Kim Geldenhuys, who is represented stateside by bicoastal Bob Industries, and in his native South Africa by his own shop, Egg, Cape Town, wants to come to America to direct spots, but America insists on coming to him. After signing in January with bicoastal Bob, Geldenhuys was looking forward to working on multiple projects here in the U.S. But because of the popularity of South Africa as a location for U.S. ad shops, Geldenhuys has found that U.S. work is coming to him.
"We are seeing a huge influx of scripts and it is very exciting, but at the same time it is keeping me here," says Geldenhuys. "We are doing exceptionally well and the increased work is affording us relationships with [American] agencies.
"The biggest thing working in our favor is the exchange [rate]," he continues. "We are very attractive right now and I have to make full use of that. I have to make sure we take those opportunities to meet the right people and hopefully show them that we can do the job and do it well."
According to T.K. Knowles, principal/executive producer—along with principals/executive producers Chuck Ryant and John O’Grady—at Bob Industries, Geldenhuys is perched for success in the U.S. "I think it is just a matter of time before Kim really breaks out," relates Knowles. "He is being considered right in there with the best directors."
Geldenhuys recently completed his first U.S. spot: "The Search," which was filmed in South Africa, for Nikon out of Fallon Minneapolis, which proved to be a first for Nikon as well—its first television commercial in eight years. The ad promotes the Nikon Coolpix 2500 digital camera, which has a swivel lens, allowing users to take photos from almost any angle. The spot features a young man at a party who’s camera is "borrowed" by two attractive women who proceed to pass the camera around. "There was a little bit of pressure," notes Geldenhuys, "but you don’t even think about that. At the end of the day, I just approached it like I do every job and did the best I could."
For Geldenhuys, who has a striking reel filled with lingering, color-soaked images, the adjustment to the fast-paced style of American commercials has proved both difficult, and at the same time, rewarding. "I found it very frustrating to have to do a thirty-second spot and put so much into it," he admits. "It is a new discipline for me because we’ve always been able to do sixty-second spots [in South Africa]. And if not a sixty, we could do a fifty or a fifty-five or a forty-five. We have got these really strange lengths that we can make commercials over here. The one discipline I am going to have to get used to is the timing, but from a style point of view, I am going to keep doing what I instinctively want to do creatively."
Post Effect
Geldenhuys’ work for the South African market demonstrates a director with a natural eye for emotionally rich moments. One of his distinctive traits is isolating those moments and enriching them—often using visual effects created in a Henry or Flame to do so. "The beauty of great post is when you can’t tell that it has been done," notes Geldenhuys.
A strong example of his technique is "Train To Win," a Nike spot for South Africa out of Jupiter Drawing Room, Johannesburg, South Africa. In it, Geldenhuys directs an emotional moment between a coach, a boy assistant and a promising runner in an otherwise empty and somewhat decrepit track and field stadium on the outskirts of an unidentified city. As the runner rounds the turn, the elderly coach makes his way to the bare bones broadcast booth carrying a small bag. The boy, on the field, bangs on a hubcap with a stick and calls out—indicating one more lap to go. Once in the booth, the coach pulls a portable radio out of the bag and twists the tuning knob until we hear solid static. Flicking the switch for the public address system, he holds the radio up to the microphone and fills the stadium with simulated crowd noise. The runner starts pushing himself hard—inspired by the sound of a frenzied crowd.
"The Nike spot is very post heavy," relates Geldenhuys. "We rebuilt that stadium, we rebuilt the city outside the stadium. That city doesn’t exist and the stadium doesn’t look like that. We did a hell of a lot of work to make it look like that."
While the trend in special effects is to draw attention, Geldenhuys feels good special effects are best not noticed. "It is an incredibly fine line between the post effect and reality, and I think that is where the art lies. You can use postproduction to create an image or a final product where people just can’t tell where it begins and where it ends and that really interests me. It is something from a treatment point of view that I want to develop."
His appreciation for the post process is another reason that working in the States is so intriguing. "I am really looking forward to working in America, because there are some things I can do there that I might not be able to do anywhere else." Geldenhuys says he typically spends double the production time in postproduction and finds it among of the more enjoyable aspects of directing.
Since hanging up his still camera in 1995 to join the commercial ranks, Geldenhuys has directed ads such as "Paralympic" for Nike South Africa through Jupiter Drawing Room, that depicts the first-person perspective of a blind athlete during a 100-meter sprint. He also helmed VW South Africa’s "Popcorn" via Ogilvy & Mather, Cape Town, in which a Volkswagen races through a cornfield; the car is so "hot" that it leaves popcorn in its wake. Another notable spot directed by Geldenhuys is "Land Speed Record" for BMW South Africa out of TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Cape Town. In it, a film crew shooting a specially-designed vehicle as it attempts to set a land speed record, keeping pace in a BMW with the greatest of ease.
Reflecting on his first U.S spot, he doesn’t notice much of a difference in the production process. "I don’t think there is much of a difference," he explains. "I work in a very collaborative way. I don’t just sit on a chair and keep to myself and not let anybody in on the process. I like to work with an agency and try and do whatever we can to strengthen the concept and the visual aspect of the film. I find it works anywhere in the world."
But with a buyer’s market dominating commercial production and directors lowering their standards just to get work, it begs the question, why would Geldenhuys want to compete is such a difficult American marketplace? "To be able to live and work in New York has always been a dream of mine," Geldenhuys explains. "You just get locked into the city and you don’t even realize it until about a week later when you lift your head up and you’ve been charging along working. There is such a wonderful energy around there that is so inspiring. I want to be a part of that. I want to play in that circle."
Geldenhuys also feels that now is the best time, and whether America is ready for him is almost inconsequential. "If I am going to do it ever, I am going to do it now," he says. "I am as ready as I am ever going to be. I just hope that we get to pitch some stuff and bring something to the party that somebody else hasn’t thought of and push one or two through because I think that is all it is going to take. Once we get one or two through, I am hoping that people will really enjoy working with us and want to do it again. I am hoping for an opportunity to get a foot in the door and let people have the opportunity to work with us."n
