The guys over at GMT asked us to design and illustrate a poster recently to promote their bi-monthly event at Durban’s The Origin called GM Tronica. The focus was to create a weird illustration that would catch people’s attention on posters positioned at strategic points throughout the Splashy Fen Music Festival. The colours chosen were bright orange, blue and yellow to give the event a ‘trippy’ feel.

The final design was rolled out in a promotional package containing printed posters, Facebook event banners and vinyl stickers.

facebook.com/gee.m.tee.5

If you thought accountants were dull, boring number crunchers, focussed solely on income, expenses, financial statements and tax returns, more often than not you’d be right. But KwaZulu-Natal based Graemor is not your ‘typical’ accounting firm, they’re so much more. With branches in Howick, Pietermaritzburg and Durban, this firm of professional lifestyle accountants offers an innovative, dynamic and diverse range of essential business products and services; from accounting and tax to business coaching. The Graemor slogan ‘Leaders in Business Growth’ is apt in that the Graemor team not only focuses on the day to day accounting needs of a business but also places huge emphasis on the development, long-term growth and sustainability of a business, its staff, management and ownership.

CEO Yvonne Reece is an inspirational businesswoman; extremely motivated, focused and service-driven. Her attitude to life and business filters throughout the entire organization delivering to clients the elements required for the successful functioning of their businesses. As a young woman some 20 years ago, Yvonne Reese purchased the then start-up accounting business, and has spearheaded the organization to new heights since. Last month saw Graemor celebrate their 40th year in operation heralding in an opportunity for the Graemor brand to ‘rethink, rework and revive’… that’s where iKind comes in.

iKind Media was tasked with a complete Graemor rebrand; from logo design to printed stationery, electronic documentation, signage and vehicle branding, to the design and development of a new HTML5 responsive website and the production of a long-form commercial. For the purpose of this post though, we’ll be highlighting the long-form commercial which tells the inspirational story of a humble carpenter and his personal journey; touching on the challenges, hardships and rewards of establishing and running a small business.

To play the role of the carpenter, we turned to long-time friend Paul Figuera; a passionate, dedicated and extremely talented Durban-based carpenter who slipped into the role with ease. Have a look at Paul’s website here (www.wooder.co.za) for an insight into his craft. The balance of the acting ensemble included up and coming actor and filmmaker, Derek de Froberville, who turned out a crucial performance as a devious business partner, iKind Group Accounting Manager Levonne Nefdt who brought her acting talents to the fore in playing the role of the Carpenter’s loving and supportive wife and Yvonne Reece playing herself as the Graemor Business Advisor, showing that her skills reach far beyond the realms of the boardroom table!

Screened at the Graemor 40th birthday celebration held at the Protea Hilton Hotel last month, the commercial was a resounding success, sending home the message that with Graemor on your team, your business and personal goals can be achieved. Watch the video above and visit the new Graemor website for more information.

www.graemor.co.za

Xavier Vahed is fast becoming one of Durban’s most prominent and sought-after photographers. When he’s not shooting gorgeous portraits, lecturing in the community or roaming the streets ‘photojournalist-style’, Xavier is honing his phenominal skills as a creative artist who’s work displays a fresh, unique approach not seen too often in the world of modern commercial photography. His latest project entitled ‘Tradition’ was launched last week at Kloof’s best kept secret, the Fat Tuesday Gallery.

Patrons at the well attended exhibition launch were treated to a feast of gigantic colour prints as well as a thought provoking short film produced in collaboration with iKind Media. Here’s what Xavier had to say about ‘Tradition’:

“Over the last few months, I have been thinking a great deal about weddings and the traditions that surround them. I have photographed weddings from all over the cultural spectrum; ranging from the conventional to the more adventurous. During the process I began to think about the often strange traditions which have become integral to the wedding process and in so doing, gradually invented some traditions of my own. I started to imagine a culture in which it is customary for a couple to braid their hair together on their wedding day - literally binding themselves together. The exhibition is essentially a photographic story set in the late 1960’s; capturing an ordinary weekend in the lives of a couple in their early 50’s. Although they are physically bound together, over the years they have become emotionally detached. The series aims to capture this disconnect, often using the braid itself as the dividing line between the husband and wife.”

This is the second collaboration between Xavier Vahed and iKind Media; the first being a commercial for the 2011 Trollbeads Africa Collection launch.

xaviervahed.com

STREET SCENE TOURS - transforming the tourist into a traveler by showcasing South Africa from the perspective of a local. From Cape Town’s ruggedly beautiful peninsula, to Johannesburg’s culturally rich inner city alleyways, Durban’s bustling townships and a myriad of cities, towns and villages in-between, Street Scene Tours takes you to the places you never knew you wanted to see.

iKind Media was recently briefed to conceptualise, design and illustrate an iconic viral sticker for Street Scene that would be used to spread brand awareness across Southern Africa. The concept was based around the fact that each mini-bus used on the Street Scene tours is called an “Nguni”, which is a highly prized breed of cattle indigenous to Southern Africa. The ancestors of Nguni cattle were brought by the Xhosa, Zulu and Swazi people, during their migration to Southern Africa between 600 and 1400 AD. Since then, these animals have played an important social and economic role in the development of these societies. King Shaka of the Zulus understood this cultural and economic importance and seized control of the Nguni herds on his dominions. Shaka also bred the Ngunis according to colour patterns in order to produce skins for the several regiments of his army, henceforward recognized by them. His elite personal guard was recognised by pure white, from animals of the royal herd, the inyonikayiphumuli. This cultural richness of the Nguni in Southern Africa epitomises the Street Scene brand in the region.

