BROADCAST, FILM, TV, COMMERCIALS, NEW MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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Early Bird Registration ends 28 June 2019 Visit www.durbanfilmmart.com to register
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| IN THIS ISSUE
24 REGISTRATION FOR MEDIATECH AFRICA 2019 NOW OPEN
28 SERIOUS ABOUT COLOUR: THE SAGE ACRONYM
30
34
BRINGING THE PAST TO LIFE
IS OTT OVER-SUBSCRIBED?
NEWS |
ADCETERA |
TELEVISION |
CINEMATOGRAPHY |
Delegate registration opens for
Behind the scenes on
The making of Kenyan-German
the 10th Durban FilmMart........................... 3
Ralf GUM’s Uyakhala music video............ 11
co-production Country Queen.................... 21
Bringing the past to life.............................. 30
PwC’s 2019 Global Consumer
Adman Matthew Bull launches
Insights Survey................................................... 4
SoloUnion in SA........................................... 13
South African Independent Film
NAB 2019 REPORT | ADVERTORIAL |
The best of NAB Show 2019................... 32
A game-changer in Africa’s
FILM |
film and television landscape .................... 22
OTT & IPTV |
Encounters revamps leadership
Let’s Talk About Film................................... 14
Registration for Mediatech
Is OTT over-subscribed?............................ 34
ahead of its 21st edition................................ 8
Skemerson:
Festival returns for a second year.............. 6
TECHNOLOGY NEWS | Movievision unveils new showroom........ 10
Destigmatising mental illness.................... 16 Director Speak: Likarion Wainaina........... 18
TRAINING | Del-York Creative Academy partners with Warner Bros. for its 2019 media and film training programme..................... 20
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Africa 2019 now open................................ 24
streaming platform, Viu............................... 36
INDUSTRY REVIEW |
Video providers: prioritise monitoring
Four trends in the TV landscape to tune into this year.................................. 26
POST-PRODUCTION | Serious about colour: the SAGE acronym...................................... 28
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Introducing South Africa’s newest
or risk impacting consumer QoE............ 38
REGULARS Marketplace................................................... 40 Upcoming Events......................................... 40
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FROM THE EDITOR
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THE TEAM
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EDITOR The much-anticipated NAB Show 2019 took place last month – 6 to 11 April – at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. As always, in our May issue, we have put together a post NAB Show report where Ian Dormer covers everything from product releases to conference strands, trends and themes. According to Ian, the most talked about trends at the 2019 NAB Show included 5G and 8K technology. Read all about it on pages 32 – 33. In our Film section this month, we take a look at the making of Skemerson (pages 16 – 17). Produced by Palama Productions producer Niel van Deventer, the Afrikaans-language film focuses on mental illness in men, why it’s considered taboo and how we can address the issue. We spoke to van Deventer about the inspiration behind the film and the importance of making films that deal with underrepresented social ills. Our Television section boasts an informative read by Amanda Turnbull, vice president and general manager of Discovery in Africa and the Middle East. Turnbull touches on the latest trends dictating the TV landscape this year. Check it out on pages 26 – 27. In our Cinematography section, David Cornwell chats to cinematographer Willie Nel, producer Johan Kruger and editor Warwick Allan about the making of Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer, and “the starring role played on set by the Sony Venice 6K RAW camera.” Not to be missed on pages 30 – 31. We close out the issue with our annual OTT & IPTV feature. The section includes a thought-provoking article by Ian Dormer titled ‘Is OTT oversubscribed?’ on pages 34 – 35, as well as a look at new video streaming service, Viu. Till next time! – Chanelle Ellaya
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.
SUB-EDITOR & FEATURES WRITER David Cornwell writes fiction, films and features for a variety of publications. His debut novel, Like It Matters (Umuzi, 2016), was long-listed for the 2017 Sunday Times Fiction Award and the 9mobile Prize for Best African Debut.
JOURNALISTS
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.
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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.
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DELEGATE REGISTRATION OPENS FOR THE 10TH DURBAN FILMMART Delegate registration is now open for the 10th Durban FilmMart, which takes place from 19 to 22 July during the 40th Durban International Film Festival.
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joint programme of the Durban Film Office (DFO), the eThekwini Municipality’s industry development unit, and the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), the Durban FilmMart (DFM) aims to develop the African film industry, as well as grow African content and networking opportunities for film practitioners. Considered one of the most important film industry events on the continent, the DFM introduces three new programmes to further complement its co-production market, finance and industry development forums. “The DFM is really excited to add new programmes in this year’s event, creatively curated by South African creative industries consultant Russel Hlongwane, and producer, curator and arts manager, Tiny Mungwe,” says Toni Monty, head of the DFO and the DFM. “Durban Does Docs is a two-day documentary conference, consisting of panel discussions, masterclasses and plenary presentations aimed to attract documentary filmmakers and scholars from the continent and around the world, who will unpack and discuss the state of the documentary in a global context. “We will also introduce the Creative Corner, a robust open space for emerging scriptwriters, actors, set designers and make-up artists, which will run over four days and will consist of script to live sessions, panel discussions around the creative elements of filmmaking such as editing, make-up, sound design and set design. “And then we welcome the Locations Africa Exhibition and Conference, a private sector initiative that focuses on film locations in an effort to re-ignite efforts to position Africa as a key filming destination which has all the necessary
Action at Durban FilmMart
Delegates at a previous Durban FilmMart elements for inbound productions and local film projects. Key to this is economic transformation within the film sector.” Locations Africa comprises of a comprehensive expo featuring film commissions and location representatives from South Africa and the continent. Running concurrently to the expo is a full four-day programme of seminars, workshops and panel discussions that will delve into a myriad topics including location selection, marketing locations, servicing and facilities management, relationships between location scouts and management and many others. “This is an ideal opportunity for African countries to market their locations on the continent but also to international producers and investors,” says Monty. “A welcome addition to the DFM and DIFF offering, Locations Africa will also provide producers, location scouts and location managers with a ‘one-stop-shop’ to see the many options Africa can provide for filmmakers.” Adopting the theme ‘Imagine Community’, the DFM will use this year as a call for the recalibration of the film industry. According to the curators, this
provides the framework to build community within and across markets – as well as across countries – for the development of the industry on the continent. DFM’s forums will consist of panel discussions, world café-style engagements and the high-level masterclasses focusing on relevant topics that reflect on and forecast African cinema both from an aesthetic and commercial point of view; the convergence of technology and filmmaking; diversity in filmmaking; and women in filmmaking. Delegates can look forward to international, African and local cutting-edge speakers delivering perspectives shaping the international and local industries. DFM delegates also have access to an industry lounge and exhibition, providing opportunities for networking sessions and to create meaningful business relationships across the globe. Other elements of the DFM include the finance forum, in which 20 pre-selected feature film and documentary projects from Africa pitch to potential sponsors, funders or partners, as well as the
12th Talents Durban, for pre-selected intermediate African filmmakers, and – within the DIFF – the Isiphethu Hub programme for entry-level and emerging filmmakers, which is free to the public. “We are expecting this year to be a bumper one, as we celebrate our 10th anniversary along with the DIFF’s 40th,” says Monty. “Our programmes are being consolidated and there has been a lot of creative input and film community support as we begin the lead up to this very significant moment in the history of film on the continent.” – Sharlene Versveld
Early bird registration is open until 28 June 2019. Early bird fees are R1,300 (ZAR) for the four-day programme, which includes four day’s access to the DFM Industry Programme, access to DFM producers lounge and DFM networking events, 10 tickets to Durban International Film Festival screenings and company information published in the industry manual. After 28 June fees are R1,600 for the full programme while daily passes are R450 each (the daily pass does not include tickets to DIFF screenings or access into the opening and closing events).
Russel Hlongwane adressing an audience
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NEWS
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PWC’S 2019 GLOBAL CONSUMER INSIGHTS SURVEY
By Anton Hugo,
retail and consumer leader for PwC Africa
Consumers are increasingly using digital technology for more than just shopping.
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here is a revolution occurring in how customers access entertainment and media. For example, thirty-eight percent of global consumers stream entertainment at least once daily, and among Gen Z consumers, cord-cutting for entertainment is at more than 50%. In South Africa, wireless access to entertainment is also increasingly popular, with 22.9% of consumers streaming movies daily, and 23.9% streaming music daily. These are some of the key findings from PwC’s 2019 Global Consumer Insights Survey, which assesses behaviour, habits and expectations of over 21,000 online consumers in 27 territories. PwC’s research reveals rapidly-changing consumer behaviour in a host of areas other than entertainment and media. Anton Hugo, retail and consumer leader for PwC Africa, says: “Not only are consumers the strongest link in the global economic chain, but PwC’s Global Consumer Insights Survey shows that the technological tools available to them have put them in a position to demand a tailored, seamless and multichannel shopping and social-media-powered experience. Retailers can achieve this by using a blend of both physical and digital approaches. The result for companies will be a greater return on experience with the customer and gaining a competitive advantage.” When it comes to news, it is notable that 33% of South African consumers – compared to 25% of consumers globally – go to social media first to hear about current events. “The survey findings are not surprising given how pervasive social media is today,” Hugo comments. Social media-placed ads that allow consumers to interact with a brand are now ranked as the third most effective form of advertising globally, and among millennials, this is the most popular form of advertising – beating out traditional television ads. In South Africa, however, consumers still look to traditional television ads as most influential, followed by social media ads.
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THE EASIER AND BETTER THE EXPERIENCE, THE MORE CONSUMERS WILL SPEND The study finds that consumers – bombarded with a multitude of choices – are constantly seeking tools to help simplify their purchasing decisions. In addition to using digital technology, they are looking to their trusted communities and other experts: • According to those surveyed, the top three attributes that can improve an in-store shopping experience are easy store navigation, knowledgeable sales associates and easy payment options. In South Africa, consumers also stated that the use of technology could assist the shopping experience, for example, self-service kiosks and scanners. “Our survey findings show that shoppers who are willing to pay premium prices want better services, such as a personal stylist, and added conveniences, such as mobile payments and cutting-edge technology,” Hugo adds. • Globally, 61% of consumers are influenced by social media for their purchases, either as inspiration or following positive reviews; 46.5% of South African consumers say they have been influenced to buy a
product/service following positive reviews on social media. • Almost 50% of those surveyed globally let family and friends’ opinions guide their choice of a vacation travel provider. Less than half of South African consumers (49.4%) say they are influenced by special offers when choosing their vacation/travel provider, and 46.1% are guided by their family and friends’ opinions. PwC’s survey shows that consumers are increasingly willing to engage in non-traditional activities online. This trend is especially noticeable in healthcare, where almost two-thirds of our global sample stated they are willing to access non-traditional health services online. Nearly 75% own health-related apps (South Africa 57.7%), with exercise/health monitoring being the most popular (South Africa 71%). Consumers are pushing other boundaries, too. Forty-six percent of consumers surveyed would like to have an autonomous vehicle today or would consider one in the future, and an additional 21% would be interested in learning more about the technology. They are mostly interested in automotive
features that eliminate the human element of driving decisions and actions, such as braking, hazard perception and parking assistance. The findings also confirm that smartphones have become the go-to technology for online shopping, with more than half (51%) of our global sample of consumers saying they use a smartphone to pay bills and invoices online, and the same percentage transferring money online. In South Africa, 63.2% of consumers have used digital channels to pay their bills and invoices in the past 12 months, while 67% have transferred money online. For the first time in the 10 years that PwC has conducted this survey, consumers surveyed are using smartphones over other mobile devices to shop online, with 24% of consumers globally (compared to 23.1% in South Africa) using a smartphone to shop online weekly. In emerging countries, mobile payments in stores are increasing, with Vietnam seeing the biggest increase to 61% in a period of one year, followed by the Middle East (45%). Globally, there was an overall increase of 24% over the past year. In general, Asian countries are more likely to adopt this behaviour more quickly than western countries.
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SOUTH AFRICAN INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS FOR A SECOND YEAR The 2019 South African Independent Film Festival (SAIFF), taking place on 18 May in Johannesburg and 26 May in Cape Town, promises to deliver a bigger and better festival line-up for its second edition.
