaya says that his experience is somewhat different. “A few years back when I was starting out, I naively used the rate card to state my personal rate – I did not get the job. The first time I quoted a rate that was on the rate card and got the job was in 2013 on a TV documentary. Most of the time I am given a rate, without much room to negotiate.”

A problem that continually comes up in conversations with editors is the perception that their market value compares unfavourably with that of the camera department. “Editors in South Africa are often paid far less than the director of photography (DOP) on a project,” says Parry.

“Globally an editor and DOP are recognised as creatively and technically equal and are therefore remunerated equally. [In South Africa] the role of the editor is no longer recognised or valued in the same way. As much as software and equipment has become more accessible it should not undermine the contribution and collaborative role that an editor brings to the filmmaking process.”

Editor Megan Gill adds: “Sometimes producers use high expenditure during production as an excuse to spend less on post-production. SAGE’s policy is that the post-production rates should match those of the camera department because both departments contribute similar technical and creative skill. Also, the attitude of ‘fix it in

The table below is taken from the rate card and indicates the new daily tariffs recommended by SAGE.

Basic job classification

Junior (R/day)

Mid-level (R/day)

Highly Experienced (R/day)

Offline

R1 540 to R2 100

R2 320 to R3 420

R3 760 to R5 880

Online/ finishing

R1 900 to R2 580

R2 840 to R4 180

R4 600 to R7 180 R2 520 to R3 940

1 assistant editor

R1 040 to R1 400

R1 560 to R2 300

2nd assistant/ logger/ digitizer

R 540 to R 740

R 820 to R1 200

Sound designer/ editor

R1 180 to R1 600

R1 760 to R2 600

st

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R2 840 to R4 440

post’ is still going strong but people are not always willing to pay for the necessary expertise.”

From producers’ point of view, they are working with scarce resources, taking all the risk, and providing employment.

Budgets are tight and, in general, hardly anybody on a film project – including in the production department – is getting international standard pay rates for their work. Everyone does the best they can with what they have.

While it may appear that there is conflict here, it actually seems that in practice, the market does settle around the recommended rates – although the higher ranges are quite rare. As du Toit says, editors are getting the rates recommended by SAGE, although the average rates agreed upon tend towards the lower and mid ranges.

To give an example, one producer, running a small production company that has an ongoing, low-budget SABC show as its anchor product, says that she employs a junior offline editor on the show and pays a fee of around R3 000 per episode (in line with her SABCapproved budget, which amounts to R3 130 per minute). Each episode is scheduled for two days in edit – meaning that the editor gets about R1 500 per day for his or her work – roughly in line with SAGE’s recommendation.

In the absence of full unionisation (a topic that opens an entirely new can of worms) ad hoc negotiation seems the best way to reach equitable agreements but instruments such as the SAGE rate card can provide useful guidelines for those discussions. – Warren Holden Screen Africa hopes that this article will spark discussion and we are more than happy to facilitate the ensuing dialogue.

We would welcome all comments on the topic on our Facebook page (www. facebook.com/screenafrica) and Twitter account (@ScreenAfrica). Let us know your thoughts by using the hashtag: #SAGErates.

ADVERTORIAL

General Post grows its pool of talent Those familiar with production crew specialists General Post will have at some point come into contact with Griffith Dixon, the company’s hardworking booking manager.

Tasked with supervising the its core service, supplying creatives and post-production talent to the TV and film industry, Dixon has been an integral part of daily operations since owner Kirsty Galliard took over the business eight years ago.

“Within a month or two of taking over here I realised that Griffith was really bright, on the ball and proactive,” Galliard remembers. “He has been slaving away handling our bookings ever since. Clients love him, the editors love him, and he makes sure he is always available to help them – day or night.” It is this commitment and enthusiasm which informed Galliard’s decision to make

COMMITTED AND ENTHUSIASTIC: Griffith Dixon

Dixon a partner in the company at the end of 2014.

In addition to the promotion, General Post has expanded their roster of talent with some new and promising editors as

well as writers and directors (including 2015 Jameson First Shot Competition winner, Mark Middlewick) which have been mentored and given practical industry experience under Galliard’s

| POST-PRODUCTION

guidance. “Every now and again we come across people who are really amazing, and if we have the opportunity, we mentor them. There are some exceptional crew who we have been mentoring for the past year and a half and who have earned their way to a midsenior level and are now producing really good work.”

While General Post continues to grow its crew offering, Galliard says the company remains focused on delivering quality service to its range of clients.

“People phone us for recommendations, not just a list of names. We deal with people and so it’s important for us to maintain good working relationships with both our clients and our creatives. This means going above and beyond what is required by overseeing crew schedules to make sure there are no conflicts, attending to enquiries as quickly as we can, negotiating fair rates for our crew and similarly being open and flexible to a range of budgets. We do a lot more than just book someone and invoice for them,” she explains.

Along with a host of post-production personnel, General Post also represents a number of writers, directors, ENG cameramen (including a selection that can shoot as well as edit), production co-ordinators, researchers and producers.

May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 33

POST-PRODUCTION

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ADVERTORIAL

Sasani embraces tapeless workflow Tape-based workflows are rapidly becoming obsolete and broadcasters and production houses are beginning to embrace various tapeless solutions. The post-production department at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg is one such company, now making full use of a tapeless system that operates in a shared environment, making a project simultaneously accessible to several editors and other post-production operatives at once.

These systems offer instant solutions to the many bottlenecks, communication breakdowns, hold-ups and back-and-

TAPELESS ENVIRONMENT: On the set of Rhythm City at Sasani Studios forth movements that had long been accepted as necessary evils in postproduction. The material is instantaneously available to multiple users from various locations.

