Pretville Film #FlashbackFriday

Two years ago we were involved in the most colourful and vibrant Afrikaans musical feature film project called Pretville produced by Hartiwood Films. Hubby Ferdinand Gernandt was choreographer for the project, I acted as Assistant Choreographer and featured as a dancer in the film as well. Producers Paul Kruger (also DOP) and Emma Kruger, as well as Co-Producer and Director Linda Korsten, were so supportive and encouraging throughout the creative process, it was only a pleasure to create 'cinemagic' together.

We had so much fun shooting this project and creating the choreographic content for the lively musical numbers. The delightful lyrics and soundtrack was created by the talented arranger/composer Machiel Roets (@machielroets on Twitter), some of my favourite tracks being 'Skillie Skillie Skilpad', 'In die Maanlig', 'Is jy Verlief?', Skud, Skop en Hop' and 'Ek en Jy'. 

We had a week's worth of rehearsals with the amazing dance team, as well as the various characters prior to principal filming. And then we worked the final touches whilst preparing on set during the shoot days. Here are some beautiful and fun 'behind-the-scenes' shots of the rehearsals and other on set moments.

 

The challenging task of editing fell to the lovely Anel Stolp, the beautiful costume design was the work of Nerine Pienaar from The Wardrobe Studio and the magnificent art direction by Bathoni Robinson. It was a wonderful team of crew and cast; we really had such a fun time during production.

 I even have a wonderful cookbook at home called 'Proe Pretville' that was released along with the film which contains some of the most beautiful stills from behind-the-scenes of filming Pretville.

Fans can actually visit the little Pretville 'town' in Hartbeespoort Dam which functioned as the set for the film. It has now expanded to include memorabilia from other Hartiwood Productions, there's a functional 50's 'diner' where you can order yummy milkshakes, a quaint 'silver screen' bio-scope where you can watch the film Pretville (and several other Afrikaans or South African produced features) and you can also visit the Zaza Photographic Studio, take fun photographs in the little town and dress up in 50's wardrobe and accessories. It's a really fun family outing, so contact Emma on 083 283 1323 for movie tickets, times and info on the the Pretville 'dorpie'.

Hartiwood recently produced another feature film called 'French Toast' which is due for release in 2015, (I play a tiny cameo role as a nurse and loved every minute of it, read about it here) for which they built and created another magical 'set' in Hartbeespoort Dam - the lovely French Toast 'Koffiekafee' (Cafe).


It is now also open to the public, serving their customers french-inspired cappucinos, macarons and all styles of french toast.

A few of our FADCreationS Mentorship Students will also feature in this film, read this post on their behind-the-scenes experience.


Here is a trailer of the film Pretville which released in Nov 2012.

Here's to making movies in SA!
Chat soon peeps!

One Day Acting Workshop #Projects

A while ago I hosted a wonderfully successful One Day Acting Workshop for FADCreationS. We had such a great (and talented!) group of actors attending and it was an incredibly rewarding day.

I began our day with 'breaking-the-ice' and warm-up exercises and spent the morning 'breaking out of the box' - working on improvisational work in groups, rotating duets and also individual exercises. My favourite of the day was the exercise where an individual starts with a random activity and progresses into an impromptu phone call  - each one was so unique, creative and personally relevant.

In the afternoon we continued to prepare script material, firstly working on how to do an 'i.d' or 'slate' on camera, the ins and outs of preparing and delivering an on-screen audition and the performances of the scripted work. Each candidate received a piece that matched someone else's and they would read off-screen for each other. It is so great to be working together on our craft and passion and I have discovered that I end up learning so much from my own students.

A big thank you to PhotoElements' Eben Liebenberg for all the awesome 'Behind-The-Scenes' pictures. Also to Hermann Winter-Greyling for capturing and editing all of the golden footage of the day. Check these out...

We hope to host another workshop in 2015, will keep you posted!

Chat soon peeps,

Skouspel Sun City #BehindTheScenes

Flashback to several weeks ago when we worked at the annual epic Sun City Huisgenoot Skouspel event. It was such awesome fun this year!

This year was our second time working on the Skouspel event, so we knew exactly what to expect and we were well prepared for a smooth-running rehearsal process and gorgeous performances. Earlier in the year, we had already run a similar program at the Cape Town Skouspel event at Grand West Casino in July (read more about that here), so we could further improve on and finesse the Sun City version.

It was great to work with all of the different and industry top artists again. It's such great fun with all of them backstage and there is certainly never a dull moment.

All the usual faces were in attendance Kurt, Laurika, Karen, Andriette, Snotkop, Heinz, Ray, Ricus, Chris, Nadine, Emo, Joe, Rouchelle, Adam, Heuwels Fantasties and several more. It was so fabulous to witness friend and Adam group newbie Kyle Grant perform his first Skouspel, as well as presenter friend and Afrikaans personality Nadia Beukes debuting in the most beautiful Vesselina Pentcheva gowns.
But the gorgeous trio Blackbyrd was my personal favourite this year, check out there latest album release HOME and listen to the single, 'I love you, I just simply do'.

 Here are some pics of our crazy backstage and 'behind the scenes' moments:

Frontline Productions have the Huisgenoot Skouspel ship sailing on smooth waters and are always such wonderful hosts. This year we stayed in the Sun City Cabana's and enjoyed a hearty buffet breakfast every morning. We even had some time for the pool, cocktails and sunshine on our first weekend there. Yay summer! And the 'after party' is always a blast!

The Skouspel dvd has just been made available in stores, but I'm already curious what the program and set list will look like for 2015!! In the words of Heuwels Fantasties..... Skouspel!!!

Chat soon,

Weekend in Warden #PhotoPost

Just outside of Warden there is a beautiful farm called Gryskop where the family of Greylings farm with sheep, cows, corn, soya beans and a whole lot of love. Here are some 'diary' photographs from this past weekend visiting on their farm.

Wonderful to get out and experience nature every once in a while!

Chat soon peeps,