5 interesting facts about the Director of The Race-ist

1) Andrew was a youth Pastor for 14 years before deciding to head into movie making full time.

2) In general, people think he is not so lekker in the head...

3) To make the movie took 20 months of dedicated focus - Andrew and Mandy lost their house and car and were even homeless for 3 months during the production...

4) The only break in those 20 months was a month in hospital.. with kidney stones...

5) He really isn't lekker in the head because even though it was the toughest 20 months of his life, he can't wait to get stuck into the next movie.

Bonus point:
6) Andrew wrote this Blog. Further proof that he isn't lekker in the head.

Welcome to South Africool!

                        Fillus--> 

<--Cummef... 

Our two backyard Bio Chemists who manage to extract a Bio Superfuel from Cow manure... 










All they need is someone crazy enough to test it in a car... 










<--- Lukas

A fellow who is so besotted with driving that he believes a racist is actually a race-ist - Someone that looks cool and drives fast!

Get Ready for a 

Lekker, 

Fun, 

Funny 

and 

LOUD 

Cinematic experience!

www.therace-ist.co.za

5 Facts about the music in The Race-ist

1) It pumps. Seriously. You will feel like you walked out of a nightclub! (Unless the Cinema has crappy sound! ...Make sure you moan if the Cinema sound is crappy!)

2) It ROCKS! Seriously.. We literally produced South African band 'Evolver1' to suit our movie.. (they were already hot before Nathan got his hands on their stuff.. now it's Godlike!)

3) All the music in the movie is produced by our own team! - Nathan Winkler, Johan de Kock and Geo Hohn. Watch the trailers and listen to the music to see how hot these guys are! (At making music I mean..)

4) Even the emo music is awesome! (We don't dig emo music so much so we made sure it was sweet on the ear!) You can leave the razor blades at home.

5) The music is mixed for big sound systems... yeeeehawwww! You should feel the riffs in your soul! Remember to moan if the Cinema sound is crappy!

The Top 10 reasons to watch our film!

1) Cos it's South African and every ticket sold helps us make better and better movies so support your local talent if you want better and better local stuff!

2) Cos it's got cars and chicks in it. (And Mark stent with his big muscles!) (Vin Diesel looks like his sister!)

3) Cos a Race-ist is a oke what drives fast and not an ignorant inbreeder that judges people by color.

4) Cos Kurt Darren and DJ Fresh are in it. (their first movie!)

5) Cos it's directed by an awesome dude with bad hair.

6) Cos Brandon Auret and Murray Todd are funny as hell!

7) Cos it's got Ian Roberts and Jonathan Pienaar in it. (Jaaa Boet).

8) Cos People who don't watch it will be labeled dweebs and shunned by society for the rest of their miserable lives.

9) Cos it's a lekker, loud, fun, funny movie!

10) See number 1) and 8)

Proof that film makers are loony!

Making a movie...



After you have written your script, shot your promo and begged for money for 10 months or so.. you finally shoot the thing and then go into post production...



This is what post production entails:





90 minutes of footage cut down from about 600 hours of footage.



90 minutes of cleared and sometimes re-recorded dialogue.



90 minutes of infinitesimal sound effects for every footstep, closing door and revving engine.



90 minutes of Ambient sound - Like cars driving by, dogs barking in the background, general sounds that we don't notice unless they are not there.



90 Minutes of music - a very very tough process which is basically like building a puzzle with your ears...





Every time there is a change, the entire audio chain is effected and must be moved accordingly.. on a 90 minute HD film, this translates to about 30 man hours per change...



As a director, you begin to get sick of your movie, you struggle to maintain perspective so you bring in other eyes to give their opinions. There is no such thing as a non critical test screen.l People will find changes in a diamond if they can.. you trust them and make the changes because you are too close to the project...



By the time you get to the final mix (All the Audio elements mixed into a nice 5.1 experience) and Grade (Color balance and enhancements), you will have watched your movie almost 3 times a day, every day for 6 months...



Somehow though.. exhausted, stressed and scared as hell (critics everywhere!) you manage to finish it and love every minute...



Proof that film makers are nutjobs!



:)

Perks of my profession...

It's tough as hell to make a movie in South Africa, but there definitely are perks.. like getting to drive the cars we have for the movie, hanging with famous peeps and of course, moving FHM models around the set.. heh heh

Fast cars, pretty girls.. and then my favorite, mentoring youngsters who share my passion for film!

In the pic with the girls in it, you will note a young girl wearing a white, long-sleeved top with a red vest thingie over it. That is Juanita - a fireball of encouragement and wisdom who has an epic future in film making!

You get tired of the other stuff, Cars and Hotties are great eye Candy but 13 hours later on set, you are irritated and exhausted and all you want to do is go home and sleep!

Enter the excitement of the teen-ager who has found her niche.
A 'you can do eeeet' speech from her is like having Red-Bull intravenously!

It's like that with all the youngsters we have around us on set! Their passion and energy have no limit! I reckon you could climb Mount Everest with nothing but toothpicks and elastic bands with that kind of positive energy around you!

Someone commended me the other day on my passion to mentor youngsters in their skill sets. "How nice that you put up with them" was the sentiment.

Hell no!

Mentoring them is merely the small price you pay for their energy and drive! They freely give input, serve with all their hearts and expect nothing in return except your attention here and there and an opportunity to learn while they show off their developing skills! It's awesome!

Whats' it like on a film set?

I'm the stressed looking guy on the right wearing the bright wastecoat thingie with the cheap hat from Margate.

My expression about sums up the question posed in the title of this blog.

(Well.. I hope I look more focused than stressed.)


Film making is the island in the middle of the sea where discipline and creativity meet, where the unstoppable force meets the immovable object.

You have two teams around you consistently:

1) The Creatives who need to express themselves artisitically and represent their characters in a manner that will feel natural on screen.

2) The scientists who make sure the lighting and camera movement is as flawless as possible from scene to scene.

It's a case of 'hurry up and wait' as the creatives step aside for every lense or angle change. To get the shot from any angle differing from the starting point, you have to move the lighting.. and then any equipment that might be in shot.

The Art department will kill you if you have a light stand or a sandbag within the Director of Photography (DOP)'s blocking area (The area actually in shot).

When it's time for a reversal again, it's the art departments' turn to flee before the lighting department because the grips and lighting teams will kill you if your decor is in the way of their gear...

Whenever that Camera moves, the entire world moves around it.

This is an idea of the chaos behind the Camera. If we decide to look this way with the camera, all this stuff has to move.



Glamorous eh?

Haahahaha.

I hope that gives you an idea...

And herewith the result of all that chaos: