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Hollywood film executives scout locations in South Africa

Carly Barnes
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Principal executives from Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. and the Producers’ Guild embarked on a 10-day tour in South Africa which ended on 1 March, to explore potential locations for future movies and television productions.

Vance van Patten, Executive Director of the Producers’ Guild; Mary Ann Hughes, Vice President of film and television production planning at Disney; Sara Spring, Senior Vice President of feature production at Paramount; and Kate Beyda, Senior Vice President of physical production at Warner Bros. met with government representatives as well as industry professionals and visited local production houses and facilities while in the country.

Van Patten said: “Our visit has been very productive in exploring and analysing benefits of bringing motion picture and TV productions to South Africa.”

Cyril Ndaba, the South African Consul Ggeneral based in Los Angeles, said that South Africa had become an increasingly appealing filmmaking and production destination due to the country’s diverse landscapes, talented and experienced local crews and the fact that South Africa is an English-speaking nation.

“The sights and sounds of South Africa are so rich; the tapestry of culture; and that’s the reason why they (the executives) will be going to see places around the country. South Africa has come of age and it warrants the attention of the whole world,” said Ndaba.

In addition to these features, the South Africa government recognises the potential of a successful film industry to boost its struggling economy, and has introduced a number of incentives aimed at attracting international productions. Foreign productions which are shot on location in the country qualify for an uncapped 20% rebate, as well as a 22.5% reduction if the post-production takes place in South Africa.

Van Patten said that South African government, industry and trade officials had been very interested in discussing these tax incentives as well as the benefits and challenges of producing films in South Africa.

SA Communications Minister comments on National Broadband Policy

Carly Barnes
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At the Mobile World Congress, an international mobile industry networking exhibition and conference held in Barcelona from 24 to 27 February, Yunus Carrim, the South African Minister of Communications spoke on the progress made in the National Broadband Policy and Strategy.

The policy seeks to implement the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP) which recognises that broadband plays a crucial role in economic growth, development and job creation.

Carrim stated: “The Communications Regulatory Authority of Southern Africa (CRASA) needs to be strengthened and work more effectively. In South Africa, we adopted our National Broadband Policy and Strategy, “South Africa Connect’, on 4 December 2013. It gives expression to vision in our National Development Plan (NDP) of a seamless information infrastructure by 2030 that will underpin a dynamic and connected vibrant information society and a knowledge economy that is more inclusive, equitable and prosperous.’

Carrim continued, saying that South Africa had referenced from and consulted with other nations, drawing on the experience of international broadband plans from other countries in order to effectively launch its own. “We adopted an ecosystem approach to defining broadband by examining the entire broadband value chain (networks, services, applications and content). We have also provided for cooperation of the government and the private sector,’ said Carrim.

The Minister recognises that there will be challenges in implementing and executing the plan, and said that the transition may take some time. “We also realise that success in rolling out broadband depends on an appropriate market structure, clear institutional arrangements and high level state coordination across sectors. We have set broadband targets for the country which will encourage fibre deployment whilst encouraging mobile broadband rollout by releasing, over time, broadband spectrum.

“We have to ensure that broadband is accessible and affordable. And we must focus on increasing the awareness of our people of the value of the mobile phone and its capacity to provide internet and broadband in particular and the tremendous benefits of this,’ said Carrim.

He concluded: “It’s obviously not enough that we work more cooperatively and effectively together in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. We also need to gradually work closer with other regional structures of Communications Ministers and relevant structures of the continent as a whole.’

Coming up on Carte Blanche‎

Carly Barnes
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On Sunday 2 March at 19h00 on M-Net and M-Net HD (DStv channel 101), Carte Blanche reports on Hollywood’s interest in the Oscar Pistorius case in a special episode, Crime Scene: Pretoria.

The dramatic killing of Pistorius’s girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, which took place on Valentine’s Day 2013 at the home of the famous Paralympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius, sets the scene for a typical Hollywood drama. In addition, the High Court in Pretoria has approved that the murder trial be aired live on television.

Permission to broadcast the trial has piqued the interests of prominent forensics experts and top dramatists in Hollywood, who are developing the project: Oscar – Fall of a Titan.

