March’s Craft entries slapped harder than…actually nevermind. This month’s IDIDTHAT.co Craft Awards were judged by two of our industry’s absolute finest; Chief Creative Officer of Grey Africa, Fran Luckin and Director at Darling Films, Jeana Theron. 

‘What are the IDIDTHAT.co Craft Awards?’ Every month we team up with ad industry leaders to award the finest in South African film and production craft across these different categories: Direction, Editing, Cinematography, Animation and VFX, Online, Original Sound, Sound Design and Final Mix. It’s just another way that we make it ridiculously easy to stay up-to-date with who’s doing the best work in the country. 

‘Comedian and musician Martin Mull (who?) once said writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Having chosen this piece as my Best of Craft, I now have the challenge of trying to pay tribute to it with my writing while somehow not exposing myself as a Philistine who couldn’t tell a crotchet from a crochet hook. Anyhow. Let me begin.
I like how the music viscerally evokes the South Africa we call home – without relying on familiar, predictable musical tropes. It manages to evoke familiarity (the South Africa we all know) without actually being familiar. If you know what I mean (dance, dance…). What else? I love the quality of the vocal (I’m a sucker for a falsetto) and I like how the ghost of the voice whispers through right at the beginning before the song begins in earnest, as if it’s a siren call to come to South Africa (I might well be making all that up though. I do get carried away sometimes. It’s why my English teacher loved me).
I like the way the ambient sound is worked into the rhythm.
I like the way the song weaves through different modes (is that the right word?) as the scenes change, and finally becomes house-y right at the end (“house-y” is definitely a musical term, I’m sure).
All in all, this is a really fresh musical approach in a category that too often relies on well-trodden musical tricks. And although the music is in itself beautiful and listenable-to in its own right, it never once upstages the mood and emotion of the ad.
Thank you (shimmies, takes bow).’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Fran Luckin, Chief Creative Officer of Grey Africa

‘It’s a tricky thing to be briefed on an epic South African track for tourism, but Marc Algranti nailed it with the collaboration of Sun El Musician and Bongeziwe. The track stands out, haunting, beautiful, strangely familiar, a bit expected and yet totally unexpected at the same time. ‘
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Jeana Theron, Director at Darling Films