e.tv is keeping on par with the hi-tech transformation of the TV world to HD by refreshing its title sequence and music for its soapie, Rhythm City. Debashine Thangevelo caught up with Tim Greene, the creative director for Quizzical Pictures, to find out about the engineering that went into achieving this change…
WHEN it comes to viewing options, higher definition trumps standard definition. Fact. And broadcasting companies are fast gravitating towards more HD-driven content.
In fact, there are now dedicated HD channels by organisations like MultiChoice. In the soapie realm, sets, storylines and casts are often the focal points for change. And that why-fix-it-if-it-ain’t-broken rule is strongly adhered to… until now.
e.tv’s decision to freshen up the look of Rhythm City is going to be a game-changer for local soaps.
Tim Greene (also credited as Timothy John Greene), the creative director for Quizzical Pictures, shed more light on how the soap’s new title sequence came to fruition.
“We have been working on it for about a year since it became clear when the whole HD rollout would happen. We (Quizzical Pictures) presented three different treatments to e.tv. The one was kind of similar, stressing the continuity for the new sequence from the old.
“The original title sequence starts with a woman in a humble house in Soweto. She sings and the pulse energy breaks out of her voice and travels into the city, then a recording studio. And then a CD comes out of a tray with a logo on it.
“That was seven years ago. We wanted to give some continuity to that. It’s called Rhythm City and we loved the idea of a pulse moving through the city so we kept that and treated it in three different ways.”
The one that bowled over e.tv’s decision makers was the aerial shot of the city.
He shares: “We decided to shoot high above the city. We kept the idea of the night look and the pulse moving through the city. But we took it to a whole new level. Seven years have passed, technology has come a long way. The prestige of the show has come a long way. We’re shooting in HD. It’s a feast for the eyes really. The title sequence still carries that aspirational journey. The pulse creates the logo and it is a neon sign floating above the air in Gandhi square.
“So it has a lot of continuity to the show, a lot of freshness and technological advances.”
Interestingly, they originally intended to shoot those aerial shots from a drone.
Greene recalls: “We bought a drone. And we thought we would make the whole aerial thing a part of the programme. But the day after, the Civil Aviation Authority said that permission for filming from the drone was not granted. We had to return it and hire a helicopter. It took two days to conclude the shoot, where they flew over the city.
“We shot from Alexandra to Soweto and the city. When you fly through Hillbrow and see all the flats built on this hill…you get to learn the geography better and the landscape, at sunrise and sunset, is so beautiful. And the rest of the shoot was at Gandhi square.”
On the music side of things, Samkelo “Samthing Soweto” Mdolomba, the former founding member of The Soil, is behind the vocals.
In the meantime, Greene says Quizzical Pictures is “turning out so much work for e.tv”.
“We are now working on Iqadi – it’s a working title. It’s a polygamy drama that will be on next year. It is about a polygamist who bites off more than he can chew…”
• Rhythm City airs on weekdays at 6.30pm on e.tv.