Carte Blanche examines whether this could potentially reveal unexpected truths about the tragedy.

Produced and presented by Subniv Babuta.

Line-ups are subject to change.

Visit the Carte Blanche website for more information.

Tropfest Short Film Festival to screen in SA for the first time

Carly Barnes
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The Australian High Commission in Pretoria is bringing Michael Laverty, the Managing Director of Tropfest, to South Africa, as the festival is screening in the country for the first time.

During his stay, Laverty will visit Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Pretoria as part of a series of free screenings of Tropfest Short Film Festival from 16 to 19 March in partnership with Ster-Kinekor’s Cinema Nouveau.

Tropfest has grown to become the world’s largest short film festival after it began 20 years ago in a local cafe in Sydney, Australia. With competitions in Australia, South East Asia, New Zealand and the Middle East, Tropfest’s organisers have said that they hope to establish an African version of the competition in the future.

Said John Polson, Tropfest Founder and Director: “The massive expansion of Tropfest around the globe conveys a worldwide appetite for fresh storytelling voices. It is so exciting to have Tropfest travel to Africa. We know that there is an enormous community of storytellers in this region, and we hope to one day establish a local platform for these filmmakers – with a global audience to share their stories with.’

Australia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, His Excellency Graeme Wilson, commented that he hoped Tropfest would be well received by South African audiences and that he was proud that Australia was supporting this important cultural exchange in the film sector.

“The festival forms part of a larger programme of cultural and sporting events planned to coincide with this year’s 20th anniversary of democracy celebrations, which will showcase the strong and diverse Australia-South Africa relationship to the broader public,’ said Wilson.

Australia and South Africa established a treaty-level film co-production agreement in 2011. This agreement with practical benefits, such as allowing Australian and South African filmmakers to pool their creative and financial resources, aims to streamline some of the administrative and funding issues around co-operation in filmmaking.

Tropfest Short Film Festival in South Africa takes place from 16 to 18 March at Cinema Nouveau V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Sunday 16 March; Ster-Kinekor The Bridge in Port Elizabeth on Monday 17 March; and at Cinema Nouveau Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg on Tuesday 18 March.

The festival is free, but tickets are limited and must be reserved by contacting TicketLine on 082 16789. Tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis.

Visit the Tropfest Short Film Festival website for more information.

See the Screen Australia website for more information about the potential benefits of the bilateral film co-production agreement for filmmakers.

EVS presents latest solutions at Cabsat

Carly Barnes
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EVS, a provider of live video production systems, will present a number of solutions which service the entertainment, media and sports industries at the Cabsat professional content management event in Dubai from 11 to 13 March.

Entertainment

IPLink for Adobe

EVS’ plug-in panel for advanced integration with the new Adobe Premiere Pro suite removes any unnecessary content searching or processing, allowing the immediate creative enhancement of content. Editors using IPLink can search, preview, edit and import media efficiently from IPDirector’s nearline storage into the Adobe Premiere Pro editing station, eliminating the need for an additional IPDirector station.

Nano Air

This product caters to studio production facilities and broadcasters working with on-stage entertainment, by providing cost-effective multichannel playout capabilities and simultaneous playback of up to four HD or SD channels to multiple destinations. Nano Air is able to send the programme’s elements to switchers for on-air playout and has no configuration requirements.

IPAirEdit

Engineered to control EVS’ XT3 and XS servers, IPAirEdit handles profanity and provides content-sensitive control over on-air program feeds. Suited to meet the needs of an on-air setting, the system allows users to delay and edit programmes on-the-fly.

Media

OpenCube HD/SD

An ingest server for MXF file mastering makes the OpenCube HD/SD ideal for production and post-production environments. At speeds faster than real-time, it can handle both the encoding of MXF 4K formats and transcoding from various file formats, including JPEG2000.

Sports

4K XT3 server

This server provides full 4K support for Ultra-HD recording and replay, giving content owners more flexibility and the ability to ensure their workflow is 100% future-proof. A single XT3 is able to continuously record two UHD camera feeds while providing 4K instant replays and highlights. It also offers unique 4K zooming capabilities along with its Epsio Zoom.

MultiReview

MultiReview enables operators and assistant directors to look at multiple camera angles at the same time, meaning live replay and editing decisions can be made instantly for improved live OB operations.

