Backyard Productions, headquartered in Venice, has extended its reach internationally, launching a full-service office in Cape Town, South Africa. Dubbed Backyard SA, the new venture is a partnership with veteran executive producer Janette De Villiers who will act as the company’s managing director and will continue to separately maintain Groundglass, her South African production service company.
Groundglass has produced hundreds of international jobs over the years, including many for Backyard. Backyard SA will offer Backyard’s director roster to the South African advertising community and will serve as a resource for American advertisers wanting to shoot overseas.
“We’re partnering with a like- minded person in Janette,” said Blair Stribley, Backyard’s president/partner. “She has the personality and energy that fits right in with the Backyard brand, and Janette is known internationally for her exceptional production track record. This move gives our clients a great alternative location to consider shooting.”
De Villiers said of introducing Backyard’s roster to South Africa, “Creatively, they’re a very good fit for this market. More and more American advertisers want to shoot here and now they can with a trusted brand.”
In recent years, Backyard has gotten a lot of interest from clients considering production in South Africa which offers diverse locations, top-level crews, a deep acting pool and a very production-friendly environment. Plus, U.S. advertising dollars stretch further with the value of the dollar against the Rand.
Craig Henighan Sounds Off On “Deadpool & Wolverine”
Hollywood lore has it that character actor Edmund Gwenn--while on his deathbed--quipped, “Dying is easy, comedy is hard.”
The second part of that darkly witty utterance remains all too true today as Craig Henighan--a Best Achievement in Sound Mixing Oscar nominee in 2019 for Roma--can attest in that he had to grapple with the sonic of being comic for this year’s box office hit, Deadpool & Wolverine (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios).
The degree of inherent difficulty was ramped up even further because Deadpool & Wolverine had to seamlessly bring together high action-adventure exploits with moments and dialogue that tickled the funny bone. There’s a mesh of humorous banter--a staple of the franchise--along with major spectacle replete with explosions, fights, an impactful score and off-the-wall musical numbers.
Henighan explained that among the prime challenges for him from a sound perspective was having to make sure every joke landed within the construct of a superhero film. The tendency for a tentpole movie of this variety, he noted, is to gravitate towards big, loud audio spanning music, dialogue and sound effects. But the unique comedic element of Deadpool & Wolverine necessitated that re-recording mixer and supervising sound editor Henighan strike a delicate balance. “You need to get out of the way for the comedy,” he related. The jokes in a superhero film become “a real dance” as Henighan had to establish a rhythm that did justice to both the comedy and the action as the narrative moves back and forth between them--and sometimes the funny and the high energy, high decibel superhero dynamic unfold simultaneously in a scene or sequence. The “sonic fabric” has to... Read More