On 1 March boutique production and service company Groundglass opened a Johannesburg office to complement its Cape Town headquarters.
The Johannesburg branch is located at Blade in Bryanston’s Stonewedge Office Park and operates as a satellite office.
Groundglass executive producer Janette de Villiers, who started her career in Johannesburg, felt it was a necessary move to make the company’s directors more accessible to Johannesburg agencies and clients.
“In today’s climate we are looking to cut overheads, and therefore feel it unnecessary to permanently staff the office,’ explains De Villiers. “Groundglass is currently putting a lot of focus and emphasis on local content production, while diversifying the business so as to be able to accommodate long form jobs and advertiser funded content.
“Our directors are not scared to tackle smaller budgets and we already have an extensive reel showcasing short films, documentaries and music videos and, with a TV series in the pipeline, it’s going to be an exciting year.’
Groundglass has the advantage of having worked with international directors on service work, which has allowed it to significantly grow its director roster.
“This means we now represent numerous local and international award-winning directors, specialising in all genres of advertising and filmmaking, from performance to tabletop, beauty to comedy and everything in between,’ notes De Villiers.
Natasja Fourie is a highly accomplished stills photographer with an international reputation for creating work with a high level of artistry. Fourie has a unique, multi-layered perspective to her work that is honest, provocative and original. Her photography has been featured in international publications as diverse as VICE, GUP, ART das kunstmagazin, Eyemazing, Dazed Digital and PONCZ.Fourie has successfully transferred her strong visual sensibility into music videos and is fast becoming one of the most talked about young creatives in South Africa.
Director Melissa Silverman, who hails from New York City, will be based in South Africa for a few months this year. A visual thinker whose work shows a very unique perspective, Silverman perfectly blends real life and comedy into a personally stylised quirkiness, for which she has become renowned.
“Melissa has worked with various celebrities and her reel boasts many award-winning promos and commercial campaigns. We are extremely excited to introduce her to the local market,’ comments De Villiers.
London-based Peter Lydon is a hugely talented comedy performance director who has managed to dovetail a successful career as a leading TV drama director, with an increasing presence in the world of commercials.
With numerous nominations and awards to his name, Lydon’s experience with actors has helped him build up a reputation for great comedy performance and a unique visual and performance storytelling technique.
“We are also pleased to announce that we are once again representing Robert Nicholls for commercial and content work. Being equally brilliant in both arenas, we look forward to working with this unique storytelling director once again,’ concludes De Villiers.
screen africa magazine – march 2013
