Best in Craft awarded to Ross Garrett from Darling Films and Ari Kruger from Sketchbook Studios

May’s IDIDTHAT.co Craft Awards were judged by Creative Director at Ogilvy JHB, Safaraaz Sindhi and Director and Co-owner at Patriot Films, Anton Visser. Shantay, you stay to Ross Garrett from Darling Films and Ari Kruger from Sketchbook Studios, our Best in Craft icons for May.

‘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. 

BEST IN CRAFT (Direction)
Standard Bank ‘Feeding the Nation’
Darling Films | Ross Garrett

Awarded by Anton Visser

‘Corporate ads can sometimes be pompous and heavy-handed, but I found this piece by Ross Garrett for Standard Bank to be incredibly warm and understated. And that’s what gives it its power. It’s beautiful but authentic, strong but humble. That’s tonally a very difficult thing to pull off, which is why this deserves a Best in Craft for direction. Think of all the ways the execution could have rung false or been pretentious. Instead, the cinematography, performance, music, editing and narration are all used sparingly and in perfect harmony to make a piece that shouts loudly by speaking softly.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Anton Visser, director at Patriot Films

BEST IN CRAFT (Direction)
Webafrica ‘Unboxing’, ‘Deleting History’ & ‘Robot’
Sketchbook Studios | Ari Kruger

Awarded by Saf Sindhi

‘The set design, art-direction, casting and styling make these ads a hilariously accurate portrayal of the internet. They’re wonderfully colourful and random and the one-too-many cat ornaments on the credenza is just another meticulous aspect of how well these spots were crafted to do the job. Then, there are the performances, humour is never easy but I found myself chuckling at the unexpected yet relatable delivery of each line, like when she delivers the 2nd “I knew it” in the Robot execution. So, well done to Ari and the team at Sketchbook Studios, from now on, whenever I think of the internet’s insides, I’ll picture it like this. Willyballs and all.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Saf Sindhi, Creative Director at Ogilvy JHB

CRAFT MENTION (Original Music, Final Mix & Sound design)
Momentum ‘Giant’
Howard Audio | Adam Howard (Original Music and Final Mix)
Howard Audio | Paul Theodorou (Sound Design)

Awarded by Anton Visser

‘As a piece of music this is well-crafted, emotive and dynamic. Great light and shade, pulling you along, taking you up and down. I had it as an Mp3 in my car and every time I heard it I was impressed by the musical phrasing, the changes in tempo, and the shifting mood. I like the analogue treatment, too, which gives it a warmer and more human feeling.’
– IDIDTHAT Guest Judge: Anton Visser, Director and Co-owner at Patriot Films.

IDIDTHAT GUEST JUDGES:

Saf Sindhi is a Creative Director at Ogilvy JHB. He enjoys quiet afternoons in the office massaging consumer tensions. When lost in thought, you’ll often find him staring pensively out a window, while unconsciously switching his social media strategies from always on to… always off. In his spare time, you will find him organically seeding his content into millennial conversations. He never goes anywhere without packing his case study with inflated percentages and impressions. Saf doesn’t earn a salary, he earns media.

Print is dead. He was at the funeral.

Anton Visser is a Director and Co-owner at Patriot Films. Anton is considered one of South Africa’s foremost comedy and performance directors. He started Patriot Films with producer Zayd Halim in 2017

All Craft Entries

Arcade | Lebogang Rasethaba
Cremora ‘Khanyi’
(Direction Craft)

Arcade | Alexa Wilson
Mr D Food ‘Tie’
(Direction Craft)

Darling Films | Zee Ntuli
Carling Black Label ‘Champions’ (Directors Cut)
(Direction Craft)

Darling Films | Chloe Coetsee
Mazda ‘CX30’
(Direction Craft)

Egg Films | Kyle Lewis
Castle ‘100% All in’
(Direction Craft)

Egg Films | Robin Adams
Debonairs ‘Real Deal’ (Directors Cut)
(Direction Craft)

Egg Films | Robin Adams
HP ‘For Tomorrow’s Success’ (Directors Cut)
(Direction Craft)

Figment Films | Robin Goode
KFC ‘Golden Buckets’
(Direction Craft)

ROMANCE | Justice Mukheli
Ballantine’s ‘Stay True’
(Direction Craft)

The Rudeboy Collective | Vusi Twala & Mpho Twala
Inverroche ‘Pioneers Of The Present’
(Direction Craft)

Priest | Matthew Swanepoel
Becks ‘Unfiltered’
(Editing Craft)

Audio Militia | Brandon Pratt, Craig Goudge & Paul Norwood
‘Oasis’ (Short Film)
(Sound Design, Original Music and
Final Mix Craft)

Fell and Company | Clare Vandeleur
Salomon ‘Her Way’
(Original Music Craft)

Markus Wormstorm
KFC ‘Golden Buckets’
(Original Music Craft)
*Entered by Figment Films on behalf of Markus Wormstorm

Howard Audio | Adam Howard
KFC ‘Life Can Be Sucky’
(Original Music and
Final Mix Craft)|

Howard Audio | Adam Howard and Paul Theodorou
Courvoisier ‘Courvoisier Sound Experience’
(Final Mix and
Sound Design
Craft)

David Oosthuizen at Deliverance and all the artists at Light Seed
KFC ‘Golden Buckets’
(VFX Craft)
*Entered by Figment Films on behalf of Light Seed and Deliverance