The cost of R90 000 ($10 000) of the film is estimated. This film is the most we have ever spent on a single production.
The story centers around an Indian doctor seeking revenge on the Wit Wolwe (white clan) raping and murdering of his wife. The production took four months to film and again took cinema in South Africa and internationally to new heights. The film has been premiered in Johannesburg and was screened in two cinemas courtesy of Ster Kinekor. It was again screened at the Labia theatre alongside SINISTER PRIDE to an audience of 250 people and media.
We are still seeking to make the money back on the film and full distribution is what we need to be an established film / production company.
By now I had gained notability and was asked to direct one of Kevin’s writings I took DOMINO’S DAY EFFECT as I thought this was one of the best stories he has written.
The story was of a hit man going through a day of killing people. But in a way that the audience will find humorous. The effects that come along with killing people isn’t as easy as one may think and thus the story gets knotted with its entanglement. The final product was suppose to go to MNET for one of their competitions. We didn’t meet the deadline as the audio and editing was not up to par.
I tried my hardest on the film and I hope you see some talent in it as I did co-writing, directing, acting, editing and sound for it.
So it’s late in the year and we wanna make a Guinness world record. Kevin came up with the novel plan of it. Simple get one location, a camera, a couple of actors and make the most cost effective movie ever made for 2007. It was also the quickest film ever made under 40 hours of production time working nights.
The story was simple: two thugs hijack two girls in Cape Town and take them back to their hide out. There they decide to play with them and then kill then as they please. The story when I first looked at it was a stage play and it sounds similar to Tarintino Mr Pink Mr Blue etc if you know what my Resovour dogs means. The cost of the production $481 and I guess a couple of cents but we never had that to begin with. Borrowing and begging and getting the cast together. I called around the Western Cape for a DP and got one from one of my cousins friends. He shot awhile and then left and I started and finished off the filming. I slipped into 1st AD role (again), cinematographer and actor. I did the cut for it as well. The editing was the biggest head ache as we left it up to the director. The trouble I went through to get that footage to edit but eventually it went together.
Now I have a finished product and we had it’s first screening at the Labia theatre in Cape Town on the 8th April alongside one of our other films. We still looking for distribution of Sinister Pride
Check out the film tell me what you think. We had publicity back then hopefully it hasnt died down
Another music video that I pulled together for my SISTER.
She had to fill in for her university assignment a music video. She is a talented singer and plays a little guitar. We recorded the music at the same place as the ‘Lion King’ with the same engineer -- nice chap. We played it through a couple of times and was restricted to two hours of recording time at Videolab. The shoot was simple as no extras were used and the main thing was the edit and syncing in the final post production stage.
The project is complete and you can view it all. The only hassle was my lil sis but that’s sibling rivalry goes along way. As she got me to edit and do all the work but it was her project in the end and I literally did the directing, filming and editing.
With the successful idea of Data Dating we went even further with another of my ideas and delved into the psychy of South Africans. We collaborating to gether over questions that spawned the making of ‘SA ID’. Where the old South Africa used to rely on identification and rascial profiling to put people in boxes. We wanted to see how things have changed in the 10 years of democracy in South Africa
Dumi went forth and got some great talking heads from all the different cultures and tribes that represent SA. We had from Zulu to Xhosa, Afrikaans to English etc the greatest fascination that came out of the wood work was where do the coloured people in South Africa stand. As the culture or tribe is brought down from the father’s side this answered the question.The end result would be that the future of South Africa would be alive with many cultures but all of them would be the same rascal colour. No ‘black and white’ in this newspaper only ‘grey matter’
The documentary is still being edited by myself Barry Friedman( conceptualized, written, directed and edited) I am planning on getting more funding for the project and advance on the story as this blog continues so will the moving pictures of this specific piece increase.
With the value of Capsized I moved up in the company. I pushed for new boundaries and thus I informed Kevin and Simpson of a script I wrote while at the end of my 2nd year of studies -- DATA DATING. The film was a short and highlighted the internet dating scene.
We shot this with the use of someone elses camera, as Simpson was on Camera and Kevin just standing in as a producer but infact all of us were the producers. The story highlighted two star crossed lovers -- one in South Africa and the other in France. We used two locations as it was a very simple script and the main use was pcs.
This comical-drama was preselected by the New York Short Film festival and is making its festival route for the year of 2010. It’s amazing how a simple script can have so much impact and can gather with such a wide audience.
As the title reads and that was the production. I flipped through different scenerios and got to a final script with Kevin( as lead actor and writer)
We shot on DVX panasonic and lead the way on 1 Dec 2005 to the 14th where we wrapped. The production had it’s ups and downs but we sted fast to the script and did what was needed to be done. The story was a dramatic-betrayal-thriller that did not make it to the cinemas but Kevin still holds it as the best master work ever made. I had a small acting part in the film but mostly was 1st Assistant director to Simpson (director). We had Jarrod on camera with Victor. The days of running around without permits shooting bits ‘n pieces as we did not have the funding to hire out locations and the budget for food was stale bread and peanut butter. We had a film in the can.
I co wrote, 1st AD, acted and edited the film. We still looking for distribution of the film and it does have appeal looking back now.
When you close a chapter on a book that had so much influence over your life, you begin asking questions: ‘NOW What?!?’
You hustle any work you can get, through classifieds and internet sites; but it’s the ‘good-old’ word of mouth that gets you to your next project which led me to Orocci Pictures. Where I met Simpson and Kevin Singh. I was interviewed for a part as an actor but became more crucial with the years that developed into different roles. ‘Bedtime Story’ was about Australian couples going on a horrifying weekend away and slaughtered by some outer space monster of the preries. I think I still have it on VHS somewhere.
But my meetings with the company grew and so did my danger into the world of making movies improve and come more alive.
pink tearsMaking a film is different from making music. Combining the two makes it very enjoyable. Music videos are more artistic and abstract yet keeping to a story that can even be 2seconds within the 3minute video or the whole 3minuntes.
In Africa you have Channel O and the satellite TV stations to air your video. Usually it’s Gospel or Kwaito on the Channel but there are some interesting videos that get aired. MNET and DSTV are the channels to go through to get your video aired and the best is when hiring someone to do your video is to get someone that has or made their or someone elses video on the channels, as it is not easy to get on TV (unless you know someone). The video
went to Channel O. It’s very abstract video which I enjoyed making as it was shot on 16mm Arriflex and it was made in a humorous way with weird people as they come from another planet.
A music video is basically playback and lip-sinking to the music. The whole video goes on the beat of the music as the whole video revolves around the artist’s beat and lyrics. The production design is very important to create another world. The procedure is more relaxed most important do a music video where you love the music as you will be hearing it in your head for days to come.
The start of ‘03 allows you artist rein over experimental film making. Showing your creative side and abstract. I decided to go into my editing career and this is were I was going to shine -- with the director strangling me. I went with the same director as my last film, but he had a shadow on him. He really wanted to succeed with this film as the last was good.
We shot on 16mm Arriflex and it was fun. The camera made no noise and we could take perfect sound. I was able to film with my first cinematographer that I used for
and looked forward to the filming. The edit was different as They never shot for edit and there was a narrative in the story instead of making it abstract as I had informed them. It was not suppose to be a linear story. But what can you do. So the director puts his hands around your neck and throttles you back and forth. I still got the film on DVD and he has nothing.