The colours used in the sticker design were restricted to the brand corporate identity; with the logo holding a dominant position within the design.

The initial drafts included the cow on a skateboard with a cow bell on a big chain. A variation of the cow wearing sunglasses was also created as an option to represent the laid back lifestyle of Durbanites. Within the final execution, the mottling of the fur was simplified with all elements being removed for a simpler approach. The addition of a tunnel flesher was added to the ear to give the cow some street cred.

Once this design was approved a female version of the cow was portrayed with a subtle node to the logo being used in the earrings. Look out for these stickers around your city!

streetscene.co.za

Five dudes from Durban, South Africa: playing music, being kiff, feeling forever inspired by the works of Bill Murray… that pretty much sums up the City Bowl Mizers.

No surprises then that we welcome in 2013 with an ‘evolutionary’ new iKind Studio-produced music video featuring an action-packed ‘day in the life’ of a rather unusual character - ‘the missing link’ - a chimp who thinks that acting mature is for the birds.

Launched this week on the ‘revolutionary’ comedy and music website, Lechop TV, ‘Growing Old’ is making waves on the web and will be hitting commercial TV stations soon!

Shot partly on a Red One MX camera in sunny Durban SA, this upbeat, light-hearted take on life is iKind’s ninth music video collaboration with the City Bowl Mizers. Enjoy!

citybowlmizers.com

iKind Studio recently completed production of the second trailer for an exciting new South African Sci-fi feature film, CODED, which has been in R&D since late 2010.

A night shoot of “audio-induced” euphoria took place at The Origin, one of Durban’s most popular nite clubs situated in lower Glenwood, setting the scene for a mass social experiment in neurochemistry.

The film is to be co-directed by award-winning Durban-based film-makers Richard Green and Matt Nefdt. Green, well-known for his work on films such as District 9, Spud and more recently with The Long Walk to Freedom, is also one of the producers along with Gavin Humphrey who wrote the imaginative, other-worldly and techno-trippy script. Nefdt, one of South Africa’s most exciting director talents heads up national multi-media agency, iKind Media.

“CODED has three different types of revolution” explains Executive Producer Anthony Stonefield, “A movie storyline describing free citizens revolting against consumerist enslavement, the pioneering usage of wrap-around (3D) audio within a feature film, and the manner in which the audience will ‘plug into’ the movie - using an internet connection and earphones - and become immersed within its medium. The movie will be brought to audiences where technology first-adopters have already moved: to a private video-on-demand environment on PCs, tablets and smartphones connected to the internet, in addition to traditional four-wall movie theatres.”

“The story is set in the near future where new subliminal advertising technology has heralded the rise of sinister corporations that carry out mass surveillance on consumers; tracking their every move, collecting, collating and analysing their data,” explains an upbeat Gavin Humphrey who makes his debut as a scriptwriter on this film. “A subliminal mind-control organisation, is on the forefront of this commercial revolution, using a secretive pattern recognition technology they have created ‘The Grid’, a network of key social influencers, bloggers, media personalities and event promoters, all tagged with sub-harmonic technology that allows them to be tracked and ultimately controlled. Key to this organisation’s master plan is the shifting craze, an underground party scene, where shifters use audio narcotics to achieve altered states. Dayne is a notorious shifter and designer of digital drugs and a key node on the Grid. Plagued by tone deafness and which he feels prevents him from mastering the art of audio design, Dayne isn’t about to be a pawn in anyone’s game.”

“New generations will spend increasing proportions of their lives in ever more immersive, networked and interactive media environments - both seductive and useful,” says Stonefield. “This course of human evolution is inevitable. The critical unknown is to what extent our children will become masters or slaves of such artificial reality. Whoever controls the Grid controls reality itself. In the real world, this mass social experiment in neurochemistry has already begun. CODED casts a light on the types of moral and emotional swings and balances that increasingly characterize the live of the internet-worked generation. It is a reflective movie for a modern generation whose reality is already shattered and up for grabs.”

Toni Monty, who heads the Durban Film Office, said the movie was an exciting and innovative story that was sure to take the youth of the country and the world by storm. “CODED is a project we have seen grow from strength to strength over the past few years,” said Monty “I am very proud that this project has been born in Durban by Durban, and cannot wait to experience it on the big screen. This new concept of filmmaking goes hand in hand with the Durban Film Office’s objective to establish Durban as a digital innovation hub and will stand testament to the awesome opportunities that new technologies offer to the world of filmmaking. Congratulations to the creative team for their perseverance in bringing this story to life.”

Pre-production for the film is scheduled for the second half of 2013 with principal filming set to take place around August/September 2013.

For more information please visit :

codedmovie.tumblr.com

www.africafornorway.no