Screen Africa November / December 2018 by Sun Circle Publishers

BROADCAST, FILM, TV, COMMERCIALS, NEW MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY NEWS

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O V E R 1 2 , 0 0 0 U F O SI G HTI N G S. 1 G OV E R N M E N T C OVE R - UP.

AIDAN GILLEN

GAME OF THRONES, THE WIRE

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MICHAEL MALARKEY THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

E X E C U T I V E P R O D U C E D B Y A C A D E M Y A W A R D® W I N N E R

ROBERT ZEMECKIS

VOL 28 – Nov/Dec 2018 R38.00

IN THIS ISSUE

9 Levi Allen shoots extreme sport with latest Atomos 4K monitor/recorder

26 Behind the Headlines: Successes of the CTIFMF

38 “It’s Like You’re Really There” What could immersive technology bring to the film industry?

In Stitches: Exploring Vernacular Comedy in South Africa

NEWS |

PROFILE |

FESTIVALS & EVENTS |

IMMERSIVE REALITY |

MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy heads to Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia........ 4

Seun Babalola: A catalyst for hope and change in the presentation of Africa to the world...... 16

Behind the Headlines: Successes of the CTIFMF......................... 26

“It’s Like You’re Really There” What could immersive technology bring to the film industry?....................... 38

Joburg Film Festival returns this November................................ 5 The Recce scoops Camerimage nomination............................. 6 Turner Africa strikes partnership with Nigeria’s Greenworld Communications.. 6

TECHNOLOGY News | Canon joins Netflix’s new Post Technology Alliance............................. 8 Lusaka’s HotFM upgrades with Lawo....... 8 Levi Allen shoots extreme sport with latest Atomos 4K monitor/recorder........ 9

ADCETERA | Showcasing SA’s legacy-makers and influencing the next generation of legacy-thinkers.................. 10 Nando’s says NO to monotonous Afro-tising........................... 12

LIVE TELEVISION |

FILM | Burning Embers wins the Discovery Channel’s 2018 ‘Don’t Stop Wondering Award’.............. 18

From the Producer’s Mouth: Louise Rainbow.......................................... 28

DISCOP JOHANNESBURG |

LIGHTING EQUIPMENT & ACCESSORIES | MIXing It Up: A first look at Rosco’s new range of LED lighting solutions..... 40

In Stitches: Exploring Vernacular Comedy in South Africa........................... 20

DISCOP Johannesburg 2018: What not to miss...................................... 30

TELEVISION |

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK |

Cheeky Media’s Yusuf Stevens and Janez Vermeiren on the business of TV in South Africa................ 24

Surviving the Quiet Storm....................... 32

Broadcast Technology |

SOCIAL

ADVERTORIAL

Audio over IP, re-thinking audio delivery............................................. 34

Marketplace................................................. 44

Blacksmith Collective: the ‘Production Collective’ that’s switching up the game................... 25 Meet the founders of Blacksmith Collective........................... 25

POST-PRODUCTION | Meet the Colourist: Matthew Troughton................................... 41

REGULARS | BBC Summer Upfront.............................. 43 Upcoming Events....................................... 44

DIGITAL Delivery | Skyworth launches G6 Android TV in South Africa............... 36

Director Speak: Nina Pfeiffer ................. 14

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From the editor

Welcome to our final issue for 2018! I’m happy to report that it has been a successful year for us at Screen Africa and we hope for you, too. The African film and television industry in particular has seen positive growth this year with the Durban International Film Festival and concurrent FilmMart, the Zanzibar International Film Festival, the Jozi Film Festival and the Cape Town International Film Market & Festival all reporting fruitful 2018 editions and an increase in numbers. Still to come before we close off the year is the annual PromaxBDA Africa conference and awards, as well as DISCOP Johannesburg and the Joburg Film Festival. I have no doubt that these premier events will, as always, deliver robust discussion on key issues transforming our industries, networking and distribution opportunities, and much-needed platforms for growth. If you happen to be attending these events, please do come meet with the Screen Africa team and I - we would love to hear your feedback. In this issue, in our Adcetra section we get behind the scenes on the new Nando’s ‘Afro-tising/More South African Flavour’ spot. The much-talked-about ad was conceptualised by M&C Saatchi Abel and directed by Star Films’ Tebogo Malope. Find out why the spot has ruffled a few feathers in the South African advertising industry on pages 12 and 13. Our Film section carries an interesting and eye-opening opinion piece written by Hannah Rafkin and Meg Robbins - directors of In Stitches, a documentary on vernacular stand-up comedy in South Africa. In the article – pages 20 to 21 – Hannah and Meg explore the power of addressing your audience in their mother tongue. Other noteworthy contributions to the issue include a Q&A with Yusuf Stevens and Janez Vermeiren - managing directors of the award-winning production company Cheeky Media. Cheeky Media produces the popular television shows Real Talk with Azania, The Man Cave, The Morning Show and Winging It, to name a few. We chat to Stevens and Vermeiren – page 24 – about their journey in the South African television industry. Lara Preston provides a report back on the recent Cape Town International Film Market & Festival on pages 26 to 27, and she also touches on what not to miss at the upcoming DISCOP Johannesburg on pages 30 to 31. On the technology front, Ian Dormer covers Audio over IP on pages 34 to 35; David Cornwell presents an intriguing read – pages 38 to 39 – titled ‘What could immersive technology bring to the film industry?’; and we close out the issue with a Q&A with colourist Matthew Troughton. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all – our readers and advertisers – for your continued support. Screen Africa would not be what it is without you. Please feel free to email us regarding what we can improve on, what you would like to see more of, and where you think we are lacking altogether. We are always looking to improve where we can. Till next year. Happy holidays! – Chanelle Ellaya

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

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Editor: Chanelle Ellaya: editor@screenafrica.com Journalists: Gezzy S Sibisi: news@screenafrica.com Design: Trevor Ou Tim: design@suncirclegroup.com

Accounts: Helen Loots: accounts@sun-circle.co.za Advertisement Sales: Marianne Schafer: marianne@screenafrica.com Graham Grier: graham@sun-circle.co.za

The Team

Editor 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. 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.

JOURNALISTS

Gezzy S Sibisi is a journalist and photographer with experience in print, broadcast and digital media. Her portfolio of work includes working as a lifestyle reporter as well as contributing business and education articles to The Times, Sowetan and Daily Despatch publications. As a freelancer she has worked on content development for corporate newsletters, community newspapers, blogs and educational websites.

Lara Preston is a passionately committed marketer and strategist with a focus in promoting African content and events. Two decades of working across Africa have provided her with insights and experience that she puts to work for the projects she manages. In 2006, Lara founded, and still personally manages, Red Flag Content Relations, a full service below-the-line agency that also focuses on African entertainment and lifestyle brand marketing, strategy, and publicity.

Ian Dormer was born in Zimbabwe and has been in the TV business since the 1980s, having served in various positions at the SABC, M-Net and SuperSport. Ian currently works and resides in New Zealand.

David Cornwell writes fiction, films and features for a variety of publications. His debut novel, Like It Matters (Umuzi, 2016), has been long-listed for the 2017 Sunday Times Fiction Award.

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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. Nov/Dec 2018

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At the launch of the MTF Academy in Zambia

MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy heads to Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia Earlier this year, MultiChoice Africa launched a call to all aspiring African film directors, DOPs, sound professionals, and scriptwriters. Those selected would get the opportunity to hone their craft in a year-long, funded programme supported by the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF).

“T

he film and television industry has not developed at the same rate as other industries on the continent, and not for a lack of talent, passion or imagination. It is true that we are abundantly blessed in these areas, however the space given for this expression has at best been limited and at worst been relegated to the fringes of the mainstream economy, leaving in its wake unfulfilled dreams, unexplored talent and unwritten stories,” shares MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy director, Cheryl Uys-Allie. In an effort to change this and to unlock the true potential of Africa’s creative industries, MultiChoice Africa has launched a pan-African initiative that will provide important training and on-thejob placements for young African

creatives. The initiative was launched on 30 May 2018 with a call for applications for the MTF Academies based in Kenya for East Africa, Nigeria for West Africa and Zambia for Southern African countries. MultiChoice went on to launch the three regional academies in these countries from 8 to 10 October this year. MTF Academy director for West Africa, Femi Odugbemi, comments: “We need interventions like the MTF so that emerging filmmakers are better equipped in the creative processes that have scholarship and technology at their foundation. We must consciously build capacity so that our next-generation filmmakers and producers can also create wealth and create employment by being entrepreneurs as well.”

During the launch of the MTF Academy in Kenya – held at the MultiChoice Kenya headquarters in Nairobi – Information and Communication cabinet secretary, Joseph Mucheru, praised the initiative, saying: “I am thankful to MultiChoice for the immense investment they are putting into making sure that we have the right skills being developed and these will be useful for television, film and other industries. “This will go a long way in ensuring that jobs are being created. I hope the class of 2018 will be an inspiration to future generations who aspire to be in this industry,” added Mucheru. The final applicants were chosen through a shortlisting process which resulted in 60 students selected to participate in the 12-month training programme. The MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy is aimed at young people who do not have tertiary-level education. Courses at the academy are taught by local industry experts in partnership with recognised institutions to ensure the credibility and professionalism of the qualification. The year-long programme will culminate in a graduation event. Pan-Atlantic University in Nigeria, Jomo Kenyatta University in Kenya and the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication (ZAMCOM) are the three learning institutions that have partnered with the initiative. Classes began in October with two weeks of orientation and formal training is now underway. During the 12-month training programme, students will:

“The key to the longevity of our culture, industry and storytelling traditions, lies in the opportunities we create for established creative professionals to exercise their craft while simultaneously mentoring the next generation. The MultiChoice Talent Factory is a critical link to realising this dream.

”

– Maharage Chande

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• study cinematography theory and the practice of film; • undertake practical application of learnt practices in cinematography; • embark on internships with production houses that have productions running on the M-Net and DStv platforms; • be given the opportunity to pitch a production idea to leaders within the industry; • produce a high quality long-format television production. “In addition to the training, the MultiChoice Talent Factory students will produce two one-hour films for broadcast on our local M-Net channels. By the time they leave our academies, our students can see their names rolling across the closing credits on screen! This is a truly life-changing opportunity,” explains Uys-Allie. Apart from the training initiative, the MultiChoice Talent Factory will host masterclasses aimed at industry professionals. Furthermore, the MultiChoice Talent Factory Portal will go live in mid-February 2019. The portal is an online platform that will act as a one-stop shop for work, people and content regarding the African film and television industry. The portal will also include a networking section for people within the industry to sign up and market themselves and their works to an African and global audience. Maharage Chande, the Northern Region director at MultiChoice Africa, concludes: “The key to the longevity of our culture, industry and storytelling traditions, lies in the opportunities we create for established creative professionals to exercise their craft while simultaneously mentoring the next generation. The MultiChoice Talent Factory is a critical link to realising this dream. It is through this lens that we celebrate our investment in the development of future creative leaders, the local economy and reverence for the art of storytelling in the African tradition – truly giving agency to the MultiChoice vision of enriching lives.” – Gezzy S Sibisi

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Joburg Film Festival returns this November

Enable Media, with support from DISCOP Africa, has announced the second annual Joburg Film Festival. With 40 curated releases from 16 countries showcasing the best in African and international cinema at various venues around the metropolis, movie stars, directors, producers and other entertainment industry leaders will come together in this celebration of film.

aking place from Friday, 9 November to Sunday, 18 November 2018, the Joburg Film Festival has once again partnered with the internationally-renowned DISCOP Film and Television market – running concurrently with the festival – to offer an exciting networking opportunity for over 2 000 creatives and business professionals from around the world. The festival again received support

from South Africa’s Department of Arts and Culture in the organisation of the event. “As part of the Department’s commitment to deliver on its strategic objective to support market access platforms towards the growth of the local film industry, DISCOP Africa and the Joburg Film Festival are key in not only creating an environment for commercial growth, but celebrating South African film content and that of the entire African diaspora as a whole. With this continued support into local arts and culture, the Department of Arts and Culture is pleased to be a part of these platforms again this year,” says senior manager of Cultural Development, Lindiwe Ndebele-Koka. She adds that “the festival will also offer aspiring young filmmakers the opportunity to come together for this showcase of African excellence and further cultivate their hunger to make great films.” Screenings will take place at Rosebank Cinema Nouveau and Maponya Mall, as well as other cinemas still to be announced. In addition, there will be screenings in various community spaces, including the iconic Kings venue in Alexandra. The full schedule will include local and international feature films, documentaries, animation features, various outreach screenings, exclusive premiere events and private parties. Additionally, various dialogues with key

industry leaders and stakeholders – pertaining to Africa’s burgeoning cinema landscape – are set to take place over the festival period. The curators of the Joburg Film Festival, Mozambican filmmaker Pedro Pimenta and his team, have selected 40 releases from various countries. “We are very excited to bring an exceptionally curated selection of 40 films to the Joburg Film Festival this year. Each film reflects a part of the kaleidoscope that is African and diasporic cinema in conversation with films from Europe, America, Latin America and the Middle East . “The documentary, fiction and animation films to be showcased through the festival share in their curational vision the need to connect with audiences. It is very concerning to realise that a vibrant industry like the one in South Africa is suffering from a disconnection with its vast audience. The Joburg Film Festival aims to address this imbalance, as we believe the ultimate raison d’être of films is to reach and impact audiences.” Films selected to screen include the premieres of the documentary Dying for Gold by Catherine Meyburgh and Richard Pakleppa; Matwetwe by Kagiso Lediga; as well as animations like Funan and Frutitoons, a 90-minute feature film. The festival will also be showing the Kenyan film, Rafiki, which made history this past May, becoming the first Kenyan movie to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Also confirmed for the programme is the documentary Everything Must Fall by Rehad Desai and Anita Khanna, which casts an unflinching eye over the Fees Must Fall movement in South Africa, taking us into its very core. The acclaimed experimental film M, by Finnish filmmaker Anna Erickson, engages with different social eras and reflects on shifting gender and power relations through the guise of Marilyn Monroe. Both filmmakers will be in attendance at the festival and will engage in a Q&A session with audiences on select dates. Festival director Angie Mills comments: “The Joburg Film Festival is a rich opportunity for South African audiences to reclaim African cinema, as well as experience the cinema of the world. The Joburg Film Festival proudly offers to audiences films that they would not otherwise have the occasion to see. The films chosen for this year’s festival speak to the central and unforgettable role cinema plays in our lives, of telling compelling stories that connect us as people to one another.” The Joburg Film Festival is made possible with the support of key sponsors and partners, including the Department of Arts and Culture and the National Film & Video Foundation. Industry supporters include the Gauteng Tourism Authority, Gauteng Film Commission, the National Broadcast Institute, Gallery MOMO and DISCOP Africa. – Melanie Ramjee

