South Africa Shoot: 1999

 

On New Year's Day in 1999, I flew to Cape Town, South Africa.  It was a 14 1/2 hour flight.  It wasn't too bad as we were in business class, it was an overnight flight and the plane wasn't full.  

Since January is summer in the southern hemisphere, when we arrived the weather was lovely.  70's and sunny.  The flowers were beautiful.  

 

Cape Town is a beach town. It's like Miami ...

with a Dutch 

African twist. :-)

I went to Cape Town to shoot a Sprint commercial.  In the U.S., actors are unionized.  They get paid a session fee when they shoot, and residuals every time the commercial airs.  Not surprisingly the costs can add up quickly.  When that happens it becomes more efficient to shoot overseas where it is possible to buy out the talent with a single payment.  South Africa is one of those places. 

Also at this time favorable currency exchange rates beckoned in South Africa - another factor in its favor.  

We stayed at a beautiful hotel with harbor views.  But it was 1999, and the internet at the hotel was spotty.  I was able to get one email through, but no more.  It left poor Edward hanging.

But on the negative side, Nelson Mandela was about to step down from office and things were a bit tense.  In fact, the Hard Rock Cafe was blown up a few days before we arrived.  Since the creative people preceded us they actually witnessed and filmed the event.  So they shared their footage with the police.  

There was also rioting while we were there.  I was afraid that Edward would be concerned so I called him to reassure him.  But thanks to the poor international news coverage in the U.S. he had not even heard about the riots.  Silly me.

The reason he was home to answer the phone (I had planned to leave a message on the answering machine) was because it was a snow day in NYC.  That was hard to imagine when the weather was so perfect.  

I also took the opportunity to remind Edward to water my plants, but it was already too late.  When I arrived home several were dead.  I guess I should have called sooner.  

 

I think it was passive aggressive.  He didn't like me being away for over two weeks.  Of course he joked about it and said he not only watered them but also talked to them saying: "That's it.  She's never coming back.  You've had your last drink." :-)

We had some extra time in between shooting stuff so we were able to visit the Cape of Good Hope.  That was a real kick.  It's the place where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet, and I remember studying it in school.  Sir Francis Drake wrote: "it was the most stately thing, and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth."

We checked out the penguins who reside in Boulder's Beach.  They have apparently gotten even more brazen since I saw them and have taken over a nearby town.  It's the subject of the Netflix documentary - Penguin Town.

And we visited an Ostrich farm.  The little ones are light and cute.  

 

 The big ones are large and mean.

 

There were stray animals rooming all around on the hills near Cape Town.  It was very surreal.

 

One of my goals on the trip was to eat as many strange foods as I could.  Why not?  I ate ostrich (hopefully not the cute little one I cradled several days earlier)...

ground hog, springbok, and alligator. The first three reminded me of tough beef.  But the alligator had an interesting flavor.  And no.  It did not taste like chicken.

 

We took the tram up to the famous Table Mountain 

and enjoyed the views 

and critters at the top.  

And we also got to see it from the ground on days that it was clouded.  When that happens the natives say that the table is wearing its tablecloth.

 

We shot indoors in Cape Town.  When we shot, I learned how to direct crowds.  You don't direct people as individuals.  Instead, you tell everyone with a last name that starts with the letters A-L to mill about and everyone else to stand still.  Very interesting. 

The commercial was about building a car using remote video connections.  Hmm.  Where have I heard of that before?  But remember, this was 1999 and I couldn't even send an email.

In addition to shooting in Cape Town, we also shot in Stellenbosch - a suburb famous for its vineyards.  It too had some classical Dutch influence in its architecture. 

That's when I found out how difficult it is to shoot car scenes.  The set up took all morning.  Typically they max out at about two hours.

But this set-up involved placing a camera man in the path of the car with a rope around his waist to pull him out of the way in case god forbid the car did not stop where it was supposed to. 

We were all very relieved when we finally got the shot.

Next we moved on to an unloading shot at sunset.  

The sunset was exquisite.  When I mentioned it to our South African guide she simply shrugged and said: "Ah yes.  African sunsets."  So there you have it. 

It was chilly as darkness set in, so we drank endless quantities of Rooibos tea.  It's definitely worth checking out.

All in all, it was a memorable trip to a place that I never would have visited on my own accord.

Here's the commercial...