The Callsheet October 2011

R22.80 October 2011 www.thecallsheet.co.za

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DIGITAL AFFECTING TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION GENERAL INDUSTRY

HelloComputer team, Mark Tomlinson and Clint Bryce

Following the Digital grand Prix at last month’s loerie Awards, Matthew Visser asks ‘how is digital changing the commercials landscape?”

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he 33rd annual Loerie Awards got some tongues wagging last month and not purely because we got to see the legendary hof on stage. For the first time in what seems like a lifetime, three Grand Prix Loerie Awards were announced and film wasn’t included. The Grand Prix on Sunday Night was for Musica’s Flo Browser by hello Computer.

Is it a sign of the times or simply an example of some exemplary work, which is what a Grand Prix is supposed to represent in the first place? Who wins is important. A recent research study from the IPA and Thinkbox in the UK, in conjunction with The Gunn Report, has revealed a direct correlation between strong advertising creativity and business success. The study shows that the most creatively-awarded advertising campaigns are 11 times more efficient at delivering business success.

So, even when you hear people play down the importance of awards, remember that one of the main reasons some of the big players from last year’s Loerie

Awards didn’t perform nearly as well this year as they did in the past, is that they were almost certainly too busy capitalising on all the new account gains that came as a result of a successful awards season. In the first year of the Loerie Awards in 1978, nine Gold Loeries were awarded, all of them for television advertising.

It was the beginning of the golden age of the speaking, singing tube. Many Grand Prix Awards have been given for numerous categories since then, but helloComputer’s recent triumph

takes the digital tally to three and you don’t have to be a technological analyst to see that the new technologies available are definitely providing more original ways to be creative than ever before.

There was a ten year gap between the first ever Digital Loerie Grand Prix and the next. Tinderbox Interactive Cape Town won the first Digital Grand Prix in 1998 for its self-promotional piece titled thinking multimedia in 1998. In 2008, Net#work BBDO and Gloo Digital Design’s

Youngblood5 in Experiential Digital Mixed-Media picked up the next Digital Loerie Grand Prix, although this was the first since the formation of the Loerie Awards as an independent association in 2005. Now, only three years later, the latest Digital Loerie Grand Prix is announced and it’s hard not to see the increase in frequency and ever growing importance that technology is playing in our lives. The fact that the world’s largest advertising festival, Cannes, dropped the word ‘advertising’ from its name this

year is something worth sitting up and noticing as well.

Catapult Commercials director Jonathan Boynton-Lee is concerned about how new technologies affect the way commercials are being shot. he related a recent experience: “With regards to the commercial landscape, a prime example of digital technology affecting the production cycle was on the last commercials we shot. We shot three performance based commercials, one of which was very effects heavy. It was a perfect example of how technology has the dangerous, and scary potential of completely taking over the creative and production process. The camera had to remain locked off to enable the effects guys to work their magic in post, so the carefully thought out camera movements I had in mind were all added at a later stage. When you are on set this can be extremely frustrating and as a director, your hands are tied behind your back. It becomes difficult working with actors when they have to worry about limiting body movements so as to serve the special effects best.” egg Films executive producer Colin howard believes that digital is becoming an important tool in the traditional production company’s toolkit.

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PAGE TWO PIN-UP: NDONI KHANYILE ACTING (APM)

ONE of the stars of the soon to be released Skeem, Ndoni Khanyile, is this month’s page two pin-up.

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I didn’t think it was possible to have so much fun while working. Skeem was a dream to shoot.” Ndoni is understandably enthusiastic about the upcoming feature, having just attended the Johannesburg premiere. Ndoni met her fiance on the set of Skeem, and believes director Tim Greene did an incredible job assembling the talented cast.

Ndoni, who has degrees from UCT and Columbia University, says becoming an actress was a natural choice for her as a lifelong performer. “I was always the kid doing all the school plays, singing in the choir and performing everywhere I could so drama school was a logical choice for me.”

Ndoni’s first big role was in Khalo Matabane’s When We Were Black, an SABC1 mini-series. When We Were Black was a love story set against the backdrop of the 1976 student uprisings in Soweto, and Ndoni starred as one of the student leaders. She played alongside Skeem lead Wandile Molebat-

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si in the mini-series. Of the role, she says: “It was a very young cast and Khalo gave us a lot of lee-way to try different things, it was a real gift to have that kind of trust from a director at the beginning of your career.”

She has also acted in many big international commercials, and believes she has learnt a great deal from those experiences. “I think commercials are a great way to learn to hit certain technical and performance points quickly and efficiently. You have 30 seconds to communicate a message so you have to be deliberate and sharp.”

Ndoni believes the biggest commercial she has worked on was a Suez commercial, saying: “My favourite commercial to do was a French ad for a utilities company called Suez with six women in six different countries giving birth at the same time. I played the ‘African’ woman and I was impressed by how beautifully it was shot, not surprising as the cinematographer had done The English Patient and Cold Mountain!”

Ndoni has recently appeared in the international TV series Beaver Falls and Strike Back 2, playing small roles in both productions. She says she would love to do more international productions, having enjoyed the amount of time and

energy the directors of the respective productions invest in the actors.

Ndoni enthused about her role in Skeem, saying: “I play Phumzi; she and her girlfriends are on a bachelorette weekend when they find themselves in the midst of an action packed adventure in the Karoo. She has a dark side under her sweet, shy exterior.”

She explained that the movie was lots of fun to work on: “The cast is incredible but we also connected really well on a personal level, which made passing the time in the middle of nowhere really easy. I got to know actors whose work I had admired for a long time and reconnect with old friends. I also met my fiance on the set, I’d say I was pretty lucky! ” She explained that working on a local feature means you have to work faster due to budget differences, “You have to be really sharp when working as quickly as we do on local sets and your proposals have to be strong as you only get one or two takes”.

Ndoni, who is in the process of moving to Cape Town, is looking forward to new opportunities as an actress and producer in a new city. She is also going to be working on a new documentary project in 2012.

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IS DIGITAL THE WAY OF THE FUTURE? Jonathan Boynton-Lee

Continued from page one

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e said: “One of our directors, Brent Harris, recently shot a commercial in the States for eA Sports FIFA 12, which has already been seen by over one million people on YouTube.

One of Kim Geldenhuys’ old ads for BMW, Kinetic Sculptures, has been seen by over two million people on YouTube. But these are still exceptions to the rule for South African ads, and even those figures are small compared to the reach of television. So TV is still the easiest way to reach the broadest number of people, but online is becoming increasingly important, so clients and agencies should be budgeting to buy online rights as well as television.”

Pundits will tell you that digital ad spend is on the up and smart money is relying on increased advertising formats, mainly video; multiplicity of channels, such as social media and mobile and

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increased use of targeted campaigns, to emphasise new types of engagement. In South Africa we like to think that we’re keeping up with global trends in real time, but the reality is that we’re not. Interactive marketing spend made up 19% of all ad spend in the US in 2011 and how does our total internet spend in South Africa measure up? A meager 2% of the total ad spend with 11% growth. Despite all the hype, the traditional channels are still getting the lion’s share of the budget and will probably continue to for a while, which makes the recent Digital Loerie Grand Prix even more noteworthy.

HelloComputer’s executive creative director, Mark Tomlinson said: “The Musica Flo Browser was a great opportunity for us to showcase what we, as an independent digital agency, could produce in an exceptionally short space of time without the bigger budgets that traditional agencies are used to. The entire creative process from inception to planning, UX, design, coding and playful hardware hacking, implementation, testing and final delivery of the completed, functional product took us two weeks of all hands on deck in total.”