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“W
e have expanded for our 2019 season to feature more award categories, a bigger jury and more fantastic independent cinema. This year, the festival is going on the road and will feature events in both our home city of Cape Town as well as Johannesburg,” comments festival director Ryan Kruger. The festival has partnered up with The Bioscope in Johannesburg to showcase its top official selection films for two screening events on Saturday, 18 May. “As Johannesburg’s premiere independent cinema, The Bioscope is a no-brainer as the new home of SA Indie Film Fest in Gauteng. Following the screening on 18 May, we will be hosting a networking after-party in Braamfontein for filmmakers and audiences alike,” adds Kruger. The Cape Town leg of the SAIFF will
once again take place at the historic Labia Theatre and will feature an opening ceremony on Saturday, 25 May, two screening events on Sunday, 26 May, as well as a networking after-party event in Gardens. The South African Independent Film Festival showcases the very best in local and international short form independent cinema. The festival features all genres and a wide array of formats from short films, to documentaries as well as music videos and VR. “We aim to enthrall audiences with films that stand apart from the usual festival affair and sit on the cutting-edge of storytelling in cinema,” says Kruger. “The term ‘indie’ has come to encompass an entirely different spirit and approach to creativity. Indie filmmakers are at the forefront of innovation and creativity within the film industry,” he
continues. “They take technical and creative risks that would otherwise be impossible in the high-stakes worlds of commercials and studio features. That same spirit of independence and a do-it-yourself attitude is what brought SAIFF into reality. SAIFF is a festival that celebrates this outsider approach to filmmaking and shows audiences a different side to cinema compared to what they’re usually accustomed to.” The 2019 festival jury includes actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Black Sails, Pirates of the Caribbean III), Kim Engelbrecht (The Flash, Dominion), Enhle-Mbali Maphumulo (Tshisa, Rockville) and Sibs Shongwe-La Mer (Necktie Youth). As experts in their respective fields, the jury will select the award winners from this year’s official selection. “We’ve also partnered with SA HorrorFest in adding a new award category for Best Horror Film
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“We aim to enthrall audiences with films that stand apart from the usual festival affair and sit on the cutting-edge of storytelling in cinema.
”
– Ryan Kruger.
– the winner of which will be featured in this year’s upcoming SA HorrorFest,” adds Kruger. Audiences can expect an expertly curated selection of short films, documentaries, music videos and VR experiences from around the world. Each film playing at the festival has been specially selected from hundreds of submissions by the festival’s selection committee. “We pride ourselves on our esteemed jury, who make their official selection from hundreds of submissions,” Kruger comments. “Only about 10% of
submitted films make it to the official selection and even fewer get nominations or awards. This ensures that we showcase only the cream of the indie crop – which is great for audiences but even better for the hard-working filmmakers who get their work recognised. Although SAIFF is not as big or prestigious as some of the larger more established festivals, we have a very high standard of work among the indie realm and we hope this translates to greater recognition for these brilliant filmmakers.” Additionally, the SAIFF has a new
festival director, performance artist Berneen Cereska, who will be working alongside Ryan Kruger at the helm of the festival. Cereska’s passion for both music and acting have grown alongside each other in a career spanning over 10 years. She has appeared as both lead and supporting actor in a number of Lithuanian drama and reality TV shows. She is also the founder of Not A Robot Entertainment, a production company focusing on music videos and developing independent feature films. Kruger is a Cape Town-based director who has been
making movies since he was 14 years old. As a winner of SAMA, MTV and GOEMA awards, he is widely celebrated for his outstanding work as a music video director. Having directed dozens of internationally-acclaimed short films, Kruger is known for his distinct visual style and character-driven stories. He has recently completed his first independent feature film, Fried Barry, which is slated for release later in 2019. “Together, Ryan and Berneen bring an eclectic energy to the leadership of SAIFF and their creative brand can be sensed in everything the festival stands for,” says festival manager James Williamson. “Everyone involved in the festival, from the organisers to the jury, have a heartfelt love for indie film. As independent filmmakers ourselves, we understand the disappointments and thrills that come with the territory. This festival aims to celebrate all the highs, lows, hard work and creativity of indie filmmaking!” Kruger concludes. – Chanelle Ellaya
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NEWS
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ENCOUNTERS REVAMPS LEADERSHIP AHEAD OF ITS 21ST EDITION
The Encounters South African International Documentary Festival has confirmed the return of Mandisa Ralane (formally Zitha) as festival director for its 21st edition.
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R
alane returns to the helm after successfully leading the Festival as director from 2007 to 2012, where she helped Encounters confirm its place as Africa’s premier documentary film festival. During her time as festival director, Ralane acted as an ambassador for documentary film and the South African film industry, both locally and internationally. She helped set up Encounters’ partnership with Sichuan TV Festival in China, which saw seven local documentaries screened and two local filmmakers hosted in China; Encounters’ partnership with the French Embassy, where she coordinated the first AFRICADOC SA residency; and Encounters’ 2012 partnership with Al
Jazeera English, which saw 20 African documentaries pitch to the global broadcaster. After a sojourn of management in the academic and government sector, she brings a wealth of new experience with her on her return as director of the festival. Additionally, the Festival announced the appointment of two new board members, Moroba Nkawe and Azania Muendane – both highly experienced and accomplished film professionals. Nkawe and Muendane join the four existing board members: lawyer, activist and author Advocate Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza; historian, UWC Professor and author Ciraj Rassool; and film producers
and co-founders of the Festival, Steven Markovitz and Nodi Murphy. Scheduled to take place from 6 to 16 June, the Festival recently announced the first international documentaries confirmed for this year’s edition. The line-up has been chosen from the past year’s most riveting documentary cinema selected from the world’s leading festivals, with subjects ranging from statesanctioned amnesia towards the crimes of the Franco regime; a young woman who has become a symbol of hope for her people; identical triplets separated at birth; as well as empathetic and insightful films featuring figures such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Miles Davis.
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FILMS ALREADY CONFIRMED INCLUDE • MEETING GORBACHEV: Werner Herzog teams up as director with André Singer (producer of The Act of Killing) for this riveting documentary, filled with unforgettable archive materials and based on three long interviews which provide incredible access to Mikhail Gorbachev, former General Secretary of the Soviet Union. • THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS: Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jawdropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity; however, the fairy-tale reunion sets in motion a series of events that unearth an unimaginable secret with radical repercussions. Filmmaker Tim Wardle won the 2019 Director’s Guild Award for this gripping, stranger-than-fiction account that plays like a thriller. • ON HER SHOULDERS: An award-winner at numerous festivals – including Canada’s Hot Docs and Best Documentary Director at
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2018’s Sundance – Alexandria Bombach’s film follows Nadia Murad, who survived the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escaped the hands of ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people, eventually being appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity for Survivors of Human Trafficking. The film stops short of her sharing the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018, but it’s a moving and essential portrait of the strength required to speak out for humanity. • RBG: At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breath-taking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior’s rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans – until now. • THE SILENCE OF OTHERS: After the death of General Franco in 1975, some people hoped that those guilty of crimes against humanity would be brought to
The line-up has been chosen from the past year’s most riveting documentary cinema selected from the world’s leading festivals.
justice. However, the 1977 Amnesty Law, nicknamed “The Pact of Forgetting”, prevented that. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sheffield Documentary Film festival and Audience Award in Berlin, this stylish, cinematic film from Emmy-winning Almudena Carracedo and Robert Bahar, follows the efforts of a few ageing survivors as they try to repeal the controversial Amnesty Law and bring former perpetrators to justice. Executive produced by Pedro Almodóvar this stirring documentary unfolds with all the force of a classic political thriller. • MILES DAVIS: BIRTH OF THE COOL: A visionary, innovator and originator who defied categorisation and embodied the word cool, this foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon
Miles Davis is definitive. While previous books and films made Miles Davis look like a magical character, Stanley Nelson’s film depicts the musician as what he was – a man who was driven by his art and chained by the racist society he was born into. Birth of the Cool, which shares a title with a Davis album from 1957, explores the intricacies of his career in great detail and it’s a tantalising portrait: rich, probing, mournful, romantic, triumphant, tragic, exhilarating and blisteringly honest. More titles will be announced in the weeks before the Festival. Be sure to check out the 21st Encounters South African International Documentary Festival running from 6 to 16 June in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
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TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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MOVIEVISION UNVEILS NEW SHOWROOM
Movievision, a leading supplier of television, theatre, studio and film lighting equipment for the last three decades, has recently installed a state-of-the-art new showroom at the company’s Wynberg offices, where customers can get a handson experience of the latest gear to hit the South African market.
K
ierryn Harris, media and marketing liaison at Movievision, says the showroom contains “what we consider to be the most impressive fixtures from all the brands we represent. The idea is that when the client comes in, they can see the equipment – touch it, use it, interact with the fixture – and come to a more informed decision about what they need.” With fixtures such as Spotlight’s new
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Hyperion Fresnel LED and Filmgear’s 1000W LED Spacelight attractively suspended from the ceiling on pantographs, John Harrison – CEO of Movievision – explains that the fixtures are connected to a dedicated mixing console to allow customers “to try out the different lights, and different combinations of lighting effects.” At the moment, the rig is connected to a Chamsys MQ500 Stadium console, but
Harrison explains that this will change as new consoles come in – and he demonstrates two brand new options from Zero88 (the FLX S24 and S48) which will soon have their turn to be the hub of the rig. In addition to the hanging fixtures, the showroom is fitted with plinths where smaller, portable fixtures (such as DMG’s Mini Mix) are showcased. Kim Reed, who is in charge of sales at Movievision, explains that the “items on the plinths are manually controlled, and every time a new product is launched, it will take the place of one of the older fixtures you see on display now. That way the showroom will keep up-to-date with the latest lighting solutions on the market.” Reed explains that the new showroom will also operate as a place to host “training sessions, for students or for anyone who is interested in learning how to operate these fixtures and controls. We
start on the 17th of May with our first workshop with students. These training sessions will be free and we will try run them twice a month going forward.” “We want this space to be very interactive,” Harris says. “We want people to come in, have a chat and a cup of coffee – and then actually work with the fixture and see how it functions. Instead of us just telling you about it, it’s so much better to experience the solutions for yourself.” Visit Movievision’s beautiful new showroom in Wynberg, Sandton this month to test out the company’s premium selection of lighting solutions, including the Maxi Mix from DMG and the 1000W LED Spacelight from Filmgear, two fixtures that have recently scooped awards at April’s 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas. – David Cornwell
| ADCETERA
BEHIND THE SCENES ON RALF GUM’S UYAKHALA MUSIC VIDEO Uyakhala, loosely translated as “he is crying” in isiZulu, is the title of Ralf GUM’s new song and music video. The production is inspired by the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.”
T
he song’s video features Afro-pop duo Mafikizolo in a futuristic, barren land of mystic wonders where the journey to find the crying child takes place. The music video is produced by media power couple Ofentse and Nelisiwe Mwase. Together, they run the award-winning media production company, OM Films. The Mwases, also well known for their YouTube comedy skits, have worked predominantly on South African hip-hop music videos, and so they were pleasantly surprised when house legend Ralf GUM asked them to produce the music video for the lead single from his latest album, Progression. Nelisiwe and Ofentse are both AFDA graduates and have worked together under OM Films to create TV commercials, short films and music videos since 2011. Uyakhala showcases the collaborative skills of the pair, with Nelisiwe acting as producer and Ofentse directing. “All our projects are a collaborative effort,” says Ofentse. “I work closely with my wife who is the writer and producer of this video. It’s her concept. I’m really great with executing concepts; with the help of my team, we achieve impossible things.” In the music video, Ralf GUM plays the role of the Oracle and his accomplices include music duo Nhlanhla Nciza and
Still from Ralf GUM’s Uyakhala music video
Theo Kgosinkwe amongst other community members. The group is shown visuals of an apocalypse. Images of destruction and turmoil appear on the magic mirror and Nciza is presented with tokens/gifts by the mirror to give to Lady Justice. Lady Justice evaluates their case and helps them find the right path to restore order and find the crying child. The community comes together and rejoices when they find the child, planting seeds in the once-barren land to symbolise rebirth and a new order. “Nelisiwe felt like creating a concept that challenges people to think about all the bad things happening in the world, while also showing that through unity we can succeed in anything,” comments Ofentse. The video ends off on a positive note with the group coming together to embrace the child and Nciza helping Ralf place the child on his back – customarily done in African communities to soothe an emotional baby. Ofentse expands: “Above everything else, it’s a universal story about how a group of people need to work together to save a stranded child. This resonates with people, because in some way or another we’ve all been in a similar situation where we had to put aside our differences and help a common cause.” Ralf gave Ofentse and his crew full creative control which allowed him to play
around with the concept: “Myself and the colourist Afrika Majola from Post Modern strongly felt to tell this story we had to show how dry and desaturated the world is, symbolising the loss of hope for the future. If you notice, the colours in the film start very desaturated then slowly get more vibrant towards the end as the group finds the child,” says Ofentse. The music video is shot on the Sony A7S II camera with an Isco Anamorphic Adapter and Nikon AI 50mm-135mm vintage lenses. “I’m a big fan of anamorphic films,” comments Ofentse. “That’s the lens we chose to use, there’s something so special about seeing the bends, shallow areas and bokeh from an anamorphic lens.” Avant-garde fashion designer and textile scientist Roman Handt handled wardrobe for Ralf and Mafikizolo, as well as art design. Additional costumes were done by Tebogo Mwase. In terms of post-production duties, OM Film’s Moliehi Chalale came on board as the editor; visual effects were done in-house by Meshack Saikonde and MP Rabie. Grading was done by Post Modern’s William Kalmer. Uyakhala launched in late-March 2019 and is available on YouTube and the GOGO Music TV channel. Behind-thescenes footage of the video can also be viewed on the OM Films YouTube page.