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The Recce scoops Camerimage nomination South African film The Recce and its cinematographer Jacques van Tonder have been nominated in the Cinematographers’ Debuts category at the 26th edition of the international film festival Camerimage, set to run from 10 to 17 November 2018 in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

he Camerimage festival is dedicated to the art of cinematography. It creates and contributes to the growth of the cinematographer’s prestige. The festival awards films according to their visual, aesthetic and technical qualities. The Recce was selected out of 200 entries worldwide and is running alongside seven other films in this section of the competition. Last year, Camerimage attracted 72 000 attendees and featured 610 cinematographers from 45 countries. The Cinematographers’ Debuts

Competition was initiated in 2010 due to the festival’s increasing openness to noteworthy new artists. The competition brings fresh discoveries: great movies of high artistic value and emerging filmmakers whose work promises to surprise not only the jury members at the festival, but audiences around the world as well. The Recce tells the story of how the South African Defence Force wrongfully declared young a recce, Henk Viljoen,

dead behind enemy lines – and follows him as he must use everything he’s learnt to make it back to his family. With the enemy hot on Viljoen’s trail, the film is a story of survival set in a treacherous and war-torn landscape. Written and directed by Johannes Ferdinand van Zyl, The Recce script came out of his personal connection to the story: “Having grown up with family members that were sent to the Border War, I have a fascination with that era in

our history.” Commenting on the nomination, Van Tonder said: “I am thrilled. It’s a proud moment for South African cinema.” The film was produced by Jac Williams through Cape Town-based production company Man Makes a Picture, and is the first in a slate of upcoming independent features from the company. The Recce is distributed by Gravel Road Distribution in a multi-territory deal.

Turner Africa strikes partnership with Nigeria’s Greenworld Communications Turner Africa has announced a new partnership with Greenworld Communications in Nigeria. This partnership will offer Greenworld’s clients access to advertising solutions on some of its iconic, high-quality channels operating across the continent, including the newly-launched TNT, Cartoon Network and Boomerang services.

“W

e are extremely excited to work with Turner Africa and its prestigious brands,” says Greg Anobili, vice-president and CEO of Greenworld Communications Limited. “This partnership furthers the multichannel vision of Greenworld, where we can provide advertisers with desirable

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audiences over multiple platforms. The implication is that we will make it possible to greatly amplify advertising for campaigns and brands alike, working closely with the brands to drive better ROI and reach for clients.” A key driver of the partnership is Turner’s reputation for creating premium content and delivering exceptional

viewing experiences across a range of media platforms. The agreement expands the reach of the Greenworld TV sales division into new genres including blockbuster movies and highly desirable kid’s programming, as well as to new audiences across the SEM spectrum. Greenworld offers Turner Africa dedicated television and integrated sales, as well as a back-end team with the experience to produce cost-effective, high-impact advertising, content and sponsorship solutions on Turner channels. “Concluding this significant partnership with one of the world’s

leading content providers and distributors will strengthen Greenworld’s offering to the market,” says Greg Anobili. “Television is an increasingly important part of our strategy and we will now be able to offer our clients a more extensive media buy that delivers diverse content opportunities, audiences and return on investment.” Guillaume Coffin, VP of Sales and Business Development (France and Africa), comments: “The partnership with Greenworld is an important move for Turner’s developments and regional relevance in West Africa. The company’s expertise and its ability to innovate, as well as its event-based advertising know-how, convinced us to sign this new partnership. We are convinced that with this new offer we will bring even more value to clients.”

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TECHNOLOGY NewS

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Canon joins Netflix’s new Post Technology Alliance Canon Europe, a leader in imaging solutions, has announced that the company will be joining Netflix’s brand-new Post Technology Alliance, which brings together industry leaders committed to working closely with Netflix to innovate production workflows and support creatives globally.

s a part of the Post Technology Alliance programme, products will receive the Post Technology Alliance designation logo – a mark of quality, service, and support. The logo signals that a product meets Netflix’s technical and delivery specifications and will continue to do so in the future.

Four Canon Cinema EOS cameras have been selected for the programme, including Canon’s first full-frame cinema camera, the EOS C700 FF, along with the EOS C700, EOS C300 Mark II, and EOS C500. These cameras have been chosen by the filmmakers behind many Netflix Originals, including the Academy Award-winning documentary Icarus,

feature film Our Souls at Night, and Emmy-nominated series Grace and Frankie. Other Netflix Originals shot on Canon cameras include Afflicted, Abstract: The Art of Design, Chelsea, Hot Girls Wanted, Strong Island, The Confession Tapes, The Mars Generation and The Ritual, with more currently in production. “Netflix’s Post Technology Alliance programme aligns perfectly with Canon’s unwavering commitment to providing state-of-the-art, high-quality products, complemented with outstanding service and support for the global filmmaking community,” said Roger Machin, product manager at Canon South Africa. “With the shared goal of supporting filmmakers,

“Netflix’s Post Technology Alliance programme aligns perfectly with Canon’s unwavering commitment to providing state-of-the-art, high-quality products, complemented with outstanding service and support for the global filmmaking community.” – Roger Machin

and an ambition to serve the evolving needs of the production and postproduction community, we are delighted to continue working closely with Netflix to champion the power of visual storytelling.” “At Netflix, empowering our creative partners is incredibly important, and the Post Technology Alliance will build a more seamless experience from production through to post-production,” said Chris Fetner, director of post partnerships & integrations at Netflix. “Products that bear the logo are committed to better interoperability and faster innovation cycles, which will allow artists to focus their energy on what matters most – the storytelling.”

Lusaka’s HotFM upgrades with Lawo Lusaka, capital of the Republic of Zambia, is home to nearly two million people. With its nearby wildlife sanctuaries, thriving art scene and proximity to world-famous Victoria Falls, Lusaka is one of the fastest-growing cities in southern Africa and radio drives the beat of this thriving city.

usaka-based commercial radio station HotFM presents numerous on-location live broadcasts, daily news coverage and interaction with its listeners via social media platforms. The station covers the region on three separate FM frequencies. “HotFM is one of the most modern radio stations in Africa — that’s why they chose Lawo,” says Meck Phiri of Lawo’s Zambian sales partner, Meck Media Consult. “Lawo radio products are AES67-compliant, easy to use and future-proof. HotFM will deploy Visual Radio shortly: Lawo’s standards-based AoIP infrastructure makes that possible.” “The new studio went on the air 1 August, and talent loves it,” says Oscar

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Chavula, the owner of HotFM in Lusaka. “Touchscreen mixing is a huge advantage because it’s so easy to learn and use. And in the field, a computer with R3LAY and a 4G telephone connection makes it possible to originate high-quality remote broadcasts with much less equipment and very little setup time. We are the first in Zambia to do this and the innovation is here now.” crystalCLEAR is an in-studio virtual mixing console for radio. Its control surface is software driven by a multitouch interface on a high-resolution computer display controlling the proven Lawo Compact Engine – an advanced 1RU device with AES67/Ravenna compliance, powerful DSP signal

HotFM radio station in Lusaka

processing for mics and other inputs, as well as sophisticated AutoMix and AutoGain functions that help make shows smooth and error-free. R3LAY takes advantage of computer virtualisation technology adapted from the IT industry. R3LAY enables

broadcasters to mix, route, and process AES67 audio streams and computer audio via standard WDM or ASIO interfaces, making maximum use of the power of today’s Windows-based laptop and desktop PCs.

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Levi Allen shoots extreme sport with latest Atomos 4K monitor/recorder Spectacular, gravitydefying shots – that’s what adventure filmmaker Levi Allen needed to capture when he filmed high-lining athletes walking a slackline strung hundreds of feet above a canyon. And that’s what the Atomos Ninja V 4K HDR monitor/recorder delivered.

llen, who specialises in filming action sports, is one of the fastest rising stars on YouTube today and was one of the first shooters to really put the Ninja V to the test. He rigged it to his Panasonic GH5 for awesome 4K 10-bit 422 Apple ProRes recording at 60fps direct to SSD drive. The results are stunning.

The right kit for the filmmaker on the go Documenting extreme sports athletes, Mia and Spencer, required Allen to climb and hike fast with all his gear. Working solo and having the Ninja V enabled him to keep his kit lightweight yet still record production-ready professional footage from his mirrorless camera. He comments, “My favourite thing about the Ninja V is how portable it is for my adventurous shooting style, while also packing a punch where it matters most.” The other primary purpose of the Ninja V is as a monitor and here it really excelled. Even though the shoot was outdoors in bright conditions, Allen was able to get perfect, clear monitoring thanks to the 1000 nit high brightness 1920×1080 display. The Ninja V was also the perfect monitor to use when shooting with his DJI Ronin S gimbal thanks to its smaller size and weight. The shoot took about a day and while it looks dangerous, Allen points out that he and the athletes rigorously put safety first at all times. With so much going on Allen needed his kit to work flawlessly and let him concentrate on what was going on in

front of him. He explains, “The Ninja V is the first recorder that didn’t hold me back when shooting in the field. It fits perfectly into my workflow, and allowed me to focus more on the stories I’m trying to tell and less about the gear.”

The perfect companion for your mirrorless or DSLR camera The Ninja V is for anyone who is serious about getting better quality video out of their mirrorless camera or DSLR. Small enough and light enough to go anywhere it redefines what a small monitor and recorder is capable of. Unlock the full potential of latest models like the Canon EOS R, Nikon Z6, FUJIFILM X-T3, Panasonic GH5/GH5S and Sony A7 III by bypassing internal compression and

recording time limits. Record up to 4Kp60 10-bit HDR video direct from your camera’s sensor into edit-ready Apple ProRes or Avid DNx formats. The Ninja V displays 10+ stops of dynamic range in realtime from Log/PQ/ HLG signals and features a stunningly bright 5.2” 10-bit HDR monitor. The sleek aluminum body is crafted for maximum durability, yet it weighs only 360g. With a 1TB AtomX SSDmini you can record up to 150 minutes of 4K. A modular expansion slot adds functions via a high speed data/audio/ video port. The first modules are the AtomX Sync module for wireless synchronisation and Bluetooth control, plus the AtomX Ethernet/NDI module.

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ADCETERA

BTS of The Legacy Stories

Showcasing SA’s legacy-makers and influencing the next generation of legacy-thinkers Liesl Loubser, founder and former CEO of marketing agency HDI Youth Marketeers, turned 60 this year. To commemorate this milestone, she decided against a big celebration and chose to reflect on the concept of one’s legacy through the project, The Legacy Stories, 60 Seconds of Impact.

“I

n celebration of my 60th birthday, I did not want to host yet another party. I decided instead to create a platform on which to champion the stories of 60 people that I mentored or have been inspired by during my years in business; people I believe are legacy-makers in their own right,” explains Loubser. According to Loubser, these legacymakers are people who have inspired her through direct relationships during her years in business, as well as those who have had an impact on the brand HDI Youth Marketeers and who have lived values that inspire others. “Legacy-makers are people who use their success to improve the lives of others, who use their influence to open doors for others and who use their talents to make a difference in the world,” she says. After retiring from the agency, Loubser and her former colleague at HDI Youth Marketeers, Nika Smit, launched a social enterprise called The Change Collective which has helped launch The Legacy Project. Smit comments: “Liesl and I came together with a mutual purpose: we wanted to create a profit with purpose enterprise and use our ideas to make a difference. And so, in late 2017, The

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Change Collective was born. The Change Collective is a community of brave minds, tackling the world’s biggest social problems in the most innovative ways.” The pair has since developed a large bank of concepts that will be taken to market when the business officially launches in 2019. However, they decided to fast-track The Legacy Stories video series in 2018 as it coincided with Loubser’s 60th birthday.

