Probably the piece I'm most associated with in commercials. It made a real impact at the time on the industry, but it's real legacy has been how it's affected and inspired a whole generation after to get into commercial filmmaking. Unfortunately the reality is that the work so seldom ever emulated the socio-political concerns that this took on. It was the perfect story for a very particular time in the transition of the country towards a post-apartheid future. The irony is how different some of the moments feel or appear now... Denzil Armour Brown did an incredible job shooting it, pushing to warm up the lens with a salmon filter to bring an ambiguity to the faces tones, and help keep that racial suspense throughout. The treatment bible was 90 pages, which was unheard of at the time, and included everything from David Goldblatt photos to quotes from a book called Black Like Me, a real account of a white journalist who through a strange medical procedure had had himself '-recoloured' and went to live in 60's Southern America to write an account of how it might feel to be black in a white world. At the time the entire project was a huge risk, having been written by one of the first young black creatives of that generation, Festus 'PF' Masekwameng, (who named the script 'PF Jones' after him own nickname I think). Along with my close friend at the time, Pule Hlatswayo the theatre director who had just done the extraordinary 'Gomorrah' about growing up in Alex, the team worked very hard on the details as a way to work the scenes from inside out. The breakthrough moments was in a casting when Vanessa Frost brought her mother and friend to the casting because they had grown up on a farm and spoke fluent Xhosa. When I realised that through language they had inculcated African mannerisms, I knew how important it was to be on the right side of 'performing black', something I think we got right. But I know there are some who felt otherwise and I would never attempt to argue against it being a problematic piece. But nothing like this is ever good by being uncomplicated I suppose. it was always supposed to shake things up, and it certainly did that. Elmi Badenhorst, now Art Directing in LA was extraordinary on her first wardrobe job, dressing 100's of extras out of one tiny tent, having taught herself so much of the blanket pinning craft in the weeks leading up to the shoot, again details that we never even knew were important till the shoot was literally upon us. I also hid a lot of easter eggs throughout the piece too, some of which never made the cut, like artist friend the late Barney De Wet carrying a goat on his back through Dube Taxi rank, others like Nancy, my father's housekeeper playing the photographer tourist. She and her husband went on to find work with Frank Myburgh at Magic Lantern, a film rental house in Jhb. Funny how narratives intertwine between artifice and reality... The music track came from Mapaputsi and T-Rex and hadn't been released. Festus brought it in and when Adam Scott the Kiwi I'd brought out from Final Cut in London to edit it, placed it, we never looked at another piece. Everything just swung from that moment on.... There was a BTS scenes made by Terence Neil, now a really successful commercials and music promo director in the US, on his first job. It's unfortunately been lost to the world through bad archiving. The hope is that the SABc who played it at the time might have a copy. Good luck trying to find that out though. Lastly, Tyron who played the lead was actually living in Soweto in the time, trying his hand at rapping. He was up against another Tyron funnily enough, Danny Keogh's son, who to this day, always rags me for never giving him the gig, but he turned out to be a very accomplished actor going forward, whereas I not anyone I know have no idea where this 'PF' ended up, but he was everything this script needed. it's over 20 years now, mate - get in touch if you still out there!
