Director Bongani Morgan, the real story guy on the rise

It’s been almost a year since Bongani Morgan joined the team at Made Films and he’s hit the ground running. While collecting awards for his documentary Map1mp1 and TV show, The Braai Show with Cassper Nyovest, Bongani spent most of 2022 travelling across the country directing for the likes of Vodacom and Red Bull and months directing his new series for Showmax, shot across the entire KZN region. Now finally back home in Joburg, and available for commercial briefs again with the powerhouse backing of his production team at Made, it was time for a catch-up.

2023-02-07T13:35:56+02:00February 7th, 2023|Categories: Editorial, Made Films Editorial|Tags: , |

Dare Content Studio delivers radical transparency to the production industry

Dare Content is a production studio working directly with agencies to produce film, stills and animation. Launched in 2020 by Creative Producer Chris Coetsee, Dare already has the proven success to back their transparent budget approach to production. With no in-house roster of talent, Chris curates a team that he believes is best suited to each brief and at the heart of his company is what Chris calls ‘radical transparency.’

2023-02-07T21:58:48+02:00February 7th, 2023|Categories: Dare Editorial, Editorial|Tags: |

Director Dan Mace from JOE collaborates with the most followed YouTuber in the world, Mr Beast, as new Chief Creative Officer

South African director, YouTuber and Founder of the creative production company JOE, Dan Mace, has joined forces with billionaire YouTuber, Mr Beast aka Jimmy Donaldson. According to Forbes, Donaldson is the world’s most followed person on YouTube. Dan has been appointed as the Chief Creative Officer of the Beast Philanthropy Channel on YouTube, tasked with carrying out the creative direction of the channel’s future content.

2023-12-04T15:06:41+02:00January 26th, 2023|Categories: Editorial, JOE Editorial|Tags: , |

Pressure Cooker elevates more than art, as Brian Little named General Manager.

Pressure Cooker has seen massive growth over the past few years, not just in the high quality of work they are producing but also the sheer amount of in-house talent. The latest addition to the team is entrepreneur, businessman, and former creative, Brian Little. Brian will be joining the leadership team, taking on the role of General Manager. A General Manager at a post-production house? We also had questions!

2023-01-17T11:51:07+02:00January 17th, 2023|Categories: Editorial, Pressure Cooker Editorial|Tags: |

Simoné Bobo’s directorial debut wins in support of female Springbok rugby

Executive Producer and Founder of Osu Creative Productions, Simoné Bobo, has made her directing debut. ‘Play with Power’ is a short film created in support of the female Springbok rugby team. The film has been awarded the BEST Audio Visual Content Short Film at this year’s Hollard Sports Industry Awards (that’s like the Loeries for the sports world ya’ll). Not many people get to launch their directing careers with awarded work, but this is Simoné Bobo, and honestly, we would expect nothing less.

2022-12-15T12:15:11+02:00December 15th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Osu Editorial|Tags: , , |

Spitfire, a decade of ‘Challenge Accepted’

Let’s face it, team Spitfire has never quite fit into the traditional production company box. Over the past 10 years they have always approached work with the same attitude of ‘Where there’s a screen, there’s an opportunity’. But hey, a production company that has an in-house Head of Content is a production company that just thinks differently.

2022-12-14T14:29:35+02:00December 14th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Spitfire Editorial|Tags: , |

Meghan Daniels presses play in new surreal spot for Count Pushkin

Director Meghan Daniels from Butterfly Films has delivered a visually stylised and striking spot for Count Pushkin. Working with their cast, athlete Chelsea-Sloan Samuels and Model and Dancer Sonwabile Mhlonyane, Meghan brought a playful and bold purple-fuelled world to life that we would happily get lost in.

2022-12-13T14:40:30+02:00December 13th, 2022|Categories: Butterfly Films Editoorial, Editorial|Tags: , |

New immersive sound studio at Howard Audio, giant leap for sound in South Africa

In the past two years we’ve seen so much expanding from Howard Audio it’s been hard to keep up! Besides Adam Howard being ranked the top music Composer and Supervisor in 2020 at the Loeries, he’s also made some major moves for South Africa’s sound industry. First it was a Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 studio and now Adam has collaborated with heavy-hitter Robin Kohl of Jazzworx to build a new immersive sound recording studio unlike we have ever seen. So obviously we have questions, four to be exact.

2022-12-09T11:51:09+02:00December 9th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Howard Audio Editorial|Tags: , |

Big love for Yoza Mnyanda’s Mini car commercial

Osu Creative Productions’ director Yoza Mnyanda is definitely in the driving seat for the latest car commercial for Mini Cooper. Bringing her vibrant style, aesthetic and Gen Z perspective, Yoza has directed an unpretentiously cool spot about sustainability. Considering she is only in her second year as a commercial director, we have to say, if this is the quality of work coming from newbie filmmakers in our industry, we’re in good hands.

2022-12-07T15:15:07+02:00December 7th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Osu Editorial|Tags: , |

Star Films’ Tristan Holmes directs nightmarish first of its kind AI-Generated music video for Disturbed

Never afraid of finding new ways of telling big cinematic stories charged with emotions, Star Films’ Tristan Holmes has done it again. His latest work is a music video titled ‘Bad Man’ for the heavy metal band Disturbed which was entirely made using AI-generated imagery created and stitched together by Tristan. The result is a grisly and unnerving work of art.