“We measured every single interaction with the system, so off the back of doing something really fun for shoppers, we were also able to provide real customer insights to our client”.

On the future and influence of the digital industry, Mark is optimistic, “The future for any successful business has to be an integrated one. I don’t think it’ll be for very much longer that digital will exist as something that gets slapped on the end of a campaign. The most important thing is that agencies make a change at a strategic level to include digital up front in the idea phase. We know that the future is integrated. The best results come from campaigns that cast the same message across multiple mediums.”

Mark Tomlinson is obviously proud of his team’s work, getting the digital industry to realise its potential is a passion he shares with the first ever Digital Loerie Grand Prix winner and now group chief creative officer of Quirk, Clint Bryce. Clint is widely regarded as one of the first true pioneers of the digital industry and has the honour of having been the Chairman for the Digital Loerie Awards and having “Fight for Creativity” basically included in his job description, which is pretty damn cool.

Clint says: “I do believe that the recent Grand Prix speaks volumes for the confidence in the medium. It’s been a long time coming ... 16 years of beating the drum. Rei Inamoto (chief creative officer, AKQA) suggests that ‘In order for agencies to stay relevant, they must embrace the

Culture of Code.’ I subscribe to this: digital agencies are growing traction fast and are moving rapidly from production houses, executing on ideas, to conceiving those idea’s themselves. Collaboration is in our blood. It’s a result of understanding the single vital addition to the classic art director - copywriter partnership, is a technologist. In the latest Advantage Magazine it was noted that ‘these guys [Rob Stokes and Justin Spratt] are more than digital, they are the future.

Creativity no longer belongs to those who have the word ‘creative’ in their title. John Hunt suggests that ‘Everyone is equal before the idea’ and this rings true to the landscape we now find ourselves in. Production companies and agencies need to invert their traditional triangle business models so that the idea generators, the ‘floor’ sits at the top. And work hard at calibrating an inspiration climate - then architect a process whereby these ideas are generated into a stage of realised value for all stakeholders. This, together with the notion of ‘useful advertising’ - i.e. platforms, utilities and software that make our lives easier, more enjoyable and fun, is where we should be steering the industry together.”

On the overall trend Colin adds: “We’re behind the curve internationally, so you can look at what’s happening around the

world and get a good idea of what’s coming next here. Overseas, the line between TV and digital is blurring, with new products like Google TV encouraging people to watch TV via the internet. So eventually the distinction between work for TV and work for online might disappear completely. The problem in South Africa is that it’s easy to see where we’re going, but harder to know what the timeline is, as we’re reliant on government and business sorting out the major infrastructural challenges involved in the speed and price of bandwidth, which are holding us back at the moment.”

Jonathan predicts: ”There is no doubt in my mind that digital media is edging out traditional media in terms of reach and accessibility, especially with generation ‘next’.”

Whether you agree that the digital industry will one day grow sufficiently to match our existing traditional mediums and integrate successfully for complete campaigns or you’re beginning to doubt mankind’s willingness and ability to evolve as quickly as we’re pushing technology, you can’t ignore that it’s not only new mediums and ways of engaging that guys like Mark and Clint are pioneering, but entirely new ways of looking at the creative and production process itself.

Matthew Visser

CPA RELEASES ANNUAL SURVEY RESULTS COMMERCIALS THE Commercial Producers Association (CPA) this week released the results of its 7th annual “CPA Survey” which defines and measures the size and scope of the South African television commercial production sector.

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HE survey, which is conducted every year on the CPA’s behalf by Johannesburg based research company, Evolutions Research Solutions, produced some revealing results on the current state of the industry.

Although the survey indicates slight industry growth in the period under review: May 2010 to April 2011, the research highlights certain concerns and challenges faced by the sector. Industry leaders are concerned by the fact that the industry appears to be in a stagnant phase and growth has slowed considerably since the prosperous 1990’s and more recently the early 2000’s when the CPA commissioned the first survey in 2004.

The director based industry, which is active mainly in Johannesburg and services the local advertising community, remains stable with an increase in the number of commercials produced. However turnover

has increased in value with a lower percentage than cost of sales increases. This indicates that more commercials were produced for a higher turnover but with increasing costs. In spite of the increase in commercials and turnover the significant increase in cost of sales would have had a negative impact on the industry. Should this trend continue the margin of profitability could decrease to such an extent that director based companies may struggle to maintain standards and service, a challenge which is shared by crew, suppliers, post houses and talent agents.

The service sector, based primarily in Cape Town, saw an improvement in turnover and more commercials were produced while cost of sales increased with a lower percentage than turnover indicating more controlled increases and a greater willingness by suppliers to assist in containing costs.

The concern in the service sector is low growth and a failure to mature sufficiently to ensure future sustainability in a very competitive market.

Producers believe this stagnation is occurring due to a combination of factors which include escalating costs, increased competition, an unpredictable exchange rate and a lack of support from local government. The sec-

tor of the industry which has been hardest hit this year is the small but prestigious international agency work that is awarded to South African director based companies. This has dropped off by almost 50% in the last year indicating that the international demand for South African directors has decreased and that South Africa is no longer viewed as an attractive option by international agencies looking to produce commercials abroad.

Producers servicing this market speculate that the reasons behind this are the bleak financial situation in Europe and the US and the willingness of foreign production companies and well-known international directors to accommodate lower budgets.

South African production companies are spending less on marketing their directors internationally as they consolidate in the comparatively stable local market and the drop off has also been attributed to South Africa’s lacklustre performances at Cannes and at other international awards. Producers are in agreement that the industry needs to increase its creative output in order to win back international work.

The 29 participants in this year’s survey reported that they produced a total of 640 commercials in 1376 shoot

days (an average of 2.15 shoot days per commercial) and that, of these, 219 commercials were shot in high definition. The total turnover generated for all commercial productions was R854 064 007.03 and it is estimated that the total industry size for the year under review was R1 260 064 007.03 From a cost perspective, the survey reveals the impact of rising production costs on the industry.

In 2005, the average turnover per commercial was R 818 802.22. This figure increased to R1 349 531.48 in 2011, an increase of almost 65% which far exceeds the rate of inflation over the same period.

Labour costs remain the largest production expense (38%) followed by equipment hire (16%), art department and construction costs (13%) and post production (10%). The balance is made up by a combination of costs which include vehicle hire, catering, studio rental, stock and processing, location hire, insurance and general production expenses.

All sections of the budget constituted the same (or slightly lower) percentage as those recorded in last year’s survey with the exception of crew remuneration which grew by 3% to 32% indicating that crew working on commercials worked more and were paid more in the last year.

With 162 additional shoot days recorded in 2010/2011, the survey demonstrates that the commercial sector is creating more employment, specifically in the Western Cape, but that inflation in this category is compromising the sustainability of other suppliers and placing additional pressure on an already insecure base.

Through tracking a core group of production companies which have participated in consecutive surveys, it can be concluded that when compared to the results of 2009/2010, a moderate to low impact combination of negative signs include no change in the average turnover per commercial while the average number of shoot days per commercial was slightly higher and the average expenditure per commercial increased by 5%.

While the commercial production sector remains relatively stable in 2011, there are a number of warning signs which must be heeded and managed by both production companies and their suppliers to ensure that the delicate balance is maintained. The future health of the industry depends on it!

Bobby Amm, on behalf of the Commercial Producers Association of South Africa

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DISCOVERY LAUNCHES NEW LINE-UP marlice van Vuuren

Phillip Luff

TELEVISION EntErtainmEnt and educational broadcaster Discovery networks has launched two more channels and unveiled a slew of new programmes to offer viewers and advertisers a superior service.