Sasani plays host to a large number of South Africa’s most popular soap operas, including Scandal, Isidingo, 7de Laan Skeem Saam and Rhythm City. The workflow on these shows essentially fuses

production and post-production with a direct-to-server recording system. As scenes are shot, they go straight into Sasani’s central server, where editors can access them immediately. By cutting out onset data wrangling and digitisation, this removes two steps in the process that are notorious for being points of breakdown and error. Sasani also has the capacity for multi-format ingest, working primarily

Orchestra Blue celebrates 25 years This year marks the 25th anniversary for Orchestra Blue, a Johannesburg based post-production facility run by founder Graham Smith. While the company has adapted to a number of changes in the production sector since its establishment in 1990, one thing has remained consistent: a commitment to delivering more than what is expected.

“We’ve always wanted to offer our

A COMMITMENT TO DELIVERY: Orchestra Blue’s offices in Blairegowrie, Johannesburg clients something different. We wanted provide a totally professional service but above all, we wanted to have fun doing it.

As luck would have it the clients we attracted wanted the same thing and so

began two and a half decades of unexpected, professional fun,” comments Smith.

Orchestra Blue strives to create a stress free environment for both its clients and

with the DNXHD120 codec.

This tapeless workflow extends to final delivery as well, eliminating all requirements for tapes and drives and allowing for direct digital delivery of finished products to broadcasters.

In addition to the post-production services Sasani provides to the soaps being shot on site, the facility also caters to a number of external clients, such as e.tv’s eKasi Stories and the Nigerian series Tinsel. Its new studio is set to be up and running in June and the post-production and technical solutions will be extended and tailored to suit the new facility.

Sasani also recently started a skills development programme in which 11 learners have thus far been enrolled. “We are very excited about this particular group of learners as they already look set to take on the industry. I feel sure that some of them will be industry leaders in the future,” says Sasani CEO Eileen Sandrock.

Sasani operates Avid and FCP in its edit suites, making use of Adobe’s graphics and effects packages.

editors, which according to Smith is absolutely essential in the delivery of creative excellence. In addition, the company offers its clients offline edits which closely resemble the final online stage. By taking this approach, Orchestra Blue is able to streamline the post process, identify potential problem areas and avoid nasty online and audio ‘surprises’; as well as present costeffective solutions to brilliant but budget challenged boards through the use of new technology.

“The bottom line is that it is easy to be committed when you have the incredible clients we have had trusting us with their work over the years. Orchestra Blue has also been blessed with some of South Africa’s best editors, FX artists, IT geniuses and producers, each one adding something special to help create who we are today,” Smith concludes.

The Upstairs Ludus – changing the status quo The Upstairs Ludus is a full postproduction facility that re-imagines what the industry needs in an unconventional and innovative space. Its mantra is to create content of an exceptional quality and offer clients service they won’t experience anywhere else.

It also strives to offer clients a more social experience, where work meets life, which is why the facility is so bravely unconventional in design and layout.

Custom built-in furniture is designed to work with clients, instead of the traditional setup of the operator driving a room of people that sit in the dark behind him.

Conventional facilities are too committed to these old ways and cannot manoeuver away from the titanic models that they have built. It is simply too costly 34 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

CREATING EXCEPTIONAL QUALITY: The reception area at The Upstairs Ludus to keep these dying models alive. The status quo must change!

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more

productive than energy devoted to patching leaks” – Warren Buffett.

Unlike in Cape Town, there appears to be no move to adapt business models in Johannesburg. This, and the fact that

Johannesburg occupies a unique position as the Gateway to Africa, means the time is right to re-imagine the conventional model and create a new post-production space in the city.

With a wealth of seasoned talent already in their Cape Town arsenal, they’re now investing heavily in fresh talent. These young operators are hungry for success and aren’t stuck in this traditional mindset. At The Upstairs Ludus, experience and wisdom meets energy and youth in one exciting, dynamic, powerful force.

Therefore The Ludus offers an exciting opportunity to think outside of the box together. Simply tweaking the way they do things will not guarantee survival!

Tweaking is not good enough – we need to re-imagine it.

POST-PRODUCTION

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ADVERTORIAL

Refinery streamlines post-production workflows “On set, decisions are made minute by minute,” says Refinery Post Production’s creative director Eugen Olsen. “In post-production, however, the decisions have gone from every minute to every couple of days. Sometimes those decisions mean that a couple of days’ work gets lost. A director may come in and scrap something an artist has been working on for a while. So I ask how do we make sure we are making decisions as efficiently as possible throughout the process so that there is no unnecessary wrangling around an idea before it gets birthed into what the director wants?”

To answer that question, the Refinery is integrating systems like the Foundry’s Nuke Studio into their pipeline, to create an accessible, easy-to-use workflow that obviates these ‘false starts’ in the post-production process by enabling faster turnaround and fast, interactive decisions on projects with several creatives working it at once.

Post-production is a process consisting of several changeover points, where a project is handed from one artist to another – offline to online to final mix with VFX and titling going on simultaneously.

Each point requires its own feedback and sign-off, and communication between the

ACCESSIBLE, EASY-TO-USE WORKFLOW: Refinery Post Production’s office in Bryanston, Johannesburg various points may not always be as timely as it should. Nuke Studio, which the Foundry introduced to the industry at NAB last year, works to counter these breakdowns. The management system makes the entire timeline, with all current changes available for viewing at any point throughout the workflow. If a director views the piece and makes a change, that

change ripples to all other operators currently working on the project so that everyone is kept up to date.

“One bottleneck we always have is grading,” Olsen explains. “We have to decide whether to do a pre-grade before starting composite work. The director may sign off the pre-grade but then he comes in and watches the same

info@refinery.co.za | www.refinery.co.za | +27 11 799 7800 On-set dailies . Digital dailies . Cutting rooms . VFX. Colour grading . On-line Dolby accredited sound studios . Mastering . Deliveries – theatrical, broadcast & digital

36 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

sequence with effects added and the grade no longer works in context, so we have to send it back for a re-grade before continuing. The more back and forth like that you have, the more cumbersome the process becomes.

With the Baselight plug-in for Nuke and Avid, the colourists can do their grade and then attach it to the source footage as a work in progress. That means that directors and other people working on the project can watch the grade as it progresses alongside the rest of the project. So grade changes can happen all along the process without having to go in and out of the Baselight and holding up the process every time. Then the final render only happens right at the end when the director signs it off.

