FILM NEWS

Afrikaans musical strikes the right chord

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:03

Philo Pieterse and Sean Else on set

New Afrikaans musical Platteland aims to attract audiences with some of the biggest stars in Afrikaans music.

According to producer and director Sean Else, he and Johan Vorster had been working on the idea for Platteland for more than a year when he was approached by Philo Pieterse, producer of iconic films such as e’Lollipop (executive producer), Lipstiek Dipstiek and Circles in a Forest / Kringe in ‘n Bos. Pieterse also had the idea of doing an Afrikaans musical.

“Johan and I run our own music labels and our artists have had great success in the Afrikaans market. While Johan is responsible for some of the biggest Afrikaans hits from the past couple of years and I have been responsible for their videos, the idea to do a film has been on the cards for a long time. Johan decided to focus more on the music and Philo and I decided to take the risk and produce the film together,” explains Else.

Platteland stars Afrikaans singers Steve Hofmeyr, Lianie May, Bok van Blerk, Jay, Vaughan Gardiner and Karlien van Jaarsveld, as well as actors Hannah Grobler, André Odendaal, David Clatworthy, Wynand van Vollenstee, Ivan Zimmermann, Paul Luckhoff and Izak Davel.

Difficult conditions

The film was shot during seven weeks in January and February 2011 in Vrede and Verkykerskop in the Freestate.

Says Pieterse: “We had continuous bad weather and rain during the shoot. Being in a rural area there were also few tar roads, which made it a bit strenuous, as well as restrictions on accommodation available in the area.”
However, he emphasises that there were many more positives than negatives.

“We had a fantastic crew and the artists were beyond excellent. They gave us no headaches under very strenuous and tough conditions, and put their hearts and souls into the acting. It was a privilege and pleasure to work with them.”

Western

The film was shot by director of photography (DOP) Brendon Frans Keyser on the Arri D21 in high definition. Equipment was rented from Media Film Service and post-production was done at Refinery.

According to Else the narrative theme of the film is based on classic western themes.

“A bad guy owns a small town and intimidates everyone into selling their farms to him. A young woman and her brother are desperate and need help, so they advertise in the Landbou Weekblad and a drifter with a shady past arrives to help them out, taking on the bad guy and his whole gang.”

Else explains that he referenced a lot of classic western films before he started writing the screenplay along with Deon Opperman (writer of kykNET series Kruispad, Hartland and Getroud met Rugby).

“This also defined the look and feel of the production design, costumes, storyboard, musical score, musical arrangements and grading. There are many similarities between the Afrikaans culture in the ‘platteland’ (rural areas) and the small town culture of America. Of course, I took a lot of artistic licence in stylising our film to enhance our narrative, style and genre,” says Else.

He notes that the songs used in the film were mostly written by Vorster for artists produced under his and Vorster’s music labels, or in collaboration with labels like Coleske and EMI with whom they work very closely.

“The songs used in the film were all hits for the artists who sing them and were then woven into the narrative of the film. The music and songs become emotional asides for the characters and are used to underline their emotion and character. It is not a Bollywood approach where characters jump into song and choreography,” notes Else.

Devereaux van der Hoven and Juan (Floors) Oosthuizen wrote and arranged the original score.

High end risk

Pieterse explains that the film was privately financed in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) rebate.

Asked whether the film should attract the same audience that bought R13.3m worth of tickets to see Afrikaans musical Liefling in 2010, Pieterse says: “I would imagine so.”

“It is a family film, a love story and a drama set against the backdrop of a farm, and screenings so far have been extremely positively received, so we all have very high hopes for it.”

However, Pieterse is well aware that there is never a guarantee for success.

“It’s a very difficult market. In my opinion a movie either works, or it doesn’t. Leon Schuster’s films have been the benchmark, and Liefling also broke through, but unless you’re successful you lose a lot. It’s a high end risk.”

However, he says not only the Afrikaans industry but the South African industry has achieved a lot in recent years, in part thanks to the dti rebate.

“We should continue to produce Afrikaans films, with the right combination of factors they do work. Liefling and Schuster proved it, and I believe Platteland can work too.”

Marketing

According to Helen Kuun, CEO of Indigenous Film Distribution, the film is predominantly aimed at an Afrikaans speaking market – men and women aged 13 and upwards.

“We are confident that this film will perform very well and it will be released across all exhibitors in South Africa,” says Kuun.

Their marketing campaign includes paid sneak previews at all release sites on 12 November to create positive word of mouth for the film.

“Furthermore the campaign includes strong publicity on TV, radio, print, outdoor, online (social media) and musical performance activations. The soundtrack will also be available at the time the film releases,” notes Kuun.

The film is also involved in a campaign called ‘Vat ‘n Tannie Fliek Toe’ (Take an Auntie to the Movies) which encourages people to donate R20 towards a movie ticket for a senior citizen to see Platteland. AfriForum, an initiative from trade union Solidarity, will donate an additional R30 for every R20 from the public.

Kuun explains: “The director has a good relationship with AfriForum and so it was a logical tie-in to do a campaign with them. Because the film speaks to the same ‘audience’ AfriForum also saw the opportunity to get involved in a way to raise awareness of the film. This way, positive word of mouth is created for the film, boosting box office sales, and it creates the opportunity for Afrikaans senior citizens who can seldom afford movie tickets to see the film for free.”

According to Pieterse the film will release on 25 November 2011 on 87 prints.

SCREENAFRICA Print Magazine – November 2011 (view here)

By Linda Krige

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