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T a launch held in Johannesburg this month, Discovery announced that TLC and Investigation Discovery channels are now live on DStv in Africa. TLC is billed as Discovery’s flagship female brand, while Investigation Discovery (ID) is the fastest growing cable channel in the US. The Discovery portfolio on DStv now features six channels, with the new offerings joining the existing bouquet of Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery World and Discovery HD Showcase.

Other key enhancements include a new series of extreme fishing adventures, more from local wildlife experts on the Animal Planet channel, a documentary to mark the

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100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and iGenius, dedicated to the genius of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

The expanded portfolio of documentaries, lifestyle and entertainment shows offers something for all tastes and covers key demographic markets for advertisers, the Discovery team said. “I’ve had a sneak preview of some of the channels coming up next year and it’s looking really good – our viewers are going to be hooked,” said Chris Hitchings, managing director of TV media sales.

Phillip Luff, country manager and head of emerging business for Discovery Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) said the increased investments would ‘super serve’ its customers.

“TLC and ID have been hugely successful in markets all over the world and their addition to the DStv Compact bouquet forms part of our continued investment in Africa. We’re sure that subscribers are going to love both channels,” he said.

“We will kick off 2012 with a new ‘Must See Monday’ strand. It’s one of the most popular nights and traditionally when new channels premier.

Must See Mondays will have a line-up of big hit shows that no self-respecting fan can afford to miss.” That line-up starting in January 2012 will include Goldrush Alaska, American Chopper and Swamp Loggers.

Phillip said Discovery would also refresh the science and engineering genre next year, with plans for a season of Incredible Inventions and a new series called How We Invented The World.

MultiChoice general manager for content, Aletta Alberts, said Discovery was world-famous for engaging audiences with a mix of entertainment and information, presented with emotion, spirit and style. “DStv understands that as our audience grows and their viewing needs become more diverse, we must evolve. To do so with a partner like Discovery, who really are dedicated to the needs

of our audiences, is a significant step forward in building our products.”

Presenter Aphrodite Jones also spoke at the event, and said it was an honour to be launching Investigation Discovery. That network was already hugely popular in America, she said, with women accounting for 64% of the viewers with an average age of 52. The crime shows look at the search for justice from a victim’s perspective as well as exploring forensic techniques.

Actor Fana Mokeona said during the coming year Discovery would serve up programmes for viewers across Africa that would give fresh views of the world we live in, including our own amazing continent.

Presenters Eugene Cussons and Marlice van Vuuren will be filming more Animal Planet episodes, including local content about people who dedicate themselves to conservation as well as the animals themselves for Africa Month, to be aired in May 2012.

The Discovery World documentary channel will end 2011 with Marley’s Africa Roadtrip, a series that follows the sons of music legend Bob Marley on a pilgrimage across South Africa in the footsteps of their father.

Meanwhile, the non-profit Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership will soon release a feature-length film called Inside Story: The Science Of HIV/Aids. It has been financed by organisations including USAID, Seacom and the South African Department of Trade and Industry, and uses storytelling to demystify HIV/Aids and equip people with the knowledge to make informed health decisions.

The film is being produced

by Curious Pictures and directed by Rolie Nikiwe, and stars Kevin Ndege Mamboleo as Kalu, a footballer who moves from rural Kenya to Johannesburg to follow his dream. It will premiere in Africa and America later this year, followed by national broadcasts across sub-Saharan Africa and distribution by schools, governments and non-governmental organisations. Working with Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership on Inside Story has been an honour,” said Harriet Gavshon of Curious Pictures.

“It is important for us to find new ways to communicate life-saving information about HIV and AIDS, and this film will do just that.”

Lesley Stones

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VIDEO-ON-DEMAND: DSTV BOXOFFICE John Kotsaftis

TELEVISION THESE days everyone and his grandmother have DStv, and for a lucky few it’s beaming through in high-definition.

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ince TopTV challenged the satellite TV monopoly, DStv has had to diversify their surface offering in order to remain competitive but, they haven’t forgotten their upmarket longstanding clientele. now available with your PVR decoder package is the option to purchase pay per

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view film viewing broadcast via satellite directly to your living room. The service is called BoxOffice and, according to John Kotsaftis (ceO DStv Online), it shares little similarity with the American based website, Netflix.

“Netflix has a vastly different business model to BoxOffice. Netflix splits its movie rentals into two categories: Online streaming (or Watch instantly) and DVD rentals. With Watch Instantly for a fixed monthly fee, you are able to stream new and library content from a variety of devices directly over the internet, whether it’s

your Xbox, Pc or Tablet Pc.” You also have the option to rent the latest DVDs from netflix and have them delivered to you. Netflix only provides the latest movies via the physical DVDs, which it is able to ship to users due to the US postal system. The movies that are available online are within an older window period than the ones available on the commercial Pay-TV channels Currently, BoxOffice is a pure satellite-based videoon-demand service. You select the movie you would like to rent from a playlist on your PVR, pay for it, and you are able to enjoy it for 48 hours on your PVR in the comfort of your own home with no internet connection required.

We are working on the next phase of the BoxOffice rollout, which will be an online offering, available to all South African broadband users by the end of this year. “ Apparently the service utilises their current On Demand PVR technology essentially creating a collection of material on your PVR decoder, allowing for quick and easy downloading, all made possible by a simple SMS. “We realise that not everybody can structure their lives according to the schedules of a broadcaster, which is why Video on Demand is becom-

ing such an important service.

We need to be able to deliver the movies and TV shows that they want to watch in the manner that is convenient to them. We believe that BoxOffice is the next step in the evolution of our services and it’s something that we believe adds immense value to our Premium subscriber base.”

Obviously it comes at a cost, and it’s no more than your average rental at a local DVD store. John says, “we charge customers R25 per rental and each rental is valid for 48 hours to view as many times as the viewers wish in that time frame. We felt it was a better value proposition, the viewers will only pay for what they consume and it allows our customers to use the service at their convenience.” is it really convenience at an affordable price? not when one considers that in order to qualify for this service you’d already be spending well over R500 per month on a subscription. That said it remains an advancement well deserved in our fast growing high tech society.

“The entertainment industry is undergoing changes and peoples’ viewing habits are necessitating a different way of thinking when it comes to pre-scheduled programming.

But DStv strongly believes that

both On Demand services and scheduled programming will still be around for a while to come.”

BoxOffice, being a relatively new product, reports a positive uptake in the use of the servicebut sadly there are no plans to introduce TV series’, or other related material. They can however guarantee the availability of only the best home cinema.

“This is an initiative spearheaded exclusively by Multichoice.

We are able to leverage existing relationships with our partner studios to secure the best content for BoxOffice and will continue to source our content directly from them.”

Only one-question remains, the pivotal question that only the hardened home dweller would care to have answered. Are films available in high-definition? “if you have an HD PVR and an HD-TV, all your BoxOffice movies will be delivered in HD. There is no price difference between standard and high definition.” it seems you’ll have one more reason to stay at home this christmas, continuing the transformation of your living room in to a high tech digital home cinema, only thing left is the ability to rent 3D titles, but i’m sure the team at DStv has considered that already.

Jasyn Howes

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PRISON BROADCASTING NETWORK Content by inmates for inmates

Filming in the studio

INDUSTRY PRISON Broadcasting Network is a programme that creates content for prisoners made

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by fellow inmates, who learn valuable skills in the process.

The programme was started by Marius Boaden, who continues to run it.

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ARIUS Boaden the founder and director of Prison Broadcasting Network is passionate about the work he does with prisoners at Pollsmoor Correctional

Facility.

