Joining forces to mix a little bit of retro with a little avant-garde. JP and Nicole have been working together as a co-directing team since March 2015 and in August 2016 they joined Star Films. This collaboration brings 35 years of technical and VFX experience both in camera and post production. They lean on each other’s combined strengths to make for a very strong partnership in the highly competitive world of TV and online advertising.
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND AND HOW HAS THIS SHAPED YOU AS DIRECTORS?
JP has pretty much been doing this for as long as Nicole has been alive – so it’s safe to say that he has a strong background in filmmaking. Nicole studied film and television, and a whole lot of other irrelevant stuff like international relations. She also spent a few years as a creative researcher
DESCRIBE THE MOMENT WHEN YOU DECIDED YOU WANTED TO BECOME A DIRECTOR.
JP walked onto a set as a photographer and saw the director – and said to himself – I want to do what he’s doing. Nicole’s passion for directing began at a very young age when she started writing and directing plays at school.
HOW DID YOU BECAME A PAIR KNOWN AS PHI, WHAT DOES PHI STAND FOR?
JP has had this idea brewing for a while – he’s very into the universe and energy and quantum physics and other things that boil Nicole’s brain. So here’s the science, Phi is 1:1.618 (the golden ratio) and it occurs everywhere you look in nature, it is often replicated in art to create something beautiful to the eye in terms of ratio and balance. We think this is amazing – it is the ability to see order out of chaos, beauty in the unexpected.
WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION?
At the bottom of a good cup of coffee.
As much as it sounds like a pay-off line for an ad (in fact we are sure it is) “inspiration is everywhere.”
Nicole was walking around Sea Point the other night and saw a homeless man lying on the floor reading a book called Serial Killers. True story.
JP often comes out of a meditation with a killer idea.
We are also always on the lookout for what’s happening on the international circuit, ads, photography, fashion, music, film etc.
DO YOU HAVE ANY MENTORS?
In a funny kind of way we mentor each other – JP has a lot of experience, and is very strong with performance and VFX, Nicole is conceptual and highly visual. We are always teaching and pushing each other.
We do have one mentor, but we can’t tell you who he is, we’d have to kill you.
WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL CAREER MILESTONES?
We just want to make amazing work. Work that moves people, pushes boundaries, changes the way we look at things, even just a little. We feel that each piece of work we do is a career milestone as we always look at a piece of work and ask ourselves – how do we make this stand out?
WHICH PROJECTS ARE YOU CURRENTLY INVOLVED IN?
Can’t say – will have to kill you again. We’ve just finished a piece for MNet 101 – about a little girl who goes around kissing everything in preparation for finding her prince. Otherwise we are pitching on some exciting stuff.
WHAT KIND OF CONTENT DO YOU ENJOY CREATING?
Amazing content – we are not limited by the subject matter.
So often we’ll get a script, and we can feel that the team are feeling a bit defeated, it’s been worried to death by the big C… But if we can find an element of human truth to it – if we can breathe life back into it, then that’s content that we want to create.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PROUDEST MOMENT AS A DIRECTOR?
For JP winning a Silver Lion at Cannes. It may seem obvious but often that kind of recognition against such heavy competition makes you feel that you are on the right path. For Nicole – it’s seeing the reactions of people who watch our work – knowing that you have touched them. I remember showing our short film for Sun Resorts to the voice over artist – and she was moved to tears.
IF YOU COULD PRODUCE AN AFRICAN VERSION OF A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Game of Thrones
WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE PARTS OF THE JOB?
Putting everything into a pitch, seeing the job so clearly, and then losing it… but hey that’s the animal.
WHO WOULD YOU CAST AS YOURSELF IN A TV SERIES?
JP would be Iron Man – because he flies, has an irreverent sense of humour, and has great gadgets.
Nicole would be Khaleesi – queen of dragons (a strong, powerful, feminine woman, and she likes her hair).
WHAT OR WHERE IS YOUR HAPPY PLACE?
For Nicole Cape Town or anywhere on a yoga mat – For JP it’s the sea, on a surfboard or a bicycle… and on a film set we’re pretty stoked when we’re on a film set.
IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY FILMMAKER SUPERPOWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
The ability to look into people’s hearts understand what they are really feeling, what moves them, changes them… Oh and the ability to add a zero onto any budget.
WHEN YOU’RE NOT DIRECTING, YOU’RE…?
Nicole: probably watching other people’s ads, stalking a famous director on Instagram, or on an aeroplane going somewhere.
JP: with family, chilling or on a surfboard or bicycle.
