Two Frame Video

February 26th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 2 comments
Music Video

When taking photos I would often take two or three pics succession to make sure I got the shot. When I was scanning through all the pictures the doubles would have a moment of movement. Like stop-motion. My friend Daniel Friedman saw this and said I should put it on a time line and add some music. I tried different ways of syncing the frames with the music beat and finally decided on a 7/8 frame progression. The end product still seems a bit awkward because the frame change jumps. In other words, on a 1.2.3.4 beat the frame changes on the 1 or the 4. I couldn’t get it to change on the 1 every time. I am still playing with the technique but even as an experiment I think it’s quite novel.


Dubble dubble from Jozua Malherbe on Vimeo.

Uboentoer 2

February 22nd, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 1 comment
Avontoer and Promo

After the Avontoer I went on another tour with DPK. The tour was titled “Ubuntoer: Rock Against Racism”. On the tour I took photos again and also shot video. Asking people about what they thought of the tour title and then the subject itself: Rocking against Racism. Considering this tour is organized by Afrikaans Stellenboch students I thought that it was quite a movement forward from the previous Apartheid rulers…..so to speak. Being Afrikaans myself I was interrested in what or how others percieved this concept.

At the end of the day I heard mostly the same thing which is that economic divides and racist education perpetuated mostly by parents (both black and white) are mostly causes for violence. I do agree that ecenomics and education are a major cause for the violent state of our country. I am not sure that racism will be eradicated by equal ecenoomics how-ever. What will cause the death of racism is this tour and more like them. Changing peoples perceptions not only their wallet size.

The end of the clip is TJ from New Holland telling me about how he almost got mugged ten minutes before this interview.


Ubuntoer 2 - Rock Against Racism from Jozua Malherbe on Vimeo.

Big Eyed Deer

February 11th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 1 comment
BigEyedDeer
BED Small Logo
BED Small Logo

Beginning of 2007 some friends and I started the Big Eyed Deer. Its a place where we could come together to make films. The company turned out to be more of a Think Tank. During the process of networking we realized that there was a need for filmmakers to develop their scripts. We facilitated this need in as much as we could by bringing in writers who would edit and read others scripts. We were finding ourselves through the process and saw a huge demand for script editing.

There are great stories in South Africa but not so many people who know how to write. Also there is not so much money or training available for people to practice writing. You can see a negative circular movement evolving…. Point is, we got about 15 projects on a slate and worked them as much as we could.

To interject my thoughts here for a second: Big Eyed Deer was given an office space by Waterfront Studios in Cape Town and was hedged to starting a small production company for them called N-Gage. This company is still going however no-one that was part of starting it is still part of N-Gage and we no longer have the space….I have still not closed this chapter of N-Gage and you will hear more as time passes and I get to the “bottom of it all”. In other words, full sotry to follow in later chapters.

Now we have three completed short film scripts and about ten first to third draft feature film scripts. With no money, I went and applyed for a credit card with a R10 000 overdraft. This card was used to shoot two of these shorts. One was Mahees and the other was Long Weekend.

Both these films where shot over two weekends. a Version of Mahees is cut and you will see it on this site. Long Weekend has not been that lucky though but will be released as soon as we finish it.

Big Eyed Deer has also been involved with Publishing a Technology supplement for Cape Times newspaper which was initiated by partner Sebastian Stent. This little publication made most of the money for Big Eyed Deer and got our company name out to thousands of readers. The Tech Times used up and coming writers from all over South Africa to write for it. We had students, script writers and technology buffs writing for us. A couple of months in Cape Times wanted to take this platform digitally and keep it within the Cape Times house so we lost that contract.

Our first project was Eurafrica. a Live performance piece that I was producing and brought in Big Eyed Deer when we started the company. The play, directed by Ilana Wetzler and written and acted by Lucy Heavens and Sarah-Jane Scott went on to do amazingly. We got a R10 000 grant from BASA (Business and Arts South Africa) which payed for us to go to Grahamstown arts festival, our marketing and venue costs. We got great reviews there and the girls went on to go to Edinburgh festival shortly after. After their return the play made some runs on Cape Town and ultimately we won the most prestigious live performance prize in South Africa, the Fleur De Cap Peoples choice award. I am very proud of this project.

All the partners in Big Eyed Deer are a scattered now but we still own this entity and will continue to produce content through it. The name came from Dylan Culhane a very talented film maker with a wry sense of humor. The design of Eurafrica poster, our letter heads and business cards where all done by Partner Padraic O’Meara.


