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.
Spitfire. Looking back on 10 years of work.
Spitfire owners, Liesl Lategan, AK and Baleseng Makola believe that in order to create a production company that can do it all, you need to have a team of people that can do it all, Baleseng adds: ‘Spitfire is home to a group of diverse, open-minded unicorn problem-solvers.’ With Spitfire’s ‘challenge accepted’ attitude, they’ve always maintained that those ridiculous turnaround times will be met and that they’ll wingardium leviosa even the smallest of budgets…oh, and while they’re at it they’ll also make it look bloody amazing and possibly win some awards! Challenge accepted!
Liesl says: ‘Over the past decade we have learned to see opportunity where others don’t. Looking back at the work we’ve created we can honestly say that we can make anything happen. We generally don’t say No, but rather Hey, here’s another way of approaching this project.’
AK: ‘When we’re faced with a killer brief where money, time or technical is a major problem, there’s an initial period of analytical chaos… but then something ignites. And out of that spark of excitement flows streams of ideas that invariably come together to create a Magical Solution.”
Over the past few years, Spitfire has experienced considerable growth within their own team as Liesl, AK and Baleseng have committed to effectively contributing to the transformation of the South African production industry. This commitment is something that is evident in how they have collaborated with and grown young black talent in the company, resulting in a Spitfire that reflects the energetic, agile and sexy future of our industry.
Top L to bottom R: AK, Relebohile, Khazi, Bale, Tapiwa, Liesl, Katlego, Brennan, Hloni, JT, Ed and Nathi.
The Spitfire team took us through some of our personal favourite Spitfire campaigns from the past decade, reminding us of how these unicorns can MacGyver even the toughest of tasks.
Liesl: ‘One of my proudest moments was this Investec Pororoca TVC. Everyone said it couldn’t be done. Well, everyone besides AK and I. So, we did it. That was the catalyst that has fed me for all these years.’
Investec ‘Pororca’
Liesl: ‘And then there was that time we made a TVC that also had to be a mobile app that people could physically interact with by shaking their phone and watching the characters bouncing all over their screen every time they shook it.’
KFC ‘Shakin’ Shakin’
KFC ‘Shakin’ Shakin’ – Case Study
Baleseng: ‘We’ve done a lot of stills and PR work over the years. In 2019 we got a call from GRID (voted one of SA’s top) to create some social media videos for their client FNB, for the Rugby World Cup. The social media videos were so well produced, at such a great cost and in record time, that the client decided to use the social media videos for their TV campaign.’
Liesl: ‘We’ve created content and shot for pretty much all social media platforms and in all formats.’
FNB ‘Legends’
FNB ‘Words Of Greatness’
AK: ‘We like undercover activations. We once did a Fox Crime project that was a shoot and activation that played out in front of a live cinema audience. The UV spotlight in the cinema had to literally follow the exact path of the detective’s torch on the screen – in real-time. Which it did, to thundering applause (and a lot of lovely, shiny awards:).’
Fox Crime Channel – Cinema Activation
And not that awards mean everything (ahem, they’re nice though), but Spitfire has pretty much won them all.
And as Liesl adds ‘We still growing’…
Still growing indeed! Not only did Spitfire deliver some of our favourite spots in the past, but they’re not stopping. Below is new work courtesy of their youngest directors; Hloni, JT and Katlego. FNB directed by Hloni epitomises the rich work we can expect from this dynamic talent, while Ballantine’s and KFC were awarded Craft Mentions in the IDIDTHAT Craft Awards, need we say more 🙂 We think we can all agree that the future of Spitfire looks bright!
FNB ‘Ballet’ directed by Hloni
Ballentine’s directed by JT
KFC ‘PI Diaries’ directed by Katlego Baaitse
So, wanna work with a group of people who understand that it’s a tough economy out there? People who positioned themselves as content creators before most of us even knew what that meant? Folks who have spent a decade creating award-winning work and will get it done? Then go on, why not get in touch with that little production company that did…
Wanna (s)talk some more? Check out Spitfire IDIDTHAT profile or company website. or Liesl@Spitfire.tv
Produced by the IDIDTHAT Content Studio – Credits: Anne Hirsch (Writer) / Julie Maunder
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