stunts and special effects (sFX) have over time

Smoke and mirrors SA style
By Andy Stead
Stunts and special effects (SFX) have over time become more realistic and lifelike as technology
has developed and as the viewing audience has become more discerning. It is rare these days to
see a film or commercial that does not exhibit some form of this art, and the local industry is no
exception.
S
outh Africa is fortunate in having a
depth of knowledge and experience
in this area, and indeed specialists
exist in all major regions. The ability
to perform some of the stunts and SFX seen
on many features and commercials requires
very specialised skills, professionalism and in
some cases, a degree of risk and danger. Local
companies are well up to the task.
Franz Spillhaus, partner in Pyranha
Stunts and WIRED Camera & Stunt Flying
Systems, believes in continual development.
Spillhaus is both a stunt and rigging coordinator and has worked on the recently
aired Sasol rugby commercial, which
portrays the Springbok rugby team as a band
of muscular ‘creature’ type figures.
“We continue to develop our equipment
and techniques to bring more spectacular
shots to the screen and provide the director
with greater options than in the past. We
pride ourselves on our high level of skill and
dedication in creating the perfect shot for the
scene,” says Spillhaus.
Leon Breytenbach, partner/owner of
Motion Picture FX and Stunts, has been in
the SFX and stunt industry for 30 years and
employs seven main members. He specialises
in all forms of SFX and driving (both bikes
and cars) as well as rigging and burns. “We
showed a steady growth in this past year
with most of the work being done in Africa –
countries such as Senegal, Morocco, Rwanda,
Namibia and Mozambique. We completed
effects for the movie Black in Dakar, Seven of
Deran in South Africa and Shake Hand with
the Devil in Rwanda. We have also done a PG
glass advertisement in South Africa.”
Johannesburg-based Lee-Anne
Liebenberg, owner of Stunts 4 Reel CC,
started by advertising herself initially,
then developed into a stunt company, and
relocated to Cape Town. Liebenberg expands:
“I returned to Johannesburg and now have
a team of five regulars with whom I work
and who are freelance talent. I use a field of
qualified specialists for requirements such as
precision driving and the like. I am a qualified
professional stunt performer and have been
for 17 years. I do all stunt disciplines including
precision driving, car chases, car rolls, high
falls, burns, fight choreography, wire work
and all round stunting. I don’t do SFX.”
Action Worx Stunt and Safety
Specialists has been in existence since 2000
and Nic Grigg, the company’s managing
member, works out of northern Johannesburg. “I don’t have permanent staff, but have
a group of freelance stunt people that I call
on for their individual expertise and looks.
I also use professionals for stunts involving
skateboarding, rally driving, rock climbing
36
SCREENAFRICA – October 2007
MOTION PICTURE FX AND STUNTS – Explosive action
ACTION WORX – A well excecuted knock-out punch
and the like. We are a company with resources that allow us to span the field of stunts
and safety, and we don’t specialise in any one
thing. I don’t believe any stunt company in
this country could survive if they had to specialise in any one discipline – however, hav-
ing said that, I do a lot of work with animals
and children.”
Sensei Thulani Ndlovu, MD of
Dimensional Stunt School (DSS) in Cape
Town, specialises in stunt training, facilitating
and assessment and has been practising for
the past seven years. The school has three full
time staff, six facilitators and claims to offer
the highest standards of stunt training in
Africa, in keeping with international health
and safety standards.
“DSS graduates have been involved in
PYRANHA STUNTS – Franz Spillhaus with rig
numerous productions this year ranging from
Live Springbok Shows to Hitman, Starship
Troopers and Generation Kill. I have also
worked on Penguin Films’ Shooting Stars,
where I was a stunt co-ordinator and fight
choreographer,” notes Ndlovu.
Anthony ‘MO’ Marais, owner of Stunt
Network based in Cape Town, specialises
in stunt work for film and television. One of
Sasol commercial
his most notable achievements was to coordinate the 2000 Fox Sports TV commercial
that garnered a Gold Award at Cannes Lions
in the same year.
“I have been in the business since I was
16, when I was one of 13 kids chosen to
work professionally in Europe. I later joined
Circus Triberti in Italy where I worked for six
months. In 1985 I returned to South Africa
and turned my hand to film.