BED Business card Front

Avontoer Docci

February 11th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 1 comment
Avontoer

UPDATE
go here to view all the clips RE “Die Tweede Avontoer”. you will see most of the clips are from my doccie.

When I went on the tour in December 2007 I realised this is special. I was there to make a documentary about this tour and about the “scene”. I took over 2000 photos (all 35mm film) and shot 15 DV tapes of footage. This was to become a four part, 24 minute documentary to be aired on MK Music channel entitled plainly “Avontoer Docci”

Before we actually had a budget or an exhibitor I cut a three minute trailer of the footage I had and we presented to MK. They liked the trailer and our zany ideas on what we wanted to achieve. They gave us R80 000 to produce the documentary in July 2008 for delivery in September 2008.

So here is the 3 minute trailer and then the refined 30 sec trailer that was used for promotion on MK.

I love this clip

After the documentary aired over September 2008, MK placed a bunch of clips on their website. Here you can view some of the zany animations and documentary snippets.

During writing the pitch for the Docci I thought it would be great to create an online magazine for the tour. The magazine would be filled with user content. People who went on the tour would provide stories, pictures and videos and so the project would grow.

Although I am not a designer I went ahead and created the first couple of pages just to show. This is where this project stopped unfortunately but the company went on to make a site for the tour that worked better for the purpose of creating memoir for the tour. You’ll find the link at the bottom of this inset.

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I’ve attached a lot of links of other writers, bloggers, photographers and the musicians involved on the tour in the spirit of Ubuntu.

Annie Klopper article about “Tweede Avontoer”

Luca Vincento Blog entry about Tweede Avontoer

Die Helde music video

Zinplaat music video

FotonaDans music video

Ef-El music video

Kuberkoos photography

FotonaDans Documentary

Adam en sy Stokkies video

Chilling in Plett video

Eurafrica

February 10th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 1 comment
Eurarfrica
n2383129662_6265.jpg

What is Eurafrica:

Eurafrica is a live performance piece with a twisted, satirical storyline.

Aida and Gwen considered leaving South Africa , but Europe is very cold and they only have South African passports. They have decided to mobilize ‘their people’ towards the formation of ‘Eurafrica’, a small, self-styled kingdom on the top of Table Mountain. In ‘Eurafrica’ citizens are non-discriminatory – everyone is welcome! As long as they subscribe to European values. Essential benefits would be the glorious Cape climate and first-world department stores.

I had worked with Sarah and Lucy in our graduate year of film school where we won best live performance that year for a play called Magdelene in Wonderland.

Eurafrica went on to win the distinguished Fleur De Cap Peoples choice award 2008.

I was able to raise R10 000 from BASA which paid for our tour to Grahamstown Festival. After Grahamstown the girls set of to Edinburgh for 4 weeks. Every where the play went it made a scene with great reviews to follow. With the help of our earlier venues like The Albert Hall Eurafrica got of to a great start.

I must also thank Ilana Wetzler for her tremendous input, creativity and knowledge about the play world and being able to market the hell out of something! Ilana later took over as producer when I moved to Johannesburg and the play did a long run in Cape Town thanks to her.

Although quite silly, this was a treat to shoot. The actresses playing in character while we shot the promo for their New Self Styled Kingdom on top of Table Mountain. Ilana an I did a day of questioning the ladies about their new kingdom and Sarah and Lucy improvised as we went. I took about 4 hours of footage and cut this together.

Eurafrica is:

Writer and Actors:
Lucy Heavens
Sarah-Jane Scott

Director
Ilana Wetler

Producer
Jozua Malherbe

“Daft, disastrous, devilishly funny and culturally fascinating. A madcap, merciless comedy romp sending up all things politically sacred in South Africa. Genuinely unhinged, gifted and hilarious duo.”
4 STARS. Rated ‘HOT SHOW’ at the Edinburgh Festival. Malcolm Jack, Scotsman

“Razor sharp humour and lots of absurdity make this show so worth it. But what really is avant-garde and visionary about this piece is its honesty. Centuries ago they would have been burnt at the stake. Decades ago they would have been locked away in a prison for saying what they are saying on a stage. A play that could potentially change your perspective on life as we know it South Africa.”
Rafiek Mammon, The Next 48hours

