Alan Patrick lands inaugural iKind Media award

iKIND MEDIA BEST CAMERA AWARD 2011
Durban University of Technology

The inaugural iKind Media Best Camera Award for the Durban University of Technology 3rd year Video Tech student who displays outstanding camera skills was awarded to Alan Patrick at the 2011 DUT Video Technology awards evening.

The iKind Media-sponsored floating “camera”, an excuisite metal sculpture comprising welded gearbox parts, designed and created by iKind Media Production Designer and leading KwaZulu-Natal metal sculptor Clint McLean, was presented to Patrick by iKind Media Directors Matthew Nefdt and Devin Carter.

Patrick specialized in camera work in his third year at DUT and had worked as cameraman on his own projects, as well as on numerous other student productions.

When asked about his shooting methods and the challenges he faced in achieving the iKind Media Award, Patrick summarised, “For most of the productions I used a Canon EOS 550D SLR camera, using a lot of stable handheld shots. I also worked under tight time constraints on certain productions where I had to get the shot right… quickly… the first time. The most important element to understand when shooting video or film is lighting.”

Patrick is currently completing his BTech, (4^th year) in Video Technology at the Durban University of Technology and is aiming to begin his career in the film industry as a freelance cameraman. His goal is to establish a solid reputation before starting his own production company specializing in camera work.

When interviewed after receiving the iKind Media Award Patrick said, “It’s an honour and privilege to have received this prestigious award. It will definitely help my portfolio.”

iKind Media Your idea. Our imagination.

The La Els "Soulkiller" rocking 5FM

THE LA ELS “SOULKILLER”

Durban-based band, The La Els, may still be relatively new to the South African music scene, but the band members have had many years of sweating it out on stage with various other outfits. Eventually they all found each other and solidly etched their mark into the local scene, commencing their accustic takeover with the moody and electrifying track ‘Soulkiller’, which you may have heard blasting out on 5FM and MK over the last few months.

It all started early in 2010, when the newly formed band entered the national competition ‘Global Moguls’, along with 70 other new band hopefulls from across South Africa. The competition required each band to create a brand for themselves and then to market their brand accordingly. This meant creating not only a cool song, but accompanying it with a music video, album cover and photo. It was at this point that The La Els teamed up with iKind Media directors, Matt Nefdt and Devin Carter, to produce the band’s initial ‘roughcut’ music video and final broadcast music video respectively.

Having started the process quite late in the competition, conceptualization and planning was kept quite brief, with the crew jumping straight into shooting at the Durban University of Technology’s television studios.

Due to the fact that almost everyone in the ensemble still had their day jobs, the band performance scenes took a solid 5 evenings to shoot. Each evening meant a lengthy make-up and rigging session after work before shooting for 3 to 4 hours. The crew somehow managed to position the camera in every angle possible, while the band survived what seemed like a zillion takes, maintaining very brave faces throughout the whole process.

With the ’Global Moguls’ submission deadline looming, the rest of the concept needed to be simplified at the last minute. Actress Tessa-Mae Hadlow saved the day with her outstanding performances portraying the 2 very different personalities depicted in the video, and after another lengthy day of shooting, the entire project was in the can! (or captured and converted into a digital form, if you want to be technical.)

The completed project did the job and The La Els went on to not only win the overall ‘Global Moguls’ title, but also the best music video category (Devin Carter - iKind Media), the best photography category (Xavier Vahed Photography) and the best Design category (Dusty Richardson Designs).

www.thelaels.com

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Soulkiller Music Video	Credits	Band
Director	Devin Carter	Keyboard	Jonathan Berg
Director of Photography	Devin Carter	Drums	Raul Diaz
Camera Operators	Matt Nefdt, Luke Mason, Mark Edwards	Vocals	Jonas Barausse
Lighting Effects Operator	Shanelle Jewnarain	Guitar	Joshua Beechey
Production Assistants	Shanelle Jewnarain, Luke Mason	Guitar	Gregan Aherin
Editor	Devin Carter	Bass	Paul Fugueira
Executive Editor	Matt Nefdt	Actress
Make-Up	Shanelle Jewnarain	Girl	Tessa-Mae Hadlow

Putting Durban Film & TV production back on the map

IKIND MEDIA REKINDLES DURBAN TALENT

Anybody who works in the entertainment industry in some way or form knows how hard ‘showbiz’ can be and in Durban in particular (by way of observation when it comes to support for, or lack thereof, of local talent), it sometimes feels like one is possibly watching a cycle of dearth unfolding writes Latoya Newman for The Independent’s Tonight supplement.