This saves a lot of time and streamlines the process.”

With the implementation of this workflow management system, Refinery smooths out a lot of the kinks in the post-production line, ensuring that limited and expensive time in post is used more efficiently.

Refinery Post Production is based in Bryanston, Johannesburg. For more information, contact 011 799 7800.

www.nfvf.co.za

@filmfound

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South African filmmaking is coming into its own.

Stories so compelling you can’t look away.

Talent that delivers on an international level.

All headed to Cannes as we take homegrown cinema from our streets to the world.

#Fromourstreets

POST-PRODUCTION

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ADVERTORIAL

A renewed focus for FiX post production Since its beginnings as a division of the Film Factory and later a highly successful independent post house, FiX post production has positioned itself as a force to be reckoned with in the local industry.

In the past few years the company has grown to such an extent that in order to maintain its steadfast trajectory, owner CA van Aswegen would need to captain the business and relinquish his role as an editor. After contending with the decision for months van Aswegen took an unconventional path – one which he set off on 12 years ago as a passionate filmmaker.

“I went to film school because I love making films. I didn’t go to film school because I wanted to run a company that is involved in making films. I much prefer to be hands on and in the edit suite. So I went through a major restructuring and refocusing of the company, to the point where I cut out all corporate clients and any additional work that wasn’t long form narrative.”

By scaling down staff, equipment and facilities Van Aswegen says he can stay committed to his craft and put his energy towards the kind of projects that he loves: movies, documentaries and television series. “When you are in a certain office space and have to hit certain targets you start pricing yourself out of certain markets, like documentaries, for example.

I love documentaries and I miss them when I don’t get to work on them,” he says. With restored energy and a clearer sense of creative direction, Van Aswegen strives to become a specialist in the field of feature films.

COMMITTED TO CRAFT: CA van Aswegen

Deepend Post has a new home

CREATIVITY ABOUT SPACE: One of the client reception areas at Deepend Post Production’s new facility Deepend Post Production, based in Bryanston, Johannesburg, recently moved into new premises. Their new home has really given the postproduction house considerable breathing space, in contrast to the building they previously shared with several other post houses.

Paulene Abrey, Deepend producer says: “Creativity is always about space; we had been at no 12 for a while and needed a new place to grow into, so the shift to number 17 was a natural one. The creative energy is good here and we look forward to growing the Deepend brand in our new space. We believe that, with the growth of the brand, a bigger space was necessary to accommodate our editors and clients.”

Deepend offers the full range of services to be expected from an up-to-date post-production house: offline editing in Avid, Final Cut Pro and 38 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Lightworks. The new office provides large and comfortable workspaces for both producers and creatives, which also translates into a better experience for the client. Abrey adds that, while the new building offers a great working area, Deepend has built its established brand, not on its equipment and workspace, but on its creative talent and relationships with clients. This emphasis has not changed.

In addition to long-serving editors like Marcelle Mouton and Melanie Jankes Golden – both of whom are continually putting out commercials, films and documentaries of very high quality – Deepend has also nurtured junior editors Nick Gishen and Caroline Anthony. A new editor, Mmapula Letsoalo, also recently joined the team. Letsoalo has vast experience in longform andis looking forward to applying her story telling skills to commercials as well “Editing is a

creative experience and process. It’s all in the storytelling and execution and the relationships,” says Abrey. “Our editors are hand-picked because a great editor is such a rare find. They are like hidden gems in the sense that as they mature in their wisdom of the craft they bring with them experiences that can relate to the projects at hand – whether film, doccie or

TV commercial.”

Deepend can also assist in quoting for freelance editors William Kalmer, Melissa Parry and Jo Gibbon.

For more information, visit www.deependpost.com or contact (+27) 011 100 1806/7/9 – luaan@deependpost.com / paulene@deependpost.com.

G N I T EDI ON THE E G D E UTIONS ING SOL IT D E E NDON CREATIV WN / LO D O N T E E P H A HIG URG / C JOHANN

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09 1807 / 18 0 1806 / 10 11 0 7 2 anston + .com Drive Bry pendpost m 17 Moray aan@dee deependpost.co lu r: ce u ng - Prod paulene@ Luaan Ho rey - Producer: Ab Paulene .com pendpost e e www.d

Deepend_Screenafrica April 2015 Print.indd 1

2015/04/24 13:39

TRAINING & EDUCATION

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Founding the An industry is only as strong as the collective powers of its future participants and an effective training and education infrastructure is therefore vital to its growth. Screen Africa canvassed a handful of South Africa’s many film and television training institutions in an attempt to gauge the current status of this important, sometimes overlooked sector.

A

mong the respondents to a broad-based questionnaire on training and education were Natalie Delport, managing director of Sabido eAcademy; Kershnee Govender, corporate affairs director at pay-TV broadcaster M-Net, whose training initiative, Magic in Motion, launched this year; Garth Holmes, co-founder and chairman of the South African School of Motion Picture and Live Performance (AFDA); Bryce Hepburn, Head of Department: Film Production at SAE Institute South Africa; and Dr Tanja Sakota-Kokot, HOD: Film and Television at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Arts. Their responses represent an array of training types, philosophies and methodologies. They were asked a number of questions on various topics within the training and education sector.

Due to space constraints, only a small sample of their responses are included here. The full individual interviews are available at www.screenafrica.com under the Training and Courses category.

The needs of the industry First of all, what are the primary needs that the institutions see in the industry and how do they set out to fill these?

M-Net’s Magic in Motion initiative is essentially an internship and on-the-job 40 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

future

training programme that places ten top achievers from various tertiary institutions into positions in the industry for a 12-month period. Govender says: “Like most industries in South Africa, there is always a need for new talent. At M-Net we believe it is our obligation to create a bridging platform for new blood to transition from academic institutions to the working world.”

Sakota-Kokot had this to say: “The most important gap is to create independent-thinking and creative filmmakers who are able to challenge and redefine the new and emerging film culture. We believe this meaningful engagement can only be achieved by producing graduates who have strong grounding in both intellectual and practical education.”

