Riot Post Production maintains that they have received fewer television commercials this year than in previous years; however they note that audio visuals have become more prominent.
“Our core business is still commercials,’ says Kate Grosso, who recently completed a number of great KFC commercials that were edited by Willie Saayman.
“Riot’s junior editor, Jeff Larsen, received an Ad of the Month award for his Huggies commercial and I also have a collaborative arrangement with Emily Bussac and Greg Shaw from Upstairs Post to produce them in Johannesburg. I really do enjoy the editors that I am working with as they are all greatly talented.’
Grosso believes that it is the talent at the facilities that counts. “Also,’ she says, “how negotiable they are on rates. This is one of the main factors at the moment and a good rate will make the facility more attractive.
“I think the freelance off-line editor has become more of the trend these days and it is often necessary for the editor to be on the shoot, because of tighter deadlines.
“Riot has both FCP and AVID. I have noticed that AVID has become the more popular editing tool since they upgraded their offerings. Personally I think there is an even split between FCP and AVID, but AVID is gaining popularity again because they remain focused on being an editing tool, whereas FCP does not appear to be Apple’s number one concern at the moment.’
Grosso notes that Riot has not really had the opportunity to work with stereoscopic 3D.
“I have quoted on one stereoscopic 3D job but it did not happen. However, we would welcome work of this nature,’ she concludes.
By Andy Stead
Screen Africa magazine – May 2012