Marius was working as a freelance commercials producer in 1997 when a visit to a prison changed the course of his life, and he hopes, the lives of the inmates he has worked with. Moved by the suffering he saw in prisons, two years later Marius started the Prison Broadcasting Network. At that time their resources stretched to a CD Walkman used to create radio programmes intended to inspire inmates at Pollsmoor. This was Truth Radio which broadcast to 1700 juvenile offenders.

The project grew in the years that followed as first a sound studio was built. This made it possible to broadcast to all 7500 prisoners at Pollsmoor. In addition Marius began to train inmates in music production (he has a background in Sound Engineering) and radio presenting. In 2008 Prison Broadcasting Network launched a Television Production Training division. This has resulted in inmates being trained in television production - as well as the creation of original content by and for the prisoners.

Marius hopes to prevent prisoners from re-offending with the work he is doing. He is trying to achieve this in two ways: firstly through the content he is broadcasting to inmates. Secondly through the training of inmates in production skills - he hopes to offer them a viable, compelling vocation that will keep them from re-offending once they are released from prison.

In the early years much of the work Marius did with prisoners and young offenders was self-funded and he revealed that he sold a house and a car in order to continue his work with the inmates. In recent years some sponsors have come on board, with Chevron having proven a loyal friend to the project for the last nine years. There are various other sponsors - Sony and Sennheiser have both proven generous in terms of equipment and technical support.

Several former inmates who have participated in the PBN programme have gone on to do well upon their release with

one teaching English in China, another working in the film industry in Cape Town and several having decided to further their studies. Marius believes the programme not only provides positive, inspirational content for inmates that might prevent them from re-offending, he believes it also gives some inmates a sense of purpose and ambition for life on the outside. One programme, Jail Star, even went so far as to improve the relationship between offenders and wardens, and cut across gang lines - a major accomplishment. Jail Star took the form of a talent show, much like the Pop Idols franchise. The show features two wardens and an inmate acting as the judging panel.

The public were enthused by the project too, and the show gained the project major international exposure.

Currently Marius is the only full-time employee of the project, and he has a few volunteers who come in to work with the prisoners from time to time.

He hopes to have more regular volunteers working with inmates, but the notorious redtape at Pollsmoor has proven to be a barrier.

Marius says what he needs most right now is editors, as he currently edits the majority of the footage being created by the project himself. He has had some success with expanding to other prisons around the country, and is in talks with the department of correctional services about further expansion. He also hopes to help place ex-offenders within the film industry.

If you are interested in helping out in any way or just finding out more about the work being done by Marius and the Prison Broadcasting Network visit their website at: www.prisonbroadcast.org.za

Kate Hodges

CREW OF THE MONTH: RICHARD MARKHAM CREW THE Callsheet chatted to Richard Markham an accomplished DOP, focus puller and 1st AC.

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OU can read the full interview on www.thecallsheet.co.za

How did you get into the industry?

The first time I was on a film set was as a cable basher for a sound man in about 1986. I then got an opportunity to work at a rental house cleaning and repairing equipment and booking camera gear in and out of the store, and helping focus pullers to do gear checks. I always wanted to be on set, so in about 1990 I became freelance, first as a clapper loader and then progressing onto focus pulling and the responsibilities of first assistant camera (AC). At present I try to pull focus on choicer projects, but am doing a lot of operating and DOP work as well. This is a natural progression for me – the coming together of my creative instincts with my years of technical experience.

What do you enjoy most about the job?

I Am a very visual person and enjoy the economy with which one can tell a story in pictures. I also enjoy the technical aspect of camera department. I am always very active in staying on top of new developments and technology. I also enjoy the location work opportunities that come with this kind of work. As

a result I have travelled very widely in South Africa, Africa and abroad.

What are the biggest challenges of the job?

The biggest challenge in terms of working behind the camera in general is to be invisible. A wise DOP once said to me that everyone else on set can get away with making mistakes, but if camera makes an error, everyone notices and makes an issue of it. Focus pulling is in my opinion part skill, part science and part art. There is a lot more to getting a pull right than just getting marks: a focus puller has to be able to concentrate for long periods of time. The timing of the movement of camera in relation to the movement of subject is also an ongoing challenge in this work. each lens has its own idiosyncrasies and a good focus puller is quickly tuned into these and compensates for them. There is also the matter of being able to work with several other disciplines and people at the same time to be considered.

A good 1st AC efficiently runs the camera unit, while also helping to maintain a calm and productive environment on set. As a 1st AC I’ve always tried to pre-empt what the next shot or set up could be to help the smooth running of the set; and in doing so to work closely with the DOP and Director. I am currently also working as a guest lecturer at the Wits School of Arts Film and TV Division in cinematography.

How important is the script to you?

The script is the most important

Richard and Carlos Carvahlos

guide to the camera department. Often on set, camera department doesn’t get sides, and I then request them. In terms of focus, the script helps the focus puller with the timing of the set ups as screen direction, which affects focus in the movement of characters etc, is driven by beats in script. For operating and DOP work, the script is the core of this work as well. The tone and events of script should dictate the look and feel of lighting, composition and camera movement.

How do you approach measuring and marking a scene?

EVEry scene or set up has its challenges when getting reference marks for focus. I always pay attention during the blocking of a scene, then gets focus marks while the location is being lit and prepared. During rehearsals (if there are any) one can double check and correct any focal problems, so as to be ready to shoot. Often, the luxury of rehearsals is not afforded and then one relies on the marks one has managed to get and a well honed spatial awareness. This is always the case as often actors don’t completely hit their marks during performance. This is their craft and prerogative – a good focus puller compensates accordingly.

What tools do you use on a daily basis?

The most important tools that are absolutely imperative on a daily basis are the obvious tape measure, as well as watercolour pencils, a solvent, a torch, a Selvyt lint free cloth, and a tea spoon (for those very needed cups of coffee). I also like to carry my light meter when pulling focus, so I can assist the DOP in the maintenance of stop and compensation. On occasion I have also used laser and sonic tape measures to aid in accurate focus, but find that these tools have limitations in certain applications.

The tools of the focus trade are personal to each focus puller and I find that they are relevant to both film and High Definition environments. The fundamentals of the job are not altered by shifts in technology. That said, although I started in film, I have made it my business to be on top of digital developments and always try to use the newer tools

Richard on the set of Lily in 2006

that are available (Cinedeck, waveform monitors etc).

Do you have any tricks you use when pulling focus in difficult situations or when accurate measurement is impossible?

In the rare event that accurate measurement is not possible such as pulling focus over an expanse of water, I have employed techniques such as setting floating buoys/placing people at prescribed points, to give me a reference out of frame. In instances, where for instance you are working with an extremely demanding crisp lens that is very unforgiving, in relation to a difficult action scenario, the close working relationship between the focus puller and the DOP is crucial. I will for instance do a depth of field calculation and ask the DOP for more stop (which increases the depth of field and helps to pull off the shot). In scenarios where the subject and the camera are moving independently (counter tracking etc), I try to work closely with the grip to co-ordinate the shot and to use the grip equipment to my best advantage.

What was the biggest project you ever worked on?

I HAVE worked on various commercial, documentary and fictional projects that can be called ‘big’. In terms of feature films, working on well funded projects like Blood Diamond (2006), Skin (2007), Tunnel Rats (2007), Dhoom II (2006) and Apprenticeship of a Mahatma (1995) is a highlight. I also consider my contribution towards local independent films such as Waiting for Valdez (2002), Proteus (2002), Gums and Noses (2004) and My Secret Sky (2008) to be important milestones. In terms of documentaries, ‘biggest’ of these recently would be working on Harpo Production’s Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls documentary in 2006. I have also worked on several large corporate projects over the years for companies such as Anglo American and DeBeers.