Curricula and teaching methodology How do teaching material and methods change to suit the needs and developments in the industry?

“Filmmaking and television are relatively new industries and the majority of specialised arts institutions that teach filmmaking, television and media have traditionally employed progressive approaches to teaching and training – compared to the more traditional approaches of universities,” Holmes says.

“AFDA has developed a blended learning and assessment approach that utilises a number of progressive pedagogic methods including socialized learning, integrated vocational learning, outcomesbased learning and market-related learning.”

“Wits has recently restructured its entire curricula for the Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television and has focused on providing a professional four-year degree which offers a comprehensive foundational programme in both practical and theoretical applications of visual storytelling and image creation,” says Sakota-Kokot.

For Delport, an important aspect of modern training in South Africa arises from the understanding that transformation in the industry still has a long way to go, even 21 years after democracy. In order to aid this transformation, it is not enough to teach technical skills. Many students also require a ‘reprogramming’ in the way they think and communicate. “A large part of a student’s success is in their mindset. It’s important, not only what you say but how you say it in order to get the best out of

yourself and others. So in addition to providing all the technical knowledge, we are very careful about how we instruct students and the attitudes we encourage them to take to their own worth and that of others. Sabido eAcademy is therefore looking to introduce neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) into our material and methods,” Delport explains.

The purpose of training Theory, practice, history and innovation – all of these should play a part in a well-rounded training programme. Also, while we must acknowledge that not everyone is a director, production designer or DOP – the industry needs grips, gaffers, loggers and digitisers too – a basic understanding of narrative and aesthetic theory can only be beneficial, regardless of your place in the production team.

The big question is: what is the purpose of training? What are these institutions ultimately aiming to do with their training programmes and what kinds of graduates are they aiming to turn out?

Does the completion of these programmes have a measurable effect on graduates’ employment possibilities? Is the emphasis on making them employable or on preparing them to be entrepreneurs who can help grow the industry?

“Our programmes are beneficial to freelancers and entrepreneurs as they marry the art and science of filmmaking with the business savvy required for a sustainable career in this very competitive industry. Our institutional culture focuses as much on being an astute and humble professional as it does on narrative and the technical aspects of production,” says Hepburn.

“AFDA has an incredible pull-through of students into the industry at all levels in the sector and its associated sectors.

Essentially, AFDA graduates are trained to be entrepreneurs, to be responsible for their own careers, to optimise the large national network of AFDA graduates countrywide, to create their own work, companies and services.”

Sakota-Kokot says: “Wits produces graduates that have multiple career opportunities open to them. Students are exposed to cinematography, editing, visual effects, screenwriting, design and directing. Others may choose to continue their academic studies and move into associated fields of research. This is the marked and significant difference of a film programme couched in a university

degree, which makes it obligatory for students to take other liberal arts or social science courses… It allows for students to come out of our programme well-versed in the world of ideas; to understand the historical and political significance of its cultural consciousness.”

Industry input and support So what should the industry be doing to support training and education? These graduates, after all, are the people who will wrangle your data, edit or shoot your films, light your scene, pull focus on that next tracking shot or possibly even be charged with bringing your longcherished script to the screen.

“It would increase the efficacy of training if the culture of internships were to become more widespread in the local industry,” says Sakota-Kokot. “Industry could also get more involved with students by creating products and service knowledge, offering talks, presentations and sponsorships.”

“Training providers need constant feedback from the industry regarding the skills that they require. In addition, the training institutions need to be aware of the attitudes the employers are seeking in new graduates,” Hepburn says.

Delport takes it one step further, throwing down the gauntlet to an industry that is often peppered with complaints about the scarcity of skills. “I challenge those companies and individuals that are unhappy with the level of skills and education in the industry to ask themselves what they are doing to help remedy the situation. We can provide tools and knowledge to students but that will only go so far without the willingness of people established in the industry to transfer their experience and skills.” – Warren Holden This is a massive subject and the numbers of people qualified to comment is equally large. We have no way of including everyone’s point of view here, nor can we even include the full comments of those people and institutions we have featured – which is regrettable. However, Screen Africa invites discussion and is happy to facilitate it. We therefore invite the industry to air their views on the subject on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/screenafrica) and Twitter account (@ScreenAfrica). Let us know your thoughts with the hashtag #SCAFTraining.

NEW MEDIA

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APP-titude

We take a look at the apps which are simplifying workflows in pre-, post- and production.

FiLMiC Pro Publisher: Cinegenix, LLC Compatible devices: iOS Price: US$7.99

How it works: Filmic Pro is the most popular video recording app for iPhone filmmakers. It features a simple user interface with focus, exposure and white balance locks as well as an LED light switch. Users are able to set resolution and FPS as well as activate an audio meter and adjust settings for advanced encoding.

When shooting with a mobile phone it is important to note that filmmakers may require additional lighting and external audio recording devices.

Why this is awesome: Mobile cinematography is revolutionising content creation in that it allows filmmakers to produce videos on much lower production budgets and offers innovative tools with which to do so. For an indie filmmaker, being able to capture stories on the go without a kit of bulky and expensive film equipment can even the playing field. A number of accessories have already been developed to serve this growing production medium including mounts, stabilisers, lens adaptors and microphones.

Movie Magic Scheduling To Go Publisher: Entertainment Partners Compatible devices: iPad only Price: Free

How it works: The Movie Magic Scheduling To Go app is complementary to the Movie Magic Scheduling 5 and 6 desktop applications. The platform allows users to import, view, create and make changes to a kind of digital strip board while on set. Users can move strips around or into the Boneyard; adjust daybreaks and banners as well as detect scheduling conflicts with red flags.

Why this is awesome: The breakdown of a script and its translation as a strip board offers filmmakers an overall view of all the scene elements. This allows for efficient and economical scene arrangement and ordering during production – a tough but vital task that assists in getting the film finished on time and within budget. By having access to an app which reflects these changes and corrections in real-time, filmmakers have an advantage in planning their time on locations and the order of shooting which is most effective.