“Eurafrica is an irreverent, rip-snorting satire that shoves a manicured middle-finger at quaint socio-political ideologies. It is a compelling palimpsest on which contemporary SA culture is rewritten in arsenic-laced humour and glorious absurdism. There is a tensile thread of manic energy running through the play, imbuing proceedings with a Monty Python-esque charm. The silliness is tempered with a multi-layered, politically reflexive script. Heavens and Scott deliver unwaveringly excellent performances. Eurafrica is a breath of fresh air…Sensitive viewers should … should … Aw, hell, sensitive viewers should go anyway and laugh their asses off.”
5 STARS. Zane Henry, Cape Argus

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Poster

On Stage
On Stage

Beautiful Struggle

February 10th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 1 comment
Beautiful Struggle and Promo

Beautiful Struggle was a project Big Eyed Deer partners Regardt and Pardaic found. As we where networking looking for scripts we found Mlamli Figlan, the co-author of the book Beautiful Struggle. The book filled with captivating photos by Per Englund enticed us to turn the theme of this book into a documentary.

Gugulethu is a township on the outskirts of Cape Town. A large shanty town with mass poverty and little education, it is a place that breeds crime. Through all this however the young generations of Gug’s are focusing on lifestyle and choice. Beautiful struggle will captivate your imagination as we enter this unexplored territory of fashion, music and life inside the heart of Gugulethu.

This film was shot by following some residents into Gugulethu on a Friday night to join them at a party at Mzoli’s.

Beautiful Struggle

Project Plot:

The townships of Cape Town burst with creativity. They are the place where traditional African culture meets global youth cultures. Hip-hop has reached South Africa and is reinterpreted according to local conditions. Styles in fashion, dance and music are a way out of poverty. For the first time this fascinating street culture is presented outside South Africa. Tomorrow’s global subcultures are born in the big cities of the Third World.

This project is one I would like to pursue. Our total budget would be $20 000 for a 55min documentary.

Fly Paper Jet.

February 10th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 0 comments
Music Video and Nu-Media

This is a music video I shot with a cell phone. The compression to web breaks up the picture pretty bad but great song. It was a trip going into town at dawn and interacting with so many people randomly. Some ladies danced with us and others wanted to destroy the camera phone, we got escorted out of a couple of public areas. Rad morning, fun video.

Being able to shoot a music video on a cell phone is amazing. Its amazing for a couple of reasons; 1)The democracy of digital, 2)the ease of distribution and 3)reshaping ideas on what film/video making is.

1)The democracy of digital is simply put, anyone can play. If you own a cell phone you are now able to make a video. This does not mean that its going to be great but if you make 100 of them I promise they will get better. By democratization people who call themselves film makers now really have to keep that quality bar high, simply because if you don’t a guy with a phone will get your job. Its tough getting tougher.

2)After we had finished shooting I simply dumped all the footage into my laptop. We had to play with the codec a bit in order to work with it in Final Cut Pro but there are so many conversion apps available for free that it just takes a little time. Once the edit was done export for web and voila. Now I can embed it, link it, mail it, post it and if I really want to I would be able to labor a process of bumping it up for TV. We shot at 640x480 which wont look great on TV but is is do-able and that for me is the point!

3)So now, considering a couple of years ago what was or more to the point what wasn’t possible, we need to accept that our landscape is changing. We are heading toward a new dawn, the next 100 years of film making is going to as exciting as the last because we have found a new medium to make our art. There is going to be innovation, incompetence, cynicism but ultimately a new culture and ethos…that’s exciting!

Enjoy.

Mahees. The Dark Vigilante

February 10th, 2009 — jozua malherbe | 0 comments
Mahees

To shoot this film I went to my bank and got a credit card with a 10k limit. In the end we shot two movies with that, the other, Long Weekend, is still lost in post production hell. It was great fun working with fellow guerrillas to make this film happen. The location was a real drug den before we filmed there.The guy on the toilet is really puking. Mahees is really out there.

Synopsis:
Mahees: The Dark Vigilante is a compilation of footage that tells the last days of Jason Croft and Susan Ross – two investigative journalists who find a story larger than either can handle.
The Plot
Jason Croft is a young film maker researching gangland violence, who is caught in the middle of an encounter between drug dealers and an urban vigilante. He is so inspired by the shadowy hero that he sets out to find him and document his actions. On the way he falls for a hotshot reporter, Susan Storm, whose own investigation into political corruption is putting her in terrible danger. Can they find the mythical Mahees? Can the corruption be exposed? And will his powers be enough to save a city in turmoil?

Mahees