I consider myself fortunate to work in an industry that has been able to give crew access to so many varied markets, and look forward to contributing further in the years to come.

Richard on the set of Tunnel Rats

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FINAL OUT IN AFRICA FOR 2011 Breaking Out The Box

FILM FESTIVAL The Out in Africa South African Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will be holding their final round of screenings in Cape Town and Joburg at the end of October.

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he festival, which launched in 1994, has become a key event on the South African Film festival calendar. The festival aims to raise the visibility of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex individuals (LGBTIs) in South Africa, and show positive images of these previously marginalised groups.

The Festival is based at Nu Metro V&A Waterfront and Nu Metro hyde Park and takes

Adepero Oduye as Alike in Pariah Photo Credit: Focus Features.

place from 21-30 October 2011. Features this time around include The Adonis Factor, Breaking out of the Box, Going Down in La-La Land, Gun Hill Road, Heartbeats, Heart Breaks Open, Howl, Pariah, Room in Rome and Whisper Not. The three shorts are Fuck Buddies, Drives and in Cape Town, It Gets Better.

Breaking Out of the Box will be making its World Premiere on Sunday 23 October 2011 in Johannesburg and on Saturday 29 October in Cape Town.

Directed by Busi Kheswa and Zethu Matebeni Breaking Out of the Box is a documentary about the lives of Black lesbians in South Africa. The six women are Mary hames of UWC’s

Gender equity Unit; Dr Yvette Abrahams of the Gender Commission for Gender equality, traditional leader Fikile Vilakazi of the Coalition of African Lesbians, Out in Africa’s own Theresa Raizenberg, activist and film buff; Jozi FM DJ Charmaine ‘Fino’ Dlamini and soccer star Portia Modise.

The other local feature is Whisper Not, a companion piece to Openly Positive’s recently published book of short stories of the same name. Directed by Derrick Fine and elaine Maane, Whisper Not is a documentary about people living with AIDS. The book had 15 authors and 14 of the them are featured in the film, they come from all over Africa, including

South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi and the DRC. The movie screens alongside Breaking Out of the Box on Sunday 23 October in Johannesburg and Saturday 29 October 2011 in Cape Town.

Of the international picks, Pariah looks set to be a fan favourite. Directed by Dee Rees it made it’s premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Pariah tells the coming of age story of 17-year-old African American lesbian Alike.

Spike Lee is one of the movie’s executive producers and cintematographer Bradford Young won the excellence in Cinematography Award at Sundance.

The other highly awaited

feature is Howl, which tells the story of beat poet and writer Allen Ginsberg. James Franco plays the lead role in this biography directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob epstein. The movie screens in Cape Town on 20, 22 and 25 October and in Johannesburg on 19, 27 and 29 October 2011.

Tickets for opening night cost R100 while other nights are R47 in Johannesburg and R45 in Cape Town.

To find out more about Out in Africa and the featured productions you can visit their website at www.oia.co.za, visit their Facebook page or view trailers of the movies on their Youtube channel.

Kate hodges

bouquet delivered mixed performance for the year, with programmes such as Asikhulume, Leihlo la Sechaba, Ngula Yavutivi and Zwa Maramani improving their ratings above levels achieved a year ago whilst others, such as Cutting Edge, Fokus and Special Assignment, continued to drop audience ratings.”

One area where the SABC is reporting success is in content sales. This includes the sales of DVDs and International sales of content. While the numbers are not particularly high for DVD sales (the report says the top seller was Orkney Snork Nie 4 at 4 300 copies), efforts are being made to market older content. In addition the report claims that hundreds of hours have been sold into African countries this year, and mentions plans to expand into South Korea, Japan other South east Asian territories.

The report heavily refers to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, claiming that while the event disrupted several programmes and strategies, the broadcaster’s handling of the cup was considered a success.

One of their key objectives for the year ahead is the roll out of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT). and the broadcaster has a wide-reaching plan in place for the conversion. South Africa’s target for Digital Migration completion is the end of 2013, and South Africa will be moving across to the DVB-T2 standard. The SABC aims to have increase their channel offering to ten or

more to accomodate the increased bandwidth provided

by DTT. The report states: “The creation of a number of extra channels on the DTT bouquet will allow the SABC to offer a greater range of content in all official languages; increased regional representation; and to drive industry development in building capacity for new and existing producers, particularly in the regions. Considering the need to provide a large and diverse range of services, the SABC strategy is intended to deliver channels that meet the diverse audience needs of the country.”

It continues: “The most important differentiator for the SABC’s DTT channel line-up is its emphasis on driving Public Value. Specific focus will be on increasing content delivery in areas such as children’s programming, news, sport, regional content, youth, women and education, as well as more comprehensive services in all languages and to communities with disabilities.”

All in all there were few surprises in the report. People know the SABC is losing money, and that due to frequent changes to the board the broadcaster is in a state of disarray. The SABC is looking ahead to Digital Terrestrial Television, and for the sake of local content creators, one hopes the additional channels will see the SABC pick up the amount of content they are commissioning.

Kate hodges

NO SURPRISES IN SABC REPORT

SABC The SABC’s Annual report for 2010/2011 is a 156 page document, but we trawled through it so you don’t have to.

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he biggest take away from the document is the fact that the SABC’s Total Comprehensive Loss for the year ended 31 March 2011 was R214 million, although this is an improvement of R272 million from the previous year’s R486 million loss, it remains a shockingly high figure.

According to the report expenses were R4.97 billion, R19 million (0.4%) higher than the previous year (R4.95 billion). The news of these expenses and losses is a further source of exasperation for taxpayers in light of the report by Eyewitness News on 10 October 2011.

Eyewitness News reports that the SABC spent R20 million on luxury vehicles (including

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brand new Mercedes Benzes). however the vehicles have remained gathering dust at various SABC parking lots due to the fact that the cars are uninsured and were purchased in violation of the SABC’s tender processes and a ruling that outlaws the leasing of new vehicles.

The report, backed up by internal correspondence at the SABC, shows that 86 new vehicles were procured in September this year. The SABC has also had to deal with media reports of inappropriate behaviour by officials while on a business trip to London. These reports do nothing to reassure taxpayers that the SABC is committed to turning around their financial difficulties and delivering a quality broadcasting service.

In good news from the report, Advertising Revenues showed a 19% increase year-on-year from 2009/10 to 2010/11. That percent-

age translates into R3.5 billion revenue from R2.9 billion the year before. The report breaks down where the SABC receives its revenues from, stating: “The SABC is heavily reliant on commercial revenues, which make up 76% of the total revenue for 2011; this trend has not changed over the past five years.

Advertising Revenues make up 67% of the Total Revenue and Sponsorship Revenues make up 9% of the revenues.

Licence fees make up only 17% of the revenue for the SABC.” The Performance against predetermined objectives 2010-2011 makes for interesting reading. Most objectives seem to have been met (and in the case of condom distribution exceeded) but corporate affairs appears to be an area in which the SABC is struggling to achieve their objectives. One major objective which the SABC says they have achieved is “Improve Universal Access through installation of low power transmitters to reach 5 million South Africans without access to SABC radio and TV.” In terms of television news the report’s findings are optimistic, with a finding that SABC 1 and SABC 2 were retaining and improving on their viewership for news bulletins, however SABC 3 continued to struggle with retaining viewers for the evening news bulletins.

An area of concern is english language current affairs shows, with the report stating: “The SABC’s current affairs

UBUNTU HELP PORTRAIT - LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHERS GIVING BACK Photo by TP Looi

Photo by Nathalie Boucry

The happy recipients with their portraits

here are more than 800 Help Portrait groups operating all over the world. So far the project has given more than 100

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000 portraits in 1062 locations in 54 countries. On 10 December 2011, these groups will spend the day taking portraits of people in underprivileged communities.