Using a filmmaking app you think we should know about? Tell us why you think it’s awesome by emailing: carly@screenafrica.com.

42 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Box Office

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Figures supplied by SAFACT

Only the brave will survive at the local box office Run All Night

Avengers: Age of Ultron Walt Disney’s Marvel Avengers: Age of Ultron is this month’s biggest box office earner, not just locally but internationally too! Featuring a winning cast starring Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth to name a few, director Joss Whedon’s smash hit garnered a whopping R12 340 431 in its opening weekend at South African theatres.

This action-packed flick sees Liam Neeson in his characteristically fine form playing an aging hitman on a mission to protect his estranged son. While the performances are strong, critics and audiences are less than thrilled by writer Brad Ingelsby’s convoluted plot. Run All Night took a disappointing R900 921 in its second week at South African cinemas, bringing total gross national earnings to R3 120 800.

Fast & Furious 7 Home

With global earnings sitting at US$1.3 billion, director James Wan’s Furious 7 is now the fifth highest-grossing film in history. Breaking records at every turn, the hugely popular sequel, featuring the late Paul Walker brought in R4 542 771 in its fourth week at local cinemas, bringing gross national earnings to an impressive R60 199 233.

Cinderella Starring Lily James, Cate Blanchett and Helena Bonham Carter, Disney and director Kenneth Branagh’s 2015 remake of this childhood favourite fairytale has audiences and critics alike dazzled by remaining true to the story’s old-fashioned traditional charm.

The film raked in R11 391 349 nationwide in its four week run.

Veteran animation director Tim Johnson, brings this quirky DreamWorks picture to life with vibrant voiceovers by Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Parsons and Steve Martin.

Featuring the lovable alien Oh on the run from his own people, Home took R15 441 183 nationwide in its five week run.

French Toast Shot in France and South Africa, director Paul Kruger’s French Toast released at local theatres on 24 April and earned R684 425 in its opening weekend. French Toast stars Lika Berning, Theirry Ballarin, Deon Lotz and Helene Lombard. It is produced by Hartiwood Films and distributed by Times Media Films nationally.

– Compiled by Chanelle Ellaya

44 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

PRODUCTION

U PDAT ES

FOR FURTHER DETAILS VISIT www.screenafrica.com

Those productions in red are newly listed this month Production Updates Order of Information 1. Title 2. Production company 3. Director 4. Genre

IN PRODUCTION 3 TALK Urban Brew Talk Show 20 and Free X CON Films Dir: Munier Parker Documentary 50/50 Clive Morris Productions Current Affairs 53 EXTRA M-Net Inhouse Productions Dir: Navan Chetty Magazine A BROTHER’S LOVE 1300 Pictures (Pty) Ltd Dir: Elvis Nkosi Feature A CALENDAR OF EVENTS – MEDUPI & KUSILE Betta Beta Communications Prod: Tommy Doig Documentary A MAN OF HIS OWN PRINCIPALS Sekgopha Productions Prod: Buhle Mofulatsi / Thapelo Hlagala TV movie AQUELLE’ MIDMAR MILE 2015 Media Ventures Prod/Dir: Chris Moolman Documentary AFRICA 360 eNews News Head: Patrick Conroy Current affairs AFRO CAFÉ SEASON 7 Bonngoe Productions Prod: Pepsi Pokane Music ArtsCulturex Talent 1000 Championships Michics Global Communications Exec Prod: Mishack Motshweni Series Auditor General Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Brad Montgomery/Natalie Varoy Corporate BACKBONE PROJECT Global Access Creative Agency Prod: GA Creative Agency Documentary BIG BROTHER MZANSI Endemol South Africa Prod: Terja Beney, Liza Kleitman Reality BINNELAND Stark Films Prod/Dir: Friedrich / Elsje Stark Series BRAVO! Homebrew Films Prod: Jaco Loubser Magazine BONISANANI Grounded Media Talk Show Bugatti Together Lucky Fish Productions Dir: Raphaël Crombez Commercial CARTE BLANCHE (inserts) Modern Times Prod: Sophia Phirippides News Carte Blanche shorts TIA productions Prod / Dir: Tarryn Lee Crossman News CLAASENS DESIGNS MARKETING VIDEOS Panache Video Productions Prod/Dir: Liesel Eiselen Marketing videos CLASH OF THE CHOIRS Endemol South Africa Prod: Josh Feldman Talent / Reality COOL CATS Red Pepper Pictures Prod: Cecil Berry Children’s Show

CORTEX MINING FC Hamman Films Prod Man: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video COME DINE WITH ME SOUTH AFRICA Rapid Blue Prod: Kee-Leen Irvine Reality CUTTING EDGE SABC News Current Affairs Debra Deel Khaki Productions Prod/Dir: Christelle Parrott, Wynand Dreyer Series DIMENSION DATA Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Natalie Varoy Corporate DINNER DIVAS 2 Blonds and a Redhead Filming Prod: Anne Myers Series DISHONEST Inhlakanipho Films Dir: Vusi Nhlapo Feature Film Ditokelo tsa Medupi LMOL Production Dir: Lizzy Moloto Feature DIY MET RIAAN Prod: Riaan Venter-Garforth Magazine EARTH BEAT Tekweni TV Productions Prod: Sandra Herrington Series EASTERN MOSAIC Red Carpet Productions Prod: Saira Essa / Mark Corlett Magazine END GAME Fireworx Media/ Tunc Productions Prod: Bridget Pickering Dir: Akin Omotoso/ Thandie Brewer/ Thabang Moleya Feature EXPRESSO (Season 2) Cardova Prod: Paul van Deventer Series FACE OF GEMINI Footprint Media TV Prod: Cheryl Delport Series Facility Management Lectures (A4FM) Panache Video Productions Dir/ Prod: Liesel Eiselen Educational Faith Today Impact Christian Media Prod: Carl Schultz TV Series FOX NEWS CHANNEL Betta Beta Communications Prod/Dir: Tommy Doig News Free State Toursim Indaba Our Time Productions Dir: Jaun de Meillon Corporate FRENZY Red Pepper Pictures Prod: Morena Sefatsa Variety GENERATIONS Morula Pictures Prod: Mfundi Vundla Series GOOD MORNING AFRICA Planet Image Productions SA Prod/Dir: Wale Akinlabi Magazine GOSPEL GOLD Engage Entertainment Prod: Sthembile Mhlongu Music Got It Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Guy Sclanders Corporate GROEN Homebrew Films Prod: Jaco Loubser Wildlife HEAT WAVE Ruby Rocket Media Dir: Eddie Edwards TV Series HECTIC 99 Okuhle Media Prod: Wilna van Schalkwyk Magazine