The Legacy Stories, 60 Seconds of Impact The list of featured legacy-makers has been separated into five categories, namely Entrepreneurship, Business Innovation, Education and Youth Development, Social Cause and Legends in the Making. A total of sixty legacy-makers have been selected for the Legacy Stories, 60 Seconds of Impact inaugural experience – a video series that features entertainers and artists including Danny K, Bianca Le Grange and Andre Prinsloo; entrepreneurs and business people such as Sylvester Chauke, Suzanne Akerman and Cornelius Koopman; innovators like Anthony Bila, Kim August and MarieClaire Mclachlan; social and educational warriors such as Thobile Chittenden, Leoni Coetzee and Lipalesa Kolane; as

The creative team behind The Legacy Stories, 60 Seconds of Impact well as legends in the making that include Carmia Annandale, Felix M and Zanda Mchunu. Through the project, these inspiring individuals share insights from their personal journeys with the aim to motivate the next generation of young South Africans. “It’s key to try and shift the paradigm of many young South Africans and emerging entrepreneurs who are unmotivated or crippled by anxiety, fear and a lack of guidance,” Loubser says. “It’s our belief that having a community of people around to mentor, guide and believe in you makes the world of a difference. Every person will leave a legacy, good or bad; our narrative is to inspire young South Africans to make it a positive one.” Smit has been involved in every aspect of the project, from strategy to ideation and project management. She

comments: “In the social cause space, where resources like time, budget and people are often limited, innovation goes a really long way in finding smart solutions and stretching resources.” Rhode du Plessis developed the look and feel of the project, with Lara Petersen taking care of the copy and social media handled by blogger Kenny Jules Morifi-Winslow. Kim August was the appointed influencer and public relations liaison, while Chantel Gregersen carried out the project coordination. Sunshine Studios came onboard as a partner, with inserts shot at their Johannesburg and Cape Town studios. Production was handled by Indie Village, with Anthony Bila directing and Pierre Leeflang on edit. “We had a total of 36 hours of footage that had to be edited down to one hour in total (or 60 one-minute stories). We also edited an additional 16 trailers and content pieces for our social media platforms, giving us a total number of 154 hours of editing.” An online launch took place on 20 September and saw the project reach over 2 million people on Facebook alone. “The success of the launch in September has inspired the announcement that 20 September will now be National Legacy-Makers Day and the programme will continue for years to come. The team, along with key collaborators, are currently busy with phase two planning,” concludes Loubser. – Gezzy S Sibisi

“Every person will leave a legacy, good or bad – our narrative is to inspire young South Africans to make it a positive one.” – Liesl Loubser

ADCETERA

Nando’s Afro-tising campaign

Nando’s says NO to monotonous Afro -tising When the African aesthetic movement first emerged in the advertising industry, it was celebrated for its unique and bold portrayal of African culture. Award-winning director Sunu Gonera and brands like Absolut vodka were at the forefront of this movement, presenting a revitalised picture of Africa to the rest of the world.

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ince then, numerous brands and agencies have latched onto the trend. With this in mind, Nando’s has – in their latest spot – decided to oppose what it sees as the repetitive, lazy recreation of what was once an edgy, thought-provoking aesthetic. Chief marketing officer for Nando’s South Africa, Doug Place, expands:

“Nando’s has always celebrated everything uniquely South African, both loveable and challenging! We love to fire up conversations and believe that talking about the current hyperbolic portrayal of African-ness is one such growing conversation. The diversity and beauty of Africa should be rightly celebrated, however the portrayals in recent

advertising campaigns are often bizarrely over-the-top and seemingly the same between brands and categories.” The Nando’s ‘Afro-tising/More South African Flavour’ ad was released on 3 September 2018. The 45-second commercial begins by asking the question “Is this how we sell things now?”, while cleverly depicting several

| ADCETERA

“…it’s not about bashing the Afrofuturism movement, I’m a proponent of TECH

CHECK

the movement. The sentiment was about the single aesthetic that brands have appropriated, so much so that what was once a fresh, cutting-edge aesthetic has become stale and uninteresting. tropes that have been associated with the African aesthetic movement by other brands. M&C Saatchi Abel’s creative team, through their research, found over 40 recent examples of what they deem Afro-tising content and references, and applied these in the new Nando’s spot. These include neon lights, burning TVs, African tribalism, superfluous hashtags, smoke bombs and a Mad Max-inspired throne to name a few. Hip-hop artist Khuli Chana, who partnered with Absolut vodka on his African-inspired music video in 2016, makes a cameo in the spot, as he tells a copycat on a throne of garbage to “Tswa Daar” (“get out of the way”), which also happens to be the title of one of his songs. “Our vision was to shine a light on the fact that there’s this new look to South African ads and we see more of it every day. It’s a stereotype that brands are regurgitating to try and sell things to young people. But there’s so much more to South Africa than this narrow vignette, and we wanted to remind advertisers of that with characteristic Nando’s fire and humour whilst selling our chicken, of course,” shares creative group head of M&C Saatchi Abel, Joshua de Kok. While the cheeky ad is ultimately meant to promote the new Nando’s chicken combo deal and appeal to consumers, it also aims to give brands food for thought when conceptualising their next campaign. In the ad, Nando’s references various campaigns, including Absa’s recent ‘Africanacity’ campaign. The Absa brand has since shot back, sparking muchneeded debate in the local advertising industry. Furthermore, the campaign received 260 586 paid and 1 182 861 organic

”

EQUIPMENT • Camera: ARRI Akexa Mini

– Tebogo Malope

impressions in its first week on Twitter, as well as 643 507 paid and 445 010 organic views in its first week on Facebook. “We have delighted in following the conversation that our ad has sparked. We are pleased that it resonated with so many South Africans and that we got people thinking about this popularised view,” affirms de Kok. Star Films’ Tebogo Malope directed the spot after a successful pitch to the agency. De Kok expands: “We needed a director who could bring authenticity and his own flavour to the script. We are an inherently South African brand and didn’t want to be disrespectful to this beautiful African aesthetic. Thus, we chose a director who understood the beauty of Africanism but was yet able to call out the misappropriation of this to sell products. It was the first time Tebza had worked with Nando’s and it was a natural fit from the first presentation.” Malope and M&C Saatchi Abel’s creative team worked together through the entire process to bring the concept to life – from brainstorms, treatment considerations, the shoot and all post-production duties. Malope comments: “We needed to establish if we were on the same page about the sentiments being explored. What I’ve realised the last couple of weeks is that the country is a bit split on what the actual sentiment is. Firstly, it’s not about bashing the Afrofuturism movement, I’m a proponent of the movement. The sentiment was about the single aesthetic that brands have appropriated, so much so that what was once a fresh, cutting-edge aesthetic has become stale and uninteresting. The sentiment I share is about challenging ourselves to disprove our confirmation biases of a single story and find other

narratives and visuals. There’s more flavour out there.” The ad was shot on the ARRI Alexa Mini and the production team included industry friends of Malope who had previously dabbled with the African aesthetic. “I wanted to use heads of department who were familiar with that look and feel. Adam – my DOP – shot most ads of that genre; Bee, my stylist, styled almost all of them; Bobby, my art director, worked on Chappie, etc. It was really about tapping into resources that already existed and then giving them my personal twist,” Malope explains. Award-winning actor Hamilton Dlamini was chosen as the lead and narrator of the spot. Dlamini is also the man behind the distinctive deep voiceover from the Castle Milk Stout ad. The first part of the ad was shot in the Johannesburg CBD: “I was looking for a location which felt like a typical street and then we planted the Afrofuturism elements in it. The idea was to show two worlds existing parallel to each other, tying into the theme of there being more than one side to the aesthetic,” explains Malope. The second part of the shoot included a scene with a hyena, which naturally proved more challenging. The team battled to find a special permit to travel with the wild animal and toyed with the idea of using a dog styled as a hyena. However, Malope was determined to shoot with a real hyena and ended up filming one at a rehabilitation farm two days later. The commercial was edited by Andrew Trail and post-production was supervised by The Upstairs Ludus in Johannesburg. Reflecting on the remarkable success and feedback following the release of the spot, Malope says: “The ad absolutely out-performed my personal expectations,

The Nando’s ‘Afro-tising/More South African Flavour’ ad was shot on the ARRI Alexa Mini

KEY CREW Director: Teboho Malope DOP: Adam Bentel Editor: Andrew Trail Music: Tiger Fight Music

an ad like this can easily be an inside joke in the industry and that’s initially what I thought it may be. But to see how well the streets have received it has been mindboggling to me.” Malope also took time to send a special mention to “celebrated directors who started and have been devoted to the African aesthetic movement, including Sunu, Lebo, Kyle, Greg Rom and Fausto. It’s all love my people. No love lost… Let’s get back to making ads in peace. Salute,” he concludes. – Gezzy S Sibisi

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ADCETERA

Director Speak

From executive producer to director, Tulips & Chimneys’ Nina Pfeiffer chats to Screen Africa about her journey in animation…

Ninafer Pfeif

Nina Pfeiffer

WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? I love traveling. I love watching people, and I love watching animation. It’s always super inspiring to see how people pushed themselves and their team to do something new or different.

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW HAS THIS SHAPED YOU AS A CONTENT CREATOR? I attended art school in Pretoria studying visual communications, and when I began my career I juggled my time between a theatre company, an animation studio and studying medicine. I eventually realised that this schedule was not sustainable and that ultimately my passion lay in the beautiful visuals of my medical books and understanding how a body works and moves. This made the choice to permanently move to design and animation an easy one. WHY ANIMATION? WAS IT ALWAYS THE PLAN? I guess I should have known from an early age, even as a toddler I was obsessed with animation – I watched every Looney Tunes story 200 times each and wouldn’t miss the 7am animation that showed every day on SABC. WHAT’S IT LIKE WORKING AT TULIPS & CHIMNEYS? It’s my family away from home. Our work is not known for being mundane and the office reflects that spirit, it’s a fun, relaxed space. We’re quite informal with each other and often working on our own passion projects. Then a project will come in and it’s game faces on. I love every brief we get in, as it’s just another opportunity to sit with these talented artists and explore ideas.

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YOU RECENTLY DIRECTED YOUR FIRST PROJECT – FRUIT OF THE LOOM’S ‘TALES FROM TEACHER’ SPOT – WHAT HAS YOUR JOURNEY TO THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIR BEEN LIKE? My official title in the studio is first and foremost as executive producer, but the workflow of the studio means that I’m always very involved creatively on all the projects. I’d been waiting for a project where I could swop roles a bit, so the moment the brief came in I knew this was the one that I wanted to lead creatively. UNTIL NOW YOU’VE FOCUSED ON COMMERCIALS, ANY PLANS FOR A FEATURE-LENGTH PROJECT IN THE FUTURE? Definitely, we’ve been developing the concept for a feature film for the last few years, and it looks like it is very close to being optioned. So crossing fingers! We’ll keep you guys posted! WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CAREER CHALLENGE TO DATE? There are obviously lots of challenges in running a business and working on projects, but I would say that the biggest challenge was just starting. I was 22 years old when I realised I wanted to make animated films. All I knew was that I wanted to work for the best animation studio in SA and that I wanted to produce TV commercials. I had no experience and didn’t even know what I had to do as a TV producer, so I called the studio I admired the most and told the owner he needs a producer and that it was me. I didn’t take no for an answer, and eventually he said

yes. The day I started work I was on a shoot for a very well-known brand and a very high-budget TV commercial. I have never been on a shoot before, never met another producer before and now I was one, and had to fulfil that role. It was scary, but exhilarating…and I haven’t looked back since. WHAT HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER THUS FAR? There have been so many, but in essence it’s having the opportunity to work on so many different pieces that we’ve crafted and can be proud of. Being able to go to animation festivals like Annecy and meet the world’s best directors, animators and producers like Peter Ramsey and Richard Williams, and being able to show them our work and seeing their positive response still is the best feeling ever. ANY ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WANTING TO PURSUE A CAREER IN ANIMATION? It’s definitely not an easy career, it’s hard work, and a lot of the time, unless you’re the director, you get told what to do and it can easily feel like you’ve just become a pixel pusher. Don’t stop believing that you can be the best, and don’t stop making your own pieces. Creating your own IP is the way to keep your passion alive and make a super success. At the end of the day any work can become stressful and confusing, but reminding yourself and working towards a goal is what will keep the momentum going. WHAT NEXT FOR NINA PFEIFFER AS A DIRECTOR? For now I’ve got my hands full at the studio but I’m toying with the idea of tackling a short film. It would be great to play on a project that had no brief and was purely a creative expression.