Help Portrait was founded by celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart as a way for photographers to give back to their local community.

There is a Help Portrait group in South Africa, called Ubuntu Help Portrait. The Ubuntu Help Portrait group, based in Johannesburg, gets started early, scheduling as many events as possible in the three months leading up to 10 December. Today that group has over 120 volunteers and it has given over 6,500 portraits to people across the South African Rainbow nation.

taining tips for photographers, using photographs from his wildlife books taken over the years to illustrate how he was constantly striving to grow and advance his techniques.

Roger uses a variety of Nikon camera bodies and Nikkor lens, ranging from a pointand-shoot to a BX3 shooting 24.5 mega-pixels. “It’s heavy and it’s quite slow, but when you see the images it’s spectacular,” he said.

Roger and his wife Pat have already taken 25,000 shots for their next book about lions, and that will probably rise to 30,000 before the project is finished.

“If you are thinking of buying a camera buy into a good system that you can grow into,” he said. “If you are doing it seriously you need to be able to grow with the camera system. It’s even more important to buy good lenses.”

Roger also showed a video shot through a GoPro camera he positioned on the ground in the path of a lioness. When the lioness saw the camera she swiped at it, growled and bit it, and finally picked it up and walked away. When the coast was clear the video showed Roger searching in the grass until he recovered the chewed equipment.

Roger advised his audience to take the obvious shot to ‘get it out of the way’, then to think about different angles, lighting effects or focal points to create more interesting results. “Photography isn’t always about recording what’s out there. Your job is to impart

a message to the viewers of your images and to create beautiful pictures.”

His final advice was if you are not passionate about photography, take up golf or tennis instead - and don’t get eaten, he added.

Organiser Matt Raven said the workshops and demonstrations were the major draw card for the exhibition, although discounts of anything from 25% to 60% on photographic equipment, software, printers, books and camera rigs for industrial photography were another big attraction.

“We have almost doubled our visitors from 8,000 last year to about 15,000 this year,” he said. “The exhibitors are going all-out. When we first started they were a lot more reserved and did basic stands that focused on retail. This year they are really displaying their goods well.”

The number of workshops and demonstrations had expanded to more than 100, needing two stages to accommodate them all. Adobe had a third stage of its own for master classes to help users make the most of its software.

Three quarters of the visitors bought passes that gave them admittance on all four days, so they could attend multiple workshops. “People are coming to listen and learn,” Matt said. “The special offers are still a big draw card, because people come to the workshops then wander around and take advantage of equipment at discounts of up

PHOTOGRAPHY HELP Portrait is an annual event, where photographers all over the world offer their time, experience and equipment to take portraits of less fortunate people.

All photographers are welcome, but Ubuntu Help Portrait is also looking for stylists and makeup artists to help prepare people, particularly the elderly, for their portraits. In addition volunteers are always welcome to help with preparation and logistics and schoolchildren are needed to help mount the photographs.

All donations will go towards the costs of printing and mounting the portraits. Ubuntu Help Portrait asks that volunteers undertake not to publish the portraits.

According to Stanley-Carl du-Pont from Ubuntu Help Portrait: “This year, Ubuntu volunteers have set a target of giving 25,000 free portraits!

And it’s about trying harder to reach further into the squatter camps, informal settlements and rural areas. It’s about taking the gift of the portrait gift to the people.”

The project has testimonials from a number of organisations, among them Cotlands, Miracle Mission, retirements homes and baby shelters. The Oasis Haven said: “This is the kind of gift that helps us to raise our children in an environment which is not an institution”.

Ubuntu Help Portrait is hoping to facilitate events in Cape Town and other parts of the country. To contact them visit their website at: www.ubuntuhelpportrait.org Kate Hodges

PHOTO & FILM EXPO 2011

workshops at Photo & Film

Stalls at the Exhibition

PHOTOGRAPHY A STRONG line-up of worldrenowned photographers proved a major attraction at the third annual Photo & Film Expo held in Johannesburg.

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AMILIAR names that helped to attract almost 15,000 visitors this year included Jodi Bieber, winner of

the World Press Photo Awards, Greg Marinovich, a survivor of the Apartheid era Bang Bang Club, and Adobe evangelist Rufus Deuchler, who flew in from Italy to speak at the event.

Renowned wildlife photographer Roger de la Harpe proved another popular speaker, addressing a standing room only audience. Roger shared both serious and enter-

to 60%.”

A prize draw saw one visitor win a complete set of photographic equipment worth more than R200,000, including a Nikon D7000, an SB700 Flash, a Samsung laptop, NEC Spectraview monitor, an Epson A3 printer, an Elinchrom studio lighting kit and Adobe Photoshop.

Matt said one disappointment was that the exhibition was so heavily focused on stills photography rather than film, since he had hoped to expand that side of the show this year. “The market isn’t ready for it, but we’ll get there,” he said. On the film side, Sony launched its latest filming techniques at the event and Anton van Niekerk spoke about shooting a full-length feature film on an SLR camera.

A photo gallery at the entrance to exhibition was selling photos that had been donated to the Sunflower Fund, which helps leukemia suffers through bone marrow transplants. PR Manager Lauren Corlett said the response both from people donating photos and visitors buying them had been fantastic. “We asked photographers from happy snappers to professionals to donate an A4 photo and the money we raise by selling them for R100 pays for people to be tested for a bone marrow register,” she said. “We’ve had a phenomenal response – the photographic community is very giving.”

Lesley Stones

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SOUTH AFRICA WELL REPRESENTED AT THE EMMYS Richard Matthews in the Falklands

of a number of cameramen on the series. Well done to all my fellow cameramen - but also to all the production team and the series producer david hamlin who made the images look a million dollars in the final programmes. The shoot was particularly memorable because i had a very close encounter with an elephant seal in the Falkland islands which nearly took my arm off but instead vented its anger on my camera. So - a broken camera, a great yarn and an award - i’d do it all again like a shot!”

Richard is the director of Wild images. The company has recently done aerials in Namibia for a series called Wild Case Files for National Geographic.

Wild images has its own composite light aircraft which has been tailor made for aerial work, they have developed a state-of-the-art gyro-stabilised camera system for doing high definition aerial filming. Richard told The Callsheet: “We have filmed aerials in Canada, Brazil, Peru, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Botswana and argentina. in future Wild images will specialise in sequence film work, aerial photography and cinematography. To date we have concentrated on aerial filming from light aircraft but we are presently adapting our system for use on helicopters.”

Richard is busy at the moment, having recently finished filming pyramids and desert scenes in the Sudan for BBC Natural History Unit’s Africa series. in december he will be filming exotic fish for the same series.

Produced by Film afrika,

Emma Eunson

South africans did very well for Gettysburg with special effects supervisor Max Poolman and costume supervisor abigail Metcalfe winning and art director Sylvain Gingras and set decorator Emma Eunson nominated.

Gettysburg was shot in cape Town last year and aired on the history channel.

Emma, who was nominated in the Outstanding art direction for Variety, Music or Non-fiction Programming category said: “i am very grateful that i was able to attend such a prestigious ceremony, and to represent my country. it was probably the most memorable experience of my life. I got to meet some very influential people, and see the most incredible places. Even though our category did not win, our project ‘Gettysburg’ did score an incredible 4 Emmys! We are very proud, as it was a team success.” cinegimbal

EMMY AWARDS RichaRd Matthews of Wild images in cape Town was a winner at the 32nd annual News and documentary awards on 26 September 2011.

