Since Flamedrop Productions and Shadow Realm, inc. conceived the South African HORRORFEST Film Festival in 2005, Visual Impact / Magus / HD Hub have been on board in support of South African movie-makers as sponsors of the short film competition.
It was only natural that they would be the first choice when it came to the production requirements of a three-part shoot attached to the event, which turns the Labia Theatre on Orange Street, Cape Town into the ultimate Halloween location every year.
Flamedrop Productions, in co-operation with Cosmesis Advanced Prosthetic Studio, and Magic Hour Productions created an exciting promo clip for the 2009 South African HORRORFEST to fit into its werewolf theme of that year.
Check out the first part of the HORRORFEST promo clip produced in 2009 below.
This monster however had grown into more than that with the expansion of the promo to take the transformation journey several steps further, also molding the piece into a music video for the TERMINATRYX song “Virus”, as well as a short film. In addition to Visual Impact’s involvement, Furry Wood Productions and Silver Bullet Lighting were also on board, together with special FX magician Kevin Bitters.
The first HORRORFEST promo clip was shot on the Canon 5D in October 2009. To continue the quality with the new expanded part and Terminatryx music video, another camera was simply not an option. This production was one of the first to use Visual Impact’s new Canon 5D Mark II camera and as expected it performed wonderfully.
With the bulk of the strictly night scenes and detailed special make-up FX across one grueling, freezing weekend (with the exception of two additional daytime shoots), time was of the essence. While more set-ups than usual were successfully executed in the allowed time (chased by the sun for the final night shot!), the Canon 5D allowed far more to be crammed in without sacrificing quality.
1) L-R: PAUL BLOM (Director), CLINTON SMITH (Special Make-Up FX & Prosthetics), MARNUS TREDOUX (DOP) with the Canon 5D. 2) MARNUS TREDOUX (DOP) with the Canon 5D 3) L-R: MARNUS TREDOUX (DOP), PAUL BLOM (Director)
Besides the night shoots, many other aspects made the Canon 5D Mark II the preferred camera for Director Of Photography Marnus Tredoux:
“The Canon 5D Mark II is my first choice because of its full frame sensor at the most affordable price. It opens up infinite possibilities for independent and lower budget filmmakers such as myself. It’s INCREDIBLE in low light (I can shoot relatively low noise images on up to 2500 ISO), lenses are interchangeable and the skin tones look amazing. It produces better images than any other camera in its price range and many other cameras 10 times its price. It’s small and mobile!”
Once operators use this beauty of a camera, it is hard for them to turn back, as Marnus continues:
“Everything else about this camera is great. It’s better in low light than any other HD camera I have seen. It has superior skin tones. There is no record delay, which is a huge plus. The Canon costs far less than other comparable HD cameras. Because of its essentially modular qualities, the Canon will be as costly as you can afford to have it be. For reasonably little money, you can get shooting with a superior camera.”
1) L-R: PAUL BLOM (Director), KEVIN BITTERS (Special FX), JIVAAN MATTEI (Camera Assistant), CLINTON SMITH (Special Make-Up FX & Prosthetics), MARNUS TREDOUX (DOP), SONJA RUPPERSBERG (The Werewolf) 2) L-R: SONJA RUPPERSBERG (The Werewolf), PAUL BLOM (Director) 3) SONJA RUPPERSBERG (The Werewolf)
The addition of the 7” monitor as viewfinder also makes things a lot easier, as special make-up FX and prosthetics artist Clinton Smith from Cosmesis noticed: “One often takes it for granted that the image is crisp, until it gets blown up! From my side it is important being able to spot flaws on micro-levels to ensure an absolutely convincing result.”
While nothing is ever perfect when taking on a piece of technology, shortcomings can easily be remedied:
“There are drawbacks,” explains Tredoux, “The Canon doesn’t record proper sound and its images are quite compressed, so it becomes very time consuming in post to decompress the footage and to re-encode it. Because of its compression, the footage does not stand well under heavy grading.”
Separate audio recording as done with celluloid is nothing new however, and good production time planning will allow for footage decompression.
With the special make-up FX used on this shoot, including artificial blood, colour is of the essence:
“You can set the Canon up to your specific colour requirements,” Tredoux explains”, “but the presets are great already. You get rich colours, and as mentioned, great skin tones!”