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PROFILE

Seun Babalola: A catalyst for hope and

A Scene from the SOJU Africa doccie series

change in the presentation of Africa to the world Founder and executive producer of Do Global Productions, Oluwaseun ‘Seun’ Babalola, is the filmmaker behind the youth documentary web series SOJU Africa. She is also a consultant for Collective Industry Conventions Africa (CICA), which will soon be launching the first UNICON Africa event – a creative convention that Babalola will be co-hosting in Nigeria.

abalola was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but has roots in Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and has always been surrounded by her family from both African countries. This, she says, has inspired her desire to showcase a fuller perception of Africa to the world. Her web documentary series, SOJU Africa, has just completed its first festival run, which included screenings in Lagos, Nigeria, and Accra, Ghana.

SOJU The series has screened in over eleven countries and was the winner of the 2017 Black World Cinema Afrofuturism Film Competition in Chicago. “The broader concept of SOJU is that it’s a portrait of youth culture in today’s Africa, through the lens of young Africans in African communities. The goal with each episode or interview is to start a conversation. What I believe is important right now is for Africans to learn more about each other. Take a step back, look at where we are, how we got there, what’s changing and how we can adapt in order to progress,” shares Babalola. Through the series, Babalola has managed to travel across Africa and meet with various young people to discuss issues of identity and entrepreneurship, while also tackling social and community matters affecting the youth of today. “I try to discuss everything that’s swept under the rug. Let’s talk about sex positivity, misogyny, homosexuality, 16 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

“What I believe is important right now is for Africans to learn more about each other. Take a step back, look at where we are, how we got there, what’s changing and how we can adapt in order to progress. – Seun Babalola

”

depression, etc. Let’s also talk about innovation, growth, cool scenes and exciting people, basically, everything that makes us who we are. I like to show people who are finding joy in defining their identity for themselves, and bettering their surroundings through that identity,” she says. The making of SOJU has given Babalola exclusive access to African youths and their stories, their insecurities, dreams and perceptions. “There have been times where I tell other Africans about SOJU, and I will get asked why I left America to come to Africa. Why wouldn’t I? Obviously, when I arrive, my privileges are being seen, but it’s disappointing that as Africans, we have so much to offer and often lack the confidence to stand behind it. We have to change that!” urges Babalola. Babalola says that SOJU has not only helped shift the mindset of African youth, but has also empowered her to be part of the transformation of building towards the development of a thriving and

progressive continent. “The best responses to the series that I have heard are people who tell me that they’ve been sitting on an idea and watching the series has made them want to create something of their own. I’m one person with a subjective vision; someone else is going to tell their story or reach another community in an entirely different way. We need that variety because that’s what’s going to normalise our diversity, that’s what’s going to provide context and nuance to our existence, and in time, it’s what’s going to create change.”

CICA As a consultant for Collective Industry Conventions Africa (CICA), Babalola is currently preparing to co-host the UNICON exhibition in Nigeria on 17 November. CICA consists of 14 comic and animation houses in Nigeria that have existed for the last decade or more. “They have a lot of great content, and so it’s more of a collaboration. Two colleagues and I have been working as

consultants and are doing our part to bring U.S. partners on board to help grow the mission.” Through her involvement with CICA, Babalola and her team aspire to provide a structure for creatives in Nigeria to help them copyright their work, as well as to distribute and make money from it. “We have panels and workshops that will discuss building your business, copyrighting and legal trends, as well as skill-building and distribution. There’s also a lot of opportunities to learn and network. When you attend you don’t automatically become a part of CICA, but you will be able to speak to and network with the founders and group members,” shares Babalola. UNICON attendees will be exposed to the world of Nigerian comics, animation and video games, as well as emerging technologies in the industry. Convention activities will range from gaming competitions and exhibitions, to screenings and panel discussions. – Gezzy S Sibisi

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FILM

Burning Embers wins the Discovery Channel’s 2018 ‘Don’t Stop Wondering Award’ African elephants are the largest land mammals, with herds in 37 countries in Africa. These animals have particularly large populations in Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. Sadly, they are also one of the most heavily poached mammals in the world.

“I hope that with this film we can communicate the message that the Mike McMillan Nature fund works so hard to support, and spread even more awareness around elephant conservation in Africa.” – Didi Exelby

18 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

urning Embers is the story of Amy McMillan and her family, who have changed the face of elephant conservation and awareness in South Africa. The short film, by South African filmmaker and Split Juice co-founder Didi Exelby, in September secured over 600 votes throughout Africa to win the Discovery Channel’s 2018 ‘Don’t Stop Wondering Award’ at this year’s Jozi Film Festival. Speaking about the accolade, Exelby comments: “I am so proud and honoured that my team has been chosen as the winner of the Discovery Channel ‘Don’t Stop Wondering Award’ this year. Thank you once again to Discovery Inc. for providing a fantastic opportunity and platform, where awareness can be spread about stories that are so closely aligned to the heart of Africa! I hope that with this film we can communicate the message that the Mike McMillan Nature fund works so hard to support, and spread even more awareness around elephant conservation in Africa. Thank you to Mike’s inspirational family for showing the world how to fuel a culture of change.” Amy McMillian is the sister of the late Mike McMillian, a nature conservationist who was researching the nyala for his masters degree when he tragically lost his life in July 2013 as a result of a car accident at the Phinda Game Reserve in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Inspired by her brother’s efforts, Amy completed her brother’s research studies and is now just as passionate about nature and elephant conservation. “Amy is courageous, strong and caring. She embodies feminine power as a passionate game ranger and nature conservationist. She has been inspired by her brother, Mike, to make waves of change in elephant conservation. We are

incredibly grateful that we had the means to share stories like hers,” says Exelby. Much like Amy, Exelby’s upbringing was centred on family and adventures throughout Africa, which encouraged her love and appetite for nature, exploration and animal conservation. To produce the film, the crew headed to the Phinda Game Reserve to capture Amy in her work environment. “We really wanted the viewer to feel immersed in Amy’s everyday life,” Exelby says. “We wanted to show the strength and courage she has as a female ranger and to give the viewer this ‘larger than life’ feeling after watching the film. We wanted to present a true portrayal of how one person’s life on earth can have an impact and inspire others to live by the same standard.” Principal photography commenced in early May this year and was concluded in just over four days. “The film came together rather quickly – it all happened at once, with no funding! So we had to keep it as simple as possible; use our environment and our intel from the rangers to our advantage. We mostly used natural light to keep the film as authentic as possible, obviously using the golden hour every day, twice a day, to our advantage,” shares Exelby. “We filmed on the Panasonic GH5 – our go-to camera for run and gun shoots! We used a 16-35mm and a 24-70mm lens to enable us to capture both extreme wide and close-up shots,” she adds. Sound was recorded on Rode lapel mics, as well as a Zoom recorder, and played an important role in the film. The team gathered the sounds of the bush and enhanced these in post-production in order to further immerse the viewer into the world of the story and add to the visual experience of the film. DOP Luke Nelson captured the

stunning visuals that, along with the thought-provoking and moving subject matter, clinched the Discovery award. “We kept it as simple as possible because we didn’t want to distract the viewer’s attention from the pure beauty we were experiencing,” says Exelby. “In order to really portray the feeling one gets, and especially Amy’s connection to the space, we got a lot of wide shots, which visually portrayed just how small Amy (and the viewer) is within the wildlife environment. To focus on the elephants (and other animals), we shot closer, to visually represent their dominance of the same space.” Post-production saw Tom Willows on edit and Calvin Davey on sound. According to Exelby, “Tom Willows did an incredible job on the edit in just three days! Calvin Davey did the postproduction sound, and without his contribution to the sound design, the film would not have been the same. With Tom and Calvin’s close relationship, the shoot and edit were done with sound in mind; soundscapes played a huge role in assisting the visuals.” Exelby says that the sole purpose behind Burning Embers is to raise awareness. She has since given the film to the Mike McMillan Nature Fund to use on their website and plans to screen it wherever possible to spread the word about elephant conservation. – Gezzy S Sibisi

TECH CHECK EQUIPMENT • Camera: Panasonic GH5

“We filmed on the Panasonic GH5 – our go-to camera for run and gun shoots! We used a 1635mm and a 24-70mm lens to enable us to capture both extreme wide and close-up shots.” – Didi Exelby

KEY CREW Director: Robyn Palmer Producer: Didi Exelby DOP: Luke Nelson Editor: Tom Willows Sound: Calvin Davey

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FILM

| OPINION

In Stitches: Exploring Vernacular Comedy in South Africa Written by Hannah Rafkin and Meg Robbins

U.S.-based Hannah Rafkin and Meg Robbins directed and produced In Stitches, a documentary on vernacular stand-up comedy in South Africa. The film follows Noko Moswete, Luphelo Kodwa, and Zicco Sithole, up-and-coming comics who are bringing the healing power of laughter to those who need it most in post-apartheid South Africa. It was chosen as an official selection at this year’s Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, Jozi Film Festival and Muizenberg Festival.

hen we arrived in Johannesburg to begin filming In Stitches, we soon realised just how much variety exists within the genre. You can attend upwards of three shows any given night in Gauteng alone, each with a unique vibe. There are the hip spots in Braamfontein and Maboneng, full of exuberant young people, where comics gather in the back to watch their friends’ sets and debrief after the show. There are larger, swankier clubs set within casinos, where people come to celebrate special occasions or enjoy date nights. (Here, audiences are mostly white and racially-charged jokes get the biggest laughs.) There are sold-out shows in big arenas, advertised on billboards along the highway. And, as we were to learn when we arrived, there are vernacular comedy shows, where you can hear performances in four or five languages on any given night. At these shows, the laughter is different—deeper, more real, more urgent.

20 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

In the aftermath of apartheid, stand-up comedy boomed in South Africa. The old cliché held up: laughter truly was the best medicine. By the turn of the millennium, comedians like David Kau, Loyiso Gola and Kagiso Lediga were in full force. They joined the ranks of a handful of popular white comedians, but soon, black comics outnumbered their white counterparts. Over the years, stand-up has continued to become more inclusive—more women onstage, less reliance on racial stereotypes for punchlines, and more geographically diverse venues. But despite these strides, a major injustice remained: stand-up was only performed in English. Consider that 80 per cent of the population speaks an African language as their mother tongue, while only 9.6 per cent speaks English as their mother tongue. The vast majority of South African

citizens have been excluded from this powerful art form. But vernacular comedians are flipping the script. In Stitches focuses on three up-and-coming comics who unapologetically crack jokes in Pedi, Xhosa and Zulu. Noko Moswete, Luphelo Kodwa, and Zicco Sithole are revolutionising the industry, insisting upon their right to representation, centring stories that have long been relegated to the fringes, and bringing laughter to those that need it most. Audiences can’t get enough. Whether in a 5 000-seat theatre or a tiny shebeen, these shows buzz with unparalleled energy somewhere between a rock concert and a sermon. Many audience members are experiencing stand-up comedy for the first time. People roll on the floor laughing, literally. In discussions with comedians and audience members, one theme kept resurfacing: relating. It’s not just that vernacular audiences understand the words being spoken. It’s that they can relate to the context, relate to the lived experience, relate to the myriad details that defy translation. They can also relate to the person onstage, the one standing in the spotlight. And that’s a powerful thing. The first time we saw South African stand-up comedy, we were hooked. It was 2015. We were studying abroad at the University of Cape Town, Trevor Noah had just been tapped to host The Daily Show, and the #FeesMustFall Meg Robbins and Hannah Rafkin

OPINION movement was taking the country by storm. By day, we watched as demonstrators filled the streets, echoing protests of generations past. By night, we listened as comedians dug into complex national issues onstage, addressing wounds of a colonial legacy. In a way, we learned more about South Africa in comedy clubs than we did in our classrooms. As the United States became increasingly polarised around the election of Donald Trump in 2016, comedians played an important role in helping people process the inexplicable. We were curious about this role, and kept returning to the topic of South African comedy in our discussions. After graduating from university in 2017, we decided to return—this time to Johannesburg—to make a documentary about stand-up in South Africa. We got our fair share of dumb questions from people in the States as we geared up to begin filming. Many were shocked to hear that stand-up comedy exists in Africa. Many asked us if we’d be seeing lions. (Obviously not. Lions are prohibited from comedy clubs.) But these dumb questions reveal a depressing truth: Americans remain staggeringly ignorant about Africa. Many are even convinced that Africa is a single country. This lack of awareness is no thanks to our president and his moronic commentary about “shithole countries”. But it also has a lot to do with the international media’s representation of Africa. Beyond animal-centric stories (The Lion King, Planet Earth), African narratives that reach U.S. audiences tend to be tales of struggle that prominently feature the redemption/heroism of a white male (Blood Diamond, Invictus)— though the release of Black Panther made strides toward shifting the dialogue. Documentaries that Americans watch about Africa—more often than not, tear-jerking narratives of poverty and devastation—also contribute to a one-dimensional understanding of the continent. Americans aren’t used to seeing African characters who feel joy, who have agency, who lead modern

lives. In Stitches aims to evoke laughter rather than tears, following funny, talented, career-oriented individuals as they fight to take to the stage in South Africa’s most bustling city. But the work of vernacular comedians is not easy. Though audiences are coming out to vernacular shows in huge numbers, surpassing crowds at English comedy shows, these artists still face major challenges in pursuing their craft. Between inevitable rough sets, begging bookers for stage time, funding travel costs and establishing a fanbase, being a comedian is difficult in any language. But the struggle is more pronounced for vernacular comedians, as they don’t have access to the tightly-knit network of agents, managers, producers, and bookers that work with English-speaking comics. Media outlets aren’t nearly as eager to spotlight their events or profile new talent. In the absence of that infrastructure, vernacular comedians have built an industry from the ground up to address a demonstrated need for laughter and storytelling. Necessity is the mother of invention and they are carving out their own performance spaces in townships, rural areas and, increasingly, city centres. Onstage and offstage, vernacular comedians also combat the persistent racist notion that indigenous languages are primitive, uncivilised and unprofessional. Of course, the thorny problem of language in South Africa goes far deeper than just the comedy scene. Language has been wielded as a tool of division and disenfranchisement for centuries, first by colonial powers and then by the apartheid regime. Under National Party rule, people were geographically divided based on the languages they spoke and thrust into inferior Bantu education systems— tactics to keep black South Africans outside of urban society. Today, the constitution technically recognises eleven official languages, but the nine African languages are only truly official on paper. In practice, English still dominates South Africa. It is the language of government, commerce,