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ichaRd won the Emmy for his cinematography on the National Geographic series Great Migrations. The series won several awards at this year’s Emmys with victories in the Best cinematography and Best Music and Sound categories. Rich-

ard and Wild images also contributed to shooting aerials difficult and remote locations. Richard has now won five Emmys in total.

Of his accolade, Richard said: “it’s a great honour, and brilliant news. But i was only one

ONLINE NEWS HIGHLIGHTS Madagascar; the Fresh Living TV makeover show; and The Ride of the Peacemaker.

Off the Fence head of acquisitions Georgina Eyre, told bizcommunity: “The company prides itself on distributing highquality factual content with global appeal, so Cooked in Africa’s programming makes the perfect addition to our catalogue.”

Andrew Human

GENERAL NEWS GENERAL news from the South African film and commercials industry. You can load your own stories to our website at www.thecallsheet.co.za Cooked in Africa signs with Off The Fence InternatIonal non-fiction distributor Off The Fence has signed a multi-million rand deal with South Africa’s Cooked in Africa Films. The independent production company, based in Cape Town South Africa and started in 2004, already has shows broadcast on the BBC, Discover Channel, National Geographic channel and Mnet. Cooked in Africa

founder and executive producer Justin Bonello told bizcommunity, “We’re in the business of original production and have always prided ourselves on our ability to transform fresh ideas into thought provoking entertainment for TV that has global appeal, high production value, great stories and social media legs. We’re thrilled to be represented by a heavy weight global distributor such as this and have it represent all our back catalogue and future properties.”

The shows in the distribution deal include the Cooked series; Getaway to Africa; Charly’s Cake Angels and Exploring the Vine. Also included in the distribution deal is Going Solo:

Loeries CEO steps down AFTEr seven years at the Loeries, Andrew Human will be stepping down from the helm. Andrew will end his tenure as chief executive officer of The Loerie Awards at the end of February 2012. He will however be staying on with the association as an advisor and as a member of the committee. After the success of The 33rd Annual Loerie Awards in Cape Town just weeks ago, Andrew leaves a great legacy behind him – a fertile ground for his successor.

Boniswa Pezisa, chairperson of The Loerie Awards said: “I would like to thank Andrew for his dedication and commitment to continuously improve the Loeries. His passion for creativity and creative excellence is what has propelled the Loeries to become the industry benchmark that it is today.”

Youth Media Movement Film Festival A Success THE Youth Media Movement (YMM) just concluded a very suc-

cessful three day Schools Screen film festival in Mitchells Plain. The Film Festival is a direct outcome of the video production and festival training undertaken by learners over the last three months at the YMM offices at Glendale High school. The video production training was supported by the EMDC through the Safe Schools, programme, Cape Film Commission and the MDDA. During the video production training the learners produced four 5 minute films that focussed on issues of Safe Schools, Addicts, Broken Fences, Conflict resolution and Price of Safety.

As a follow up to raise further awareness around the issues raised in these and other films the YMM in association with the 16 High schools, EMDC, CFC, MDDA and sponsorship of the Liberty Promenade ran a three day screening festival from 27-29 September 2011. During the festival each school had an average of 400 learners watching the films.

Over and above the student films the learners also watched four other films made by local filmmakers such as riaan Hendricks’ Fishermans Tale and Last Voyage, Kurt Orderson’s Prodigal Son and Dylan Valley’s Afrikaaps.

The films were extremely well received and there is a deep hunger from learners for drama stories that reflect their world.

SA to establish an edge in

Hollywood FALL 2011 brings together the Biennale South Africa/Hollywood Exchange Program tailor-made to promote South Africa as a filming destination, and explore joint venture opportunities with the entertainment industry in Hollywood.

A senior delegation of SA media professionals will meet with Hollywood’s top-level Executives in Production, Finance and Acquisition at the Studios, Networks, Cable Broadcasters, and Indie Production Companies, as well as support entities including finance and facilities partners, legal and business representatives.

The SA delegation will include media professionals in production, finance and facilities in the local entertainment industry and high-ranking Government officials whose portfolios include Co-Production, Funding Incentives, Film Commissions and Industry Development.

The trip targets U.S. companies that are most likely to have interest in SA. The meetings provide direct interface in the boardrooms of the U.S Host companies where the Delegates establish, first-hand, their immediate requirements. Conversely, the SA delegates provide factual information about production expertise, local producing partners, financial instruments, production incentives, and coproduction opportunities.

YMM screening for Strandfontein audience

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TRIGGERFISH TOUR WITH CFC Alan Winde, Denis Lilie and Stuart Forrest

Animator hard at work

ANIMATION On 11 October 2011 the Cape Film Commission (CFC) hosted a tour of the largest animation studio complex in Africa, Triggerfish Studios.

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FC CEO Denis Lillie and Cape Economic Development and Tour-

ism Minister Alan Winde were impressed by what they saw.

Triggerfish recently took their animated feature film Zambezia to Cannes, and the soonto-be-released 3D feature is expected to be a huge success with an all-star voice cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Abigail Breslin and Leonard Nimoy.

The tour resulted in a promise being made by the CFC and local government to try and create 200 jobs in the animation industry in the coming years, as well as a commitment being made to the development of a local gaming industry.

Triggerfish producer Stuart Forrest said: “For our work to

be seen worldwide, we have to compete on an aggressive international stage against giants that have been established for decades. It’s fantastic to have support and expertise from Provincial Government and the Cape Film Commission, and it’s going to be invaluable as we go forward in growing the supporting industries like merchandising, licensing and educational TV spin-offs. We’re ready to show the world that South Africa is on the forefront of art and technology.”

In addition to Zambezia, the animators at Triggerfish are hard at work on another

3D feature called Khumba.

Screenwriters Raffaella Delle Donne and Anthony Silverston have worked with The Lion King writer Jonathan Roberts on the script, while they were in LA recording the score for Zambezia.

Minister Alan Winde said, “I was immensely impressed with what they {Triggerfish} are doing in showcasing our dynamic and young talent. Their business initiatives are complementary to Provincial Government’s quest at being globally competitive, innovative and to support growth and jobs in our region.”

Staff Writer

MONTHLY WRAP PARTY AT THE 12 APOSTLES INDUSTRY EVENTS FILM & Event Media’s September monthly wrap party, on 29 September 2011 was at the gorgeous 12 Apostles Hotel in Camps Bay.

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HE 12 Apostles, situated between Camps Bay and Llandudno on Victoria Road was the perfect venue with loads of space inside and out and dramatic storm swells provided a great backdrop.

Networkers were met by the welcome sight of an open Jameson Irish Whiskey bar. Delicious canapés and snacks, followed by tasty desserts were circulated through the room for much of the evening.

Mmapula Makola from the Film and Publications Board adressed the room and played their charming presentation for the gathered film and advertising industry. Then everyone gathered around to hear who had won the grand prize of a two night stay at the luxury hotel.

Thank you to all our sponsors: Adstream, Royale International; Croydon Wines; Panalux; Jameson, Film and Publications Board, Cape Film Commission and Superior Vision and all the attendees who helped make this function a successful one.

Our next wrap party is at Grinder Films on 27 October 2011. Visit our Facebook page to see the full gallery.

Liam Cundill, Joe Alblas and Michael Cheze

Gareth Place, Anja Anja Teufel and Chris Miles.

Jenine Lindeque, Anthony de Klerk and Cal Kingwill

Vicky Sherwell and Josh Borrill

Kash Bergh, Marius Boaden and Lara Hooper

Mmapula Makola

Bryge Wachipa and Bernadette Geldenhuys

We’re distributing 4 000 copies a month free via bulk distribution at film industry commissions and organisations; key industry meeting points like equipment houses, post facilities and broadcasters; on set; and at key industry events.