“I assisted Keith Anderson in training the
Upside Down People for King Solomon’s
Mines, starring Richard Chamberlain, and
together with Anderson also did stunt and
aerial co-ordination for the feature films
Survivor and My African Dream with Dom
Delouise. We have recently completed Star
Ship Troopers 3, Flashbacks of a Fool and The
Deal, and are in pre-production for Scorpion
King.”
Antony Stone of Big Bang Stunts has
been working on Generation Kill for a little
over six months. “The movie is a book made
into a TV series about the American army in
the Iraqi war, produced by HBO, Company
Pictures and Lance Samuels’ Out of Africa.
– continued on page 38
STUNTS 4 REEL – Lee-Anne Liebenberg
DIMENSIONAL STUNT SCHOOL – An armed hitman
Future prospects
Continued from page 37
The show is wall to wall explosions and
bullet hits. Our work so far has been
loved by all. We have done some massive
set-ups and explosions. We have a great
deal coming up which I am really looking
forward to.”
38
SCREENAFRICA – October 2007
The list is impressive, but the question
must be asked – is there enough work to go
around, and what are the prospects for the
future?
Liebenberg comments: “Business has
been slow this year, but the odd commercial
has kept us going. TV productions in
Johannesburg have also been good to me. I
have taken off a few months to act and start
a sideline business, so there has not been
growth for me this year.”
Spilhaus sees things differently. “Business
has been very good in this past year and
continues to grow as the year moves on.
We have found that the commercial scene
has improved over the last year and feature
films seem very promising for the months to
come.”
Grigg agrees. “We have been quite busy in
the past year and are very busy at present. I
have been doing a lot of safety work of late,
but not a lot of stunt work as such. Because of
this I have lost some of my permanent crew
to ‘normal’ nine to five jobs.
Ndlovu attributes the slight growth to the
elements and concludes. “There has been
growth, however it’s not much different to
last year. Maybe the rain and the cold in Cape
Town is a contributing factor.”
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BROADCAST
Being a global player
President of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) International LOUISE SAMS was in South Africa
recently to present the CNN African Journalist of the Year Awards. JOANNA STERKOWICZ spoke
to Sams, who is also executive vice-president and general counsel for TBS Int, about the company’s
international operations and staying at the forefront of the rapidly changing media environment.
A
worldwide operator of entertainment,
animation and news networks and
businesses, several of TBS’s best
known brands, such as the 24-hour
news service CNN, TCM (Turner Classic
Movies), Cartoon Network and the classic
cartoon channel Boomerang, are available
to African TV viewers via MultiChoice
Africa’s DStv bouquet. In the Europe/Middle
East/Africa region alone, TBS, an American
company owned by Time Warner, broadcasts
26 entertainment channels in 15 languages
(subtitled or dubbed) across approximately
100 countries. It is also active in Latin
America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.
TBS International president Louise Sams
said it’s difficult to say which is Turner’s
most successful brand because it varies
from region to region. “For example, our
TNT (Turner Network Television) general
entertainment network is extremely strong
in Latin America. Certainly the CNN brand
is a global one that brings with it quality and
objective journalism. But we also have very
strong children’s brands such as Cartoon
Network. I believe our brands are generally
recognised as quality ones.”
According to Sams, TBS is currently
looking at opportunities for expansion into
Africa. “However, this is a challenging market
for us because of the logistics of pay-TV on a
still developing continent. We will be looking
at alternative platforms in Africa, particularly
the increase in the number of mobile handsets
in Africa by 2010.
“In terms of mobile TV, our programmers
are in the process of deciding on the most
suitable types of programming for this
platform. The news genre is very suited
to mobile [CNN Mobile was re-launched
in February this year] and it’s clear from
research that cartoons are popular on mobile
phones. Shorter form content is definitely the
way to go. We’ve found in other markets that
the Cartoon Network interactive games work
really well on mobile.
“The pace of mobile TV take-up is
dependent on the types of handsets available
in the various markets. Europe is our real test
bed for mobile – the US is lagging behind
in 3G technology and the opportunities it
offers.”
Sams emphasised that for any media
company to grow, it has to embrace the latest
technologies, which make content more
accessible to consumers and offer mobility
“We will be looking at alternative
platforms in Africa, particularly the
increase in the number of mobile
handsets in Africa by 2010.” – Louise Sams
and convenience. “I think TBS has been good
on the issue of exploiting all the platforms.