When it comes to capturing detail of the special make-up FX, Smith says, “For the size, price and easy movement, the 5D delivers awesome results – you can move around easily and still get high quality images, even in low light. The crispness allows for every pore to be visible – this allows you to spot imperfections in your work, and still takes some getting used to!
For those concerned with depth of field issues, Marnus’ experience leads him to conclude, “Because of the Canon’s full frame sensor, the camera produces a superb soft shallow depth of field. When shooting with one of Canon’s L Series 2.8 lenses, the depth of field becomes super shallow and it opens up a world of creative options. Slap a cheap lens baby shift and tilt onto the camera and achieve previously prohibitively expensive and exclusive shots for your music videos.”
Overall the Canon 5D Mark II’s user friendliness is yet another perk. “The camera is ridiculously easy to use!” Tredoux beams, but there are a few things to look out for: “Focus pulling and handheld is the only thing that can get challenging at times. The Canon lenses are stills lenses primarily. The focus ring has very little scope and you literally have a few cm to pull accurate focus. This can make precision focusing difficult at times.”
Clinton Smith feels “this is a camera I would definitely use in the future, not only to push boundaries within myself and my FX, but also the capacity of the camera itself!”
With more projects in the pipeline for the co-operative team of Flamedrop Productions, Cosmesis, and Magic Hour, chances are slim that it will not involve the use of a Canon 5D!
29 July to 5 August marks the inaugural dates of a new life-altering documentary film festival by Flamedrop Productions, hitting the screens at The Labia Theatre, Cape Town. The various brave and determined filmmakers pull no punches as they tackle subjects that affect us all and the planet we share.
These highly acclaimed and award-winning movies include: MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN (debut SA theatrical run) [ Screened daily from 29 JULY - 5 AUGUST ] Michael Campbell is one of the few hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe since President Robert Mugabe began his violent ‘Land Reform’ program in 2000. Since then the country has descended into chaos. The filmmakers took their freedom and lives in their hands as they documented Campbell’s fight against the government. (Lawyer Jeremy Gauntlett who assisting with the making of the movie will handle a Q&A at the opening screening on 29 July. If Ben Freeth, another main contributor to the making of the documentary can get here from Harare, he will also be present, otherwise phone interviews can be arranged).
VICKTORY TO THE UNDERDOG (SA Theatrical Premiere) [ FRI 30 JUL 6:15pm / WED 4 AUG 8:30pm ] Award-winning rebel tattoo artist Brandon Bond and his colleagues took it upon themselves to rescue & rehab some of the over 70 pit bulls used in the illegal dog fighting ring facilitated by convicted football star Michael Vick. Standing up for underdogs in all walks of life, this movie proves the classic cliché of not judging a book by its cover, be it human beings or dogs. Also features Danny Trejo, Michael Berryman, Pixie Acia and Donal Logue.
GAS HOLE (SA Theatrical Premiere) [ SAT 31 JUL 6:15pm / TUES 3 AUG 6:15pm / THUR 5 AUG 8:30pm ] A new documentary about the history of Oil prices and the future of alternative fuels. The film, narrated by Peter Gallagher, features interviews with a wide range of viewpoints from US Department of Energy Officials, Congressional leaders, Alternative Fuel Producers, Alternative Fuel Consumers (such as actor Joshua Jackson), Professors of Economics & Psychology and more… Why are alternative fuels and more efficient engines not being implemented more widely, and who stands to gain…?
I.O.U.S.A. (SA Theatrical Premiere) [ SAT 31 JUL 8:30pm / MON 2 AUG 6:15pm ] What affects the US economy, affects the world. Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation’s financial practices and policies.
Be afraid… ZEITGEIST – THE MOVIE [ SAT 31 JUL 4pm ] and ZEITGEIST – ADDENDUM [ SUN 1 AUG 4pm ] ‘Zeitgeist – The Movie’ and ‘Zeitgeist – Addendum’ were created to communicate highly important social understandings which most of the world’s population are generally not aware of. The first film focuses on suppressed historical & modern information about currently dominant social institutions, while also exploring what could be in store for humanity if the power structures at large continue their patterns of self-interest, corruption, and consolidation. The second film, Zeitgeist: Addendum, attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption, while offering a solution. This solution is not based on politics, morality, laws, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, but rather on a modern, non-superstitious based understanding of what we are and how we align with nature, to which we are a part. The work advocates a new social system which is updated to present day knowledge, highly influenced by the life long work of Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project.