C-Cast Xplore

This new browsing interface grants users access to the live multi-cam recording feeds and clips on an XT server, from remote sport centres. Broadcasters, producers and editors can review, create and select previously inaccessible content while C-Cast connectivity allows live server content to be reviewed while being recorded.

Visit the EVS at Cabsat at stand stand G6-30

Visit the EVS website for more information.

African Blogger Awards call for entries

Carly Barnes
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The African Blogger Awards, which recognises the most successful online influencers in Africa, is calling for entries from social media specialists, bloggers, Instagram and YouTube users.

Winners will be announced live on Twitter on 14 April at 11h00 CAT while an overall award for Africa’s Top blogger, Top Instagrammer and Top YouTuber will be announced on the 18th of April 2014.

Entrants will be judged according to online audience reach and influence through data analysis.

In order to qualify for the awards, entrants must ensure that the relevant social platforms and analytics are correctly linked to Webfluential (https://webfluenti.al/), an online platform linking online influencers to brands through advertisers and PR companies. The Webfluential algorithm measures blog traffic and engagement, comparing it to others in the same category. The platform also offers a full SSL certificate which protects all the data which is fully encrypted.

Participants will also need to submit an online entry form and continue to be active in their social channels.

Entry categories:

Advice
Arts and Culture
Automotive
Best Instagrammer (Africa)
Best Twitter Personality (Africa)
Best YouTuber (Africa)
Blog about Africa
Brand Blog (Must be an African brand)
Business
Digital Marketing
DIY Blog
Education
Entertainment
Entrepreneur
Events and Nightlife
Expat (African)
Fashion and Beauty
Finance
Food and Drink
Health and Beauty
Hobbies
Lifestyle
Marketing and Media
Music
Niche Market
Other
Parenting
Personal
Photography
Political
Religious
Specific to Your Country (Africa)
Sports
Technology and Gadgets
Travel
Youth Culture

Each winner will receive an award web banner, a trophy and possible additional sponsored prizes.

Follow @African_Blogger on Twitter.

Visit the African Blogger Awards website for more information.

BET Honors pays tribute to Mandela

Carly Barnes
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On 28 February at 23h00 CAT, entertainment channel BET (Black Entertainment Television) will air the BET Honors, an event celebrating the lives and achievements of African leaders in a number of industries, which features Aretha Franklin singing a tribute to Nelson Mandela in honour of his inspiring legacy.

The queen of soul performed a wholehearted version of the Sam Cooke classic A Change is Going to Come, while standing in front of a series of large Madiba images, at the 2014 ceremony which took place in Washington, D.C. on 8 February.

Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa said: “The outpouring of love and affection for Nelson Mandela has been incredible and a true testament to his greatness and impact on society. We are thrilled and proud that Madiba’s enduring legacy has been recognized on this global platform.’

A video montage featuring a number of stars including Beyonce, Forrest Whittaker, Berry Gordy, Miguel, Smokey Robinson, Russell Simmons, Jermaine Jackson, Idris Elba and many more quoting Mandela’s words, screened after the performance. View the clip on the BET website

Mbuso, Zindzi and Bambatha Mandela were in attendance to receive an award on behalf of the Mandela family along with musical stars Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Janelle Monae, Tamar Braxton, Smokey Robinson, Karen Clarke Sheard and Wayne Brady who performed at the event.

Download the tribute to Nelson Mandela

Visit the BET website for more information.

Award-winning writer Andrew S Walsh speaks at SA workshop

Carly Barnes
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Andrew S Walsh, an award-winning writer and director with experience in film, television, theatre, radio, animation and video games will speak at a two-day writing workshop in Johannesburg on 10 and 11 May, and in Cape Town on 17 and 18 May.

The workshop, which is themed “Writing Dialogue and Narrative in an Interactive Medium’, incorporates discussions and practical exercises on a range of challenges faced by writers, from concept to shipping. The associated jargon, pitfalls, career paths, formats, narrative structures and speech design principles which arise from working in this medium will be covered and analysed.

Walsh has worked on 60 video games including Prince of Persia, Need for Speed, Lego City and Harry Potter. He is also able to offer writers guidance on how to spread their talents across the full spectrum of new media.