TECH CHECK EQUIPMENT • Camera: Sony A7S ii • Lenses: Nikon AI lenses
Uyakhala was shot on the Sony A7S ii camera with Nikon AI 50mm-135mm vintage lenses.
KEY CREW Writer/Producer: Nelisiwe Mwase Director: Ofentse Mwase DOP: Spamandla Mondise Sound: Ralf GUM
– Gezzy S Sibisi
“It’s a universal story about how a group of people need to work together to save a stranded child. This resonates with people, because in some way or another we’ve all been in a similar situation where we had to put aside our differences and help a common cause. – Ofentse Mwase
”
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ADCETERA
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ADMAN MATTHEW BULL L AU Can you sell your ideas only? That’s what advertising agencies say they do, but South African advertising doyen Matthew Bull – now based in New York – is adamant that ideas are the most important thing he is selling. He has launched his agency SoloUnion in South Africa, with the message: “The heads without the overheads.”
B
ull founded SoloUnion in 2017 in New York. A member of the AB-INBEV North American Marketing Council, this is what he had to say after the South African launch in March: “I’m incredibly excited and proud to partner with two of South Africa’s greatest advertising talents, Gillian Rightford and Rob McLennan, in forming SoloUnion SA. Gillian, Rob and I were partners at Lowe Bull when we were a dominant creative force in the world and we intend to bring that same flair and ambition to our new venture. “We have lined up some wonderful talent as members of the company and are already working with a couple of the country’s premier brands. We’re in competition with ideas, not agencies, and our ultimate goal is to get our industry back to focusing on the reason we exist – great ideas. Finally, I personally, am so proud to be involved again in my home country’s industry. I owe much of what I have professionally to it, and I understand my duty to the country and the country’s talent.” The loss of talent at the top of the advertising industry is a global challenge, not just a South African one, and the SoloUnion concept allows for talent, which has enormous value, to be applied to create value for brands and business. It is an agency that charges for ideas, not hours, and does not implement the strategy it crafts for a brand, explains
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Matthew Bull
Gillian Rightford
“We have lined up some wonderful talent as members of the company and are already working with a couple of the country’s premier brands. We’re in competition with ideas, not agencies, and our ultimate goal is to get our industry back to focusing on the reason we exist – great ideas.
”
– Matthew Bull
Rightford, whose consultancy, Adtherapy, is a strategic lead for SoloUnion in South Africa. As Bull says, “I feel that I spent the last ten years before SoloUnion making ads for clients; now I’m genuinely part of delivering solutions to them – big ideas that embrace the over-arching vision of the company or brands. On top of that, clients treat us differently – I feel a greater sense of partnership, a greater sense of trust than I have for a while. I think this is primarily because it’s all about the work, not about the relationship.” The clients they believe may find this agency approach valuable are in-house
agencies; consultancies; C-Suite executives that have big juicy problems to solve; agency or client teams that are struggling to crack an idea; and clients who have brands that desperately need to rediscover their soul and their purpose, and communicate it in a contemporary, relevant way. Screen Africa spoke to these advertising legends on the power of ideas: HOW DO YOU ‘ONLY’ SELL IDEAS? HOW DO YOU MARKET YOURSELVES DIFFERENTLY? Many agencies claim to sell ideas, but in
fact they sell the output of ideas. They sell TV, radio or print ads, banners, adwords, promotional materials, or activations. They will come up with an idea, and they will sell that, but the vast portion of their resources, and therefore their costs or fees, will be used to execute the idea. The challenge to many clients is that if the idea is not as strong as it could be in the beginning, it obviously sets up difficulties in the executional phase. We aim to provide the idea – giving them the platform from which to launch their executional output with their existing resources. In terms of marketing differently – the one area is “idea only”,
| ADCETERA
UNCHES SOLOUNION IN SA
Rob McLennan
but the other area is the level of expertise. You will have noticed a lot of discussion in the industry about the “crisis of youth.” We are a highly experienced, awarded group of talent – and the big thing is – you only pay for us when you use us. There are no retainers, there are no massive overheads. In a project SoloUnion did for a global client, only 11% of the fee was used for strategy and creative. Our model means you get 100% and only when you need it. The most pertinent point is we don’t sell the servicing of the idea, but the idea itself. Therefore, we put all our energy and focus into delivering what all clients go to agencies for: ideas. IS THIS AN ENTIRELY NEW BUSINESS MODEL – A GAME-CHANGER FOR THE INDUSTRY? It’s a game-changer. There will be, going forward, several iterations of our businesses model, but the principle is the most important thing – hopefully it will be part of a new wave of companies that focus on the product they produce, on creating work that sells, rather than selling
their work. The creative agency model will probably remain as it is, but it is in deep trouble. Michael Farmer’s book, Madison Avenue Manslaughter, shows that as fees have come down, delivery timings have become shorter, workload volume has gone up. The bigger problem is the value equation. We strongly believe, as most good agencies do, that the power of a big idea is worth its weight in gold, and it can have a lasting effect on a brand’s success. What we do know is that it is plugging a gap in the industry which is a source of frustration for both marketers and agencies. The writing is on the wall. Various permutations of re-modelling the way communicators do business are popping up all over the world. The traditional advertising/ communications agency model is flawed, and marketers and agencies alike know this. It is inevitable that the game plan will change. SO, HOW DO YOU ‘SELL’ AN IDEA TO A CLIENT? HOW DO YOU GET THEIR BUY-IN? What SoloUnion has found in the practical application of the model in the
US and Europe, is that we get much more intimately involved with the overall ambitions of the business. We are fortunate in that we only have to concentrate on one thing – creating big strategic and creative solutions for the client’s business problem. All of the partners in our business are highly experienced and awarded creatives and strategists. That, in its own way, separates us from the relationships and expectations clients have from and with their agencies. They are not expecting us to solve the myriad other complexities that are expected from an agency, which creates a different relationship. WHAT CONSTITUTES A BRILLIANT ‘IDEA’ TO YOU? It’s no different from time immemorial, really. All new ideas are influenced by other ideas that surround us at any particular time or place, but they are always a ‘new’ or fresh interpretation of these influences. And hence people find that compelling and interesting. No one likes a rerun as much as an original. Creativity is all about one thing – creating
desire. So, if an idea creates desire for a brand or product, then that counts as brilliant to me. As for the old fresh vs stale argument, take a look at the Adidas Originals ad – everything new has its origins/inspiration in something old. Brilliant is also in the sweet-spot where brand insight and human insight meet. HOW DOES ONE ACTUALLY MEASURE THE ‘VALUE’ OF A THOUGHT OR AN IDEA? This is the hard part. It’s impossible to ‘cost’ it, but you can place a value on it. We will charge what we think is fair value. But you measure the value by the effect it has on the top line of a business. As simple as that. We know we deliver the goods for our clients, we know what it takes to get great talent to work with us, and we know the margin we want. The question is more like, “How does one measure the value of talent?” People should expect to pay more (and do) for work from talented people because they provide the most compelling solutions. – Louise Marsland
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Let’s Talk
About
FILM
Perhaps it’s time to talk about how we talk about the movies we watch. Or more importantly: how often, here in Africa, we don’t talk about them.
T
he obsessive cinephile who could, and would, talk for hours about the smallest nuances of a film, the background of a director and the casting choices, seems to be a breed on the verge of extinction within the African cinema space. This dearth of film obsession seems to me directly linked to a critical lack of serious film criticism in mainstream media in most major African centres. As someone who has worked on film festivals in East, West, and Southern Africa (I do not speak of Francophone Africa as I simply do not know if the same applies), it is clear that there are hardly any professional film critics left. Why is this a problem? Well, an appreciation of film expressed through coherent and contextualised information leads to an informed and, hopefully, film-curious population. If we are ever to stem the tide of one major American blockbuster after another dominating our (few) African movie screens, an entire culture change is required. This culture change can be facilitated through dialogues around and about African film – these dialogues need to take place in the traditional mainstream media, on social media, at film festivals, at film schools, at high schools and even at
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PLOT
ACTOR
FILM
SCRIPT
primary schools through film clubs and related classes. But this is not happening. Imagine if film clubs that screened and discussed African films existed in primary schools across the country. By high school, these same young people would be making films and not just talking about them. Programmes across Kenya that expose primary school children to films and encourage and skill them to make their own, already exist – and Kenya’s film industry is seeing the benefits. Experience in key territories such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria and even South Africa has shown me that a vibrant cinephilic culture that promotes film for film’s sake hardly exists. A very unscientific poll of industry professionals across these same countries shows the same results: it is exceptionally difficult to find film critics working in the media, as well as to find qualified festival jury coordinators or members who have the kind of encyclopaedic knowledge and obsessive passion for African film that should be part of any country’s film industry. In my many years of experience working on publicity for various film
festivals across Africa, this scenario is getting worse. These days, the first question I most often get from media about attending or covering a festival is, “Who will be there?” In other words, what celebrities will be there? Who can I interview about what they are wearing, and who can I photograph? Hardly any media attending African film festivals these days even attend the screenings. Film directors and festival staff have to almost beg the media to attend and to review the film. However, when these rare reviews do come out, they reflect the lack of film history, language and general knowledge of the journalist. Of course, there are amazing exceptions to the rule – but these only make the mediocrity of the norm stand out. New media and the rise of instantlyupdated content on websites is part of the problem. Media houses tend to cut and paste press releases and are very eager to hire young new staff at the expense of older more experienced journalists. However, it is the filmmaker and the audiences who suffer from this lack of credible film criticism.
Creating a culture that loves film, and that loves to talk about film, is a prerequisite for a viable film industry. While many film schools exist, and there are dozens of training programmes for filmmakers, there is a distinct lack of opportunity for the training and development of the film critic. I have often pushed for training workshops of this kind at film festivals and major market events (as have some journalists such as Moses Serugo of Uganda), but these are very rare indeed. The training of film critics should be taking place alongside the training of filmmakers – and as often. By promoting a healthy and engaged culture of film criticism, industry bodies can ignite a movement that will grow audiences and even improve the quality of films being made. Let’s start by talking about film; encouraging others to talk about film; and pushing for the creation of film clubs at schools, and journalism workshops at festivals and events. The future of our film industries requires nothing less. – Lara Preston
FILM
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TECH CHECK EQUIPMENT • Camera: RED Dragon • Lenses: Zeiss Prime lenses
“[The Red Dragon] is extremely versatile and we were able to shoot in 6K, which helped with the vastness of the landscape we tried to capture.” – Niel van Deventer
KEY CREW Director: Philip Rademeyer Producers: Niel van Deventer, Pietie Beyers Executive Producers: Niel van Deventer, Pietie Beyers, Wouter Lombard, Charlenè Brouwer DOP: William Collinson (SASC) Line-Producer: Mischa Bornman Associate Producer: Gawie Myburgh Editor: Christiaan Scheepers Online Editor: Shaun De Ponte Sound Design and Final Mix: Paul Vermaak Production Design: Christian Joubert
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Skemerson: Destigmatising mental illness On average, 14 to 18 men die of suicide every day in SA – this is the headline of a City Press article, published in November 2018.