THE THREAT – La Minaccia (SA Theatrical Premiere) [ SUN 1 AUG 6:15pm / MON 2 AUG 8:30pm / WED 4 AUG 6:15pm ] “Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Revolution are the greatest threat since the time of the Soviet Union and communism” > Doctrine for Asymmetric War Against Venezuela, U.S. Army, 2006. This is the starting point for a journey across the country, which gave rise to the “red wave” in Latin America. Does Venezuela represent the dream of a new socialist society or is it just another distortion of populism and dictatorship?
UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US [ SUN 1 AUG 8:30pm / TUE 3 AUG 8:30pm / THUR 5 AUG 6:15pm ] This doccie tells the story of the controversial Black Metal music genre which was born in Norway and expanding across Europe (and the globe) during the 1990s, as a fiercely anti-religious barrage with a sonic overload. With highly publicized media cases of murder, suicide and church burnings associated with many of the bands, this evolution of the Heavy Metal genre made society sit up and take note once again, but not necessarily for the right reasons.
All tickets: R30 each Booking Tel: 021 424 5927 The Labia Theatre is a licensed venue and drinks from the bar can be taken into the cinemas For more movie info, trailers and the full DARING DOCCIES screening time schedule, click here. RSVP at the Facebook Event page and feel free to invite all your FB friends here. http://www.flamedrop.com/events
The DARING DOCCIES Documentary Film Festival 29 July – 5 August @ The LABIA Theatre 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town, ZA
Last week, the Cape Town Visual Impact Sales staff treated their co-workers to an evening at the Mother City’s favourite burlesque supper club: Vaudeville. The VI Sales staff wanted to say thank-you to the crew at Visual Impact who help to allow VI Sales to offer the service and support that it does. The sales staff, marketing staff, designers, engineers, technicians, receptionists all gathered to have an evening of fine dining and entertainment. “Without them”, says Ashleigh Martyn, “we would not be able to market our cameras, editing suites and consumables, we wouldn’t be able to offer after-sale support to the extent that we do, we wouldn’t be able to rig installations, repair damaged cameras or assist with training, and we want to say thanks for making our offering bigger than its ever been before.”
Greeted with a champagne cocktail, the crew stepped into the plush backdrop to what is known as the most entertaining feast in the city. In a world of fantasy and imagination where a penguin rules the floor, giant poodles roam and performers govern the stage, eyes were agog at the multi-genre entertainment that was to come.
Visual Impact staff enjoying the atmosphere of Vaudeville
Once everyone was seated, waitresses adorned with jewels, face paint and burlesque outfits presented a starter of breads, humus, aubergine dip, tzatziki, olives and salads. The mouth-watering entrée brought happy faces all round as the audience anticipated the show to begin.
Soon the ringmaster came on stage and transported the guests on a voyage through the weird and wonderful world that is Vaudeville. His favourite rule: there are no rules at Vaudeville. His second favourite rule: the most embellished table was to win a bottle of his finest house wine. No more than 30 seconds passed before the Visual Impact girls were getting their faces painted with flowers and glitter.
Glitz and glamour at Vaudeville
The performance began, and the crowd was stunned by the incredible show put on by the Vaudeville performers. While a main course of either roast lamb, seared fish or mushroom and pea risotto was served, the VI staff were entranced by sultry singers, hula-hoop fire dancers, tap dancers, singers, trapeze artists, break dancers, and other remarkable acts. Desert: a decadent chocolate mousse cake or apple pie. The two-hour show had its guests full of delicious food and in a dreamy state of mind where imagination takes over lethargy rules.
On Wednesday, 2 June 2010, local actors and filmmakers took to the streets of Heideveld in Cape Town, as production for Cape Creative’s latest film, ‘Coke Town’ got underway.