This means we’ll remain the most read film industry trade publication.

After seven years of carrying the cost of mailing another 4 000 copies direct to everyone else, we’re asking for subscriptions to help us cover our rising distribution costs.

Subscribe now for just R22.80 pm to keep receiving your copy, delivered to your door every month.

Please contact us for a subscription debit order form: nadia@filmeventmedia.co.za or 021 674 0646.

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DIARISE OCTOBER

UPCOMING FEATURES Troye Sivan with the cast of Spud at the Cape Town premiere

Kenya International Film Festival 21-31 October, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kenya South African Horrorfest Film 26 October-4 November, Labia, Cape Town Promax/BDA Africa 2011 28 October, Sandton, Johannesburg

NOVEMBER American Film Market 2-9 November, Santa Monica, California, USA Leeds International Film Festival 3-20 November, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England AfricaCom Conference and Expo 9-10 November, CTICC, Cape Town Stockholm International Film Festival 9-20 November, Stockholm, Sweden Audio Video Appliance Expo 10-13 November, Johannesburg Out in Africa Gay amd Lesbian Film Festival 11-12 November, Ermelo, South Africa Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival 19-27 November, Tokyo, Japan Landau International Film Festival 21-26 November, Landau, Germany

Otelo Burning starting Japhta Mamabolo

Nomfundo Xotyeni in Whisper Not

JOBS & OPPORTUNITIES Jameson First Shot ASPIRING screenwriters and directors from South Africa will have the chance to write a screenplay for a short film to be produced by Trigger Street Productions and star Kevin Spacey.

Filmmakers are invited to submit a script to the Jameson First Shot website written around the theme of a ‘legendary, humorous or very tall tale’. The shortlisted entrants will be judged by Kevin and the president of Trigger Street Productions Dana Brunetti.

The nominees will then enter a second round where they will be asked to direct a scene selected

by Trigger Street.

One winner each from the US, South Africa and Russia will be

flown to Los Angeles to shoot their script and direct Kevin Spacey. The overall winner will be decided by a public vote.

The deadline is 31 December 2011. To find out more visit www. jamesonfirstshot.com Hot Docs-Blue Ice Film Documentary fund APPLICATIONS are open to professional filmmakers who are citizens and residents of the African continent living and working in the region. They must also be primary rights holders of the projects they submit and either be director or producer attached to the film project.

The grants are offered in two separate categories, namely

Development and Production.

The Development grants range between $3000 and $8000 CDN which could reflect up to 100% of the development budget.

Eligible costs include research, development of a script and story proposal as well as production of a teaser or trailer.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 14 December 2011.

Materials to be submitted in English and via email only.

Go Pro Local Hero Film Contest STAND a chance to win more than R40,000 in Wavescape, GoPro, Fox and Empire Cafe hampers by submitting a short movie to the Go Pro Local Hero Film Contest. Enter using these four

simple steps. Your submission will be reviewed and published on Wavescape. Then get Facebook friends to Like your video (40% of the judges’ decision).

The best three will be screened at the Wavescape Surf Film Festival in December.

Why Poverty Short Films Call for Submissions STEPS are looking for short film ideas of between one and five minutes long. The shorts will be used on the web and broadcast supporting their eight full length films that are in production. as part of its cross media project Why Poverty. The short films should challenge the preconceptions about poverty, provoke discussion and

NOVEMBER ISSUE 2011 Booking deadline: 02 November 2011 Material deadline: 04 November 2011 Print deadline: 11 November 2011 • PUBLISHER: Film & Event Media • PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 57 2nd Ave, Harfield Village, Claremont, Cape Town • PHONE: +27 21 674 0646 • PRINTER: CTP • PUBLISHER: Lance Gibbons (lance@filmeventmedia.co.za) • EDITOR: Kate Hodges (kate@thecallsheet.co.za) • COPY EDITOR: Sally Fink (sally@filmeventmedia.co.za) • HEAD OF DESIGN: Jess Novotná (jess@filmeventmedia.co.za) • ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE: Makkie Slamong (makkie@thecallsheet.co.za) • ONLINE CO-ORDINATOR: Charl Fourie (charl@filmeventmedia.co.za) • HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Nadia Samsodien (nadia@filmeventmedia.co.za) DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in The Callsheet do not necessarily represent the official viewpoint of the editor or the publisher, while inclusion of adverts/advertising features does not imply endorsement of any business, product or service. Copyright of this material is reserved.

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, The Callsheet and/or its employees may not be held liable or responsible for any act or ommission committed by any person, including a juristic person, referred to in this publication. It and they furthermore accept(s) no responsibility for any liability arising out of any reliance that a reader of this publication places on the contents of this publication.

WWW.THECALLSHEET.CO.ZA SUBMISSIONS: Please submit online at www.thecallsheet.co.za/daily_news/add/ 18

DIARISE M-Net Vuka! Awards November, Theatre on Track Kyalami, Gauteng Platteland 25 November, cinemas

DECEMBER Marrakech International Film Festival 2-10 December, Marrakech, Morocco

Heart Breaks Open will be showing at the Out in Africa Film Festival.

Skeem starring Kurt Schoonraad, starts in cinemas nationwide on 28 October 2011.

Dubai International Film Festival 7-14 December, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Hoofmeise 23 December, cinemas Otelo Burning 30 December, cinemas

action. As the shorts will be used to support the programming of the long films STEPS are looking for films that deal with the following themes: maternal health, corruption/good governance, food security, charity vs justice, gender, solutions to poverty, education, inequality, urban poverty and economic justice. Interested parties must mail an idea for a film in less than 10 lines, with an additional 2-3 line biography to brian@steps.co.za with a subject line – Why Poverty Shorts Round Two. For more information visit http://whypoverty.net 2012 Sony World Photography Awards call for entries THE World Photography Organi-

sation is calling for entries for the Sony World Photography Awards 2012. The Sony World Photography Awards includes a Professional competition, which invites entries from the world’s leading photographers and ‘serious enthusiasts’, and an Open competition for everyone with an interest in photography.

Each competition has been refreshed with new categories for 2012. For a full list of categories, please visit the website. Entries for the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards close on 4 January 2012. The winner of the L’Iris D’Or Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of thwe Year Award will be presented with $25,000 (USD) plus Sony digital SLR

camera equipment. The overall Open competition winner will receive $5,000 plus Sony digital SLR camera equipment. For more information please visit www. worldphoto.org.

Film Travel and Tourism Venues and Events SATFA gets a great number of requests from travel and tourism product owners who needs new videos. Register at SATFA to get a copy of these requests.

The goal of the Southern Africa Travel and Tourism Film & Video Awards is to provide a showcase for travel products and artwork to as wide an audience as possible. This is done via the opportunity offered by public screen-

ings on the Internet and top class shopping malls.

The best films and videos will be shown at popular Ster Kinekor, NuMetro and Avalon cinemas countrywide. And some of the best films and videos will make it to traditional television broadcasters. The very best will be entered at international film festivals. hotels, B&B’s, guest houses, game lodges, holiday resorts, caravan parks, hiking routes, etc are all welcome to enter their videos.

For more information visit http://www.satfa.co.za or email tvreporter@satfa.co.za

JANUARY Sundance Film Festival 19-29 January, Park City, Colorado, USA NATPE Market & Conference 23-25 January, Miami, Florida, USA International Film Festival Rotterdam 25 January - 5 February, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Midem Music Market 28 January - 1 February, Cannes, France For more, visit www.thecallsheet.co.za/diarise Compiled by Charl Fourie

Charl Fourie

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