crossmakere: September 2012

Sunday 30 September 2012

Melissa - Behind The Scene Pictures

Directors Monitor, Idols Top 2 Melissa

Melissa on set for official music video to her new single, “I Could Spend a Lifetime”

Both Khaya and Melissa's music videos were shot at the same time, on the same day in different locations. My producing partner Jobie Bakama was handling the Melissa set while I was solving production issues for Khaya's set. Mushroom Media produced the video and Callback Dreams were the Supervising Producers.
"We Shoot Pretty Pictures."

Khaya Mthethwa - Move Music Video Behind The Scene

Just before Boity fell while doing this scene, Yeaaah she does her own stunts.

The shower scene

On stand-by for the rain scene

Khaya Mthethwa and Boity getting ready to be rained on

Directors monitor

Driving and Crying Scene.

Idols E.N.G crew shooting their insert for the main show

Shoes! Move! Poetic!

Tebogo Malope's storyboard

Last shot of the day

First shot of the day and Boity had to cry early in the morning

The Team, CallBack Dreams and Tebogo Malope

Gavin Wratten the executive producer and director of Idols SA asked Callback Dreams to produce music videos for the Idols Top 2. This was discussed four weeks before the final two was announced and that is what made it more tricky. The teams were tasked with writing treatments for songs they had no heard or the top two that did not yet exist. We had to assemble the best team to execute this task and we picked Warwick Allen and Tebogo Malope to direct the two music videos.

Once the Idols contestants were trimmed down to top four and Universal had already picked the possible singles the directors had to submit their treatments. Once Tshidi was voted out, the treatments had to be locked down and they had to be generic in accommodating the possible top two, because in the show there were still three competitors being Melissa, Khaya and Monde.

Warick Allen's concept could accommodate Melissa or Monde if Khaya went through to the top two. Tebogo Malope's treatment could also accommodate Khaya or Monde if Melissa was also in the two. We had to prepare for any possible scenario.

We wanted to shoot both videos on the Alexa because they make post-production very easy but we could only find one in JHB and so we had to use the Red Epic for Khaya Mthethwa's video. The Red Epic can be a nightmare for post and shooting on 4k made it more interesting too. We did not have the luxury of transcoding for two days. The footage had to converted immediately after we shoot to start cutting the next day. We only had two and half days to deliver the final product after we shoot. Offline, online edits, grading, play-outs had to be done in a few days.

The teams had 8 hours to prepare for full shoot after the results show on Tuesday night. This meant we had to adjust call-sheets, make-up personnel, styling, cameos, extra's where needed and make last minute calls to have successful shoot day.

The most challenging factor was finding suitable location for the concepts. Locations were booked in the 11th hour and they had to be reece'd by the art department and the DOP's and make adjustments where necessary.

Post production was seamless because all the systems were put into place on time because who ever was in the top two, editing and grading was going to be needed.

The links for the final products Enjoy!!!:

Mellissa's Music video for her debut single "I Could Spend A Lifetime."

http://idolssa.dstv.com/Video/Play.aspx?vid=149144

Khay Mthethwa's debut single "Move."

http://idolssa.dstv.com/Video/Play.aspx?vid=149154

Wednesday 19 September 2012

I Can Write A Business Chapter On This....The After Party

This has been a very interesting project and that is an understatement. One day I will write a full article on it and teach....let me stop before I say too much. Let me just see how this plays out. It does not matter how it will end, it will just make a very interesting reading and give life lessons. Ya Ne!!!

Griffin Session Seven Heroes

Garth (He did the online edit and graphics for Proverbs Writers Club) and I shooting Griffin Sessions seven docies.

The Griffin Sessions lower third, this project was approved, paid for but never flighted. I don't know how I should feel. Wasted weekend I guess. Garth designed this in an hour, it makes me wonder why am I always waiting for some graphics people to deliver on time. SMH!!

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Makere Then, Makere Now

Young Makere aka Lil Makere

Old Makere

Big Makere

I look so sad but this is a celebration outing with the team after Proverb signed a licencing deal with Universal Music for FourthWrite.

Melina4u

Melina Sings

She is one of the most talented vocalist and songwriter I have ever come across. I call her the hit machine. She has amassed over 1.8 million hits on the net. Check out her music right here www.melina4u.com. Ooh she is also featured on the smash single by Proverb titled Legacy.

Original African Stories 2 #OAS2 08 October 2012

Her majesty is in the building

Zahara - Loliwe

Naija's first lady of rap Mo Cheddah

OAS2 has been a very stress free project to work on, we have learnt from the mistakes of the first season. This season we have shot in SA, Nigeria and added Kenyan artists. Unfortunately we could not make it to Uganda because there was an Ebola outbreak so we just stayed in Kenya for few more days and sampled the local culture. If we get renewed for the third season we will definatly travel to UG. We have already shot 80% of the season and post-production is going very smooth. A strong team is an underrated concept.
Hope you enjoy, webisodes will also be uploaded on the Channel O website.
Callback Dreams / Square Leg "We Shoot Pretty Pictures"

Writers Club in the background - Lets play "Spot Makere"

This music video was one of the most dramatic experience on a set ever for me as a producer. Trying to execute a very complicated storyboard is not the easiest task and I am glad we pulled it off. This video was in pre-production for four months (trying to get all the cameos for one day is a very interesting experience , they all have very hectic schedules and getting funding for an expensive project does not take a day), the shoot was one day and four months in post-production (the fastest process was the grading, but graphics had to be re-done four times, we had to fly someone from Cape Town to see through the original vision, because the first graphics were not working for the project). It was the first time the production was using the Red Epic and this camera is not post-production friendly. Transcoding the footage takes days. We went through the budget like Bill Gates was funding it. We even lost track of how much we were spending, we had gone to far to turn back. Jobie my business partner and I aged a few years just putting this music video together. We had to see this vision through and I am glad and relieved we achieved that.

Proverb - Writers Club, is an art piece.