Don't be a sheep

Running my business for over 20 years, you learn stuff.
Reinvent, reinvest, rejuvenate, relearn - you gotta keep ahead of the flock.
'The only constant is change' - 'adapt or die' - wouldn't want it any other way!
So bring it on, lets do the joust and dance with the swords and if perchance I'm lanced, so be it!
Rather to chase the thrill than resign to the prescribed future of comfortable grazing and a certain end.
Deon

Joie de Vivre my bru

A few months back, a chain of events led to me getting a text from the beach about a French crew looking for an old surfer - so I was the natural choice...thanks okes!
Castings, clothing, catering, cappuccinos -  a run down Long Beach with a great bunch of people  - and then we did it again...and again. Heres the ad.
Fun to be in front of the cameras for a change.
Deon
www.bingdigital.co.za

Make a plan

So whaddaya do? After 20 years, you still get the call to do a quick shoot and edit, knowing that its still going to have to look decent when you're done and its your ass on the line...How quick? Less than 24 hours! But you get older and wiser and the learning curve isn't so steep anymore, if you put the plans in place - like an edit suite where we're shooting. And taking control early on on the non negotiables if we're going to meet the deadline. So we lit, directed, shot and edited, included pack shots and client endorsements and got it done in the day. DVDs in her hand and back on the first flight to Jozi.
Price, Timing and Quality - the say that you can have two of the three...but I think we nailed them all!
Deon
www.bingdigital.co.za

Who's the audience?

Often the challenge of putting a production together is determining the audience. It's often obvious to me, but there are role players of varying persuasion in these meetings that have a view that might not be objective, not see the bigger picture of what needs to be communicated, and how to do it. The skill is in offering options and persuading the group to agree on the most appropriate solution. Not what you learned in film school...
However the picture above is not one of those situations.
Lutz is clear in what is required, he has worked with the children at Hokisa for many years and has presented our DVD at various fundraisers in Europe - covered all the bases. What a pleasure to work with! This was the first run through of their new 2012 version, showing their progress over the last 10 years since I've started with them. And even though the kids aren't our target audience, it's fantastic to hear them laughing and enjoying the production - and be proud to have been part of it.
I know I am.
Deon

On the streets

Theres a script and a visualisation - a plan. But then you hit the streets to execute it and something magical happens, Don't know if its Cape Town, but something pops, and new ideas emerge. The skill is to understand what will add to the story, enhance the visuals and drop into the edit. And even then, there'll be some pretty cool stuff left over that'll probably have fitted better into a music video...but what fun to shoot!

Hokisa update

An open gate policy at Hokisa in Masiphumelele, where kids come to visit and play with the others that stay there. I'm busy with the updated video to help with their foreign fundraising efforts. When we did the previous one ten years ago, there were a lot of sick children being cared for. Now they're a bunch of healthy teenagers, playing soccer, listening to music and doing homework - seriously! They've just added a new extension - another success story!
Deon