In Touch with technology - International Commercials

International Commercials
TV Commercials are big business. You'll often find more special effects in a single TV commercial than an entire feature film. You'd expect that this kind of work could only be produced in Europe or America, but that's not necessarily true. South Africa not only produces local ads that regularly win awards in New York and Cannes, but is also has the talent and infrastructure to produce international ads for first world markets as well.
Advertisers spend money to make money. They want you to buy what they are selling. But in this day and age, consumers are sussed - we will know a manipulative ad when we see one.
Producing adverts that are subtle enough to do the job takes the best technology money can buy.
Most adverts work by association. Just as Pavlov's dog salivated at the sound of the dinner bell so consumers are made to associate products with desirable states of being. Such as spontaneity: "just do it!", or youthful exuberance: "share the feeling!" Adverts sell lifestyles.

When it comes to making commercials, South Africa is no slouch. We've won loads of awards. Not only do we possess state-of-the-art equipment, but we're blessed with wonderful weather, beautiful locations, unique wildlife and a cheap exchange rate.
In fact, South Africa has become one of the most sought-after destinations for international production houses. After all, if the place is cool, then perhaps the product will look cool too!
The best advertisements effect a magical displacement of a mood or state-of-mind onto a product. But magic doesn't come cheap. A thirty second international commercial shot in South Africa can cost as much as ... 22 Million Rand.
David Turchi an International Director spoke to us on why he likes shooting in South Africa and the cost involved. "Second per second it is more complicated than feature films, because we are making 30 second commercials. For a 30 second commercial you have maybe 2 or 3 days to shoot it in, which means that there is a lot of money spent per second, more than in feature films."
Originally, the raw footage was taken back to Europe for the really expensive part - post production. But that's changed. More producers are now posting locally as well.
Once the filming is complete and all the scenes are 'IN THE CAN', the advertisement passes into the next phase of production.
At the end of the day, a slick advert comes down to competent post-production. This means taking two hours of raw footage or "rushes" and creating a credible, attention-getting, thirty second commercial. It's in the solitude of the edit room that the director decides exactly how to push your buttons.
A rough edit comes first - a condensing process where the shots to be used are selected and listed, and placed in rough order.
After this, the final edit takes place on a high-quality online editing suite, such as "Henry".
Visual Effects Artist, Lara Hollis talks to us about "Henry" : "Henry is an online editing system which basically is the end of the line in either production, music, video commercials or anything that goes to television. There is very little that "Henry" can't do in terms of manipulating images."
Using high-tech hardware and software, animators make the impossible seem possible. It's a time consuming process that can take weeks of designing and programming. There are a few shortcuts ... 3D models can be extracted from a library of images and used to create an entirely new character.