Hilton Treves of The Refinery (left) hopes the weak rand makes South Africa more attractive to European competitors. Jason Cullen of Luma has seen the local industry explode in the last seven years. Luma’s ad for Chai Jaba is on the right. All Luma images: Luma Animation CC. All rights reserved.

One such popular institute of higher learning is the Universal Computer Arts Academy (UCAA), a Cape Town-based animation school co-founded in 2000 by Peter den Hartogh and Nuno Martins. The objective was to offer students “the opportunity to take this exciting field of animation to new heights,” according to Martins. The student body at UCAA has swelled to 110 students from just 30 the year it opened.

“We have seen studios increase staff numbers annually, especially in post production and animation,” he reports, “and a new project initiated by the government to construct Hollywood-style studios is already in its second phase.”

Brain Drain
But there’s a chance this utopian vision may turn into a dream deferred. A potential fly in the ointment: a brain drain involving droves of vfx artists bolting South Africa to chase fame and fortune abroad.

Just ask Dave Wilson, a CG artist from Cape Town, who now works in a supervisory capacity for Blur Studios in Venice, Calif. “There are many artists out here from South Africa working at some of the finest houses on some very high-profile projects,” he says.

His sense is that as more interesting and exciting projects arrive in South Africa and the industry matures, there could be a migration back to his native country — fueling the impressive knowledge base that’s already taking hold.

“I know many artists who left the U.S. to go to New Zealand to work on Lord of the Rings,” he explains, “so if South Africa can grab a few movies like that and keep some of the post work local, you will probably find a lot a of guys traveling back home to work on them — a trend that’s already beginning with a big Tom Cruise[-produced] movie shooting there at the moment [Robert Towne’s Ask the Dust] and a big film studio opening in 2006.”

Presently, the majority of the vfx work in South Africa is for branding and commercials. Local companies yearn to expand the film industry. Wicked Pixels’ work (left) and Luma’s ad for Mini Coopers (right).

Cultural Creativity
Hilton Treves, vfx supervisor for The Refinery, a high-end post-production shop with facilities in Johannesburg and Cape Town, hopes the weak rand “gives us a small advantage over our European counterparts, though our talented artists ultimately secure the productions.”

To facilitate the client approval process, his company has installed a number of high-speed online systems, including those from Telestream. “This has greatly helped our ability to do the required post-production without having to have the director remain in South Africa for the duration,” Treves reports.