Director Jeana Theron strikes (Gold) again, NEW WORK for FNB

Perhaps the most awarded South African commercials director this year, it’s becoming clear that whatever Darling director Jeana Theron touches turns (and probably converts) to Gold. In collaboration with agency Grid, Jeana's latest offering for FNB is a beautifully crafted BIG juicy bank ad that sees a rousing foot tapping, head bopping, tongue-twisting refresh for the brand. 51 scenes, 18 location moves, 50 main cast members, 1 Jeana Theron, no problem

2022-11-21T15:11:04+02:00November 21st, 2022|Categories: Darling Films Editorial, Editorial|Tags: , |

Read carefully before using They

About to celebrate their ninth birthday as one of South Africa’s well-established production companies, They has released their updated operating manual. Known for their trademark use of the old school 4:3 TVs in their company design, the epic step-by-step guide covers everything from the basics to their more advanced functions. Read before use and become familiar with all the features of directors Alan Irvin, Grant De Sousa, Melany Ismail, Wandile Xaba and David Prior today.

2022-11-14T15:46:11+02:00November 14th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, They Editorial|Tags: , , , , , |

Director Amy Allais delivers new Capfin commercial that will stay with you long after you’ve watched it

Amy Allais for King James JHB’s latest Capfin commercial ‘The Matriarch’ has woven together nuanced performances with beautifully cinematic landscapes. The emotionally engaging story tugs at the heartstrings and the honest storytelling will resonate with many South Africans.

2022-10-28T10:40:23+02:00October 28th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Ola! Editorial|Tags: , |

Howard Audio goes back in time to alter the future in ‘Finding the Forgotten Graduate’ campaign

‘Finding the Forgotten Graduate’ is a massive ten-part digital storytelling campaign that takes us back in time to honour the pioneering intellectuals whose stories have almost entirely been omitted from our history books. Howard Audio was responsible for crafting the composition, sound-design and final-mix of the audio for this groundbreaking project and thanks to him and the whole team involved, the rest is history.

2022-10-24T14:44:43+02:00October 18th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Howard Audio Editorial|Tags: , |

Audio Militia reloaded; new studios, new EP, new division

Launched over 15 years ago, Audio Militia has established itself as one of the leading specialists in post-production sound in South Africa. More recently though these veterans have seriously been shaking things up at company HQ. We spoke to Co-Founder and CEO Nick Argyros and newly promoted Executive Producer Catherine Grenfell about their new and incredibly cool centralised studios and a recently developed division that offers easy translation and dubbing services to expand projects into broader African markets.

2022-10-12T12:04:08+02:00October 12th, 2022|Categories: Audio Militia Editorial, Editorial|Tags: |

Collaborate to Elevate | Colin Daniel welcomes Kyle Koekemoer to Pressure Cooker Studios

Sound Designer Kyle Koekemoer is bringing his love of audio storytelling and technical expertise to the established team at Pressure Cooker. With a company approach of ‘made by many’, Kyle will now become the 17th team member to work under the roof of Pressure Cooker’s Cape Town studio. He will be bolstering the studio’s commercial offering by joining the Sound Design and Final Mix Department, where he will work alongside and collaborate with Pressure Cooker’s Colin Daniel.

2022-09-26T15:00:44+02:00September 26th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Pressure Cooker Editorial|Tags: |

Directors on Directors | Karien Cherry and Jessie Zinn

Giant Films have announced the signing of award-winning documentary filmmaker Jessie Zinn for commercial representation. Jessie may be new to the commercial world but she is not new to filmmaking by any means – her latest documentary ‘Drummies’ is a short film that has just been acquired by the New Yorker (yes, the actual New Yorker!). One of South Africa’s accomplished commercial directors and fellow Giant, Karien Cherry, talks to Jessie about the film, the pursuit of truth and how (spoiler alert) their fear of failure drives them to do great work.

2022-09-22T15:42:04+02:00September 22nd, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Giant Films Editorial|Tags: , , |

Finding his directing rhythm while maintaining his balance, Robot’s Paul Ramaema

Being an advocate for mindfulness certainly comes in handy for Robot’s Paul Ramaema, especially considering how busy he’s been. Since joining the production company two years ago Paul has consistently been creating commercial work for top brands and agencies. We caught up with the new dad and self-proclaimed selfie king about how he’s found his rhythm as a filmmaker while still maintaining a balance.

2022-09-14T10:49:05+02:00September 14th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Robot Editorial|Tags: , |

The two sides of Nare Mokgotho, comedy director and acclaimed visual artist

Massïf’s director and co-owner Nare Mokgotho has quickly established himself as one of our country’s rising comedy directors with a reel injected with razor-sharp comic timing rooted in grounded performances. Now for most biographies that would be enough, but Nare is also an award-winning visual artist, who has been exhibiting worldwide for over 13 years. We caught up with him to find out where these two worlds of art and commercial directing collide.

2022-09-06T14:30:34+02:00September 6th, 2022|Categories: Editorial, Massïf Editorial|Tags: |