HITACHI POWER AFRICA MEDUPI AND KUSILE Betta Beta Communications Prod/Dir: Tommy Doig Documentary HOUSE CALL Izwe Multimedia / Urban Brew Prod: Annalie Potgieter Talk Show IGNITE Footprint Media TV Prod: Cheryl Delport Reality IHAWU LE SISWE Provoke Entertainment Dir: Sechaba Morojele TV Series iParent training clips Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Guy Sclanders Corporate IMIZWILILI Ukhamba Productions Prod: Alfred Mpofu Music INKABA Urban Brew Studios Prod: John Kani Telenovela In search of our own Open Window school of film arts Prod: Adriaan De la Rey Documentary ISIDINGO Endemol South Africa Prod: Pumla Hoppa, Leo Phiri Soap JOBURG TAXI Xcut Studios Prod: Dave Kaminer Documentary JOU SHOW Homebrew Films Prod: Jaco Loubser Talkshow comedy KOKKEDOOR 2 Homebrew films Prod: Jaco Loubser and Paul Venter Cooking reality series KOLLIG Homebrew Films Prod: Jaco Loubser Magazine KONA The Directors Team (Pty) Ltd Prod/Dir: Laurence Lurie / Cathy Sykes Series KOOLCON CORPORATE VIDEO FiX Post Production/ Marketing AV Marketing Video LATE NITE NEWS ON E.TV Diprente Productions Prod: Tamsin Andersson Series Light Girls South African Unit White Heron Pictures Prod: Themba Sibeko Documentary LIVE Urban Brew Music LIVE LOTTO SHOW Urban Brew Game Show Mandela’s Gun DV8 films Dir: John Irvin Feature Marang Estate: Mixed Used Development Nov/ Dec Our Time Productions Dir: Jaun de Meillon Documentary MASHELENG1 LMOL Production Dir: Lizzy Moloto Feature MASHELENG 2 LMOL Production Dir: Jonny Muteba Feature MassTalk Global Access Creative Agency Prod: Brad Montgomery Corporate MATRICS UPLOADED Educational Improvement and Study Help (EISH) Prod: Lisa Blakeway Educational MOTSWAKO Carol Bouwer Productions Prod: Grant Paul Roy Talk Show MCA Training Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Guy Sclanders Corporate

Cnr. Frost avenue & owl street | Milpark | Jo’burg t +27 [11] 482 7111

M-NET SHORT FILMS Current Affairs Films Prod/ Dir: Jane Thandi Lipman Film MURDER OF A FORMER FIRST LADY Sabido Productions Dir/Prod: Catherine Rice Documentary

www.atlasstudios.co.za

MUVHANGO Word of Mouth Prod: Pieter Grobbelaar Feature MY GENERATION Current Affairs Films Dir: Jane Lipman TV Series My name is Funeka Sabido Productions Dir/Prod: Catherine Rice Documentary May 2015 | SCREENAFRICA | 45

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Contact dom@djssa.com or m@djssa.com Tel. 011 704 1572 – 011 704 4293

1464 Vragboot Steet Cnr Vooraadskip Streets Laserpark, Honeydew

UPDATES MZANSI INSIDER Bonngoe Productions Prod: Pepsi Pokane Magazine NEILL ANTHONY – THE PRIVATE CHEF Okuhle Media Prod: Grant Flynn Cooking Show NET1 – SASSA Betta Beta Communications Prod: Tommy Doig Corporate NEWS NIGHT eNews Prod: Nikiwe Bikitsha Current Affairs in Oscar Pistorius Documentary Inserts TIA Productions Dir/ Prod: Tarryn Crossman Documentary PASELLA Tswelopele Productions Dir: Liani Maasdorp / Werner Hefer Magazine PAWN STARS SOUTH AFRICA Rapid Blue Prod: Kee-Leen Irvine, Ed Worster, Johan Naude and Kat Weatherall Reality PHUNDEKA READING PROGRAMME SummerTime Productions Exec Prod: Phundeka (NGO) Documentary POWER COMBAT ZONE Mixed Motion Entertainment Dir: Dieter Gottert Sport PROJECT MV Zen Crew Prod: Laura Tarling Music Rands with Sense 2 Blonds and a Redhead Filming Prod: Anne Myersin Education RHYTHM CITY Quizzical Pictures Prod: Yula Quinn Soapie RHYTHM CITY INTERACTIVE Quizzical Pictures / e.tv Prod: Viva Liles-Wilkin Interactive Platform Media RIVONINGO Asi-B Films Prod: Asivhanzi ‘Asi’ Mathaba Children’s Show ROLLING WITH KELLY KHUMALO Red Pepper Prod: Cecil Barry Reality ROOTS Ukhamba Communications Prod: Alfred Mpofu Music SAINT AND FREEDOM FIGHTER Blue Marble Entertainment Dir: Eugene Botha Documentary SA Top Model for a Day Michics Global Communications Exec Prod: Mishack Motshweni TV Series

