Sam Coleman crafts a tale of true artistry, bringing 1950s New York to Cape Town
He gamified Johannesburg for VW and now he’s jazzed up Cape Town for Accenture Song’s much anticipated new Allan Gray commercial. Patriot Films’ director Sam Coleman turns back the clock to craft a human story of how dedication, patience and true artistry will always be rewarded amidst ever-changing trends and fashions. This moving piece of storytelling sees Sam transform the city of Cape Town into 1950s New York.
‘Give it Time’ tells the story of a young American jazzman who stays committed to his art despite its waning popularity and the rise of rock n roll, disco, rap, pop and electronic music. His dedication is rewarded years later when his music unexpectedly comes back into style and he is asked to headline a big event where he plays his signature riff to a massive crowd of adoring fans.
ALLAN GRAY “GIVE IT TIME” DIRECTED BY SAM COLEMAN
Time and again Sam has proven his ability to build enthralling worlds for his stories while keeping a human touch and ‘Give It Time’ is a testament to that. It’s a piece with no dialogue, where the interplay between the environment and the protagonist create the narrative. So being able to recreate 1950s New York in Cape Town was key.
Says Sam, ‘I walked the streets of Cape Town day and night with my unit manager, armed with a handful of vintage N.Y. stills, holding them up to street corners, alleyways and buildings to find the small bits and pieces that could feasibly be New York. It was such a refreshing way to build this little universe. I then blended my location photographs with the vintage stills in post to see how they could work together and what level of VFX would be required. It turned out to be a very satisfying and rewarding process – seeing my own city as a studio backlot.’
Says Accenture Song ECD Graeme Jenner, ‘The creatives, production team, crew, editor, sound engineer, musicians, everyone really cared about this work. And as the director orchestrating this whole show, Sam certainly cared. Every aspect was thought through. Every tiny decision was questioned and deliberated. In an industry, maybe even a world, where care seems to be getting shorter in supply, that’s rare, and should be held onto and appreciated.’
Sam continues: ‘Graeme dropped a lovely line in the briefing which was “what does music look like?” It struck me that if done right, one could play this commercial with no music at all and still get it. This inspired me to put a lot of focus on the wardrobe of the respective genres and their accompanying uniforms. I thought if we could see what era we’re in with no sound at all we’d be in a good place. The terms be-bop, Motown, disco, rock & roll, Hip Hop all conjure something distinct, not just in styling but also in attitude, body language and lifestyle.’ In the end of course there was music, and the delicate arc of the story was set to a jazz-infused score by South African musician Muzi and Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin.
CREDITS
CLIENT
Brand representative (Client): Zwelethu Nkosi, Allan Gray – head of marketing
AGENCY
Agency: Accenture Song
Agency chief creative officer: Matt Ross
Agency executive creative director: Graeme Jenner
Agency creative director: Harry Mackenzie
Agency managing director: Lesego Kotane
Agency account management: Sheri Goldberg (Business Unit Director), Robyn-Lee Patience (Account Director)
Agency art director: Nethaam Abrahams (Creative Group Head)
Agency writer: Graeme Jenner (Executive Creative Director), Harry Mackenzie (Creative Director), Mncedi Kunene (Creative Group Head)
Agency head of integrated producers: Riska Emeran
PATRIOT
Director: Sam Coleman
Executive producer: Zayd Halim
Producer: Boris Vossgatter
Line producer: Lauren Dugmore
Production manager: James Savage
Production coordinator: Monica Anne
Talent coordinator: Tammith Hattingh
CREW
DOP: Rory O’Grady
1st AD: Tony Tex
2nd AD: Jaco Nel
Production designer: Mike Berg
Set decorator: Este Kira Opperman
Prop master: John Trafford
Costume designer: Elton Campbell
H&MU & prosthetics: Clinton Smith (Cosmesis)
Film BTS photographer: Jonathan Kope
POST
Post-production company: Priest Post Production
Post-production editor: Matthew Swanepoel
Post-production producers: Michelle Duvenage & Cal Kingwill
VFX
Post-production company: The Refinery
Post-production company supervisors: Rory Mark & Eddie Addinall
Post-production company visual effects producer: Simone Fanti
Post-production company 3D artists: Petrus Louw, Alex Hall & Ashley Hall
Post-production company visual effect artists: Edward Addinall, Tlou Mathapo, Douw van Niekerk, Daniel de Jager, Dries du Preez
Post-production company colourist: Kyle Stroebel
Post-production company colour assist: Abdul-Ghakeem Samaai
Post-production company producer: Nthabiseng Dlamini
MUSIC
Track Sondela Forever by Muzi
Trumpet instructors: Niel Engel & Lee Thompson
Talent
Lead: Aubrey Mogale