Investors for local projects are scarce and public support seems to be nearing extinction in some cases. It’s no wonder we have such a great export of talent to Joburg and Cape Town in the form of musicians, actors, filmmakers and the like.

Less on stage/on screen talent, equals less local projects on the go, equals less behind-the-scenes opportunities available, equals more talent leaving Durban… hence my strictly-opinion theory of the cycle of dearth.

That’s why I was so eager to interview two passionate, not-so-long-ago video technology students whom I had heard are so patriot-ically “Durban” that they virtually work just to cover costs so that they lend local bands more support in crafting their music videos. And, true to the saying of what you give is what you get, Matt Nefdt and Devin Carter’s talents are being noticed across the country, with some of their work even being nominated for national awards.

Matt and Devin graduated from the Durban University of Technology’s School of Television’s B-Tech programme last year. As part of their projects for the course they made some music videos that took the industry by storm, leading to them forming their media company, iKind Media.

In July last year Matt’s music video for The Pixie Bennett Band’s debut music video secured the number one spot on the MK Top 10, officially heading the South African Music TV charts. Later the 80s-inspired video for the song Edge of the Line was nominated in the Best Newcomer category of the MK Awards. Then, in January this year, Durban band Red Light Stereo’s debut music video, which Matt worked on, Daydreaming, was playlisted by MK for the first time on the channel’s show, Kraakvars.

Devin’s music video for Global Moguls 2010 Battle of the Bands winner, The La Els - for the song Soulkiller - is also causing a stir. And in February his work on the Catlike Thieves’ music video for Maybe Baby reached over 2,000 hits in its first week on YouTube.

The vid is currently climbing MK’s Top 10.

Their strategy is simple: “We are trying to put Durban back on the map. Joburg and Cape Town is saturated with Durban talent and we can’t see the reason why the industry here should have to move out. It’s annoying when you see Joburg and Cape Town crews shooting Durban projects when that kind of talent is here…” explained Matt.

Devin said they’ve always loved TV and film and are aiming to get the focus back on Durban’s local talent. “We do music videos, TV commercials and we are in the process of pitching a sci-fi feature film… We basically do corporate work to pay the bills and music videos to feed our passion.”

And as Devin plainly puts it, why not Durban: “We have the talent. We have the best weather. We’ve been told we use Durban well and this is our plan to continue doing so. We hope to eventually buy a plot of land in the country and covert it into a one-stop filming shop.”

iKind Media Your idea. Our imagination.

The Pixie Bennett Band music video shoot

EDGE OF THE LINE

The shoot for The Pixie Bennett Band’s latest single, EDGE OF THE LINE, is a wrap!

We shot over two days at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) broadcast studios with band members Pixie Bennett (lead vocals), Andrew Makins (drums), Garth Warren (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Steve Scuba Murray (guitar). The 80’s inspired shoot was light-hearted, bright and sexy… with an edge.

The set comprised an inflatable ball pond, coloured and fluorescent lighting, synthetic grass, bubble makers, loads of soft toys and a green screen.

Thank you to chief sponsor Mr Price, as well as to Vitamin Water for keeping the cast and crew energised and to Eatfresh for keeping the spirits high.

Look out for the online release in a couple of weeks and the official TV release early in April… and as an added feature catch the “Behind The Scenes” video presented by comediens, Dusty Richardson and Gareth Woods.

Keep up with all the latest news from the band at :

www.pixiebennettband.co.za

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Director	Matt Nefdt	Production Manager	Levonne Thurston
Producer	Michael Nefdt	Production Assistant	Luke Mason
Executive Producer	Mark Edwards	Behind the Scenes Camera Operators	Andrew Pollock and Kenneth Gwele
Assistant Director	Sarah Dawson	Make-Up	Janine Horsley
Director Of Photography	Devin Carter	Presenters	Dusty Richardson and Gareth Woods