SUPERSWIMMER Media Ventures Prod/Dir: Chris Moolman TV Series THE CHAT ROOM Eclipse Prod: Thokozani Nkosi Talk Show THE COMMUNIST REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA Jam TV, Creative South Africa, Nkhanyeti Production Prod: Barthelemy Ngwessam Documentary THE JUSTICE FACTOR eNews Prod: Debbie Meyer Current Affairs THE REAL GOBOZA 7 Urban Brew Entertainment The Revolution Betrayed Shadow Films Prod/Dir: David Forbes Documentary THE RUDIMENTALS Periphery Films Prod: Simon Taylor Feature THE TECH REPORT Homebrew Films Prod: Jaco Loubser Technology Magazine TOP BILLING Tswelopele Productions Prod: Patience Stevens Magazine TOP TRAVEL (Season 3) Cardova Prod: Bradley van den Berg Series Transnet Financial Results Global Access Creative Agency Dir: Brad Montgomery Corporate Troopship Tragedy (working title) Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Marion Edmunds Documentary TSHIPE BORWA MANGANESE MINE Betta Beta Communications Prod / Dir: Tommy Doig Documentary Vaseline Experience Xcut Studios Dir: Lee Anne Theron 4D AV production VELDKINDERS Kilroy Was Here! Productions Prod: Gideon Breytenbach Documentary Series VILLA ROSA Spectro Productions Dir: Luhann Jansen / Andries van der Merwe/ Leroux Botha/ Isabel Smit Series Volkspele South Africa Grey Cloud Productions Dir:Jacques Brand Prod: Bertie Brink Documentary WARD 22 TIA Productions Prod/Dir: Tarryn Crossman Documentary WEEKEND AM LIVE SABC News Current Affairs WIZARD OF ZIM Away From Keyboard Dir: Samora Sekhukhune Documentary YILENGELO LAKHO Prod: Nndanganeni Mudau Current Affairs ZOOM IN Footprint Media TV Prod: Cheryl Delport Talk show

general post

IN POST-PRODUCTION

editors, animators compositors, digitisers researchers, storyboard supplying the finest artists & illustrators freelance post-production writers, directors & creative crew to the post production film and television industry supervisors, workflow consultants, broadcast designers’ producers location producers cameramen office: 0860 111 553 technical directors after hrs: 076 225 9173 content directors & bookings@generalpost.co.za production managers

www.generalpost.co.za 46 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

SAKEGESPREK MET THEO VORSTER SEASON 5 Dirk Mostert Camera Production Prod/ Dir: Dirk Mostert Series SAUBA IMAGOFILM Prod: Tam de Vries Reality TV Series Shreds and Dreams Penguin Films Prod: Roberta Durrant TV Series SOUTH AFRICAN TOURISM Rapid Blue Prod: Kee-Leen Irvine Global TV Commercial SA’S GOT TALENT Rapid Blue Prod/Dir: Kee-Leen Irvine Talent show SCANDAL Ochre Moving Pictures Prod: Romano Gorlei Soapie SCHOEMAN BOERDERY – MOOSRIVIER Khaki Productions Prod/Dir: Christelle Parrott / Wynand Dreyer Documentary SELIMATHUNZI Sikhoyana Productions Prod: Baby Joe Correira Variety SHIZ NIZ Red Pepper Pictures Prod: Allen Makhubele Variety SHIFT Urban Brew Talk show SISTERHOOD Red Pepper Pictures Prod: Andy Leze Variety SIYAKHOLWA – WE BELIEVE X CON Films Dir: Munier Parker Edutainment Slender Wonder Doctors Conference Grey Cloud Productions Dir: Jacques Brand Prod: Slender Wonder Corporate Video Slender Wonder Patient Testimonial Videos Grey Cloud Productions Dir: Jacques Brand Corporate Videos SOCCER ZONE SABC Sports Head: Sizwe Nzimande Magazine SODA AND Mayoral Awards Global Access Creative Agency Guy Sclanders Corporate SPRINGBOK STORIES Angel Music Studio Productions Dir: Chrissie Rossouw TV Series STUDY MATE Educational Improvement and Study Help (EISH) Exec Prod: Lisa Blakeway Educational

A BUSHMAN ODYSSEY Onetime Films Prod: Richard Wicksteed Documentary A DIFFERENT COUNTRY Sabido Productions Dir: Lisa Henry Documentary series A Love Letter to Luxor Shadow Films Prod/Dir: David Forbes Short Film A MOTHER’S MADNESS Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Ayesha Ismail Documentary AFROX CO2 PLANT FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video

PRODUCTION AFROX FINANCIAL RESULTS FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video AFROX RAU INSIGHT FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video AFROX SHEQ INDUCTION FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Commercial CAESAREAN COMPLICATIONS SummerTime Productions Exec Prod: Professor Eckhart Buchmann Documentary Challenge SOS 2 Blonds and a Redhead Filming Prod: Anne Myers Reality Collide Media Village Productions Prod: Ardeen Munnik TV Series CROSSBOW KILLER Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Barbara Friedman Documentary DEBRA DEEL Khaki Productions Prod: Christelle Parrott TV Series DIE WASGOEDLYN Kilroy Was Here! Productions Prod: Gideon Breytenbach TV Series FASHION GURU SA Pro Media & Spider – Co Productions Prod/Dir: Dee Vanzyl Reality FORMIDABELE VROUE: CISSY GOOL Khaki Productions Prod/Dir: Christelle Parrott/ Wynand Dreyer Documentary HAD BETTER DAYS Uniquely Novel Productions Prod/Dir: Deon VD Merwe Feature Film THE HOCKEY STICK KILLER Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Melanie Rice Documentary HOPE NHU Africa Prod: Vyv Simson / Donfrey Meyer Documentary HOUSE OF ENCOURAGEMENT Panache Video Productions Dir/Prod: Liesel Eiselen Corporate I AM…CRAIG Away From Keyboard Dir: Samora Sekhukhune Documentary IQILI Impucuzeko Prod: Sharon Kakora Feature Joyous 18 RM Recording Prod: Lindelani Mkhize Other JULIUS HAS A DREAM Creative South Africa, Nkanyethi Productions,Jam TV Prod: Bathelemy Ngwessam Documentary KADARA Media Navigation Prod: Dan Akinlolu/ Biola Karonwi TV Drama