Film

education and entertainment, and is viewed as the sole pathway towards economic and social uplift. Meanwhile, mother tongues remain relegated to domestic spheres, banished from political discourse, the workplace, universities and the mainstream media. The ripple effects of apartheid-era policies are still felt today: the reign of English and Afrikaans reflects a society still engineered to meet the interests of the speakers of these languages (the white minority), while the suppression of African languages reflects the continued disenfranchisement of South Africa’s black majority. In light of this ongoing injustice, the achievement of vernacular comedy is all the more powerful. In bringing their mother tongues into the spotlight, they are enforcing their constitutional rights, proving that these languages are indeed official. They are showing young people that they can speak in the language most comfortable to them and still achieve a successful career—and perhaps even stardom. They are celebrating freedom of expression, restructuring their society and, ultimately, demanding that the South African democracy put its money where its mouth is. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” As native English speakers, we move through the world with ease. It is no coincidence that English speakers have such low rates of multilingualism – almost everywhere we go, people talk to us in our language. Across the world, people have watched our movies and TV shows, listened to our music and followed our sports teams. It’s crucial that we centre the voices that have been silenced, that we sit back and try to relate. It is humbling and elucidating to shed this linguistic privilege, even for an hour, to completely immerse yourself in something you don’t fully understand. What better vehicle for empathy than stand-up comedy? Laughter is the best medicine, after all.

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FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

KIM KARDASHIAN WEST

VI SIT U S : BO OT H 4 0

sales.aenetworks.com

Television

Cheeky Media

Cheeky Media’s Yusuf Stevens and Janez Vermeiren on the business of TV in South Africa

Yusuf Stevens

What are the biggest challenges facing producers in the television industry today? How do you combat these? Y: Funding. Broadcasters have been forcing producers to work with very limited resources for a while. Hybrid funding models can be used to combat this – raising money from clients and corporates as well as from broadcasters. J: The biggest challenge facing producers in the TV industry today is to get broadcasters to believe in you. Broadcasters don’t often like to take risks because if they take a risk and it fails, it obviously impacts on their advertising sales… I think that’s where the excitement comes in with all these new platforms because there are now other platforms, outside of traditional platforms, for young producers to hone their craft and prove themselves. With the rise of VOD continuing steadily, what changes have people in the business of film and television had to make? Y: I think VOD will make the industry a lot more competitive. VOD is also going to reward producers who own their material (IP), as opposed to those who sold off to broadcasters don’t have any assets to bring to the VOD market. J: In my opinion, the landscape of content, and that’s across traditional broadcasting and VOD, is probably more exciting than it’s ever been. There is more content being produced right now than ever before. Every brand is producing content and they know that content has to live everywhere. It has to be radio content, TV content, social media content, and as a producer that is traditionally in the TV industry, these times are very exciting because not only can we now produce for TV and make films, but we’ve got so many other platforms that we can expose our content on. 24 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

Janez Vermeiren

Yusuf Stevens and Janez Vermeiren are the managing directors of Cheeky Media – a dynamic, award-winning production company. Cheeky Media produces the popular television shows Real Talk with Azania, The Man Cave, The Morning Show and Winging It. Self-proclaimed ‘disrupters’, Stevens and Vermeiren chatted to Screen Africa about doing things ‘differently’ in the media business.

Is there a place for both VOD and traditional broadcasters in the future? Y: VOD will be (in my opinion) the way the next generation consumes media. J: There is definitely a place for VOD and traditional broadcasters in my opinion. The traditional broadcasters may not get the huge numbers that they used to get because now people have other options, but it does mean that it’s going to challenge TV producers to produce more cutting-edge content to draw viewers back to traditional broadcasting. Basically, competition is good and it’s good for everyone. What does it mean to be a ‘disruptor’ within the TV industry? Y: There’s no right way to do this. Vlogs are changing the way people look at production – if you can find an audience to support you, you have a platform for your content. J: We’re called Cheeky Media because we always try and challenge ourselves, and we think outside the box… That’s what made Cheeky Media stand out. We’ve never been ones to turn up our nose to any form of content production.

We’ve produced some of the top TV commercials in the country, we’ve shot documentaries, we’ve done reality TV, a little bit of scripted content, talk shows, a lot of corporate work, and we haven’t boxed ourselves. As long as it’s content production, we’re up for it. What makes Cheeky Media different to any other production company? Y: We’re the underdogs who act like we have limitless resources – we also have a higher tolerance for risk, I think. J: What I think makes us different from other production companies is that we’re a one-stop shop, from pre-production to the creative process, to post production, we do it all. We have some of the best facilities and some of the best cameramen and DOPs who work for us. Everything is in-house, from preproduction to post-production. How does positioning the company as an agency benefit the business? Y: Production is not always profitable – you need to diversify your income streams to ensure you remain in this business. J: We started Cheeky Media five years

ago and it’s been our objective to become the masters of branded content. When we started, there weren’t many production companies focusing on branded content, so it was quite an open space, a space where we could find our niche, and we became quite good at raising money and doing branded content… I think positioning ourselves as an agency and honing our craft as branded content producers, where we integrate the product as seamlessly as possible, has been our greatest success as a company. How do you plan on expanding within the next five years? Y: The way people consume content is constantly changing – attention spans are shorter and the idea of appointment viewing is fast disappearing. Viewers are also being spoilt for choice, however, if you produce good content that addresses topics that people are interested in, they will find your content. Some of our episodes receive more online views than the main broadcast, this is a challenge, but at the same time an opportunity. It’s always a good idea to discuss and analyse trends. Moving forward, we’re taking on more projects than ever before – we are diversifying our portfolio and are looking at other genres and formats. J: We’ve seen the industry where it is right now as a massive opportunity, there are so many places we can place our content and there are so many clients we can produce content for. For the next five years I want to see us continue with what we’re doing. We’re already producing for all the South African broadcasters – e.tv, SABC and DStv – and in the next five years we want to add Netflix, Showmax and whichever other platforms are out there. As South Africans, we want to produce content good enough that the whole world will want to watch, and that’s where I see ourselves moving towards.

ADVERTORIAL

Blacksmith Collective:

the ‘Production Collective’ that’s switching up the game South Africa’s commercial film production industry is brimming with hungry young creatives bent on flexing their own artistic muscles and bringing big ideas to life. With so many talented individuals on the market, from cinematographers and copywriters to lighting specialists and make-up artists, Blacksmith Collective demonstrates how the collaborative model delivers highly creative, relevant and localised content for clients.

lacksmith Collective, spear-headed by co-founders Marcus von Geyso and Diogo Mendonca, is an innovative production collective specialising in content creation and creative problem solving. In an industry often constrained by tight budgets and limited resources, the pair identified a unique way to offer clients more value while doing what they love – working with other creatives to produce relevant, authentic content. “The traditional agency model has always had its limitations when it comes to meeting client briefs in exciting and

lacksmith Collective was founded by creative entrepreneurs Diogo Mendonça and Marcus von Geyso. The pair met while working at Ogilvy & Mather SA, and realised their shared entrepreneurial spirit and vision for a creative platform that knows no bounds. With their combined experience in the advertising and production industries, the pair decided to start their own collaborative platform. “I would have never thought that this was going to be my future, but my career has been shaped around my personality, strengths and being,” says Mendonça. “My career complements my personal goals and ambitions in life, which allows me to have a career I’m passionate about.” Mendonça is a sucker for cleverlycrafted and well-produced films, loves food, music and fashion, and is an avid football fan – “Hala Madrid e Forca Portugal!” he proclaims proudly. All of which contributes to his perspectives and role as the Managing Director at Blacksmith Collective. Mendonça oversees the day-to-day operations of the business, maintaining client relationships and sourcing new business opportunities. He is also creatively involved, taking on the role of executive producer in the production process. Marcus von Geyso, Executive Creative

innovative ways,” says von Geyso. “In-house creative teams are more cost-effective than freelancers, for example, but that also means that you’re only tapping into the skills, experience and knowledge of a few individuals. “Instead, Blacksmith Collective partners with the best creative minds and experts across the country and beyond,

from film and photography specialists to brand strategists and even engineers, allowing us to adapt to specific project requirements.” Each project brings a new team of creatives together to supply the most apt skillsets on a specific short-term project and bring a concept to life. As such, Blacksmith Collective has built a vast network of top creatives from around the country, each capable of bringing something fresh, unique and innovative to the table for any given project. “We are currently moving into a space now where we provide clients access to our innovative division where we conceptualise and build innovative camera rigs, digital branding tools, and unique consumer engagement

Meet the founders of Blacksmith Collective Brands and businesses in the market for innovative production services can now access a curated network of creative experts thanks to Blacksmith Collective, a premium production house with a network of over 200 creative partners across South Africa.

Co-Founders Marcus von Geyso, executive creative director, and Diogo Mendonça, managing director of Blacksmith Collective

Director at Blacksmith Collective, is responsible for managing the creative conceptualisation and execution of a project from start to finish, ensuring the final product exceeds the client’s creative requirements.

Having faced up against 100 creatives from all over the country in 2014 and winning his first job as an art director at Ogilvy & Mather, von Geyso started making a name for himself in the creative industry from a very young age.

executions,” says von Geyso. “Every project is unique, and the brief shouldn’t always be seen as being set in stone. Our collective creative expertise allows us to research and find interesting ways of solving briefs. Gone are the days where the traditional TVC or a simple Facebook post is enough. We are trying to change the way briefs are interpreted and the ways in which they can be executed.” The duo has worked with top international brands, including Castle Lite, Castle Lager, Opel, Budweiser, Shell, Corona and Visa, and have collaborated with some of the biggest agencies in the industry, such as Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, King James II, Joe Public, Isobar and TBWA. For more information on Blacksmith Collective and its range of premium offerings, visit weareblacksmith.co.za.

“When Diogo asked me to join his new production company as the creative director, I jumped at the opportunity. Starting out, we did a lot of music videos – roughly 180 in 18 months,” says von Geyso. “I learned the ropes quickly, and became really good at managing teams and producing content. Then, in April of 2016, we started pre-empting a major shift in the advertising industry. This sparked the creation of our own production collective, Blacksmith Collective.” As a professional filmmaker and photographer, von Geyso plays a central role in creative production, but – true to Blacksmith Collective’s collaborative spirit – is also involved in the management of the business. Blacksmith Collective partners with the very best creative minds and experts, from film and photography specialists to brand strategists and even engineers, allowing them to adapt to specific project requirements. This unique business model is designed to bring clients’ vision to life, through true collaboration that focuses on upholding the integrity of the work. For more information on Blacksmith Collective and its range of premium offerings, visit weareblacksmith.co.za.