Set on the Cape Flats, Coke Town gives a birds-eye viewof the local criminal underworld and how George van Loeweren (played by Johann Vermaak), shadowed by bad decisions, comes face to face with Cape Town’s infamous Kingpin, Brows (played by Brendon Daniels). This locally produced film skips flimsy postcard imagery and takes you to the heart of the criminal underworld.
Other names to look out for are Chantal Stanfield, Brendan Murray and Keeno-Lee Hector. Coke Town was written and directed by Milton Schorr and Ruben Engel
and is aimed at creating a platform to showcase the fresh talent Cape Town’s film industry has to offer.
‘The most important aspect of any indie project is pre production. This counts for any project but more importantly for indie ones, due to their budget restraints. One can allow having no budget to either constantly stifle your options or develop your creative ingenuity. With experience one is able to write and produce scripts according to specific budget due to the critical understanding of the financial implications of any creative decisions.’
‘With coke town it was important for us to have a good rehearsal period with the actors on location and numerous technical recces with the HODs, due to our short available filming period. We knew that we would only have the time on set to capture what we had already set up and not have much time to discover any creativity. This is not preferable in any creative medium but a reality that needs to be accepted worked around. We made sure that our actors and technicals had a clear idea of the blocking and shotlist in pre production, thus working as a holistically informed unit on set.’
‘On the day there are always unforeseen delays to be accounted for, but having a clear idea of what needs to be achieved beforehand allows one to work around any stone that appears in your path. With the more manageable equipment package that the Canon 5D MK II demands, and the vigilant preparation, we were able to film 10 minutes of screen time in one 19 hour day’.
‘The team would like to thank Visual Impact for their involvement and sponsorship of rental equipment’
The film is set to premier in Cape Town on the 15th of July with the venue to be confirmed. Internet and television release is expected while touring the local film festivals first, then international ones.
Cape Creative is a dynamic media company that specializes in advanced media innovations. We conceive and create commercials, infomercials, corporate skits, short films and music videos
* latest news: Andre Landman has contacted Visual Impact, but then went silent and missed VI’s and another court case against him.There is a warrant is out for his arrest.
Dear Broadcast Professionals, Please be aware that Andre Landman and Linda Lotz have stolen a Sony HVR Z5E (serial number: 211200) camera kit from Visual Impact. They are claiming to trade as MEDIA VENTURES which is not their company. Visual Impact offers a R2500 reward for information leading directly to the return of the camera kit. Please find suspect details below: Andre Landman details: Identity number: 5306085071088 Passport number : 436647279 andreplandman@gmail.com Linda Lotz details: Linda Lotz 073 799 1504
I know this is probably old news to some, but I was browsing the internet this morning and came across something called the Sony HFR Comfort-3D. Take a look at this beauty:
Interchangeable lenses, high frame rates (up to 240fps) and complete 3d functionality. From what I understand this camera is useful for shooting both 3D as well as 2D, so it isn’t just a one-trick-pony! I was also always a little frightened about looking into 3Dcinematography simply because of the massively clunky setups that it seemed to require (2 individual offset lenses), but Sony have some up with a very clever system whereby using one lens and a prism inside the camera they split the left and right images which are recieved by 2 seperate CMOS chips.
Anatomy of the HFR Comfort-3D
Sony demonstrated the camera and it’s 3D effect to Japanese technology website SLASHGEAR, so go here to hear their experiences with it first hand.
This appears, to me at least, to be the way forward in terms of democratising 3D. Not only will it be much cheaper and much simpler to operate than complicated 2 lens rigs, but it will also allow cine’s to attach their favourite HD lenses to the camera and not drastically change their way of working.
Anyone involved in post production will tell you that it is an expensive business to be involved in. Software costs’ generally range from the ridiculous to the astronomical, so when, a few weeks ago, I began working on a project that I knew would entail footage captured off computer screens of Wikipedia as
well as Google Earth footage, that sinking feeling hit me in the pit of my stomach, and I could feel my wallet lightening as I read the brief. Now, not only would I have to find a piece of software that could do what I needed, but I would also have to fork out a small fortune for it.
Imagine my surprise when, lo and behold, I came across exactly what I was looking for and it wouldn’t cost me a cent. CamStudio is the software of which I speak, a freeware screen capturing utility that is perfect for capturing anything on a computer screen into any video format conceivable.
