Cape Town-based director Genevieve Akal recently heard that her music video has been accepted by Los Angeles-based band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes as the official music video for their song Mayla.
“I saw the opportunity to submit a music video for the band – one of my favourite contemporary bands – on an industry website,’ explains Akal.
The music video was originally made as a short film assignment while she attended film school in New York in 2008/09.
According to Akal she listened to the band’s album Here to see if any of the songs could fit with her short film. “As soon as the song Mayla started playing it was like a sort of epiphany. I think the song gives the story a voluptuous melancholy and creates a visual oxymoron of beautiful suffering,’ says Akal.
“I shot the short film over two days on various streets in Brooklyn within walking distance from my apartment. We were a crew of three, including myself.’
Akal notes that it was a fiercely independent process. “The catering consisted of ham sandwiches I’d made the night before. I borrowed some of the major furniture props from my roommates and hired some other items from a local second-hand furniture store. Another expense was paying a guy with a bakkie to lug the furniture around. I couldn’t really afford major filming costs on my waitressing pay, so when I created the story I kept that budgetary limitation at the forefront of my mind.’
The story sees a man desperately trying to reconnect with his wife who has become overwhelmed by their desperate circumstances.
“One of the cultural things that struck me about New York is that people leave unwanted furniture and appliances on the sidewalk. I’d walk home from school and pass flat screen TVs, couches, fax machines…and it’s all good stuff. People obviously upgraded and didn’t have the inclination to sell, so they leave the items for lucky passers-by. This inspired a great deal of Mayla because we see the leading male scouring the sidewalks looking for furniture to decorate his railway home.
“My lead actor Albert Makhtsier has a wonderful naivete about him. He was able to effortlessly communicate a sort of cheerful melancholy,’ explains Akal.
She notes that the process was “relatively easy’ for an independent shoot. “I was highly prepared and I have a tendency to AD (assistant direct) myself. So I was very aware of the schedule, the shots I needed to get and how much time I had to get them,’ explains Akal.
Mayla was shot on a Panasonic camera in HD. “In order to get the tobacco colour grade, I white balanced to a magenta tinted gel. Aside from a handy tripod, there was no other equipment.’
Akal’s music video was one of three chosen from 78 submissions.
By Linda Loubser
screen africa magazine – january 2013