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Image credits: Responsive Digital

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

Behind the Headlines:

Successes of the CTIFMF As the dust settles on the incredibly successful Cape Town International Film Market and Festival (CTIFMF), we dig below the headlines to recognise some of the impressive results and processes that came out of the event.

t was truly inspiring to see so many diverse role players – even those that, at times, may be at odds with each other on certain issues – gather together and commit to the hard but necessary work to grow the industry. Various stakeholders from the City of Cape Town have proven wholly committed to supporting the local film industry, from the Mayor’s office to the team at Wesgro [the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape]. Whilst they have made mistakes and the need to scrutinise and constructively monitor and engage with their policies remains, it is clear that the intent to drive and support the industry is real. The involvement and support from a policy point of view has been complemented by tangible financial support for the sector and a willingness to listen. The Western Cape Department of Culture, Arts and Sports also came to the table, with their support enabling 500 young people to visit the festival. Equally important as the opportunity for these young people to see themselves and their stories reflected back at them on screen, was the opportunity for them to discover entirely new career paths. Chatting to one learner who wasn’t quite sure about what it all meant, I explained to her that she could work in the film industry and that there were

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dozens of potential jobs, from being a cameraperson or a producer to a make-up artist or set designer. When I pointed her towards the ADFA stand and mentioned that she could go and speak to people from one of the best film schools in Africa she literally ran over to them in excitement. Hopefully one day we will see that young woman return to the festival as a professional within the industry. Lives were changed during some of the smaller closed-door sessions that occurred during the festival. The Works in Progress programme offered an unparalleled opportunity for filmmakers, some still starting in their careers, to get in-depth, specific and constructive feedback from an international panel of experts hardly ever found in one room. Industry experts included representatives from Berlinale’s European Film Market and Berlinale Africa Hub; Tribeca; Toronto International Film Festival; London BFI; international sales companies such as Pyramide International and Flourishing Films; talent agents Casarotto and Curtis Brown; M-Net; Indigenous Films; Ster-Kinekor; and Post Production South Africa. The Work Café session focused on the difficult policy discussions that need to happen across government levels and structures. The importance of engagement from local and city

structures, through to national government, and ultimately to panAfrican agreements was made abundantly clear in this full-day session. Sitting around one table and facing the realities of the film industry in the three continental power houses of South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, were representatives from Wesgro, The KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission, the National Film and Video Foundation, the Department of Trade and Industry, The Kenya Film Commission and The Nigeria Film Corporation. Each of the representatives was surprised to find the similarities of the challenges that they all face, and perhaps the most important result of the meeting was the commitment of all involved to continue the conversations between each other, and with their respective governmental organisations. It was readily acknowledged that despite some African countries (notably South Africa) having co-production treaties with a host of non-African countries, in Sub-Saharan Africa, no African countries have such coproduction agreements in place. Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa’s governments all have funds available to local filmmakers, and by collaborating across these territories filmmakers can exponentially increase their access to funding. There was also the real understanding that many of the barriers to such

collaboration come from other areas of government, such as the on-going and taxing issue of visas for African people looking to do business across the continent. Nigeria and South Africa’s tit-for-tat visa spats continue, and across the continent it is sometimes either exorbitantly expensive to travel, impossible to secure visas – or both. Another tangible outcome from the festival was the confirmation of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) becoming official partners of the CTIFMF, as part of the on-going annual European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) programme. Five African and five European producers will be selected to take part in a year-long programme, where 10 audio-visual projects will be developed through two residential workshops and presented at CTIFMF October 2019 and at the 38th CineMart in January 2020. EAVE aims to provide professional training opportunities and to bring producers from different regions of the world together with the goal of facilitating co-production relationships, and this rigorous programme will afford these African producers the incredible opportunity to develop their projects in a global collaborative process. The CTIFMF 2018 saw exponential growth in this its 2nd edition, in large part to the outreach and inclusion of other

FESTIVALS & EVENTS

“The Works in Progress programme offered an unparalleled opportunity for filmmakers, some still starting in their careers, to get in-depth, specific and constructive feedback from an international panel of experts hardly ever found in one room.

local and national events. Instead of seeing each other as competitive threats, film festivals in South Africa are realising that by working together towards a greater goal, by synchronising their efforts, the entire industry benefits. This year, representatives from the Durban International Film Festival and FilmMart, the Shnit Short Film Festival, the Black Filmmakers Film Festival and even from regional counterpart the Zimbabwe International Film Festival, were all involved in one way or another with the CTIFMF. Monthly industry gatherings for the industry were organised by market director Elias Ribeiro and ensured the buy-in of the local industry – absolutely

”

critical for the success of the event. It’s often these stories, sometimes not covered in detail, that are the real successes of any festival. Without a doubt, the buy-in, good-will and positive energy cultivated at this year’s event will be powerful drivers towards a more inclusive and sustainable industry for all. – Lara Preston

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LIVE TELEVSION

From the Producer’s Mouth:

Louise Rainbow How did you come to find yourself working in television? I started as a secretary at the BBC so I learnt how TV production worked from the bottom up. I then progressed via being a script supervisor for live shows. You are the executive producer of the global success that is Strictly Come Dancing. How did the idea for this show come about and what do you attribute its success to? The show was created 15 years ago by the BBC. It was at a time when seeing celebrities outside their comfort zone was only just starting. Someone thought – let’s get celebrities learning to dance and base it on a format called ‘Come Dancing’ – which BBC had produced up until the late 1990s. The success of Strictly Come Dancing – which is currently in its 16th season – is down to a strong format. It has broad appeal, it encompasses every emotion from drama to laughter, from sadness to euphoria, as the celebrities struggle to learn a new dance style each week and eventually deliver some wonderful performances. It’s also a very glamorous setting and because it’s live it feels like real ‘must see’ TV with a big sense of event. What exactly does the job of an executive producer entail? The executive producer is responsible for all the show’s content – the dance concepts, the music choices, the costumes, the VTs and the live shows. Each section of the show has its own leader but they all report to the executive producer who signs off on all the editorial content on all the platforms, including social.

Louise Rainbow is the executive producer of Strictly Come Dancing UK. She has a wealth of experience, executive-producing live television shows including Let’s Dance For Comic Relief, Move Like Michael Jackson, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy and The One And Only. Screen Africa chatted to her about her journey in the television industry. Rainbow’s story is one of hard work, passion and persistence…

As someone who has produced multiple live television shows, what makes live television different and why do you love it? Producing live shows is exciting but also incredibly demanding. There are no second takes! You have to get it right and there is such a buzz when weeks of preparation comes together on the night and the show goes well. Strictly is a well-oiled machine, everyone knows their jobs, but they all have to be alert because not everything goes according to plan, so the team, presenters and judges have to ad lib. Apart from live television shows, what kind of content do you enjoy creating? Content with real heart and emotion. Content with drama, where you really care about what happens and the people taking part. It’s about empathy and telling good stories with great characters. I also love a sense of scale and it doesn’t get much bigger than Strictly.

With current trends in content consumption of all kinds favouring binge-watching and digital platforms, where does that leave live television? How do you see it fitting into the television landscape in the next 5 – 10 years? Live TV has to have a unique selling point. The audience needs to feel that they are part of a conversation. If you are not watching that show you are not part of the conversation. It also has to capture the zeitgeist and create moments that everyone is talking about the next day.

What has been your career highlight(s) to date? Producing Strictly of course! This is my sixth and final year as the EP of this wonderful show. I love the people who work on it, the excitement of weekly live shows and the fun we have producing such creative content. What advice do you have for young people wanting to follow in your career footsteps? Work hard, believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s not a sign of weakness, it shows you care. Also be really interested in people and in telling their stories, whether you work in factual or entertainment. Without characters and a strong narrative you don’t have a show. What legacy do you hope to leave? Strictly is now the most successful entertainment show on British TV, with a wonderful and very happy team producing award-winning television every week. What more could one ask? If you weren’t working in film and television what would you be doing? I considered being a lawyer in my younger days because I am actually quite logical and persuasive. It’s a useful skill to have when working in TV.

What has been the biggest challenge in your career to date and how did you overcome this? Working full-time with twins! Balancing work and home is so tough, especially in the world of TV when hours are so unpredictable. Luckily I have a very supportive partner – who doesn’t work in TV – whose hours are much more predictable.

“I started as a secretary at the BBC so I learnt how TV production worked from the bottom up.” 28 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

DISCOP JOHANNESBURG

DISCOP Johannesburg 2018:

Taking place from 14 to 16 November, DISCOP Johannesburg is the leading content, adaptation rights and project market dedicated to Africa and the Middle East.

s DISCOP Johannesburg approaches, here are some inside tips for getting the best out of the three-day intensive market. As anyone who has attended the event knows, DISCOP is about the business. Meetings, deal-making and networking are the most important elements of the event – especially for independent and smaller production houses. With a massive focus this year on animation, music rights and synch deals, TV series and Swahili content, as well as the newly launched DISCOP CLUB, opportunities will abound for both sellers and buyers of African content.

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The Meeting Service As a registered delegate of DISCOP, the match-making or meeting service is probably the most powerful tool for anyone attending the market. Especially for producers who may be just entering the market or who operate independently, or for those who are not sure how to get the attention of buyers, the online meeting service is the best way to fill your diary with substantial and meaningful meetings.

DISCOMICS and Animation Highlights The DISCOMICS Joburg segment, organised by the African Animation Network and DISCOP Markets, will bring comic books, animation and video-

gaming talents before international buyers and producers. Twenty creators, graphic artists, game developers and animators have been offered the chance to attend DISCOP and enjoy VIP privileges, including a Producer’s market badge, a meeting pod in the DISCOMICS umbrella, meeting organisation assistance, access to the Next Gen programme, and up to five programmes and projects featured in the DISCOP Club online library for 12 months, among other perks. DISCOMICS will additionally host a talent showcase for key industry players, with the FUPiTOONS Festival also taking place during DISCOP. Anyone with an interest in animation should also attend the two Next Gen sessions, which will take place on Friday

16 November. At 9am, ‘Wham, Pow, Boom’ will take a closer look at Nigeria’s animation, comic books and gaming industry. Thanks to a growing interest in the country, Nigerian animators are now stepping up to improve the quality and availability of their content. At 5pm, the Africa Animation Network (AAN) will explore the issue of ‘Animation Progeny’. There will also be an ‘Animation Du Monde’ pitching competition, the grand finale of which takes place on the final day of DISCOP. Finally, a DISCOP Conversation session will bring together globe-trotting animation experts to discuss the emerging trends and future outlook of animation in ‘The United World of Animation’. Using their own countries as case studies, panellists will paint a vivid picture of the opportunities, pioneering spaces and potential collaborators in this field.

DISCOP JOHANNESBURG

What not to miss

Connecting Women across Africa: The Ladima Foundation

Swahili Producers and Content Opportunities

Music Producers – Monetise Your Music through Content

Following from the highly successful ‘Women of Influence’ Panel at DISCOP Zanzibar, the Ladima Foundation will present another similar panel at DISCOP Joburg. These interactive panel discussions bring together women who have achieved a certain level of influence within the industry and challenges them to brainstorm the tangible ways in which this influence can be used to improve the opportunities for women across Africa. The conversation will also touch on the recently launched A-List – Africa’s largest searchable database of women professionals from across the film, TV and content industries. Women producers attending DISCOP are encouraged to attend this session.

East African and Kiswahili language content producers can take advantage of their own Swahili Pavilion at this year’s DISCOP market, sponsored by AZAM TV. This meeting space will be the home of a Swahili content-focused press conference, and there will also be a panel discussion on Swahili content taking place as part of the NEXT GEN programme. These platforms promise to provide significant opportunities for Swahili content buyers and sellers.

DISCOP Johannesburg is not just for TV and content producers; the DISCORE programme will take place on 15 November with a full day of Next Gen discussions, focused on the ins and outs of licensing music for content. Film and TV producers are waking up to the importance of music in their productions, and – with DISCOP’s focus on the African content – this means opportunities for musicians, composers and performers. The legal intricacies of royalties, publishing and synch deals will be covered and the sessions will provide the opportunity for music supervisors to connect with music producers. For anyone in the music industry looking for additional opportunities – these events are a MUST-attend.

Sign up for the DISCOP CLUB Independent producers attending DISCOP Johannesburg should also take advantage of the innovative new service being offered. DISCOP CLUB is a digital interface specifically designed to support independent producers with small catalogues of content, with projects in development and with works in progress. Signing up and loading your content on the platform will enable year-round, 24/7 access to buyers, with experts on hand via the website to complement and support interactions between buyers and sellers outside of the physical market space. – Lara Preston

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

| OPINION

Surviving the Quiet Storm

Written by Andrea Altgayer, camerawoman

The broadcasting and film industries are not for the faint-hearted. If you choose to stay the course, be prepared for the countless challenges that come with the territory.

ost broadcasting professionals in South Africa work on a freelance basis, and almost every crew member has experienced at least one quiet period in their careers. When you have bills to pay, these quiet periods are all the more intimidating. You don’t see them coming, and you don’t know when they’ll end. I’ve been a broadcasting camerawoman for over 10 years, and have been freelancing since I was retrenched in September of 2017. I’m going through a quiet period at the moment, but thankfully I have several other skills that help me make a living and keep me going through times like this. However, my heart lies behind a camera. Few things are as satisfying to me as using my camera, creativity and imagination to create striking images. I don’t know many crew members who feel apathetic about their careers. There are several more stable and lucrative career options, but we’re driven by our passion. Without it, our work is meaningless. We’re storytellers. Our stories are the legacy

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that we leave behind. That’s why we take our work so seriously. Life has thrown me a few unexpected curveballs and I’ve conquered most of them. Recently, I realised that I’m not as invincible as I’d like to believe. I hadn’t been on set for three months and I wondered if I would ever work again in the industry. I had sent in endless rounds of job applications and hadn’t received any responses. I met all the criteria stipulated in the job ads, followed the proper job application protocol and attached my existing showreel, as well as a few letters of recommendation from previous employers. I did everything right, but to no avail. How do you deal with those emotionally turbulent quiet periods? I decided to speak to other professionals within the industry and ask them how they cope with quiet periods. Here’s what I learnt. Video content creator Robyn Leigh says that she keeps herself busy with personal and creative projects: “I satisfy my need for a sense of accomplishment by building my showreel, experimenting,

volunteering my skills and practising my craft.” Phumzi, an editor who has asked for her surname to be withheld, concurs. “It keeps my hopes up,” she says, “It’s also a networking opportunity to talk about the work that I’ve done or the ideas that I’ve explored purely out of my passion for directing and writing.” Not everyone can afford to pursue those passion projects, though. Karabo Legoabe Mtshali is a set and costume designer whose advice is to manage your finances properly. “Pay for things like rent in advance,” she says. “Have a 32-day notice account where you can deposit money, earn interest and set up a small salary for those tough months. Also, if you can’t afford your bond instalments, make an arrangement with the bank. Don’t just ignore it.” Cameraman Edwin Knopf says that at times you will be forced to dip into your savings. “The matter is compounded by clients who don’t pay you on time,” he expands. He adds that he copes by prioritising his debts, and advises others to consolidate their large debts and to cut

back on their policies and savings accounts. For TV producer Jane Griffiths, the key is to keep overheads low, and not to be seduced into buying the latest equipment. She also suggests finding alternative income streams. “My husband and I invested in property that we rent out. That has saved us numerous times.” Sadly, many others have succumbed to the depression that is so often caused by these lulls in our careers. Two people that I spoke to said that they knew someone who committed suicide while they were going through an extended quiet period. In 2017, cinematographer David Forbes wrote an article on his blog that touches on the issue of suicides in the South African film industry. Director Dennis Scully says it’s a problem that’s not unique to established professionals: it also applies to younger crew members. I recently updated my showreel as I had managed to source material that was not available to me when I first compiled it. As I watched the editor put it together, I remembered why I do what I do. I realised how much I’ve grown as a camera operator in the past few years. It‘s our showreels, not the length of our quiet periods, that truly reflect our talents. As long as we keep learning, the show isn’t over.