The workshop is hosted by the Writers’ Guild South Africa and will run from 08h00 to 17h00 each day. Ticket prices are allocated as follows:

Standard price for members: R3,500
Standard price for non-members: R5,000
Early payment before 28 February by members: R2,800
Early payment before 28 February by non-members: R4,000
Individuals and Corporate groups of five or more: R2,500 (all attendees to become members)
Corporate groups of 10 or more: R3,000 (all attendees not members)

Contact: admin@writersguildsa.org for booking enquiries

The Bioscope Independent Cinema hosts variety of movies in March

Carly Barnes
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The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg is incorporating double-bill screenings, classic movies and Oscar nominations in its March line-up.

Double bill: The Oregonian and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

On Saturday 1 March, audiences will be able to watch both The Oregonian and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at R50 a ticket. There are also tickets available at R40 each for those who only want to watch one of the films.

Showing at 19h00, The Oregonian features a woman from Oregon who, while escaping her past, gets lost on the road and has a gruesome experience in the North West.

An FBI agent disappears while investigating the future murder of a woman, whose last living week is portrayed in the film In Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. This movie screens at 21h00.

Oscar hype

In the build-up to the Oscar Awards ceremony, which will be televised on 2 March, a series of nominated short films in the Live Action category will screen throughout March. The films featured are: Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?; Helium; Just Before Losing Everything; That Wasn’t Me; and The Voorman Problem.

On Sunday 2 March at 19h00, The Bioscope will screen the classic film My Fair Lady, starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison, which won the award for Best Film in 1964.

If I owned a cinema

On Wednesday 26 February at 19h30 The Bioscope hosts a new event which involves the screening of a film chosen by a celebrity or a member of the public.

This week’s film was chosen by Namik Minter, a New York-based actress and producer. Her selection, Purple Rain, is the story of an arrogant, young singer (played by Prince), who becomes famous. Through self-destructive behaviour and losing the woman he loves, he learns that fame alone will not fulfil him.

Reserve your space by purchasing a drink for R20 online via the Bioscope ticketing system or buy anything from adjoining bar and restaurant The Chalkboard, and get free access to the movie.

Visit The Bioscope website for more information.

L-S-B Broadcast Technologies demonstrates Virtual Studio Manager at Cabsat

Carly Barnes
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L-S-B Broadcast Technologies, a German company which manufactures control systems for radio and television production, will demonstrate the key features of its Virtual Studio Manager (VSM) in a simulated master control room (MCR) environment at the Cabsat professional content management event in Dubai from 11 to 13 March.

VSM services a wide range of demands, whether for 4K, remote production, streaming, signal path visualisation or multi-channel broadcasting. It is mainly used in television and radio studio environments, MCRs, mobile production and remote production environments.

The demonstration at Cabsat will show many aspects of VSMs use in practice, including the ability to prepare and store production settings offline for manual or scheduled recall into any available studio’s resources.

MCR environment

VSM manages OnAir and rehearsal requests for studios, and monitors the signals and devices. As it is able to represent an additional studio as a virtual resource, productions settings and workflows are able to be created and tested without using the physical resources. The stored settings can then be recalled to any available physical studio and control room using VSM’s boxing function.

Pooling helps simplify and automate signal management within a MCR. VSM is able to integrate a collection of devices between a signal source and target by automatically recognising, simplifying and automating them in the signal path out of this pool. Should one of the selected devices fail, it is identified as faulty until the fault is remedied while VSM automatically re-routes the signals to other devices in the pool without any operator involvement.

Other studio set-up features include the routing of video signals, tally, labelling, intercom control and Video Server control.

Operational environment

Individually configured graphical user interfaces, which also represent streams in real time, are how control and monitoring is achieved in an operational environment.
By pressing a single button, the boxing function is able to store hardware and software configurations of complete studio and production units as a single entity for retrieval.

Production environment

Boxing is therefore the ultimate solution for disaster / recovery and production preparation in a production setting, enabling every available studio to be used as a back-up studio, even when the hardware installed isn’t the same.

Visit the L-S-B Broadcast Technologies Cabsat stand at Booth 420 in Hall 4.

Visit the L-S-B Broadcast Technologies website for more information.

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