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.
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
We got to meet up with Art Director, Daniella Dagnin to get some insights into what the life of an Art Director looks like. Just to clarify, this isn’t the Art Director that teams up with a Writer in the agency, we’re talking about the pros that are there to elevate and serve the director’s visual vision. They are the visual voila to storytelling, that if done right, can take your commercial from a Wessel Anderson to a Wes Anderson. Here’s what Dani had to say.
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.
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.
‘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.
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.
Sharing an ethos of working with honesty and integrity to produce creative excellence, The Rudeboy Collective welcomes director Batandwa Alperstein to the roster. With their powers combined, Batandwa and Rudeboy plan to build on his heart-centered approach to making advertising.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Since launching four years ago, Strangelove Studios have quickly carved a space in South Africa’s post production world as the team with their fingers firmly on the pulse of what’s cool. Based in Cape Town and available for bookings in Joburg, the team have consistently been spreading their high-level of craft across the country. We take a closer look at one of their Editors, Shelby Ncube, and the part he’s played in the post house’s success.
DISCO, the talent management company based in Cape Town, now offers agencies and brands full production support and a roster of commercial directors. Anton du Preez is one of the first directors to sign with the company and brings a truly unique take and visual language to commercial directing. Let’s dance!
Working with Joe Public, the team at Bioscope were tasked to create the launch campaign of the new insurance company, The Unlimited. The result of the ambitious undertaking is 21 short films that are all united by one common trait, they are about people who have the undying will to defy expectation and challenge the norm. We go behind the minds of Bioscope to find out what it took to bring the campaign to life.
If you’ve worked with industry heavyweight director Kevin Fitzgerald before, then there is not much more to say. All you really need to know is that he’s recently joined the powerhouse team at Carbon Films, which is where you can contact him. Great, you’re all caught up and can stop reading now. For those of you who haven’t worked with Kevin yet, continue reading…
Director and photographer Ndumiso Sibanda has joined Ola! Films; a storyteller with a strong visual eye, a deep love of Africa and its people and a passion for filmmaking that stays with you long after you’ve met him.
The latest campaign for SANRAL is an honest and emotive piece of cinematic storytelling that sees director Batandwa Alperstein beautifully capture human connection. In a departure from the usual road safety campaigns which often use shock tactics to communicate, Batandwa has taken the opportunity to instead show the brand’s humanity by reminding us of what really matters – who the roads lead us to.
‘The film industry is desperate for fresh voices. But there are so many barriers in place that don’t allow women, non-binary creatives and people of colour to thrive in the industry. Blackboard and Girls In Film are working together to address this from different angles. We are committed to making the art of filmmaking accessible to the most under-represented communities in South Africa. Change can’t happen overnight but we won’t stop until it does.’
Since joining Arcade almost 3 years ago, director Alexa Wilson has consistently been creating work across diverse genres, from comedy spots, car and finance ads to moodier alcohol commercials. The Alexa thread that is carried through all this work is her strong visual language, local texture and meticulous attention to detail.