“W
e’re alarmed by the increasing number of men who take their own lives in South Africa and around the world,” said founder of the Men’s Foundation, Garron Gsell, in the same article, which goes on to state that the number of South African men dying by suicide every day is three times more than the number of women – while, globally, three out of four suicides are men. It’s not that women are not struggling with depression and mental illness. The difference is that women are more likely to talk about their problems and ask for help, while men very rarely seek help. Palama Productions producer, Niel van Deventer, is hoping that Skemerson – a new feature-length film, written by Pietie Beyers, and co-produced by van Deventer and Beyers – will change this narrative, or, at the least, spark muchneeded conversation on the subject. Based loosely on Beyers’s struggle with his own mental health, the film follows a young man who decides to take his own life. He stands on the Bloukrans Bridge, about to meet his fate, when he hears a laugh. This is the beginning of a weekend that changes three lives forever, when a woman, her frail mother and the young man meet serendipitously. “It is about a weekend in the lives of three people. A young man battling mental illness contemplating ending it all, an older woman, dying of cancer, and her daughter, with whom she is ticking off a lot of bucket list items,” says van Deventer. “They meet by chance, but the wisdom bestowed upon him by this wise
old women ultimately makes him change his mind and helps him to make the decision to seek help with his problems. It is a story of facing your fears, accepting your fate and coming to the realisation that there is help if you just seek it.” Having previously produced the critically-acclaimed 2015 film, Dis Ek, Anna – which deals with child sexual abuse – van Deventer has since chosen to attach himself to films that highlight under-represented social ills. “I think we have a platform and a voice and we should use it wisely,” he comments. “The impact that Dis Ek, Anna had made me decide that I will forever try and be involved in projects that can make a difference, even if it is just in the life of one person who sees what we have done and decides to seek help or comfort.” Pietie Beyers stars as the troubled young man, Anneke Weidemann plays the young women he meets, with Elize Cawood as her ailing mother. Van Deventer explains that there was no official casting call held, all three talents were selected by the team beforehand: “We knew what we wanted and what all of these people can bring to the project, so we approached them with our script and were very thankful when they agreed to join us.” “Because it has been a dream of Pietie’s to make this film,” van Deventer continues, “he was attached to star in the lead from the outset. Supporting him is the timeless and brilliant Elize Cawood and Anneke Weideman, who we last saw in Katinka Heyns’ Die Wonderwerker and who has actually given up acting and pursued her dream of becoming a
doctor. We were very fortunate that she decided to come out of retirement and grace our project with her presence.” Principal photography took place over just three weeks in October last year. Shot by DOP William Collinson, on location in the Eastern Cape, Skemerson marks Philip Rademeyer’s feature film directorial debut. “I approached William Collinson – a very talented, young DOP – to collaborate and I am so glad that I did so. He used the beauty of the scenery to our absolute advantage creating feelings of loneliness and isolation so craftily,” comments van Deventer, who describes the film as “a visual feast.” Collinson shot the film on the Red Dragon with Zeiss Prime lenses. “[The Red Dragon] is extremely versatile and we were able to shoot in 6K, which helped with the vastness of the landscape we tried to capture,” says van Deventer. Editor Christiaan Scheepers oversaw the post-production process, with online done by Shaun De Ponte at Oxyg3n Media in Johannesburg, and sound design and final mix by Paul Vermaak. An independent production, Skemerson was financed with the assistance of leading South African pharmaceuticals company, CIPLA. “They are a pharmaceutical company that really cares and they were developing a campaign to bring over a similar message and us approaching them to get involved was almost serendipitous. Their support throughout the process has been incredible and hopefully we can do some similar projects together in the future,” comments van Deventer.
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FILM
“…every single
Pietie Beyers in a scene from Skemerson
“The local industry currently is in a volatile state,” he continues. “There aren’t many avenues to explore to get films funded and made, and the ones that there are, will obviously be looking to make more commercially viable films. This might be changing soon, though, with at least two SVOD platforms coming here soon and starting to commission. The
true value of a culture lies in its arts. I firmly believe that the only way for us to take our films further is by doing more ‘artsy’, hard-hitting productions, with moving scripts that are done on a world-class level and packaged and sent to festivals all over the world.” Van Deventer says that the message of the film is that it’s okay not to be okay.
COMPLIANCE
“Every single person that I know has at one point or another in his or her life been affected by mental illness. If we can get the message across that you are not weak when you seek help, that will be something that resonates with everyone,” he concludes.
person that I know has at one point or another in his or her life been affected by mental illness. If we can get the message across that you are not weak when you seek help, that will be something that resonates with everyone.
”
– Niel van Deventer
– Chanelle Ellaya
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DIRECTOR SPEAK
LIKARION WAINAINA This month Screen Africa chats to award-winning Kenyan director Likarion Wainaina… ION LIK ANRAINA WAI
SUPA MODO HAS BECOME SO SUCCESSFUL, BECOMING THE MOST-AWARDED FILM IN KENYA AND A CRITICS’ FAVOURITE. DID YOU ANTICIPATE THIS SUCCESS WHEN YOU WERE DIRECTING THIS FILM? Definitely not. We are extremely grateful for the awards. It’s always a good feeling to know that your art is appreciated but it was never our end goal. We just wanted to do a film that shows us as Kenyans. Who we are. Who we can be. I don’t want to be the kind of filmmaker who makes movies just so I can chase after awards because then you lose the meaning of being a filmmaker and you begin to compete with yourself, to always one-up your previous film. HOW HAS THIS MOVIE MADE YOU GROW AS A FILM DIRECTOR AND AS A FILMMAKER IN KENYA? It’s definitely helped me gain a deeper understanding of the Kenyan and international markets. Getting feedback from a lot of Kenyans really shows where the heads of Kenyan audiences are. And I can tell you that African audiences are definitely hungry for their own stories, so I hope to continue doing more African stories. JUST A BAND’S MAKMENDE IS CLEVERLY INSERTED INTO THE MOVIE AS BOTH MUSIC AND ART, WHAT INFORMED THIS DECISION? We were looking for local films to show in the cinema for Jo, our lead character, to watch. When I got in the industry, I was a huge fan of Just A Band and their music videos. So when we reached out to one of the members, Mbithi Masya, and he agreed for us to use their most famous music video, I was ecstatic. K1 also makes an appearance as Makmende and I was a huge fan of the character. I wanted to make a Makmende movie so this was the next best thing. 18 | SCREENAFRICA | MAY 2019
WHAT SCENE WAS THE HARDEST TO DIRECT? WHY? The hardest was the Jo death scene, when we had to film the scene where the mother and daughter are grieving. It was difficult because we were all so emotionally invested in the characters. There was such a heavy emotion over the set and everyone was crying and I couldn’t call “cut” because even I was choking up. That was difficult, when I knew I needed to do another take. After two takes we couldn’t film anymore. We were all emotionally exhausted. Definitely a tough day on set. MARVEL OR DC? DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE SUPERHERO? DID YOU CHANNEL ANY SUPERHERO WHEN DIRECTING SUPA MODO? Well, I will not pick any side because I hope to work with either of those comic houses in future, haha. There was no specific hero I attached to when filming. For me, it was the spirit of what it means to be a hero that I channelled throughout the filming. GIVEN A CHANCE TO WORK WITH LUPITA, WHICH TYPE OF MOVIE WOULD YOU CREATE? I am not sure if working with her or anyone else will change how or why I create the stories that I do, but I am sure both of us can come up with something unique.
SUPA MODO DIDN’T HAVE AS MUCH TIME IN THE THEATRES AS IT SHOULD HAVE. NOW THAT IT’S STREAMING ON SHOWMAX, CAN YOU COMMENT ON THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT STREAMING SERVICES PROVIDE TO CONTENT-MAKERS IN AFRICA? We had about 12 weeks at the cinema, not a small feat. And still with all those weeks, there was still a large number of Kenyans who hadn’t watched the film. The good thing about streaming platforms is that it gives us filmmakers a larger reach with our films. I heard some people even watching Supa Modo on their phones on the go. Now, that is so awesome. WHERE IS LIKARION WAINAINA’S IMAGINATION TAKING US NEXT? Well, I can’t go into details – but some projects are brewing up. The beauty of doing film is that you start off with a simple idea of a drama and next thing you know you have aliens in it... Maybe I’ll do a project about aliens... Oh yeah, definitely maybe. – Compiled by Kevin Kriedemann
“I can tell you that African audiences are definitely hungry for their own stories, so I hope to continue doing more African stories.” – Likarion Wainaina
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TRAINING
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Del-York Creative Academy partners with Warner Bros. for its 2019 media and film training programme The Nigerian film industry has experienced exponential growth in the last decade, even surpassing Hollywood in terms of film output. While Hollywood reigns supreme globally, in financial terms, Nollywood is without a doubt the most successful film hub on the African continent.
L
inus Idahosa, founder of Del-York Creative Academy (DCA), witnessed first-hand the greatness that is both Hollywood and Nollywood and decided to foster relationships between these two film industry giants in order to give African creatives a taste of both worlds. “The Del-York Creative Academy is a pan-African initiative inspired by Africans. The training programme provides young and aspiring filmmakers with an opportunity to learn from some of the best trainers in the world. Over the past four editions we have trained over 1,200 students, 70 per cent of whom have attended the academy fully-sponsored,” shares Idahosa. Del-York International is a multi-faceted creative agency offering a range of
services including film production, events planning, marketing and advertising. The company also boasts a capacity-building arm which is the Del-York Creative Academy (DCA). The DCA is a world-class academy for filmmakers, actors and journalists and hosts an intensive annual four-week media and film programme.
DEL-YORK CREATIVE ACADEMY “The Del-York Creative Academy vision was birthed in 2010 upon an understanding of our challenges and strengths, and how we can transform our nation. We are a people rich with potential, and in order to unleash this potential we need a new narrative to attract investors and to improve the standard of living for over one billion people,” says Idahosa. According to Idahosa, the Academy has through the years built an internationallyrecognised reputation for itself as Africa’s premier film training and media hub. The DCA aims to provide African creatives with comprehensive training to compete in the global market. This they do by connecting with internationally-acclaimed filmmakers and lecturers based in Hollywood and bringing them to Nigeria. This year marks the fifth edition of the month-long programme hosted by the DCA. The programme sees 20 prolific film and media instructors from major Hollywood studios and leading learning institutions come to Nigeria to speak on various facets of media and film. Through the years the intensive programme has been highly recognised for its unconventional methods and advanced hands-on approach to learning. Idahosa expands: “To compete in the real world the best of our raw talents would need to be pruned in fire. By learning how to commercialise their crafts our artist would be transformed from
show-stoppers to game-changers. Though we appreciate film theory, our Academy is not for theorists, it is for the pragmatic and for those who are ready to turn their creative tools into instruments of real change.” Running from 10 May to 10 June 2019, participants in this year’s programme will enjoy a range of workshops on topics including screenwriting, producing, acting, directing, editing, sound design and scoring, music video production, broadcast journalism, costume and set design, make-up and special effects, cinematography and set lighting, colouring and grading, production design and animation, amongst others. In order to keep step with current trends and developments in the film industry, the course offerings have expanded each year, says Idahosa. “We have all witnessed the advent of technology and how it has influenced and transformed every aspect of our lives especially filmmaking. We’re introducing courses like drone technology so students can stay abreast of new and upcoming trends in the film industry.” In 2015 the Academy kicked off on a high note in its first edition, partnering with the New York Film Academy. This year, the DCA has partnered with the University of Southern California, as well as entertainment company Warner Bros. “We are working with the University of Southern California (USC), one of California’s oldest schools, well known for its stellar film programme,” confirms Idahosa.
PROJECT 500 This year the DCA unveiled a new initiative, Project 500, which aims to empower the next generation of filmmakers to change the African narrative and drive social change across the continent. Idahosa explains: “It took several years of planning and we are very excited to finally share it with the world. The project is an initiative of DCA, where we’ll be selecting 500 of the most talented Africans, grooming them not only in the art of filmmaking but also training them as an army, a movement to rewrite the African narrative, to change the face of content in Africa.” Project 500 will select these 500 participants from African countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, Gambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Chad and Morocco. “Our belief is rooted in what we can achieve as a collective. We have worked hard and diligently to give Africans a voice, and to ensure that those without voices can be heard,” says Idahosa. “DCA is about providing people with a platform, an avenue to increase their knowledge capital and dexterity for creative executions. We haven’t achieved half of what we set out to, but we are not where we used to be,” he concludes. – Gezzy S Sibisi
“Our Academy is not for theorists, it is for the pragmatic and for those who are ready to turn their creative tools into instruments of real change.”
– Linus Idahosa
20 | SCREENAFRICA | MAY 2019
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TELEVISION
The making of Kenyan-German co-production
Country Queen
Director Vincent Mbaya on the set of Country Queen
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enyan television series Country Queen highlights these harsh realities faced by many rural villages in Africa. In 2017, with the assistance of German-based Good Karma Fiction, Country Queen was created in a writers’ room comprising 10 Kenyan creatives with diverse experience in visual storytelling. Co-founders of Good Karma Fiction and executive producers of Country Queen, Waltraud Ehrhardt, Peter Obrist and Ravi Karmalker, spoke to Screen Africa about bringing the production to life. “Our first creative writing workshop was in 2017 and lasted for ten weeks. In the end, we had the character manual and a rough third draft of the pilot episode… Our second workshop started around nine months after the first had ended. We had the task to critically revise what we had done and polish the third draft to become the shooting script. This process took around two more months,” explains Ehrhardt. Brazilian-Scottish storyteller James McSill and Brazilian television director Carla Bohler helped facilitate this storytelling process and visual interpretation of the show. “Apart from that, we had different experts in our workshops whom we bombarded with our questions. Among others, Dr. Linda A. Oucho and human rights lawyer Edwin Adoga Ottichilo,” Ehrhardt shares. Kenya’s Oscar-nominated filmmaker Wanjeri Gakuru later penned the series together with Oprah Oyugi, Lydia Matata, Shirleen Wangari, Ian Kithinji and Kimani Waweru, with Kamau Wa Ndung’u acting as the series producer.