What makes this program so fantastic is that it is feature rich and doesn’t hog system resources. It
The list of region options in CamStudio
allows you to pick any video codec you have installed on your machine and record
your screen in one of 3 region settings. You can either “draw” out the region on the screen that you want CamStudio to capture, enter in the resolution of the Region that you want captured (great for capturing for editing later, as you can put in the exact resolution you need, and not waste space capturing more than you could possibly use) or use the Full Screen option.
This software appears to have been designed for creating Computer Training, so you can record either the audio from the computer, audio from an external microphone (narration for the on-screen action) or a combination of both. The Autopan option is also great – it makes the region follow the cursor, so the region will pan and scan around the screen and you won’t waste valuable screen space, instead focusing on the area of interest.
The Codec Preferences page in CamStudio
This software is well worth checking out. One important thing to note is that it seems to want to record everything at 200fps, so when you pull it into your NLE, just make sure you up the speed of the clip to 800% and everything should be back to realtime.
Interning at Visual Impact is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in terms of furthering my technical and practical knowledge of the film industry. The time I have spent at Visual Impact has been interesting and I would say that its a good choice for anyone interested in the industry.
Firstly, a little bit about myself. I am a proud South African and Capetonian. I was fascinated with the film industry ever since high school and after matriculating I attended CityVarsity, where I studied for two years for a diploma in Film and Television Production techniques.
Alfredo DasNeves, intern at Visual Impact
After getting my diploma I was looking for a job in the film industry, with very little success. I saw the Visual Impact crew portal advertisement on Facebook, and added myself. The opportunity to intern at Visual Impact came in a strange and unexpected way: my father did archery with Calvyn, an employee at Visual Impact, who said that I should intern in the rentals department for a while.
Visual Impact Rentals Crew
Interning at Visual Impact means you are most likely to be working in the rentals department with all the camera Equipment. On a daily basis you would basically help clients with carrying broadcast equipment, setting up displays, cleaning Equipment, checking equipment, sort equipment out and pack it away. With the amount of gear you get to carry, I saw it as a free gym as well, which is cool.
Now even though the diploma is sitting on my shelf at home I was amazed by how much I still had to learn. Most of it was just practical training with equipment. Visual Impact has a lot of digital Equipment, for one, more digital equipment than most local rental companies, never mind any tertiary educational institution.
You are exposed to camera equipment daily and the good practices for the film industry. Being on the floor and actually doing tasks assigned to you makes you learn how to work with the equipment fast, it makes you work more effective and efficiently. Then you start seeing reasons behind practices and principals used in the film & broadcasting industry.
Alfredo helping out with a monitor calibration exercise
You are taught important yet simple guidelines, such as how to roll up a cable correctly and the latch rule. Although this is very important on set I only learnt this when I came to Visual Impact. The discipline and quality that is expected of you on the rentals floor prepares you for work on set, making you a valuable asset to any job. The other great advantage of interning at Visual Impact is you keep your ear very close to the ground and you hear news in the film industry and you are aware of productions and opportunities in the industry.
I started in March 2010, and I tell you the two months I have been at Visual Impact has been not only educational but also good on a social level. All the key guys on the ground floor, Jac, Mo and Mo E, are all cool to get along with, open to questions and helpful. The other interns are also friendly faces and we all do our part to make sure everything is running as smooth as possible. Most of the other interns found out about the internship via the Cape Film Commission or via theBootcamp course run by the Visual Impact Academy .
Dennis Sidumo and Alfredo hanging out at Visual Impact's Film student networking event
Through my internship I also got the opportunity to attend the Visual Impact Academy Bootcamp. This was a great experience, even though I am just an intern it was a good feeling being asked during the practice time how to set up broadcasting equipment and the differences between different kinds of broadcasting equipment by the other students attending the Bootcamp. Not only was I expanding their knowledge but testing my own knowledge at the same time.
I would recommend the bootcamp and interning at Visual Impact to anyone interested in the film &broadcasting industry, whether they have been to a film school or not. Interning at Visual Impact prepares you for life on set at an industry standard, so when you do enter the film world, you are ready. Visual Impact has a lot of the latest digital equipment, their crew has lots of experience, they are passionate about the film & broadcasting industry professionals and also a fun place to be for someone driven toward the film industry.