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Broadcast Technology

Audio over IP, re-thinking audio delivery Since the early 1980s, complex audio signal routing has most often been done with the help of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), a method of transmitting and receiving independent digital signals through a single cable that can carry more than one channel. 34 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

he broadcast industry first adopted a standard developed by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) for the exchange of digital audio signals between professional audio devices called AES3, and later Multichannel Audio Digital Interface (MADI), in order to transport signals. The growing number of audio channels required in production and broadcast called for digital audio routers that could handle a larger capacity of digital signals. However, TDM connections were not very efficient as the traffic grew, and the industry needed a re-vamp to address the situation. Today, network technologies finally allow the industry to fully realise real-time applications: networking standards have evolved to an extent that turns interactive audio applications into a realistic possibility. Throughout this year we have seen a huge push in technologies to facilitate IP-based infrastructures in the media industry. With terminologies like High

Frame Rate (HFR) video, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Ultra High Definition (UHD) being bandied about in the broadcast arena, which all reference video production and broadcasting, we have started to see a new term being thrown around in the audio world: that of Next Generation Audio (NGA). NGA is a term being used not only to describe the emerging object or channel-based immersive sound formats (Dolby Atmos is a good example) that go together with the new broadcast and media distribution video formats, but also to describe new practices that are now acknowledged to be dependent on IP-based workflows and distribution platforms, as recommended by both the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Riding on the back of all the exciting changes that are currently happening in the media business, the topic of audio-over-IP (AoIP) and the ongoing transition to fully IP-enabled operations in all platforms has become big news. Internet Protocol (IP) technology is revolutionising the broadcast industry, pushing aside traditional approaches that

relied on a mass of cable connections running from one point to another, each restricted to transporting a given type of media or data between the two locations and, in audio terms, limited to a relatively low channel count. These are being replaced with network connections that allow for higher audio channel counts and the ability to pass different types of media and data over the same connection. In an IP-based operation, a device only needs one connection to a network to be able to send and receive audio and data to and from any other device on the network, rather than needing a direct connection with every other device. Not only is the number of cables massively reduced, but the cables themselves are shorter, since they only need to connect with the nearest switch, rather than running all the way to the piece of kit they connect with. As is well known, networkbased systems rely on conventional and inexpensive off-the-shelf IT technology originally designed to forward a large number of data packets without having to deliver them in real-time. It is precisely for this reason that IP technology has been at a disadvantage with regard to audio transportation. Yet the technological progress that has been made in this field makes it increasingly attractive for broadcasters,

Broadcast TECHNOLOGY

“Besides the tremendous cost-saving effect on

post production houses, concert venues and sound studios to implement AoIP technology. Besides the tremendous cost-saving effect on equipment, network-based solutions for audio delivery hold the potential of enabling broadcasters, recording studios and live venues to leverage their existing infrastructure and to achieve greater flexibility in terms of set-up, network configuration and content sharing. While established AoIP standards like Dante, Ravenna Network and AVB have been designed with the fields of broadcasting and live performance events in mind, they have also paved the way for multi-channel setups and the distribution of real-time high resolution audio streams in recording and mix-down studios. It is, for instance, now possible to work with multiple loudspeaker setups like 5.1, Dolby Atmos, or Auro 3D simply by using a single Ethernet router to distribute audio material among several devices. AoIP has expanded to become one of the most progressive audio technologies today, so much so that even home-based studio musicians are ditching their USB interfaces for networked solutions. The audio industry as a whole, in collaboration with the Audio Engineering Society (AES), has developed an interoperability standard called AES67 which allows existing protocols to connect to each other and interchange audio. The standard is not intended to be a solution on its own, but rather one that provides a means for exchanging audio streams between areas with different

networking solutions or technologies. AES67 defines a minimum feature set: if two devices are AES67 compliant, then they can exchange audio streams with each other. Last September, the approval of the first broadcast IP standards (SMPTE ST-2110) moved the potential of IP for broadcasting to a completely new level. Whilst audio can be streamed as part of a video signal, ST-2110 looks towards “elemental” streaming, in which audio, video and metadata is streamed separately, but over the same network and in perfect alignment. The ST-2110 standard defines the use of AES67 for audio as part of its elemental streaming. This means the audio component and its metadata are easy to access and don’t require unpacking a video stream, therefore removing the latency issues introduced by encoding and decoding. Audio professionals, whether they are working in post-production facilities, recording studios, live productions or the broadcast field, are now conscious of the advantages of working with networked systems, and they seem to be confident that they are able to adopt flexible solutions based on any of the existing popular protocols (such as Dante and Ravenna), knowing they will be able to connect and interchange audio whenever needed thanks to the AES67 interoperability standard. For the audio engineers out there, the emergence of these key standards will smooth the path – but it’s critical that you gain a keen understanding of AES67 and SMPTE ST-2110, as well as the nuts and bolts of configuring and managing IP switches. As if you don’t already do enough! – Ian Dormer

equipment, network-based solutions for audio delivery hold the potential of enabling broadcasters, recording studios and live venues to leverage their existing infrastructure and to achieve greater flexibility in terms of set-up, network configuration and content sharing.

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DIGITAL Delivery

Skyworth launches Android TV in Sou

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s G6 A uth Africa

DIGITAL Delivery

New products come to market all the time, but it is rare when a new category of product is launched. The new G6 from Skyworth, however, is precisely this: a sophisticated Android TV with integrated Google technology, the kind of device that will be the hub of smart homes of the future. t an event held in the offices of Clockwork Media in Bryanston, Johannesburg, Bridget Meyer – the marketing manager of Skyworth in South Africa – gave an introduction to the company and its global operations. “While Skyworth is new to the South African market, it is a well-established brand internationally. It’s 30 years old, and though headquartered in Shenzhen in China, it employs between 40 and 50 thousand people globally. “In 2006, the company developed China’s first recordable TV, and by 2008 – only twenty years after launching – it ranked number one in the Chinese product market, both in terms of volume and revenue. This was followed by the development of the world’s first full colour gamut TV in 2013, and the first OLED TV in China.” As Skyworth key account manager Jaco Joubert explains, with the launch of the G6, the company can now add a South African first to this impressive list of achievements. “The biggest difference between the G6 and its competitors is that other companies take the approach of building a TV first, and then they add features like Wi-Fi and an operating system, and perhaps a custom app store. “What Skyworth have done is different. They decided to take a global approach: they acquired Google’s Android operating system first, and then built the G6 around this user interface.” He switches on the TV and reveals the home screen, which contains a few familiar apps – such as NetFlix, Showmax and DStv Now. “This is what most people get out of their smart TVs,” Joubert says. He then pushes a button on the remote control and simply asks the TV to open the Google Play Store, before continuing: “But with this being a Google product, you can now also access the Play Store. With this, you’ve got up-to-date access to the world’s selection of apps” – he scrolls past Spotify, a Washington Post video service, Chelsea TV – “as well as whole libraries of movies and TV series. “Because these are instantly updated the moment a new product comes on board with Google, you’re never limited to what the manufacturers installed on the TV when you bought it.” Joubert shows the functionality of the remote-operated Google Assistant by asking about the weather in Shenzhen, and points out that this feature has been programmed by the company’s engineers to recognise South African English, Afrikaans and isiZulu. He continues: “Another great thing about the Play Store is its range of hundreds of games. Single-player, multi-player, online, offline, it’s got everything.” He picks up a PlayStation-like controller – a

device which comes in the box with the G6 – and explains, “when Skyworth was developing this product, the engineers at Google were very insistent that, if they wanted to use the software, they needed to make sure the hardware was up to scratch. So the G6 has a quad core processor and in-built graphics card, as well as 4GB and 16GB onboard memory. This means that users don’t need to invest in a separate gaming console – they can do it all from the TV.” As appealing as these entertainment features are, perhaps the G6’s greatest attraction is its hyper-connectivity. In addition to three physical HDMI connections, the TV boasts integrated Bluetooth technology and in-built Chrome Cast, meaning users can wirelessly share content from any device directly to the TV. This also means that the G6 is a “futureproof” piece of technology: ready and able to function as the hub within smart homes of the future. “At this year’s IFA trade show in Berlin, Skyworth won a gold award for Innovation for their AI TV, which will launch in South Africa next year,” Joubert says. “But, when you consider what an in-built Android system gives you, you already have a lot of these AI features. You have voice recognition, you have Google Assistant, and you have an interface that can talk to any smart device. If you have a smart lighting system in your home, with the G6 you can dim or brighten your lounge by talking to your TV.” In terms of construction, the G6 sports a sleek and attractive design with a full metal frame, an IPS panel to reduce glare and a built-in Dolby surround sound bar, which is impressively powerful and clear even at high volumes. The picture quality is excellent, offering crisp UHD viewing, and this initial offering of G6 TVs will come in three sizes: 49, 55 or 65 inches. Meyer explains that, “Skyworth is able to be competitive from a pricing perspective because we have a factory here in South Africa that manufactures the units. We import the components from China and the TVs themselves are made here, which is far more cost-effective than importing the full units.” There is much excitement surround the Skyworth G6 Android TV, and the product promises to be a resoundingly successful introduction to the South African market for the Chinese company. Meyer concludes by saying, “With the G6 – and the ongoing AI research that Skyworth is conducting through their partnership with Baidu – the company aims to remain at the forefront of entertainment technologies, by outperforming their competitors from a technology and innovation perspective.” – David Cornwell

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IMMERSIVE REALITY

“It’s Like You’re

What could immersive technology bring

owever, Mark Hocker, the managing director of Johannesburg-based The Boiler Room Productions, is eager to point out that this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what this technology could offer the film and entertainment industries. Australian-born Hocker was instrumental in introducing 3D animation to South Africa when he first moved here in the 1990s. This included producing content, but also training staff at SABC and M-Net and installing systems all over the country. After this, he was approached by SASOL to produce animated training videos, and this is where – in his words – he began to build “the largest industrial library in the world for 3D models.” Somewhat ingeniously, 3D modelling systems are “backwards-compatible, so even models you developed 20 years ago can be read by the software and used within a VR world today.“ This cache of know-how and 3D stock led Hocker to “take the plunge into VR four years ago. I found some animators who showed an aptitude for programming, got them up to speed, and we have turned out some truly ground-breaking products since.” Hocker takes a moment to clear up some terminology. “When I say ‘VR’, people immediately think of a rig with goggles. That’s just one output mechanism of VR – we call that immersive technology – but I have apps here on my phone that can provide a full VR experience, to run simulations or explore an area remotely.” To demonstrate the difference, Hocker hands me an Oculus Go headset.