STORY AND CASTING When Eco-Rock, a prominent mining firm descends upon the quiet village of Tsilanga with its eye on the village’s vast gold reserves, it causes uproar in the community. Despite the villager’s scorn, cold-hearted mining mogul Vivienne,
played by Nini Wacera, stops at nothing to get what she wants. When Nairobi IT girl Akisa (Melissa Kiplagat) returns to Tsilanga when her father falls ill, she takes on Vivienne in a fight for the land and the truth. An elaborate casting process took place in October last year at the Nairobi National Theatre, with over 150 wellknown actors and emerging talents auditioning to be part of the first Kenyan-German TV series production. “Akisa, our lead, played by Melissa Kiplagat, was called back twice to assure us that our gut feeling was right. Melissa had only played in a web series so far. Once we had the Country Queen ensemble together, we did a two-week camera acting workshop, which added some extra intensity and preparation for the shooting,” says Karmalker.
PRODUCTION Country Queen is produced by Good Karma Fiction in partnership with the Kenyan production company, Tililiz Pictures. The pilot episode was shot by DOP Andrew Mungai, under the direction of Vincent Mbaya, and took place from 7 to 25 January 2019. While the pilot of the series is still in its post-production stage, the pilot trailer has captured the interest of Kenyan and global viewers. “It had over 6,000 viewings on YouTube within just a couple of days without anything specific done by us and we received a load of feedback on social media, of which 99 per cent ranged from very positive to euphoric. Most of the people are thinking it will be a Kenyan movie and they are ready to pay for the ticket. Indeed we are creating a series with a truly cinematic look,” says Obrist. “As executive producers and showrunners, we want to create a thrilling, dramatic and yet highly emotional series that breathes Kenya and Kenyan life and authenticity in every single moment,” adds Ehrhardt. “This became possible by the input of ten young Kenyan creatives from different backgrounds that worked
The African continent is rich in minerals. Unfortunately, large mining corporations have exploited these resources for many decades now. This often comes at a high price for those who live in these communities and has detrimental effects on the environment. on the pilot episode. Right from the beginning, we decided on original sets for the shooting to make the story even more real and tactile for the audience.” While Country Queen was first envisioned as a telenovela, the team later thought a high-end drama TV series would be a better fit. “High-end TV series today tend to go hand-in-hand with a cinematic look and in order to be able to comply with the technical requirements of international SVOD services you have to shoot in 4K,” says Karmalker. “We shot on two Canon EOS C200 cameras with Canon Cinema Prime Lenses, filming in Cinema RAW Light,” she adds. For the pilot, editing was done by Kenyan editors Mercy Mkaiwawi and Aleks Kamau. However, for the title sequence and the trailer, Franki Ashiruka from the Africa Post Office handled the editing.
FINANCING The development of the narrative and the pilot of Country Queen has been funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the projects have also been supported by the Deutsche Welle Akademie. In late March, Good Karma Fiction marketed the series at the Kalasha Market in Nairobi, as well as at Series Mania in Lille, France. The organisation is still looking for more financiers for season one of Country Queen. “We hope to have secured funding until the end of the year and can start preparing shooting immediately in 2020,” says Karmalker. Through the universal storyline, the team behind Country Queen hopes to create awareness and affect positive change in African communities facing similar problems. “Selling out and leaving your land to so-called great opportunities like gold mining is a short-sighted, destructive perspective for humankind and nature, and it doesn’t pay off. Instead, for example, organic farming can be a constructive and sustainable path to make a decent living. Country Queen will show viewers how to be courageous, fight for your land and your future rather than giving up and migrating to the cities,” Obrist concludes.
TECH CHECK EQUIPMENT • Camera: Canon EOS C200 • Lenses: Canon Cinema Prime Lenses
“We shot on two Canon EOS C200 cameras with Canon Cinema Prime Lenses, filming in Cinema RAW Light.” – Ravi Karmalker
KEY CREW Director: Vincent Mbaya DOP: Dru Mungai Editors: Mercy Mkaiwawi, Aleks Kamau, Franki Ashiruka Sound: Alex Chege
– Gezzy S Sibisi MAY 2019
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ADVERTORIAL
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“A GAME-CHANGER IN AFRICA’S FILM AND TELEVISION LANDSCAPE” iM uh oh o –M TF Ea st Af
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skills workshops that afford film and television professionals the ability to interact and learn from the best in Africa and the world. The MTF Masterclasses serve to formalise MultiChoice’s efforts to address industry concerns such as accessibility, opportunity and quality in local productions, and – in 13 editions since January 2019 – have already featured prominent African and international industry experts such as Bobby Heaney, Vikram Joglekar, Allison Triegaardt, Appie Matere and Jonathan Kovel. Released in March this year, the MTF Portal is the third of MultiChoice’s exciting new initiatives – a platform described by MTF Director Cheryl Uys-Allie as “the golden thread that brings talent and opportunities together on one platform. It is a Pan-African, film and television digital marketplace that offers open, cost-free access to film creatives across the continent to showcase their talent, access opportunities, stay up-to-date with industry news and expand their industry networks.” With more than 10,000 sign-ups to the portal in less than a month following its launch, it is clear that the MTF Portal is filling an important niche in the creative skills marketplace. It is a way, says Uys-Allie, for MultiChoice to “create shared value by reinvesting in the industries we service.”
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The MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) journey began almost exactly a year ago – with the initial academy call-to-entry being launched at the end of May 2018. Conceived of as a network of intensive training centres for passionate young filmmakers from across Africa, MultiChoice has established three Film Academies on the continent, in Nigeria (West Africa), Kenya (East Africa) and Zambia (Southern Africa), in addition to the Magic in Motion Academy (MiM) which has operated in South Africa for the last five years. “We believe in fulfilling our purpose of using the power of entertainment to enrich lives, by playing an indispensable role alongside government, civil society and communities to solve complex global challenges and drive positive change in communities, thereby creating shared value,” says Hennie Visser, CEO of MultiChoice Africa. Between them, these training centres already support a total of 60 students fully funded on a year’s immersion and skills training programme, where they receive hands-on mentorship from leaders in the African film and television industries. In South Africa, the Magic in Motion programme supports a further 14 students each year. The second initiative launched by MultiChoice, its MTF Masterclasses programme, caters for industry professionals. MTF Masterclasses offer exclusive access to practical, industry expertled
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Since the launch of the company more than three decades ago, MultiChoice has been committed to the entertainment industry and, as such, making a meaningful difference in the lives of African citizens. Over the last 12 months, the company has deepened its commitment and mandate for many years to come, with the launch of three coordinated initiatives designed to build and strengthen the creative industries throughout Africa.
THE MTF JOURNEY
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A closer look at how the MultiChoice Talent Factory is investing in the continent’s creative industries
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The MTF Academy Directors – Njoki Muhoho (Kenya), Femi Odugbemi (Nigeria) and Berry Lwando (Zambia) – were appointed based on their contribution to their respective industries, their experience and credibility as filmmakers and, most importantly, their commitment to and passion for developing the next generation of African filmmakers. Lwando boasts nearly 30 years’ experience with the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC); Muhoho has served on the jury for the International Emmys and on the Kenya National Film/TV Kalasha Awards Academy; and Odugbemi is known for producing Tinsel, a Nigerian soap opera that began airing in August 2008 and was acclaimed “the most successful television drama on Nigerian television in recent times” in 2013. In June 2018, he became a voting member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, also known as The Oscars, in the United States. “The MultiChoice Talent Factory is a game-changer in Africa’s film and television landscape,” says Muhoho. “Not only is it a wholly African initiative, but its focus on opportunities for young, emerging and passionate filmmakers is truly inspiring.” Lwando, meanwhile, states that he is “grateful that the MTF will help to tell the stories that will change filmmaking in Africa”, and Odugbemi echoes these thoughts, saying that “Africa has got an incredible opportunity to empower a new economy, because our youths have storytelling as part of their heritage.”
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CONTINENTAL LEADERS, LOCAL FOCUS
ADVERTORIAL
Meanwhile, the MiM director, Bobby Heaney, is a legend in South African filmmaking, with five AKTV awards, four Golden Horn awards, a UNESCO Fellini award for excellence and four AVANTI Gold awards to his name. Reflecting on the work of the Magic in Motion Academy, he says: “Beyond entertainment, its rewarding to see how, through our investments in infrastructure, technology and empowerment initiatives, we harness the emerging talent of the youth and set them up to achieve their goals.” Under the stewardship of these seasoned industry professionals, the newest generation of filmmakers will be equipped to tell Africa’s stories with style, sensitivity and sophistication. This will not only increase the skills base on the continent, but will also contribute to the drive for more local content on African screens. As Yolisa Phahle, CEO for general entertainment at MultiChoice, remarks: “Africa is a great repository for untapped and untold stories. I wouldn’t ever say that the continent is under-valued from a content point of view, either, as our viewers love the local content we produce for our local channels. The demand for local content far outweighs the supply.” These thoughts are underpinned by Phahle’s recent comments to The Media magazine, where she explains that MultiChoice “plans to expand [its] geographic reach to deliver more programming made in Africa by Africans. We also believe that our industry is world-class and are looking to take African stories to the world. This way we build the industry, create jobs and contribute more effectively to the economy.”
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS, CREATING PATHWAYS In addition to these integrated skillsbuilding and networking initiatives, MultiChoice has identified productive partnerships with internationallyacclaimed organisations as yet another way to contribute to the sustainability of the film and television industries in Africa. There is no better example of this than the recent partnership announced between the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) initiative and the New York Film Academy College of Visual and Performing Arts (NYFA), a worldrenowned visual and performing arts school. This exciting collaboration will identify and exploit opportunities to further enhance the ongoing professional development of selected highperforming graduates of the MTF academies, and it perfectly aligns with the MTF’s mission to ignite Africa’s creative industries through training and skills development. Other exciting partnerships – which have already seen fruition in the MTF Masterclasses programme, with international pros being brought in to share their expertise – include agreements with Dolby, UMG (Universal Music Group) and FOX (Portugal). The MTF’s academic partners include the Pan Atlantic University (PAC) in Lagos; Kenyatta University in Nairobi; University of Zambia in Lusaka; and the Henley Business School. As Uys-Allie explains, the MultiChoice Talent Factory initiative has also come along at a timely moment for the continent’s film and television industries, as shifts in global viewing habits promise even more opportunities in years to come.
“As with global consumption trends, viewing habits on the African continent are tending towards ‘TV anywhere, anytime.’ The market is pushing broadcasting technologies to make this possible. From consuming on-demand content over satellite to online products, we see new technology being adopted more frequently across the continent to satisfy the market need. This is driving technology workforces to keep abreast and current with industry developments, with significant investment in people and skills.” “Our aim is to be the driving force behind the development of future talent, to help build and strengthen the creative industries across the continent. We are the biggest investor in local content to date and have played a significant role in bringing the local television production industry to life in many countries across Africa. And now we have an opportunity to do much more through the MultiChoice Talent Factory,” Phahle concludes.
HAVE YOU SIGNED UP TO THE MULTICHOICE TALENT FACTORY PORTAL YET? SCAN THE QR CODE BELOW TO VISIT THE SITE AND JOIN AFRICA’S BRAND-NEW ONLINE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE.
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ADVERTORIAL
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Registration for
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Unmatched in potential, Mediatech Africa is an experience for visitors to immerse themselves in, and leave invigorated and inspired by the possibility of opportunity and a fast-forward glimpse into the future.