Kerels wat Kook Penguin Films Prod: Roberta Durrant Reality TV Series KNYSNA West Five Films Prod/ Dir: Maynard Kraak; Andre Velts Feature Film LINCOLN CLAN Total Recall Media Ltd Dir: Adebanjo Oluseyi TV Series THE MIME ARTIST Phoenix TV Productions Prod: Koketso Sefanyetso Short Film MURDER ON MILLIONAIRE’S MILE Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Barbara Friedman Documentary NIGHT OF THE MASSACRE Tshepo Lesedi Projects, Mathope & Izibuko Films Dir: Charles Khuele Documentary NEW LAND Plexus Films/ Four Corners Media Dir: Kyle O’ Donoghue TV Series NIGHTCLUB KILLER Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Nobathembu Stefane Documentary Nyaope Gangsters LMOL Production Dir: Lizzy Moloto Feature PERFECT SHISHEBO Quizzical Pictures Prod: Nthabiseng Mokoena Series PLAY MORE GOLF FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Commercials Pushi- Passion LMOL Production Dir: Lizzy Moloto Series ROSA 3 Two Oceans Productions Prod: Giselher Venzke & Bertha Spieker TV Feature SAFE BET Sukuma Media Producer: Nokuthula Sakhile Mguni / Bonginhlanhla Ncube Feature Film SAMURAI KILLER Sabido Productions Dir: Catherine Rice Corporate SHALLOW GRAVE Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Meggan Raubenheimer Documentary SLENDER WONDER FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video SLENDER WONDER MJ LABS FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video SWARTWATER Quizzical Pictures Prod: Bianca Isaac Dir: John Trengove/ Jozua Malherbe/ Denny Y Miller Series SUPERDAD Two Oceans Productions Prod: Giselher Venzke & Bertha Spieker TV Feature

SURVIVOR Endemol South Africa Prod: Anton Burggraaf, Josh Feldman Reality TELKOM: BUSINESS INSIGHTS WEBSERIES UZI Films Prod/Dir: Steven Hall Corporate The calling LMOL Production Dir: Lizzy Moloto Feature THE CODE BREAKER NHU Africa Prod: Vyv Simson / Donfrey Meyer Documentary THE FAMILY PUZZLE Site et Sons media productions Prod/Dir : Zamo Missie Feature THE LAST GREAT TUSKERS NHU Africa Prod: Vyv Simson / Donfrey Meyer Documentary The Message Reel Edge Studios Dir: David Golden TV Drama Series THE STORY OF LITTLE FOOT Paul Myburgh Film Prod: Paul Myburgh Documentary THE TRANSPORTERS Sukuma Media/ Reality Motion Pictures Dir: Bonginhlanhla Ncube Documentary TROOPSHIP TRAGEDY Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Marion Edmunds Documentary Traffic Penguin Films Prod: Roberta Durrant TV Series UNDER THE MOUNTAIN Plexus Films Prod: Miki Redelinghuys,/ Lauren Groenewald Short film UNSOLVED – THE STORY OF THE CAPE RIPPER Sabido Productions Prod/Dir: Johann Abrahams Documentary VKB LANDBOU BEPERK FC Hamman Films Prod: Odette van Jaarsveld Corporate Video When I Was Water Shadow Films Dir: David Forbes Documentary XJ-1 Eternal Film Productions Prod: Marius Swanepoel/ Dana Pretorius Feature You Deserve It Penguin Films Prod: Roberta Durrant TV Game Show

Screen Africa relies on the accuracy of information received and cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur.

E-mail production updates to: online@screenafrica.com

U PDAT ES

UPCOMING EVENTS

|

JUNE 2 – 4 DISCOP Africa Express

Ivory Coast www.discopafrica.com

2 – 5 Broadcast Asia

Singapore www.broadcast-asia.com

4 – 14 Encounters Documentary

Film Festival

Johannesburg, Cape Town www.encounters.co.za

17 – 19

Convergence Africa World

19 – 20

Cannes Lions Health

21 – 27

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

25 – 26

Cannes Lions Innovation

Nairobi www.convergenceafricaworld.com France www.canneslions.com/lions_health France www.canneslions.com France www.canneslions.com

JULY 2 – 5 INDEPENDENT MZANSI

SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

Pretoria www.imsff.co.za

15 – 17 MediaTech Africa

Johannesburg www.mediatech.co.za

16 – 26 Durban International Film Festival

Durban www.durbanfilmfest.co.za

18 – 26 Zanzibar International Film Festival

Tanzania www.ziff.or.tz

30 – 16 Aug Melbourne International

Film Festival

Australia www.miff.com.au

Unit C5 RobeRtville Mini FaCtoRies 255 nadine stReet RobeRtville RoodepooRt 1709

Custom Music, Licensing & Sound Design for Film • TV • Documentary • Online • Gaming

STUDIOS

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF AWARD WINNING MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN

SOUTH AFRICA’S PREMIER DOLBY DIGITAL CERTIFIED AUDIO POST PRODUCTION & SOUND DESIGN STUDIO

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+27 (0) 11 361 3020

Social

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21 Icons Season II launch

Ahmed Kathrada (21 ICONS Season I) and Anant Singh (21 ICONS Season II)

Peter Magubane (21 ICONS Season II) and George Bizos (21 ICONS Season I)

Vina Naidoo and Firdoaz Hossain (Momentum Asset Management, sponsor of 21 ICONS Season II)

Somer Son premiere

Pops Mohamed and Jen Su

Bok van Blerk and Hanna Grobler

Miss Earth Ilze Saunders

Jan Lourens Van Der Merwe (assistant director & editor) and Clinton Lubbe (director and producer)

Juanita Velts Pops Mohamed, Kitty Phetla (21 ICONS Season II) and Swati Dlamini

Mia O’Kennedy and partner

48 | SCREENAFRICA | May 2015

Stefan Vermaak and partner

Selvin Govender (Mercedes-Benz South Africa), Pops Mohamed, Anant Singh and Miles Bhana (MercedesBenz South Africa, sponsor of the 21 ICONS project)

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