Of the three finalists in the South Africa’s Next Top Filmmaker 2012 competition, two have completed the shoots on their mini reality television shows and one is about to start.
According to finalist Mpumi Tshabalala, her shoot went well. “The weather was a bit of a challenge – we had four seasons in one day – but I managed to pull myself together and had a great shoot. Everyone was amazing from the cast to the crew to the bystanders who sometimes distracted the cast.’
Anton Burggraaf from Ochre Moving Pictures was Tshabalala’s mentor. “Mpumi was great at interpreting her script and keeping to her own brief and the scenes were well executed with advice and discussion with the cameramen,’ notes Burggraaf.
Mondli Magenuka is being mentored by Tracy-Ann Van Rooyen at Endemol South Africa. “I was constantly worried about the content, but there were moments where I felt like, yeah that’s gonna sell, bring it on,’ says Magenuka. “I have learnt the importance of having all crew members fully briefed about what the director wants to achieve and also to have that authoritative voice for direction.’
Van Rooyen has been happy with Magenuka’s progress. “He has made calls on why he has chosen to incorporate certain things in his pilot and has motivated it, which shows an attachment to his concept. I appreciate it when he fights for his ideas, as it shows a commitment to his concept.’
For Tebogo Kgakoa, who has only shot his title sequence, the real work is about to begin. “For the intro sequence we had a small crew so it was easy to move around. The weather wasn’t great but we managed to make it go right. I’ve learnt that from planning to execution, it’s vital that you have a plan B as your backup, should anything go wrong. So far I managed to keep close to the original vision.’
JP Potgieter of Quizzical Pictures has been mentoring Kgakoa. “I have seen Tegogo grow in leaps and bounds in the past couple of weeks. I am amazed, almost daily, at how well he is doing and how organised he really is. The standard of talent and experience is much higher this year and TK is right up there. I expect great things from him.’
The finalists have been paired up with experienced reality editors at General Post for the post-production phase of the competition.
Once the offline is complete, they will go to final mix at Finetune Studios and have the opportunity to grade their work on the Baselight system sponsored by The Bladeworks. Then it’s back to General Post for online and graphics in preparation for the big reveal in October.
screen africa magazine – october 2012