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egistration for Mediatech Africa 2019 is now open and delegates can sign up at no cost by completing the online registration form before 12 July. For those who miss the pre-registration cut off, there is onsite registration – an option which costs R100. Local and international industry authorities will be showcasing the tech trends driving progress in the world of media and entertainment, and the 2019 expo is the ideal platform to keep step with the changes that have transpired over the last two years. The highly specialised biannual B2B trade show attracts buyers, top decision-makers and influential visitors, and combines the latest technology with live demonstrations, presentation zones and special events – in addition to being the ideal forum for networking. Add to this the show specials, coupled with the event’s unparalleled entertainment value, and there are more than 10 good reasons to be at the 10th edition of Mediatech Africa. According to the organisers, the visitor count achieved two years ago exceeded 7 500 delegates – and there’s no reason to believe this year will be any different. The event will once again be at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg, and will run from 19 to 21 July. Speaking about the 2019 event, exhibition director Simon Robinson says, “The tech deployed by the media and entertainment industry is profoundly progressive with a significant aggregate of development in motion since the last
24 | SCREENAFRICA | MAY 2019
Mediatech. This growth is proportional to the excellent potential of the industry. This year, visitors should be prepared for more creativity, inspiration and innovation than ever before. Mediatech Africa will offer a glimpse into the future – where technology is driving disruption and distinction.” Familiar show highlights returning in 2019 include the Black Box, the Drone Technology Cage and outdoor sound demonstrations, to list but a few. Showcasing all the tools of the trade (and more) is what makes Mediatech Africa such an engaging platform, and it is the reason why this high-energy tradeshow remains relevant and, indeed, the leading biennial event of its kind on the continent. Everything about the event is cutting-edge and every touchpoint is designed to enhance the visitor experience. The show is the largest and only one of its kind on the African continent, attracting an extensive audience that covers six verticals, including: Pro Audio (lighting and staging); Audio Visual Integration; Broadcast (TV and radio); Studio (recording and DJ equipment); Digital Media (VOD and OTT); and Film and Video (production). Rates for exhibiting at Mediatech Africa are R3,475 (ex VAT) per square metre for floor space only stands; or R3,740 (ex VAT) per square metre for shell scheme package stands. Sponsorship options and pricing are available on request. For sales queries and bookings, contact Claire Badenhorst on +27 (0) 71 688 4065, or at sales@mediatech.co.za.
VR at Mediatech Africa 2017
Black Box
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INDUSTRY REVIEW
| THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Four trends in the TV landscape to tune into this year THE VIEWER HAS BECOME THE CREATOR AND THE DIRECTOR – BUT LINEAR TV ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE
Keeping up with TV culture means tuning into customer demands. The way we create and view TV has completely changed. Thanks to massive advancements in technology and global connectivity, we’re no longer being fed dated programming, but can pick, click, fast-forward, pause and rewind TV content with ease. We’re firmly in control of what we view and we are spoilt for choice. Amanda Turnbull, vice president and general manager of Discovery in Africa and the Middle East, shares the latest media trends she’s watching right now…
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The past few years have seen a seismic shift in the viewing habits of consumers thanks to the rise of digital streaming platforms, smart TVs and smartphone devices. Audiences now have great freedom in terms of how, when and where they consume their content. But, despite this disruption, reports show that the TV screen is still the go-to platform for our content viewing experiences – especially in South Africa, where average daily linear viewing time continues to grow, up 10 minutes from 2016 to 2017 (3’03” vs 3’13”)1. Media companies that will survive this shift are those that can continue to capture people’s attention across all platforms, with cut-through content that meets the needs and demands of their target audience. For us at Discovery, this means optimising the power of our global portfolio to develop compelling specialist offerings, in both the linear and digital direct-to-consumer spaces, that target passionate fan communities, whether it’s lovers of crime, home, food or turbo content.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
AFRICA LOVES MOBILE TV CONTENT, AND WE KNOW IT.
CONSUMERS EXPECT BRANDS TO STAND FOR SOMETHING
POWERFUL STORYTELLING IS EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW.
As the world becomes increasingly more connected, so too does our ability to stay informed about the issues facing our planet. It’s no surprise therefore that there has been a rise in conscious consumerism, as we seek out brands whose purpose resonates with our own values and beliefs. According to one global survey in 2017, 57% of consumers either bought or boycotted brands based on their corporate values2. Media brands can and should play a role in this emerging trend; as broadcasters, it’s our responsibility to tell the stories that matter to our audiences. This is what we’ve been doing at Discovery for the past three decades: driven by our curiosity in the world around us, we create content that brings communities together. And, in 2019, our audience will see even more purposeful content from Discovery, including the documentary special Tigerland, which premieres this month on Discovery Channel and forms part of our wider initiative, Project C.A.T. – a joint global campaign with the World Wildlife Fund to double the population of tigers living in the wild by 2022.
With the abundance of viewing services available, and consumers becoming their own content creators, it seems like there is more content being made now than at any other time in history. However, in this world of market fragmentation, powerful storytelling will always ring through. Globally, we’ve seen an explosion in big-budget scripted dramas which have audiences gripped, but there has also been a rise in the popularity of genres such as true crime, unscripted reality and topical documentaries. Quality storytelling is part of Discovery’s DNA; it’s at the foundation of everything we do. While we don’t do scripted drama, we do tell the real, un-scripted stories of authentic, relatable characters and nourish fans of enthusiast genres. In Africa, this strategy has helped our networks become leaders in their categories – whether it’s lovers of sticky lifestyle content on TLC, thrill seekers on Discovery Channel, or crime enthusiasts on ID – proving that real-life stories can be just as compelling as a big-name Hollywood production.
Mobile video is fuelling the fast-paced growth of streaming across all age groups — particularly among Gen Z and Millennials, 21% of whom are spending three hours a day consuming TV shows and video content on their smartphones3. In Africa, it’s predicted that the number of mobile users is expected to hit over 6oo million by 20254, making it one of the fastest-growing mobile markets globally. Teens and young adults across the globe are prompting all content providers to reassess their business strategies as alternative platforms optimised for smaller screens, and we’re prepared for that disruption. Globally, we’ve made significant steps forward in our mobile-first strategy, investing in Group Nine Media in the US, for instance, whose digital-first Millennial social video brands Thrillist, Now This, The Dodo and Seeker boast 7 billion monthly video views. In Africa, we have ambitions to reach consumers on every screen, service and format, but the market has its challenges and we can’t do this alone. We believe collaboration with other companies is vital to provide the best service for consumers who now demand a more seamless content discovery experience across all their devices. – Amanda Turnbull
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INDUSTRY REVIEW
“Mobile video is fuelling the fast-paced growth of streaming across all age groups — particularly among Gen Z and Millennials, 21% of whom are spending three hours a day consuming TV shows and video content on their smartphones.
”
1 Source: Eurodata TV Worldwide, One TV Year in the World 2018 Edition 2 Source: Edelman, Earned Brand Study 2017 3 Source: Trifecta Research Group 4 Source: GSMA, The Mobile Economy Sub-Saharan Africa 2018
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POST-PRODUCTION
| OPINION
Serious about colour: the SAGE acronym Written by Rowan Cloete, S.A.G.E.
I
t is never our friend, yet it is also sometimes that which inspires the best in us. It hones our thoughts and can force magic from the well where otherwise cerebral thought could have steered intuition into a quagmire of options and paralysis. As I sit down to write this, I am in Phuket, Thailand, bent on having a vacation. And I have deadlines on my mind. My South African reality trails after me, an ephemeral chord that has me checking for Wi-Fi, teamviewer-ing and checking in on emails between the dolphin show and the Big Buddha temple. The world has become a place where intention can shine across seas, for better or worse. And I have a deadline to write this piece for you, which is just what I need to get it done. I am passionate about the role of colour in storytelling. Yes, it is how I make
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a living. But every time a well-shot frame sits in front of me, and develops into something truly beautiful that delights the client and leaves audience suspended in belief, I am thrilled. To make the average beautiful, and the beautiful breathtaking, is a huge privilege for me (which I think I share with the folks that work on makeover shows). When something leaves me it has hopefully become the best version of itself, and doing so honours the many hands that have contributed their intention and talent to the frames that I have been entrusted with. Colourists are not celebrated publicly. Digital colouring is a young art and there are no special award categories for our contribution, either technically or artistically. Its inherent value – like editing – is invisible when done right and glaringly obvious when not. It is done in
Deadline. As a post-production person, you have a deeply internalised understanding of the word.
dark rooms with no windows (hopefully) and the best practitioners are not millennials, nor do they aspire to have many followers. It happens at the place where the artist and the technician are the same, and softly-glowing control surfaces are played like eldritch pianos to bring continuity, mood, focus and shine to the picture. We deal with the good, bad, or ugly, and where we start from determines where we end up. Truly beautiful pictures develop from those that are well considered and executed before they reach the colourist. The sensible bring him or her on before they’ve shot the first frame. The dismissive let budget or time run out before the colourist gets to make the story shine. If picture is 50% and sound the other 50% of the movie (to paraphrase George Lucas), then colour must be an additional 50% – a secret
sauce without which a movie nowadays will struggle to be a blockbuster, or a romcom, or a period piece. The South African Guild of Editors is a voluntary, non-profit company which represents film and video picture editors, assistant editors and sound editors (and colourists). In its 20-plus of existence, SAGE has become a robust player in our industry. With a core body of 120 or so members, the Guild represents most of the best local post-production talent in feature film, TV drama, documentary, insert, on-line and sound editing (and colour). We count celebrated names like Megan Gill and Catherine Meyburgh amongst us. I have been a member of SAGE for five years and have served on the executive committee for some of those. I joined SAGE with a desire to better understand the issues that affect me as a post-
OPINION
production professional, and to make a structured contribution if possible. Understanding that nothing in the guild comes as a rite of passage, it was with a few butterflies that I submitted work I felt was representative of my best efforts to the SAGE acronym committee this year (once a year SAGE members in good standing have the opportunity to apply for the use of the SAGE acronym after their names). The SAGE acronym, S.A.G.E., indicates peer recognition by the guild of excellence in the field that it represents. It is the highest honour that SAGE can bestow on a member. Being a SAGE member doesn’t mean that you can automatically write the acronym after your name on opening and closing credits. Only those members who have been awarded the acronym are allowed to use it. The acronym application process aligns itself with the international standards set by the American Cinema Editors (ACE) and Australian Screen Editors (ASE) associations, making it a rigorous process for both the applicant and committee. According to the SAGE constitution, applications for acronym accreditation require that the editor:
• Be a current member of SAGE, with a minimum of five years continued paid-up membership. • Have been a Full member for at least one year before applying. • Have at least five years’ industry experience as an editor. • Have demonstrated their ability to advocate the role of editors in the industry. • Submit a body of work that is considered to exhibit a consistently high standard of editing. An acronym sub-committee, consisting of a minimum of three SAGE members who hold the acronym, review the applications and make recommendations to the executive. Successful applicants are accredited with the acronym and presented with a certificate bearing their name and the date of their accreditation. They can frame this totem and put it up in their suite, double their rates and always get paid on time (jokes!). This process is by now fairly well established for story editors, but a colourist submission presented a new challenge to the existing modalities. My attempt was the first colourist submission it had to consider and it left the
committee intrigued, but not satisfied. Recognising that some adaptation was necessary to accommodate my submission, I was given opportunity to rethink the existing presentation format and submit my work again. Understanding that at its heart, the guild celebrates the editor as creative force, I focused on presenting scenes from features I had worked on in a side-by-side, before/after format. In one case the creative use of colour to establish milieu and continuity was shown to have furthered the narrative considerably. In another, the ability of the grading environment as a vfx tool was demonstrated. The selects were supported by a written submission detailing what was achieved and how. Technical proficiency and artistic sensibility should be evident when the nodes are peeled off. A contact sheet of all the shots of each feature before and after the grade was also presented and showed that colour follows story in having a discernable thread and a unified whole. This approach, I believe, will be the blueprint for coming colourist submissions. It worked for me! The committee felt the required boxes were ticked and henceforth I will be Rowan
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POST-PRODUCTION
Cloete, S.A.G.E. As a final thought, this is a huge honour for me – made greater by being the first colourist to receive the right to use the acronym. In the short term I will use it to keep starting conversations with other editors and colourists about the importance of affiliating with a professional body like SAGE – if you don’t take yourself seriously, you have no chance of convincing a producer. I might even write an article or two about it. In the longer term, perhaps a visa application? Jetlag is taking its toll and I have a ferry to Phi Phi Island to get my family onto in the morning, so this piece must now fizzle to a close (besides, I am on deadline). From there, we might take a day trip to James Bond Island. I hope the grade in the movie has served it well, as I will be sure to compare it to the real thing when we get there. Rowan Cloete is a colourist, editor and actor. He is a member of SAGE, SAGA and a SAFTAs judge. When he is not bound to a deadline in a dark room, he rides a mountain bike in the sun and will hopefully one day soon finish his BCom degree. www.rowancloete.com
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CINEMATOGRAPHY
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BRINGING THE PAST TO Cinematographer Willie Nel, producer Johan Kruger and editor Warwick Allan chat to Screen Africa about the making of Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer, and the starring role played on set by the Sony Venice 6K RAW camera.
