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!

Follicle Atelier Promo Shoot #BehindTheScenes

It's official, I have completely fallen in love with Follicle Hair Atelier.

And do not let the name fool you, 'hair' is definitely not the only thing they get their expert hands on!

Follicle recently underwent a full salon 'make-over' and expansion, while hardly skipping a beat with serving their clientele! They will be holding an official Cocktail Re-launch Party on Wednesday 1 October at 18h00 with the whole of the Waterkloof Corner Centre (where they are situated) transformed into evening markets, wine fares with wine testing, musical concerts (starts at 19h30), stores staying open until 22h00 and a whole bunch of high-profile VIP ambassadors milling about wearing Jenni Button and Arthur Kaplan for the evening!

The salon was already offering not only hair treatments, colour, cuts and styling but also a glam nail section and expert make-up service in-salon for pre-events, as well as 'on-the-move' at any function or film set. But NOW they have also partnered with the gorgeous Rococo Boutique next door which carries exquisite garments as well as the wonderful Stikki wooden accessory brand; they have added a male barber section and the Follicle 'Powder Room' which offers every beauty treatment and pamper you can think of! The salon is gorgeously roomy and oh-so-stylish, the service is impeccable and their passion for what they do is palpable.

Wow, I know I wax lyrical about them a lot, but really - it's impossible not to!

As an ambassador for their brand, I (together with hubby) had the privilege of being asked to appear in the promotional video they are creating for the re-launch event, as well as for YouTube and their website. I am sharing some of the behind the scenes moments with you in the mean time, until I can share the final edited promo video when it is completed!

Let's just talk for a moment about the incredible dress I got to wear! 

Not only is it a, wait for it... Jenni Button! (swoon), it is a one-of-a-kind 'once off' design and even without any prior fittings, it draped like a custom made glove on me! 

I was only really required for a few seconds of footage, yet I was pampered and styled like a fashion queen by both Hannes Greyling and Danielle Erasmus. The entire Follicle team were on site buzzing like bees and fussing over all the brand ambassadors ensuring the shoot ran flawlessly.

Hubby Ferdinand was filmed having a gent's cut done by the brand new stylist Shannon, and another new addition to the team is the handsome (and I'm told very talented) Shane.

Two's A Company Productions is the fresh new production company who filmed all the material of the day and they made everything run so seamlessly and smooth. It was great to see all the high-profile ambassadors from every sphere of industry come through to support the Follicle team in this way.  Here is a little sneak-peak video of the shoot...

What a fab day of fun, I can not wait to see the final product!

Chat soon !

Buy Smart - Enterprise Lifestyle Commercial #BehindTheScenes

I had such a fun day on set of the commercial shoot I did a week ago for Buy Smart - Enterprise Lifestyle. And it was completely surprising and lovely to have several familiar faces on the team as well as fabulous new people to meet.

It was a real blast from the past to find out my 'husband' would be played by my friend Dean Roberts, who was my colleague and fellow 'bohemian' in the South African and touring musical theatre production of We Will Rock You (also read We Will Rock You - A Tribute) some years ago! Deano is an absolute scream, he has the best sense of fun and humour to have around on set and wow he's so great with kids! What an absolute pleasure angel!

I got to play #mommyforaday and had the most gorgeous-looking family!

Just look at my gorgeous little girl Amika and cute dimple-face boy, Levi. (So this is what my offspring would look like if I married a blonde!) And lemme tell you, the camera looooooves Levi! There's something to be said for the pure innocence of kids that age, they have absolutely no limits, fears or airs. Almost oblivious to the camera he just 'is', his whole little being speaks of joy and freedom of spirit. It's magical and inspiring!

I met Aileen Joubert at our wardrobe fitting at the Wardrobe Studio and we were chatting about my sharing the Joubert surname (maiden name) and having lived in Northcliff, but I never quite put two and two together.

On set she was telling me about having worked with primates earlier in life, and I got all excited telling her about this lady who was my neighbour in high school who also rehabilitated monkeys and how my sister and I did school projects on them. After a great pregnant pause, she announced "That's me!"

Well, I could have hit myself! Of course she was! I don't know how I missed it before, I mean her name should have rung a big bell! What a wonderful 'coincidence'! And what a good-looking on-screen mom to have, go-figure - we do look like we could be family!!

I just adored my beautiful red dress and styling by The Warderobe Studio and enjoyed the pleasure of working with Nerine Pienaar and her team once again, feeling familiar and well looked after in their hands. Fianca Barnard was attentive on set all day, making sure I looked fabulous.

And the lovely Bianca Pelser who did hair and make-up was a gem, and it was just as fascinating to realize we have so many friends and connections in common.

It was a wonderfully smooth day of filming and I enjoyed the slightly more improvisational style director Andrew Cleland used to get the best performances out of the kids. As an often behind-the-scenes crew member myself, I always pay attention to and try to honour the unsung crew heroes who actually make it all happen at the end of the day. It was an immense pleasure to work with the great AD Darryl Fuchs, DOP David Pienaar and their teams.




I must also compliment the catering by Anton from Aquarius, who made the most yummy and mouth-watering coconut-covered, jam-pocketed, cereal-flaked, impossible-to-decline dessert. (no other way to describe it!)








Well, in a blink it was all over and I had enjoyed such a joy-filled, love-what-i-do day.
It's heaps of gratitude that spill over and await the next time I can walk onto a film set and enjoy telling you all about it!









Chat Soon Peeps!

French Toast #BehindTheScenes

What an awesome day on the set of the new Hartiwood feature film French Toast!

