Based on a reality format created by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s Fresh One
Productions, MySchool Dream School SA shows what happens when 15 school drop-
outs are given a second chance to study at a school where celebrity teachers share
their knowledge.
Executive producer Markus Davies (Battleground Afghanistan, Hola, Lappies, Lupa) of
South African company Little Leo Films believes there has been a shift in the reality
genre, in that audiences now want meaningful content with an inspirational element.
“I think MySchool Dream School SA will change television as it’s a reality show with
positive results. It’s “more-ish’ because once you see a bit, you want more. This is
reality TV at its best – an awareness show that will get people talking. The ultimate
object of the show is to encourage the 15 students to get their matric,’ says Davies.
A 13-part, half-hour series, MySchool Dream School SA was shot over two weeks in
Cape Town in August 2013 and is set for broadcast on a soon-to-be confirmed local
channel later this year.
Davies initiated the project over two years ago when he attended a master class on
television formats in Canada.
“It was here that I met Jamie Oliver and became aware of his show, Jamie’s Dream
School, which aired on Channel 4 in 2011. I totally fell in love with the Dream School
format.
“The American version of the show broadcasts on the Sundance Channel and has
celebrity teachers like 50 Cent, will.i.am, Oliver Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker and John
McEnroe,’ explains Davies.
He set about finding sponsors for the South African show. “MySchool in partnership
with Woolworths was a perfect choice for sponsorship because of its corporate
branding and structure. Other sponsors were The Core Group, which donated iPads,
while iSchool Africa supplied all the computers. This was hugely important because I
wanted the kids to experience technology as it’s the future of education.’
Helene Brand of MySchool points out that MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet currently
raises over R3m per month for schools and charities.
“During the flighting of MySchool Dream School SA we aim to increase our card holders
to one million, enabling us to raise R1m per week. With our ongoing focus to
contribute to the upliftment of education in South Africa, we felt that supporting a
television series that aims to inspire learners to complete their high school education
would be a perfect fit for us.
“Our hope is that this show encourages positive and proactive conversations between
parents and learners. Doing just a little does a lot and we hope that we have
contributed to change the lives of our 15 Dream School learners, and will inspire more
young people to do the same,’ says Brand.
Crew and cast
Davies brought on Paul Yule to direct the South African series. Yule has worked a lot
in the UK with Roy Ackerman, the MD of Fresh One Productions, on award-winning
documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4 about Basil d’Oliveira and Hansie Cronje.
Says Yule: “I’d previously worked with Johan Volsteedt, then-headmaster of Grey
College in Bloemfontein, on the Hansie Cronje film. Johan had just retired from Grey
and so I asked him to become Headmaster of Dream School SA. Then, an architect
friend of mine, Joe Noero, who has done a lot of work at St Cyprian’s School in Cape
Town, suggested that we shoot at the school with its wonderful facilities and
extraordinary setting right below Table Mountain.’
Together with publicist Joy Sapieka, Yule and Davies began to compile a list of
potential celebrity teachers, including singer Zolani from Freshly Ground; cricketer
Paul Adams; Professor Jonathan Jansen, head of Free State University; Rivonia
triallist Dennis Goldberg; maths teacher Jennifer Jones; and ballet dancer Philip Boyd,
among others. Popular Highveld Stereo radio personality Anele Mdoda presents the
series.
According to Yule, sourcing the kids proved to be more challenging than securing the
celebrities. “We were looking for drop-outs from school, or at least kids who were
struggling badly, but the schools themselves kept putting forward their star learners!
In the end a talented casting team interviewed and did screen tests on dozens of
kids. We also organised an online campaign nationally, co-ordinated by our media
partners You / Drum / Huisgenoot. After that, it was just a matter of putting together
a first-class crew, with the excellent Adam Asmal as DOP, and creating a school
timetable for us to shoot around.’
Davies adds that the cast is from all over South Africa as the show needed to be
demographically representative. He has also set up a MySchool Dream Trust to look
after the kids.
Yule and Davies did their best to create an atmosphere of trust on set. The kids were
also given their own iPads so they could shoot their own footage, some of which is
included in the series.
A three-camera team used Sony EX3 cameras, adjusted to shoot at the highest bit
rate of 35Mb/sec. All material was captured at 1920 x 1080.
Yule continues: “The shoot was a very happy one and the kids mostly made amazing
progress. For them there was an obvious sense of achievement in actually getting to
the end of the school term.
“In storytelling terms, there was also lots of conflict – both between the teachers and
the kids and between some of the kids themselves. My job was therefore to be alive
to what was going on beneath the surface and to capture that.’
Davies adds: “The subject matter called for a highly experienced, disciplined crew to
observe and not interfere with the kids. I really applaud Paul (Yule) and his team.’
Yule describes MySchool Dream School SA as using the medium of television to inspire
kids (and their parents) to value what is really important about education.
“It is about how to use education, providing techniques to actually make school
meaningful in young people’s lives – and you get to see the results. Above all though,
I feel that Dream School SA is a series of wonderful stories about a bunch of 15 kids
who represent the future of South Africa. And it turns out there’s lots for us to be
optimistic about,’ concludes Yule.
Virtual editing environment
Post-production supervisor Richard Starkey believes that the most interesting aspect
of the post-production on MySchool Dream School SA is that it is taking place in a
decentralised or virtual environment.
Says Starkey: “I’m co-ordinating three editors working on Final Cut Pro, one animation
company, one director, one producer, two separate sponsors and their colleagues and
one TV station, which has different departments for its promos and the actual
episodes.
“I’m working from home in Vredehoek together with lead editor Andrea Shaw, but the
others are working in Kenilworth, Muizenberg, Noordhoek and the Cape Town City
Bowl. And the TV station is in Johannesburg.’
The editing team has five identical copies of the footage and uses a Dropbox system
to upload small project files that link to the person’s local material so the editors can
share edits without uploading big Quicktimes every time.
“I think it’s the way of the future, with hard drives becoming cheaper and bandwidth
doing the same,’ he comments.
Starkey estimates that the cameramen accumulated about 280 hours of EX3 footage,
as well as iPad footage shot by the kids in their dormitories.
“The iPads each had 1Gig of data already loaded and most of the kids reached their
cap after the first night,’ he adds. “In the series we use the iPad footage inside a
graphic of an iPad rather than using it as HD footage because it will never look the
same as the HD. It’s got a really great feel though and gives us an insight into the
behaviour of the kids that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.’
Cape Town facility RGB and Alpha did the animated sequences in the series.
Davies has sent the some episodes to Jamie Oliver to view. “I’m happy to report that
Jamie’s delighted with the results. Part of producing a show like this in South Africa is
to sell it to other countries. I’m encouraged by the fact that there is strong interest
from Channel 4 as well as the US.
“MySchool Dream School SA is a solid multi-platform application which encourages
interaction. As ballet teacher Philip Boyd tells one of the students: “There is no such
thing as can’t.’ This show has the universal message: “You can; you can pass
matric’.’