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ie Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer is a new feature film based on the historical figure of Rachel de Beer, the young Voortrekker woman whose story remains a folkloric tale of the value of family loyalty. With the film’s release set for later this year, Screen Africa chatted to cinematographer Willie Nel and producer Johan Kruger about the unique challenges of making the film, its visual style and the pivotal role the Sony Venice camera played on set.
“THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY” As Nel – who, in March, won a SAFTA award for his work on Meerkat Maantuig – explains, “This is set in 1890, after the goldmines were established and when things started modernising, but where [the action unfolds] was still preelectricity. It’s a great challenge for a cinematographer to explore. Immediately, you ask yourself – how am I going to do this? And, luckily for me, we find ourselves in 2019 where we have access to cinematic tools like the Sony Venice to allow us to explore new ways to create cinema.” Nel continues: “We wanted to create the right authenticity. Even when I watch back big-budget period films, the authenticity is ruined for me in moments – because I can see they’ve lit the scenes with film lights, mostly out of necessity because of the cameras and film stocks available to them at the time.” Rather, Nel and director Matthys 30 | SCREENAFRICA | MAY 2019
Boshoff – whose collaboration Nel describes as a “beautiful symbiosis” – developed a visual aesthetic that pays “homage to PT Anderson’s films like There Will Be Blood, with its shot selection and mature, simplified approach,” but at the same time explores new ways to create authenticity through the extensive use of practical lighting and low-light shooting conditions. Nel describes filming scenes lit only by campfires and lanterns; moonlight that had to be created by the smallest LED sources. “I had to learn so much about my craft in the process. Things like lanterns and candles – they weren’t props anymore, they were my lights. We had to work with the actors, exploring different effects and how we could affect the storytelling by how they used their
lanterns or how they interacted within a candle-lit scene.” While, of course, this sounds like a solid visual concept in principle, how did Nel’s team manage in conditions where their lighting was effected by every flicker of wind, and by every element they were exposed to on set?
BULLETPROOF CAMERA PERFORMANCE Nel says that, long before shooting commenced, “I was convinced [the Sony Venice 6K] was the only camera to make this film.” He explains, “It has a lot of attributes that made it perfect for this project. For starters, it has a full-frame sensor – kind of like a homage to films from the late 1950s and 60s – with an ‘epic’ nature and that
beautiful, spatial arrangement this format allows.” The way the camera’s focus works is very particular – it is known for dramatic drop-off in the background of the frame – and, as Nel puts it, “we wanted to create a kind of time-piece, and so the look and feel of the images was perfect for that.” Even more importantly for this project, the Venice also has two base ISO levels. Its sensitivity ranges from 500 to 2500 – compared to the range of around 800 ISO that most modern cameras have. This is almost three times more sensitive and proved to be exactly what Nel and his team were looking for on set. Expanding on the quality of the Venice’s sensor, Nel says: “It has a very filmic quality. But, really, in terms of the way the camera perceives the world – the
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LIFE
sensor is the intermediary, it is what represents the world on camera – and this one, I think, most closely represents what the human eye sees. The quality of the sensor is amazing; the science of it is so balanced and natural-looking.” Another key feature of the Venice camera Nel talks about is the flexibility of its range of in-built ND filters: “Some modern cameras put these on the inside, but there are always gaps in the gradations. But not this camera – it has all the different stages going from ND3-ND2.4, so if a cloud goes overhead you can just flick to the next ND and you stay consistent in your exposure levels and control your depth of field.” This is in addition to its “bulletproof performance” on set, which saw the camera experience extreme swings in temperature; be submerged in water; take rough rides on an ox wagon; and survive weeks of dusty conditions. “By the end of a shoot, you know what a camera can or can’t do,” Nel says. “With the Venice, there wasn’t an issue in sight. Honestly, it’s like the Swiss army knife of cameras to me, and definitely has set the new standard.” From a producer’s perspective, Johan Kruger says he was “very impressed” by the camera’s performance in temperatures ranging from -6 to 35 degrees Celsius, and comments that a huge benefit was “its ability to shoot in low-light conditions or at night with minimal artificial lighting required. From a production perspective, it meant a much lower-than-usual lighting budget, with the added value to move quicker between setups.” He also echoes Nel’s thoughts about the suitability of the Venice camera for Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer: “Most of the time when shooting night scenes, we made use of natural light only – using lanterns or candles. This was a huge benefit to the actors, some of whom commented that it assisted their performance in the sense that they weren’t surrounded by the more traditional, ‘artificial’ lighting setups.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
DELIVERING IN POST An often-overlooked aspect of any camera’s performance is how it processes data, as well as the ease and ‘freedom’ with which the images it captures can be manipulated in the postproduction process. According to Nel and Warwick Allan of Mushroom Media, these are other important areas where the Sony Venice 6K RAW OCN ST camera excels. “OCN is Sony’s version of a RAW file,” Nel explains. “But the kind of detail you can get out in the grading process is phenomenal – it has far more flexibility than I’ve seen before.” Nel also points to the practical benefits of the OCN file format from a data-wrangling point of view. “OCN is a very smart RAW file – it allows you to do more, but still keeps file sizes manageable. Which helps with speed and security when you’re dealing with data on set, where you need multiple backup copies of everything for safety.” From Allan’s perspective, “There is incredible detail in the shadows and the footage feels very similar to an Alexa in terms of its responsiveness in grade and overall feel. We have found the files to be very easy to work with in post due to their efficient RAW format. We see very clean images, but with a very filmic and organic feel, too, which I find very pleasing to the eye. “At Mushroom Media,” Allan continues, “we have re-built our grading suite to handle 4K+ material and to work in uncompressed 4K in real-time, so we are seeing pixel-for-pixel what we will be delivering and the images are really impressive at this resolution. The film will be mastered in full 4K DCI for international delivery specs, as we are expecting the film to travel far beyond the South African borders.” Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer is set for release in October 2019. Audiences can look forward to a rich historical story visually inspired by Paul Thomas Anderson and classic movies of the 50s and 60s, and in which – in the eyes of the film’s technical crew – the Sony Venice 6K RAW camera plays a starring role. – David Cornwell
Scenes from Die Verhaal van Racheltjie de Beer
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NAB 2019
| REPORT
The best of NAB The show was over almost as quickly as it arrived. NAB 2019 was awash with buzz words like NextGen TV, 5G, 8K and ATSC 3.0. From the creation of content in the cloud to the delivery of content to mobile devices, it was clear to see that 5G technology innovation suggests an even closer relationship between the media and telco industries; 8K is here whether we like it or not; and post-production editing tools are set for a massive revamp.
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t’s not even available yet, but the broadcast industry is gearing itself up for the higher bandwidth and lower latency that 5G has to offer – and the NAB exhibition halls were resounding proof of this trend. Panasonic, for example, shared their ideas with a camera that records not to card but to the cloud directly via 5G for storage in real-time, the footage thus being instantly available for editors. German company Rohde & Schwarz presented a solution for the future transmission of media content via 5G broadcast by using a high-power high-tower (HPHT) network topology as an overlay for mobile networks. With a cell radius of more than 60 kilometres in each transmission area, 5G broadcast offers better and broader coverage for transmitting media content, even in rural areas. This kind of technology excites the broadcast industry and the conference sessions around 5G were all jam-packed with keen eyes and ears. In the days leading up to the opening of NAB 2019, Blackmagic Design had posters up everywhere announcing the arrival of a ‘new revolution in editing’ starting at 9am on opening day – and in true Blackmagic Design style, they released DaVinci Resolve 16 with a bang.
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DaVinci Resolve is the industry standard regarding color grading; however, their software always suffered from limited capabilities when complex editing was needed. Resolve 16 is set to change all that and its release was the talk of the town. They also showed off a new premium keyboard for DaVinci Resolve that dramatically improves the speed of editing, because it allows for the use of two hands while editing – meaning that transport control and selecting clips can be done while performing edits. Whist many may question the need for
8K – because there is no business model or distribution infrastructure and 8K over-the-air broadcasting currently isn’t technically possible – Blackmagic Design also announced new 8K versions of their HyperDeck Extreme 8K HDR, ATEM Constellation 8K production switcher and Taranex Mini SDI-to-HDMI 8K HDR. They are future-proofing their products no matter what, and with Sony announcing that they are releasing an 8K PlayStation soon, 8K is set to become the world’s future resolution whether we like it or not. Adobe also had prominent updates ready for NAB and were able to get their software updates released a week before
the show. The biggest new feature in the Adobe Creative Cloud apps is After Effects’ new “Content Aware Fill” for video. This will use AI to generate image data to automatically replace a masked area of video based on surrounding pixels and surrounding frames. This functionality has been available in Photoshop for a while, but the challenge of bringing it to video is not just a matter of processing lots of frames but keeping the replaced area looking consistent across the changing frames, so it doesn’t stand out over time. Adobe’s other apps got new features as well, with Premiere Pro adding Free-Form bins for visually sorting
REPORT
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NAB 2019
Show 2019
through assets in the project panel. They also improved playback performance for Red files, acceleration with multiple GPUs and certain 10-bit codecs. Character Animator got a better puppet rigging system, and Audition got AI-powered auto-ducking tools for automated track mixing. Avid also revealed its latest version of Media Composer, the long-time favourite NLE system for professional users. Media Composer 2019, meanwhile, has been ‘redesigned and reimagined’ from the ground up:
innovations include a new customisable UI and new finishing and delivery workflows. Under the hood, Media Composer 2019 sports a whole new Avid Media Engine which makes sure everything runs smooth and stable. Native support for MFX OP1a (Material Exchange Format Operational Pattern 1a), a standard delivery format for most big broadcasters, is on board and effects render in the background. Finally, in order to reduce clutter, Media Composer 2019 can be configured to display only the tools needed for a given role. For example, a logger doesn’t need an extended FX library; the editor might not need to see all the tools related to delivery, and so only the relative windows are open for a particular user.
On the camera front there were a few surprises. ARRI announced the ALEXA MINI LF boasting a Large-Format 4448 x 3096 Sensor and native 4K Recording in ARRIRAW and ProRes formats. Sharp shocked a few with their development prototype of an 8K micro four-thirds camera – the world’s first prosumer 8K camera and something to look out for in the coming months. A new camera from Chinese manufacturer Feiyu (who are better known for their gimbals), the Ricca, looks to be one of the most interesting action camera releases since the GoPro Hero 7 Black. With a 12 million Sony IMX377 Exmor R CMOS back-illuminated sensor inside, Feiyu’s knowledge of image stabilisation and gimbal systems means that this new camera could well challenge GoPro’s Hypersmooth when it comes to
professionallooking footage from a compact action camera. The camera’s built-in electronic image stabilisation is boosted by an external mechanical gimbal to offer unparalleled six-axis stabilisation. Not only that, but the body is waterproof and can be used for 30 minutes under one meter of water. The 1400mAh high-density polymer lithium battery provides 150 minutes of continuous shooting – a big improvement on GoPro models. The attendance numbers were down on last year’s figures – perhaps a sign of the times with tightened budgets, travel and hotel costs rising – but with that being said, I am sure that the 91,460 people who did attend this year’s NAB show had a great time. It remains the premier showcase for the latest advancements that are reshaping the world of media, entertainment and technology – and I’ll see you at the 2020 NAB Show in Las Vegas next April. – Ian Dormer
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OTT & IPTV
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Is OTT over-
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To say that OTT (over-the-top) technologies have disrupted the world entertainment landscape would be a major understatement. Subscription-based, on-demand OTT platforms have risen in popularity over the past couple of years and are fast-displacing traditional TV programming as the preferred medium of entertainment for many. But the huge amount of options has also made streaming TV an expensive and a bit of a complicated mess. With even more streaming services set to launch this year, are we ‘over-subscribed’? And will the newcomers be forced to adopt adsupported streaming models?
