August 28th, 2009
— Jesse-Leigh Elford
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1 comment
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.
Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens’ welfare - they will receive tremendous profits if they can make the aliens’ awesome weaponry work. So far, they have failed; activation of the weaponry requires alien DNA.
The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable - he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp, Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, Produced by Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham. Executive Producers Ken Kamins, Bill Block, Paul Hanson and Elliot Ferwerda. Cast. Sharlto Copley and David James - writing studio
Those of you who have seen District 9, post your thoughts on the film here…
August 28th, 2009
— Jesse-Leigh Elford
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0 comments
ZoopyTV bought us this exclusive tour of the Cape Town Film Studios;
The Cape Town Film Studios is by the far the most ambitious film making initiative to grace African shores. Backed by Anant Singh (VideoVision) and Marcel Golding, the large scale studio complex will be on par with the biggest and best studio complexes on the world. With an escalating budget now reaching the 500 million Rand mark, the project hopes to change the face of the African continent by providing world class film making facilities that will allow for big-budget productions to take place throughout the year.
Zoopy met with the CEO for the Cape Town Film Studios, Mr Nico Dekker for an exclusive tour of the site. According to Mr. Dekker the first phase of the studios will be complete by March 2010.
August 28th, 2009
— Jesse-Leigh Elford
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0 comments
Scripting a short film
“A short film, like a short story, can’t waste any time. You need to give us your principal characters and establish their motivations immediately. There’s very little stage-setting before you get to the inciting incident and the ensuing complications.
The hero’s fundamental problem/challenge/obstacle needs to occur by the time you get to the 1/3rd mark. So, if your short is meant to be three minutes long, the big event needs to happen on page one. If it’s a 10-minute short, it happens around page three. It’s not that you’re worried about your reader getting bored before then — if you can’t entertain us for three pages, there’s a problem — but rather that if you delay any longer, your story is going to feel lopsided: too much setup for what was accomplished.
Beyond that, I wouldn’t worry much about traditional structural expectations. Funny almost always works better than serious for a short, because there’s not enough time to create the narrative movement you expect in drama. But there are exceptions. The Red Balloon for example. And I loved Walter Salles’ chapter in Paris, je t’aime, which was simply a sad rhyme.1
So think funny, or poignant — but only if French.
I’ve put the script for my 1998 short film God up in the Downloads section.2 It’s 30 scenes in 11 pages. A lot of story happens, quickly. But many successful shorts take the opposite tack: they’re essentially just one joke, fully exploited. Todd Strauss-Schulson’s Jagg Off is that kind of short, as are most of the SNL and Will Ferrell videos you’ve seen.
For the competition you’re entering, however, I’d be careful not to submit anything that felt too much like a comedy sketch. If I were a judge, I’d be looking for a script that doesn’t seem like it could end up on Saturday Night Live. (Or the British equivalent.)
Good luck!” - john august
John takes us through adaptations and picking projects in these videos from his personal blog. enjoy.
Part One/
Part Two/
johnaugust.com- (a ton of useful information about screenwriting)
The Public Pool cut the footage of our first Forum, The Changing Landscape, and I posted them to Vimeo today, for your watching pleasure;
1. The Forum - Introduction/
Louw Venter our panel moderator takes us through the forum introduction:
2. The Forum - Landscape/
Zaheer Goodman Bhayat, producer and panelist on the forum had a lot to say about our current industry:
3. The Forum - Local is lekker/
Pam from Zoopy, made a comment regarding cinema in SA and that “Local is Lekker”. Simon Hansen whom I quote often in my blog, had something to say about that statement:
4. The Forum - Writing/
Getting into the nitty-gritty of where it starts, and our inspiration for the next Forum, Zaheer talked about writing. The idea that writers have this space where they can “just write what I love” does not exists. If you really want to do that either starve, live with your parents or get better and have people pay you.
5. The Forum - Paradigm/
Lastly Simon talks about shifting our paradigms. Having an idea of something is fine but if your idea isn’t the same as reality its not reality that’s wrong. If you want to live in your ideas then change your reality paradigm and come up with something unique and with value.
On Thursday night, 23 July, the Forum film community went live at Red Light Studios in Maitland with “The Changing Landscape”. SAMDB had the privilege to attend this new film industry iniative.
The informative, thought provoking and heated discussions, were centered around exploring the changing landscape of film in South Africa and the potential to shift paradigms as filmmakers. The debate was also broadcast live on www.justin.tv.
The dynamic panel consisted of producer Zaheer Goodman Bhayat, Simon Hansen (Co-produced Alive in Joburg on which District 9 is based), Pam, CEO of Zoopy and director Hein de Vos. The evening was interactive, allowing the audience to discuss a variety of issues it faced. Catch selected video clips of “The Changing Landscape” on www.theforumsa.com in the very near future.
Towards the end of the evening we sat riveted in our chairs for a screening of selected scenes from Hein De Vos’ Orgie. The subject matter is alive with drama, steamy scenes and brings home that actions have consequences. It is an Afrikaans film with English subtitles, allowing local Afrikaans talent to convey the film’s message from a place of truth. Keep a look out for “Orgie” and this up and coming director, Hein de Vos.
The Forum is based on the idea of gathering and sharing resources and ideas for the individual and the greater good of the South African film industry. “I guess it’s a bit like Ubuntu, and where does the idea of I-am-because-we-are play out more definitively than in the art of filmmaking?” (Louw Venter, Forum member)
We left feeling positive about the future of this ever growing industry and excited about the emerging talent and like minded individuals this country has to offer the future of film.
The next event will take place in late September, and The Forum would welcome your ideas and suggestions on what direction the next one should take. “The Forum is yours - please use it.” Comment on the site www.theforumsa.com or email them at info@theforumsa.com.
August 2nd, 2009
— Jesse-Leigh Elford
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5 comments
Be Phat Motel Productions is an up and coming collaboration between a number of South Africa’s hottest young industry professionals. Be Phat are making waves through consistent high-end work and an ability to think outside of the box, squeezing the maximum potential out of every project and never sacrificing production value. “Quality over quantity” and a desire to push the boundaries of the film industry, conceptually, visually and narratively are the driving forces behind Be Phat Motel.
Sean Drummond - Writer/Producer
Michael Matthews - Director
Shaun Lee - Cinematographer
Daniel Mitchell - Editor
Look out for the talented bephatmotel group, they truly have what it takes to make great films.
The Lambda Child is a project the guys have been working on for a few years now, actor Garret Dillahunt signed on to The Lambda Child, as the bad guy, Edward. You might have seen him in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” starring alongside Brad Pitt, or in the oscar winning “No Country for Old Men” last year.
Lambda is bephatmotel’s long term project, In the meantime they are moving forward with “5 Fingers for Marseilles”, a smaller film with a very original concept and treatment.
“5 Fingers For Marseilles is the one we’re really pushing forward at the moment. There’s an interesting development and production model/plan for it. We want to go into production on it march/april next year” - Michael Matthews
We hear the guys will be shooting on red, we will definitely have to get them in for a Q&A; some time and post it to the forum.
Here’s some poster art work for the meantime…
The Forum will become a much needed online meeting place for film people from across a host of disciplines within the business. Why? Because film is the epitome of collaborative art - no collaboration, no art - and that means no movies.
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa’s District 9 as the world’s nations argued over what to do with them.