He tells me that his team is involved in developing motion-control rigs that will soon replace rides (such as the Cobra roller-coaster) at Cape Town’s Ratanga Junction amusement park. He fires up the VR headset and lets me experience the virtual version of this roller-coaster ride, captured using a 360-degree video. Even in a static desk chair, the experience is exhilarating: involuntarily, I clench my stomach before we fall into the first drop and wince as we fly around corners. The only way to describe it, as Hocker says, “is that it’s like you’ve been teleported; it’s like you’re really there.” The conversation then turns to the area where Hocker believes that – beyond pure entertainment value – technologies such as this can have the biggest impact on the local production landscape. “The training industry has gone beserk for VR,” he says. He shows me a couple of thick catalogues belonging to a company called Sandvik and explains that they are “the largest producer of underground mining equipment in the world. We developed a simulator for them that allows their engineers to get hands-on experience of the equipment, perform checks and run through maintenance drills via a headset.” He shares a 3D animation with the computer screen in the office – it shows a large industrial complex seemingly by the ocean – and he says, “This is a sand dune mine out in Richards Bay. We re-built this whole site out of photographs and drone videos – so it’s visually accurate.” The animation reveals a 3D environment that can be explored as if on foot. As key sites and pieces of equipment are passed, they light up, revealing important safety information and virtual tasks to test the user’s knowledge. Items of machinery can be viewed in the minutest detail – including exploded views and demonstrations of how pieces of equipment fit together. “With places like this, you’re dealing with situations where safety is crucial to the success of the industry. With VR and immersive technology, we make training cheaper, quicker and more

effective: the ability to retain and use new information goes off the charts when you have a ‘real’, hands-on experience of it. “Not only this, but we are often needing to train people for high-pressure, high-stakes situations that are impossible to recreate in reality.” Hocker thinks the possible implications of this for the production and broadcast industries are clear. “Think of an OB (outside broadcasting) van,” he says. “We could build a CAD model of the van, including all the equipment – all the routers, all the switches, everything – and have people train virtually to become comfortable with how to operate all the complex gear in there. We could do simulated faults, and run tasks where people have to fix them; we could build programs that show people how to properly clean, store and maintain the equipment and the van. “For live events – where you have a big crew and planning and synchronisation are everything – we could rig up every crew member and allow them to get a feel for the venue where the broadcast is going to take place.” He speculates about some more potential uses – such as location scouting and casting, where the need for physical travel could be mitigated using immersive technology – and he says that these possibilities will only grow as the next phase of VR becomes developed. “Augmented reality, known as AR, is the next evolution of VR,” he says. Devices, such as the Microsoft HoloLens, will start to operate like “QR code readers on steroids”, allowing users to layer a virtual environment onto a real one. It is clear from our conversation that Hocker is passionate about the rise of VR and immersive technologies, and the impact they can have on training and skills development across all industries. He shows me a virtual reality app his company are producing for Vodacom to help train forklift drivers. “People often think of VR as ‘the future’,” he says, “but it’s not. We have it now, and it works.” – David Cornwell

VR simulations can provide exploded views of key pieces of equipment

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IMMERSIVE REALITY

Really There”

to the film industry?

When film industry professionals think of virtual reality (VR), it is usually as another content platform: a cutting-edge form of entertainment that, many predict, will one day rival ‘pure film‘ as an artistic medium of its own.

“When I say ‘VR’, people immediately think of a rig with goggles. That’s just one output mechanism of VR – we call that immersive technology – but I have apps here on my phone that can provide a full VR experience, to run simulations or explore an area remotely. – Mark Hocker

”

Simulations can tackle a number of issues and tasks

A rig and goggles provides a completely immersive driving experience

A view from inside the 360-degree immersive simulation

Sites are rendered with geographical accuracy

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LIGHTING EQUIPMENT & ACCESSORIES

MIXing It Up:

A first look at Rosco’s new range of LED lighting solutions Screen Africa was recently invited to Movievision’s headquarters in Wynberg, Johannesburg, to attend the launch of the new series of MIX lighting solutions from leading global brand Rosco.

on Knell, Rosco senior account manager (Eastern Europe, Balkans and South Africa), was on hand to answer questions about this exciting new range – winner of the 2018 Cine Gear Technical Award for Lighting Technology – and what it can offer the South African film and television industry.

Quality collaboration Knell explains that the new product offering emerged after Rosco fused with French company DMG Lumière: “Rosco’s strategy in the future is to become an LED specialist lighting supplier and manufacturer. We were in talks with DMG, and there was a perfect fit between the two companies: they had the expertise and the knowledge, having already broken ground with the DMG Switch range, and we had the global presence in sales and marketing. “Within a year of us joining the companies we’d come to market with the MIX range, which is an incredible turnaround and shows the quality of the working relationship we’ve established.”

What’s in the MIX? As Knell outlines some of the specs and features of the lights, it’s easy to see why they are generating so much excitement. The Rosco brand has always been synonymous with colour, and this is one of the distinguishing features of the MIX series. “The lights are fitted with six LEDs. The normal standard is RGBW or RGBWA, but we’ve gone one step further and we include red, blue, green, phosphorous lime, white and amber. This gives a better depth of field through the spectrum, and allows us to programme the lights with more than 100 true Rosco colours.” Not only does this do away with the need to carry around and adjust gels on set, but – as Knell explains – “The lights are all custom-made and they’re fitted onto an aluminium plate, which allows for a passive cooling system. This eliminates fan noise, which can be very helpful in tight spaces where you need to record dialogue.” The lights are operated via a specialised myMIX app, which allows

Rosco MIX Series

users to control various settings (such as hue, saturation and intensity) remotely, and – along with a number of convincing effects and presets – enables you to capture real-world colours via your phone camera and programme them into your lighting rig. The lights feature an adjustable range from 1700K-10000K, making them versatile and reliable options for a number of different shooting scenarios. The MIX range comes in three sizes: the highly popular Mini, a compact unit which weighs only 2.5kg, the SL1 and the soon-to-be-released Maxi. All models boast DMX, LAN, bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and there are a range of great accessories – such as dome diffusors, snapgrids and quickfit handles – that can be used across the product range.

South African market outlook John Harrison, the CEO of MovieVision and Southern Lighting Solutions, expects the Rosco MIX series to have an instant impact on the local production landscape. “The ARRI Skypanel has become the lighting solution that everyone wants to have, and now we can offer an alternative that performs just as well but is more accessible in terms of cost,” Harrison says. “People don’t want to go for cheap knock-offs, so we were looking for something that came in cheaper than – but equal to – the Skypanels.” Knell shares this optimism, saying, “The MIX series is a high-performing, cost-effective range of lights. We know it’s a good product from the feedback we’ve received from DOPs, from gaffers and from resellers. It’s got an edge, and we think it’s going to do well for us.” – David Cornwell

“Rosco’s strategy in the future is to become an LED specialist lighting supplier and manufacturer. We were in talks with DMG, and there was a perfect fit between the two companies: they had the expertise and the knowledge, having already broken ground with the DMG Switch range, and we had the global presence in sales and marketing. 40 | SCREENAFRICA | Nov/Dec 2018

”

– Ron Knell

POST-PRODUCTION

MEET THE C o l o u r i s t Matthew Troughton

Stills from I Am Not A Witch

Matthew Troughton, head of Picture Post and senior colourist, joined London post-house Creativity Media two years ago. He has shaped the look of a wide range of award-winning films including I Am Not A Witch, which won the 2018 BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. What brought you into colour grading? I started out just as DI and digital grading was becoming a thing. At the time, I found that the people who knew how to wrangle the (often less than reliable) technical side of the machines also got the chance to get in and develop their creative side. I knew how to manipulate the buttons and cables, so I got to stand on the launch pad a lot quicker than I think I would today. That mix of creative and technical still hits the spot for me now, and means I never get bored.

You’ve been working for two years now at Creativity Media. Could you tell us more about the company and your role? Creativity Media is primarily focused on indie feature drama and documentary. We offer full service post across picture, sound and delivery. I’ve had the privilege to work on and provide grading services for a huge range of genres, styles and budgets, from the action and adventure of 47 Meters Down, Final Score and Stratton, through to some amazing award-winning drama such as I Am Not A

Witch, God’s Own Country, and a recent favourite, VS. I work as the company’s senior colourist, but I also lead picture post as a whole as well as our technology strategy. It’s a big chunk of work but I find it hugely enjoyable blending the creative and technical work. In truth, more so now than ever, treating creativity and technology as one – with both driving each other – is critical to the future success of the industry. What does a week look like for you as a colourist/ creative when you’re also responsible for the picture post department? I’m very strict about focus – when I’m grading, I’m grading. And it’s similar with the other hats I wear. This presents challenges as the world doesn’t stop outside the grading suite, but luckily we have an amazing team to make sure things run smoothly. I find working at the coalface and collaborating with clients gives me a very immediate understanding of the creative desires and technical challenges that emerge on a day-to-day basis. As a result, we’re able to react rapidly to problems or engage with partners to enable creative ideas or needs. We are currently working on a fantastic Sony PS4 game where the Baselight support gang have been helping us to develop workflows and tweak various aspects of Baselight to get the results the developers want, both technically and creatively. It’s super useful to be in the middle of the fray myself.

Could you tell us more about the movie I Am Not A Witch? How did you approach the grading on this project? From the outset, director and screenwriter Rungano Nyoni was very clear she wanted to avoid the stereotypes sometimes used to represent Africa. She really wanted to ground the film in reality and emphasise the arid, dry nature of the location and setting whilst not making it look overtly hostile. She wanted to bring out the beauty of the imagery deftly captured by David Gallego, but without obvious embellishment. Ironically, films where you don’t want it to look like you have done anything are often the most challenging; inevitably, there is a lot to do, especially in marrying styles and crafting the journey of the colour and story across 90 minutes. It had to look effortless. We ended up building some great little base styles using a combination of tonal responses and colour cross talk models from film stock profiles. We had to be very careful to iron out the more aggressive tonal results you can get from some stock outputs to keep things gentle. The more organic colour responses, especially in the costumes and landscapes, really helped add that subtle finesse to the colour we were after. What were the biggest challenges? What was fascinating to me was the convergence of the language that Rungano, David and I had to come to when describing how we felt something looked or how we wanted it to feel. For instance, Rungano’s description of lush

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POST-PRODUCTION

and verdant landscape, having much experience of Africa, was very different to David’s, who lives in Columbia with its lush monsoon-drenched deep greens, and to mine with the emerald morning leaves. We all had to thrash out what these terms meant to the colours and landscapes and skin tones in front of us and the difference was a real eye-opener. It hammered home how easy it is for both artists and audiences to fall into stereotypes and clichés. Going on the journey to portray Rungano’s Africa with its gentler, more neutral truth was really great. Do you prefer grading on your own or along with the DoP and director? The whole process is a hugely collaborative thing and the route to the best result is always to be spring boarding ideas – fighting it out if necessary! Everyone wants to watch the final film, be it on a cinema screen or an iPhone, and know they did the best they could. We always try to be involved from before the shoot – so working with DoPs, especially with references, style-finding grades and LUTs created for on-set are all a big part of it. It’s also critical, however, for the team to be able to have a perspective – to leave the suite and come back fresh – so I think it’s always important to not slavishly have anyone stuck in the suite. Normally we will have a patch of time where I flesh out some reels and then we review, which I find can help a lot of people get where they want to go quicker. It’s easy to get snow blinded quickly. I always take people’s first reaction as vital on reviews as well. Too many times you can go back to a shot that jolted someone and have

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them say, “Oh, maybe I was imagining it” when they see the clip repeated 20 times upon investigation. But it’s all about the run – if it felt odd having watched the previous five minutes, it will be there the next time you see it. What are your thoughts on HDR? I think, like anything, it’s audiences that will drive its uptake. If the huge move to mobile devices is evidence of anything, it’s that content is king. If it’s engaging and entertaining, audiences are happy to absorb those stories and people on the smallest and simplest of devices. That said, I think HDR brings an exciting extra dimension to the viewing experience, opening up a whole new set of opportunities creatively. So it’s a brilliant thing we are exploring, but HDR does have to demonstrate that it can consistently give something more to audiences over the long term. In reality I imagine it will be one of those things that TVs will simply have as standard in the

coming years, much like 4K is now: a silent transition, whether the audience appreciates it or not. Once that happens, the difference on a TV between a production that’s invested in an HDR version will clearly distinguish itself from an SDR show – so I think that’s where it will really snowball. You’ve also worked on a film commissioned by Netflix called Mercury 13. What was the pipeline like on this project? How was the overall experience? Netflix has some very forward-looking and rigorous requirements across the board, from acquisition formats and colour management all the way to final delivery, and it’s great to see such value and confidence placed on the content they make. We worked natively at 4K in Baselight with all the input formats, which ranged from Sony and RED cinema cameras all the way down to restored Umatic archive and stills scans. With a

documentary film holding such an eclectic mix of media it was great to be able to engage with Netflix in such a dynamic way, as their team was able to find a path that got the best results but still came in on budget. What colour grading project are you the most proud of? I’ve had my job made much easier by being able to work with some really great DoPs. There are a couple of films I’ve worked on with an amazing cinematographer called Felix Wiedemann that I’ve loved. The Go-Between, the recent BBC remake that won Felix the BSC Best Cinematography award last year, was great – it’s always a challenge to squeeze the most out of three days on a 90-minute drama, but I think that worked out nicely. Stratton, an action film I worked on with Felix, was also really great fun! Very recently, VS., God’s Own Country and Postcards from London are amazing films that we were also all very lucky to work on.

| SOCIAL

BBC Summer Upfront The BBC Summer Upfront took place at Summer Place in Hyde Park. Seen there wereâ&#x20AC;Ś

Anele Mdoda, Sarah-Jane Harling, Joel Churcher, Ithi Mjali, Chef Nti, Shireez Latief

Louise Jerung, Pam Sullivan, Amanda Grobler

Carol Bassett, Zarina Deiya-Hotchinson, Lisa Morphy

Lerato Sekhoanyane and Ali Naka

Shireez Latief, Joel Churcher, Ithi Mjali and Sarah-Jane Harling

Razia Amod and Yolanda Tomlinson

Yan Maw, Donvey Viljoen, Nicky Naidoo, Morongoa Magagane

Peelo Mookodi and Lucille Slade

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