We’ve done IPTV (Internet Protocol TV)
deals in Europe and Asia, although this
platform is not really in Latin America yet.
Telecommunications companies have gone
into Latin America with IPTV in mind
but end up opting for satellite TV instead
because of the regulatory environment and
the resistance of incumbent operators to new
players.
“TBS is currently working on lots of VOD
(video on demand) and/or subscription video
distribution deals in US, Europe and Asia,
wherever technology allows it in fact. The
TBS VOD offering differs in each market
– sometimes it is a catch-up service of linear
programming, while other offerings are pure
on-demand.”
New genres
Diversifying from its traditional kids/
films/news businesses into new genres, in
September Turner launched NUTSTV in the
UK, in conjunction with IPC Media. This is a
new men’s multi-platform television channel,
inspired by NUTS, the UK’s best selling
weekly men’s magazine.
“It’s not unusual for us to get into other
genres. For example, in the US we have
two strong entertainment channels,” noted
Sams. “We go into new genres to broaden
our portfolio and we are big on servicing
underserved demographics such as young,
hip males in the UK for example.
In India we saw an opportunity
to launch a children’s channel
specifically for that market. Our
channel Pogo is all about uplifting
Indian children.”
In terms of designing its brands,
TBS is always looking at brands
launched in the US to see if they
will translate to other markets, and
vice versa. “However, this doesn’t
mean a linear channel in the US will
necessarily become a linear channel
in India, especially when broadband
really takes off there. When launching any
new network you look at the competition
and the market and find something unique
to offer. Our Indian brand Pogo is wonderful
in that way as it very empowering for local
children,” commented Sams.
Original content
Although much of the entertainment
programming on TBS brands is licensed,
the company recognises the importance
of having original programming on its
networks. “But it has to be consistent with
the brand proposition,” stressed Sams. “All of
the branding and creative around the Pogo
brand, for instance, is done entirely in-house
by an amazingly creative team who got the
channel up and running in a very short space
of time. There is licensed programming on
Pogo as well as original programming that
has been outsourced.
“We have just launched a development
unit for original production in London to
develop and produce animation content for
our networks. This development comes as a
result of significant investment, which has
been provided in an effort to increase the
amount of wholly-owned Turner content
originating outside the US.
“Of course original content is more
expensive, but it’s a very competitive market
out there with so many new channels
launching all the time. So it makes sense to
originate programming and own the rights.
It’s also easier for us to exploit original content
on other platforms. However, with TNT in
Latin America we won’t produce our own
dramatic content; rather we have excellent
relationships with local distributors. We
try to be opportunistic in terms of original
content.”
A case in point is Turner’s co-production
venture with the UK’s Kindle Entertainment
for the live action children’s comedy series
My Spy Family for the Boomerang network.
Regarding the advent of PVRs (personal
video recorders) which allow viewers to skip
commercials, Sams noted that Turner is not
seeing a material effect on its programming.
“We were very concerned about PVRs when
they were first introduced but the adverse
effects just haven’t occurred. However, we
will certainly watch any such technology
for both potential issues as well as potential
opportunities for our programming. We fully
expect that PVRs and DVRs (digital video
recorders) will continue to be rolled out since
these are consistent with the on-demand
direction in which video appears to be going.
“We have always been very creative with
our advertisers across our networks in terms
of doing more than the 30-second spot to
the extent that the advertiser, the network
and the programming can coalesce in more
than that. We are not averse to sponsored
programming, provided that we can balance
the needs of the advertiser with the network
brand and the demands/expectations of our
viewers.”
However rapidly changing the environment, Sams was adamant that much of
what has worked before in the broadcasting domain, will continue to work. “This includes strong brands and programming and
sensitivity to the consumer – the latter will
determine how we change our offering as
consumers are going to want to watch more
on demand content. Through all the clutter
out there people will find their way to quality
programming.”
“Of course original content is more expensive, but it’s a very competitive market
out there with so many new channels launching all the time. So it makes sense to
originate programming and own the rights. It’s also easier for us to exploit original
content on other platforms.” – Louise Sams
40
SCREENAFRICA – October 2007