A It’s been said that assorted locales in South Africa are so naturally photogenic that they look like they’ve already been art directed. Indeed filming is seemingly second nature here and the commercialmaking tradition is rich. This is reflected on several fronts, perhaps most notably the country’s affinity for spawning world-class spot directorial talent over the years such as Leslie Dektor, Peter Smillie and the late Paul Giraud.
In canvassing South Africa’s production and post sectors, the consensus is that the advertising business is holding its own, with a top drawer infrastructure, some longstanding financial incentives–though no formal dedicated spot production measures–and diversification which has seen, for example, Velocity Films, Johannesburg and Cape Town, enjoy benefits from Velocity@Crossroads, its joint venture with mainstay U.S. production house Crossroads Films, bicoastal and Chicago. (Crossroads also maintains a recently launched operation in London.)
According to Barry Munchick, proprietor of Velocity, the shop and its sister brand Fresh Water Films have had a record year to date, compared to the same period in 2005. “I chalk that up to my partner, [director] Keith Rose, reinventing himself and his reel; Greg Gray’s first few forays into the international arena [Ford of Europe for Ogilvy & Mather, London] and the addition of several gifted young guns like Adrian de sa Garces, Jeana Theron and Thabo for Velocity–and Slim, Dean and Marc Sidelsky for Fresh Water,” relates Munchick.
Most of the increase has come, he continued, “from agencies and production companies–yes we do some production servicing as well–that have now been to South America and want to return to a place that has a more developed infrastructure and less language problems. They also say that things have gotten more expensive there, and the travel times to get to various locations are longer than originally thought, unlike Cape Town where you can do within two or three hours beach, city, vineyards, desert and coastal mountain roads, with a lot more traffic/road control than most places in the world.
“Part of the overall increases have also come from larger work in the South African markets, as there has been an upturn in the numbers of spots and sizes being produced here and for the general African continental market,” reports Munchick, noting that Velocity and Fresh Water have shot recently in Nigeria, Cameroon and the Kenya/Tanzania/Zanzibar area.
The aforementioned company diversification, says Munchick, is reflected in Velocity@crossroads, “especially now that we have that operation going in London–it looks for a very bright end of year/Christmas schedule.”
INFRASTRUCTURE, INCENTIVES Munchick describes South Africa’s industry infrastructure as being “very first world, with a strong bench of top notch international level personnel, solid equipment houses and a growing props/special effects area. And most of the people have some of the best attitudes that I have run across around the world. Agency follow-up questionnaires almost always come back with the highest possible marks, especially when viewed with value in mind.”
Velocity is just coming off a Dawn commercial for Kaplan Thaler, New York. According to Munchick, “The creative team wants to come back in a few weeks with another project, as they did hear the same thing from a BBDO producer who was staying at the same hotel. The post-production scene is quite lively of late and most of our productions for the USA, Euro, and Asian markets we finish here, mostly for the control and the price advantage [about half the cost of finishing in the clients/agency home northern hemisphere market].”
Gary King, executive producer of Johannesburg-headquartered production company Picture Tree, agrees that South Africa’s crews and facilities are world class and that there’s “a first-world attitude in the commercial film industry that we are all very proud of.” However, he adds, that there is “just not enough depth in terms of numbers that is sometimes needed in busy times [more so in Cape Town than Joahnesburg].
“The post facilities are excellent with superb operators,” he continues. “But once again, there is not a huge depth of numbers of operators when things start getting busy–[Nonetheless], I feel confident doing any amount of complicated work in South Africa with no need to go elsewhere.”
In terms of financial incentives, they are pretty much confined in commercials, says King, to “basic costs and the Rand exchange rate which is always favorable to foreigners–sometimes more favorable than other times but always favorable.”
Munchick adds that there are financial incentives for TV and feature films, but no dedicated commercial production incentives, aside from various V.A.T. tax savings and the levels of the SA Rand at the moment (the Rand has softened 12 percent in the last month, which means our budgets are about 12 percent less expensive).
King, however, has an issue with spot budgets thus far in ’06. He assesses that while commercial production business has generally been good this year, “budgets seemed bigger in 2005 and have not grown [in ’06], so there has been lots of work but not for enough money.”
POST PERSPECTIVES
Jacqui Pearson, executive producer at Johannesburg post house Left, sees some room for improvement in the South African market. “We have to address the need for more skills development in the 3D field, and the need for more time to craft commercials,” he contends. “The talent in South Africa is astounding, and the focus should lie on giving our artists the time they need to craft a commercial.
“We don’t get enough time on commercials, the way overseas post gets,” Pearson continues. “It’s always post that gets squeezed for time. No one remembers a deadline but everyone remembers a bad ad, and that isn’t really fair. A lot of crafting happens in the post process these days and it’s not fair that this is the process that is most rushed. I think that sometimes we are too obliging. We meet deadlines, yes, but more time would have resulted in a better crafted job.
In terms of depth of cutting talent, Pearson assesses, “We have very talented commercial editors, but not enough. And we most definitely don’t have enough female commercial editors in the business.”
Notable talent is coming into the marketplace, notes Beverley Granat, general manager of Johannesburg post facility The Refinery. Granat cites as an example, colorist Paul Arneill, who just came over to The Refinery from Rushes, London.
Opportunities are also developing in new media. The Refinery recently launched a division, Jaybangalanga, in response to this demand. The new venture specializes in viral ads, email marketing, branded promotions, Web-based tracking systems and mobile marketing.
Left’s Pearson also sees potential in emerging content, yet affirms that “TV will always be our flagship medium–there will always be an audience. Yes, budgets are being split according to these new mediums. Thus budgets are not getting bigger for TV, but TV is still happening and always will. I think this is especially true of South Africa where TVs and cell phones are now affordable for the lower LSMs [Living Standard Measures–wealthiest people have an LSM of 10, while the lowest are LSM 1’s].”
Pearson thinks mobile phone content will be targeted at these lower LSMs. “Of course,” he says, “it all depends on whether the service providers come the party and make it affordable for people to download the MMS’s [multimedia messaging service].”
Feature films remain a staple for the post sector. Dave Keet, managing director of The Video Lab, Johannesburg, notes that his shop has more than 30 features under its belt, including this year’s Oscar winning foreign film, Tsotsi. Features, he notes, “have created a demand for specialized visual effects with a special emphasis on wildlife, which has been created in 3D and integrated into many of the films we have completed.”
The Video Lab has gained a reputation in digital intermediate work and is also experienced in handling the front end processing, rushes, synching and logging for several major studio productions shot in South Africa over the years. At the same time the house has branched out into commercials, with spot work almost completely derived from South African agencies.