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OTT & IPTV
-subscribed? “As the growing number of digital
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t’s hard to imagine that the OTT space could get even more crowded than it already is, but that’s what 2019 is about to usher in. A number of new streaming services will arrive on the scene, competing with current big players like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Showtime, HBO Now and YouTube Premium. Late last year AT&T, the American telecom giant, completed its purchase of Time Warner and immediately announced an October 2019 launch of their own OTT service will rely heavily on content from WarnerMedia and the Warner Brothers library. AT&T doesn’t see their platform becoming another Netflix, but rather a huge warehouse of quality content available for purchase. There are no details on the model to be used nor its pricing as of yet. Last month Apple announced Apple TV Plus, a brand-new streaming service that, according to its CEO, Tim Cook, “is unlike anything that’s come before.” Apple TV Plus will offer exclusive shows, movies and documentaries and will be ad-free from the start. It will be available in 100-plus countries through a section of the Apple TV app from September 2019 on smart TVs (surprisingly, even on Samsung smart TVs), MacOS and iOS. Not to be outdone, Disney has also announced the launch of its upcoming OTT channel, Disney+. The channel will feature a second live-action Star Wars series, currently in development, and programming from other Disney brands such as Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm – and don’t forget, they also own National Geographic. Not only is National
Geographic’s content attractive, they have renewed relevance with younger generations of consumers, with 100 million Instagram followers! Disney has assured potential viewers that their new service will be cheap – with some touting the figures of $6 to $8 monthly. Even Discovery, Inc. executives have said they’re considering a direct-toconsumer offering, especially now that the company has 17 networks in its portfolio following their recent merging with Scripps Networks Interactive. Although, so far, the executives have said they’ve only considered the options – which could include bundling a number of brands, like HGTV, Food Network and TLC, into one channel. In theory, it could cost as low as $5 to $8 per month, said president and CEO, David Zaslav. Cutting-edge technologies are enabling OTT players to gather, analyse and generate insights from vast volumes of digital data pertaining to user viewing patterns, mostly thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning. This not only helps players to streamline the way they curate and recommend content to their users, but also enables them to create original content which is in synch with the viewing preferences of different audience demographics. Armed with research data, BBC Studos – the commercial arm of BBC and ITV, the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster – recently launched Britbox, a service that offers high-quality British TV to North American audiences for $6.99 a month. Britbox has 4,000 hours of content on it at present, which makes it the largest
publishers and broadcasters enter into the OTT space, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a subscription-based business similar to that of incumbents like Netflix and Hulu would not be able to sustain newcomers.
collection of British content available to US and Canadian customers. It has some archive classics but also brand-new shows that are available within hours of UK transmission. Essentially, the Britbox model is all about offering subsets of passionate fans the kind of high-quality content that they simply can’t get anywhere else. The less the content resembles what is available elsewhere (e.g. Netflix), the more consumers will be inclined to pay for it, according to the BBC. Low-cost services may be the key to ongoing OTT success, despite survey results indicating that the majority of consumers will subscribe to only 2.25 streaming services, potentially leaving many players out in the cold. As the growing number of digital publishers and broadcasters enter into the OTT space, it’s becoming increasingly clear that a subscription-based business similar to that of incumbents like Netflix and Hulu would not be able to sustain newcomers. These newcomers will need to rely on ad-supported streaming models (AVOD) and this presents a tremendous opportunity for advertisers. AVOD
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models offer ‘free’ premium programming as a viable consumer alternative to a subscription service. However, there are inherent complexities to maintain consistent revenue. OTT advertising is in its infancy when compared to broadcast television. Brands and ad agencies have been slow to ditch the traditional cost measurements (such as CPM) that rely on gross impressions to assess cost-effectiveness and profitability. For the AVOD service provider, this means success is directly tied to scale—more viewers, more revenue. But building, maintaining and growing a large and sustainable audience can be an expensive marketing proposition. On the plus side, the OTT consumer trend is not lost on advertisers looking to reach segmented audiences. The ability to deliver non-skippable pre-roll ads that can be hyper-targeted and localised with back-end performance metrics is very attractive to advertisers, but – for the viewer – will this model simply be over-the-top? – Ian Dormer
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OTT & IPTV
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MOBILE VIU-ing Introducing South Africa’s newest streaming platform, Viu
From both a national and global perspective, all industry predictions about 2019 highlighted expected growth in the video on demand (VOD), streaming and mobile viewing verticals.
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t should be no surprise, then, that South Africa has recently welcomed another platform to its VOD landscape, in the form of Viu – a content streaming service and mobile app that aims to “provide premium content to the local consumer.” Screen Africa spoke to Ryan Solovei, the country manager for Viu SA, about the background of the company, what is unique about its offering and its plans to prioritise local content.
INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK Headquartered in Silicon Valley and with a presence in several major Asian cities such as Singapore, Kuala Lumpur,
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Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Dubai and Jakarta, “Vuclip is a leading global technologydriven media company delivering on-demand entertainment to emerging markets including India, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East. As a PCCW Media Company, Vuclip properties include Viu, Vuclip Videos, Viu Life and Vuclip Games,” explains Solovei. Viu SA is, in fact, the 17th market in which VuClip’s Viu video streaming service has launched, amassing more than 30 million active monthly users in the process, who – last year – watched 37 billion minutes of content, according to Neo Lekgabo, chief marketing officer for Viu SA.
Partners
Solovei says that this market success in on-demand entertainment “is built on its leadership at the intersection of technology, consumer insights and media.”
“A TRUE FREEMIUM MODEL” Asked to describe what is unique about Viu’s offering to the South African market, Solovei says: “Viu offers a true Freemium model, which is a hybrid between free and paid-for video on demand service. The free offering [comes in the form of the] app, which has the most-watched daily soapies in South Africa, including Uzalo, Skeem Saam, Scandal! and Imbewu.
“It is the first time these big titles are available on a single platform, and these popular soapies have been removed from YouTube; they are only available exclusively on Viu immediately after linear broadcast.” This represents a major coup for the company, with a recent report by The Media magazine indicating that Uzalo reached a record-breaking 10.2 million South African television viewers in September 2018, with shows like Skeem Saam “[hitting] the six million mark.” Solovei explains that “the free service is available indefinitely and one is not forced to upgrade to the paid offering at any point. However, we do have a
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OTT & IPTV
“[Viu’s] focus is on local content. We are about authentic South African stories and this focus on local storytelling and entertainment is what South Africa needs.
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– Ryan Solovei, country manager for Viu SA
Janice Lee (managing director, PCCW Media)
Vuclip team
Premium section, where customers can subscribe to get more premium content for R69 a month. Our Premium section includes a wider variety of both local and international content from the world’s leading film and TV industries and genres.”
LOCAL FOCUS As Solovei puts it, Viu’s “focus is on local content. We are about authentic South African stories and this focus on local storytelling and entertainment is what South Africa needs.” To this end, the company has already forged some promising partnerships with
Viu team and actors
local content licensers and mobile companies. “We have licensing agreements and partnerships with both Etv and SABC, where we have licensed some of their main daily dramas. Viu has selected choice library titles, including great hits like Yizo Yizo, Harvest, Umlilo, The Docket and more. “We also have a partnership with Vodacom which will see customers being able to use their airtime to pay for Viu Premium as Phase 1 of the relationship.” Expanding on the importance of telling local stories, as well as keeping step with trends in viewing habits, Solovei explains: “Viu’s business model is based
on broadening access to local content. This approach has worked for Vuclip in all the other 16 markets where the brand has been launched. Over 60% of the content on the Viu app is local. We are committed to making local content accessible and to meet the market’s growing trend of multi-screen viewing; this is precisely why we partnered with Etv and SABC, as they have the widest library of local content.” Even more exciting for the South African film and television industry is Solovei’s announcement that “Viu is also engaging with the industry at large including production companies with plans to co-produce Viu original content. “Viu is different to most streaming
services because of its original content. Creatives find themselves in a challenging situation where money and buyers are not where they used to be because the digital era has disrupted the market. Viu has an established track record of getting premium local content off the ground. It’s perfectly positioned to be the home for Mzansi’s most loved shows,” he concludes. To sign up, visit www.viu.com/ott/za; visit the Google Play store to download the Viu App. – David Cornwell
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Video providers:
prioritise monitoring or risk impacting consumer QoE Written by Stuart Newton,
VP Strategy within the Corporate Development Group at Telestream
Video is now going everywhere – to anyone, wherever they are, on whatever access network they are using. This “global accessibility� is still a relatively new development in the evolution of video delivery, for both media companies originating content and for the networks that transport it. As with most innovations, the service itself generally precedes high-quality versions of the service, as companies rush to be the first to market without due service monitoring. Any issues with the service result in emergency triage to find out what is going wrong, and usually a fair amount of fingerpointing and blame, achieving nothing other than increasing stress levels and delaying the resolution of the issue. 38 | SCREENAFRICA | MAY 2019
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“Real-time monitoring is absolutely critical to video streaming services, and involves an intimate understanding of the entire end-to-end process for video delivery.
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onitoring, although not glamorous, is a fascinating challenge. In general, it can be there for safety reasons, diagnostics, revenue, cost efficiencies (time-to-resolution, reducing incorrect personnel resource allocation) and brand protection (which, incidentally, is a major reason for monitoring after the live streaming failures of the last several years). Most people don’t even realise it’s there. The speedometer or temperature gauge on a car, the brake warning light, a house alarm, an alert on a smart phone – monitoring surrounds us all and we generally take it for granted. In industrial production, monitoring is there for safety, performance monitoring and diagnostics – it costs a lot for a production line to go down, especially with the just-in-time production methods of today. Within the on-demand world, monitoring is essential to make sure the pieces or data are where they need to be, or working properly, at all times. Even if there is a backup system, it needs to be monitored to make sure it really is available as a backup system.
INDUSTRIALISATION OF VIDEO – MONITORING PLAYS CRITICAL ROLE, EVEN IN UNMANAGED NETWORKS Video is no different to any of these applications. Today, video information is compressed and put into IP packets and sent all over the world, either live, or on-demand per the streaming catalogues available today. Those packets need to be created and
stored (for on-demand) or sent out immediately (for live streaming) and have to find their way across a multitude of networks to eventually be decoded back into the pictures we see on our TVs or smart phones. There are a multitude of resolutions to create for large-screen TVs to smart phones, and different bit rates (with varying quality of the same video content), so that the players can choose to step down in bit rate (to a lower quality version of the same video) if the supplying network is getting congested. This highlights another challenge – the supplying network. Not many people realise that when they are watching sports content on their home TV, and then switch to their phone temporarily, that the video they are now watching may be delivered over a completely different supply network than the video they were watching on their TV. If they walk out of the house and switch to a cellular network, it will most likely be a completely different path again, and will almost certainly be a different quality feed, with the packets probably constructed by different servers in a different geographical location. In understanding this, it may be unsurprising that the streams are rarely in synch, with different time-lags behind the live stream. Even the viewing device will add different levels of delay compared to the person watching next door, due to buffering calculations relevant to that device and how good the network is that feeds it. All of this barely scratches the surface
of the number of things that can go wrong, or affect, the quality or streaming performance of live video. Even in the past, when video delivery networks were controlled end-to-end by a video service provider (encoding, multicast delivery, access network, residential gateway and the set-top box) as in satellite, cable, or early IPTV deployments, monitoring was essential for most providers. Without it, it could take days, weeks or even months to isolate an issue (especially when the issue occurred at random times), and in many case would often result in the video processing team, the core network team, the access network team and the retail team (residential gateway and STB) all pointing the finger of blame at one another.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DEMARCATION MONITORING IN A MULTINETWORK ENVIRONMENT The move to adaptive streaming has further compounded all of these issues. Multiple bit rates, multiple adaptive protocols (HLS, DASH and legacy) and multiple delivery networks that are no longer owned by the video service provider (content delivery networks, multiple access networks), have all made video monitoring essential. It also means that for the video service provider, it is essential to know what the video transport quality looks like going into, and coming out of, the third-party networks. Demarcation monitoring is absolutely critical to understanding where the root cause of the video delivery issues start, so that the right teams (and company) can be deployed to fix them.
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Complexities around latency have also crept in, and have, in many cases, taken video delivery backwards in terms of time-behind-live issues for live events. A great example of this is the challenge that video service providers have in synchronising multiple camera angles to the viewer on their home TV. The main TV feed may be coming across the core telecommunication network, while the different camera angles may be delivered using adaptive streaming across different national or global networks, introducing a significant lag from the main feed. Video streaming “whenever” and “wherever” is now emerging out of its infancy, and people expect a good quality service – especially if they are paying for it. Real-time monitoring is absolutely critical to video streaming services, and due to the reasons above, involves an intimate understanding of the entire end-to-end process for video delivery. Real-time feedback is also essential for the future of zero-touch video services, where the data can be used instantly to correct or compensate for issues with the video service. Without real-time feedback from multiple points along the end-to-end delivery chain, closed loop capabilities are simply not possible. Telestream, with its iQ team and solutions, has been isolating issues and helping video service providers since 2001, and has the expertise and capabilities to help with video delivery performance. With the latest virtualisation and cloud-based capabilities, Telestream is also ready for the new era of hybrid video delivery where monitoring is absolutely essential, and definitely not an option.
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M A R KET PL AC E
UPCOMING EVENTS MAY 25 APR – 5
HOT DOCS CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL Toronto, Canada
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