Being back at the Hartiwood 'headquarters' i.e. the little town of Pretville in Hartebeespoort was so magical and every time I visit they have made even more improvements and added exciting new things.

There are now mini-sets created as rooms or shops for scenes to be shot for French Toast, but much of this film will be shot on location in and around Hartebeespoort, in Stellenbosch and in Paris itself. (Man, I would give a pinky toe to have gone to Paris, France! (One day...)

I play a small cameo role of a french-speaking nurse named Marion. I just adored my warderobe... (by Corlia Pienaar) Marion looked reserved yet classy and stylish. And the little watch on my dress was set to the appropriate time according to the scene. My hair and make-up was done by Lee-anne Nourse and I loved the sleek up-do she gave me, it was perfect.

And so, in our scene I had a couple of lines in french opposite the beautiful Lika Berning, who plays the lead in the film, as well as the legend Lochner de Kock, what an honour. I won't give too much away, best you all watch the film when it releases in 2015!

Here I am with Lochner (top right), with Paul Kruger (Director) and Linda Korsten (Producer and PM) (bottom right) and with Linda and Merishen Wessels. (Props Mistress and Art Dpt)  (bottom left).

I enjoyed every single second of being on set and I could do that day in and day out for hours on end, it's magical and I love it! #actresslife!
C'est magnifique!

Go and 'like' the French Toast Facebook Page to keep up to date with production news and the release in 2015!

Au revoir et a bientot!

#SCARS The Movie #ComingAttractions

Dreams are born with a seed of a thought and grown through countless steps of action and loads of passion, faith and belief. #SCARS was a seed, a thought, a concept and has grown to become the potential realisation of not one person's dream, but many.

Hashtag Scars (#SCARS) is a teenage adventure film, a story about four random teenagers pulled together by fate when they realise they have two things in common; superpowers and one sinister neighbourhood mom. It is a project that has been blessed from the very beginning with so many individuals willing to contribute and invest their time, skills, money or energy in helping the development of this dream.

(Read more about this project here.)

This incredibly exciting project is the brain child of my hubby, Ferdinand and has been in development for just over a year now. A major amount of legwork in the development phase has already been completed, including the filming of an exciting new teaser trailer. It gives you a great feel for what's to come...
#SCARS Teaser Trailer 

It is so incredible to watch something come alive from concept phase to the written word, to images and possible shots and locations..

Some of the teenage cast members have already been pencil booked and let me tell you, there are some truly incredible talents in this country and we strive to give them the creative platforms they deserve. I am truly excited for all the possibilities it may bring for the young stars who will make their debut with this project and dream of great careers within this industry. There are 4 great main characters who drive the story: Ariana, Chloé, Shane and Tshepo. Then there's the antagonist character, Vanessa - a wonderfully meaty role and I feel so privileged and excited to be playing her. I really hope I will do her justice when the time comes. I can't wait to be on set and see the story come alive.

We are now in the process of sourcing the final funding and investment for #SCARS, which some say can be the hardest part of producing a film. But we already have so much support, I just know that in no time we will be green lit and shooting the first scene of this remarkable project. We are also currently running a crowd-funding campaign on indiegogo, and would love for you to check it out.
Just follow this indiegogo link.

We are daily working on the #SCARS campaign and development and I can not wait to let you know when we're finally in production. So keep an eye out and watch this space!

Ukraine Commercial #BehindTheScenes

Last week I had such fun on set, shooting my first commercial for the year. As with most of these projects we are committed to confidentiality requests, but I guess I can tell you that the ad is for a bottled water brand and to be aired in the Ukraine. (Apparently I qualify for a Slavic look) We were only 4 cast members, one male lead and 3 featured extras and filming two small scenes that will ultimately form part of a larger adventure for the lead male.
I always have super amounts of fun on set as an actress, and this experience did not disappoint.
First off at the wardrobe fitting the day before, I was basically playing dress up and had to model about 10 different outfit combinations and options. And not just any clothing, think Zara, Forever New, Mango and so on... yes please! And then, the Director asked for a make-up and hair test to be done on me... So what to do if you just got all made up by a top make-up artist... lunch with your man of course!

At the stylist's home playing at being a mannequin...

My call-time on set in Braamfontein was 4.30am, ouch. It was pouring torrential rains in Jhb and I had to arrive with my hair wet, naaaaice. At least that saved me a few extra minutes of sleep not having to blow dry at home, not that I got much sleep knowing what time I had to get up again. But somehow I find all of that exciting and agreeable for the sake of being able to do what I love and enjoy.

This is a pic of where we shot in a very misty Joburg with the Nelson Mandela bridge in the background. 

The hurry-up-and-wait factor is always very much a reality and perhaps even more so on a commercial set. So David, also one of the 3 featured extras, began teaching us his on-set games to pass the time. One of which was 'the movie link' game. It works like this: the first person mentions a movie title, then the next person should pick a movie title that contains an actor from the movie just mentioned. Then the next person does the same but may not use the same actor again. And so on and so on, until someone is stumped. Which then means the person who gave the movie title that stumped the next person, receives a point. You can also keep score of these points to finally pick a winner. (If you are ever able to stop, it's quite addictive) Eg. Person 1: Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Person 2: Se7en (from Brad Pitt) Person 3: Kiss the Girls (from Morgan Freeman) Person 4: Olympus has Fallen (from Ashley Judd) etc. It certainly passes the time, but is much more entertaining (and educational) if you are playing with some serious movie buffs! Gonna try it at my next dinner party :)

Sneak peak of me getting my make-up done.

It's such a great feeling being on set, it always lifts my spirits and energizes me. So once the commercial is out and online, I'll try to post the final product for you guys!

Chat soon,