THE FINAL STAGES- POST PRODUCTION

I am now at a stage where I am busy with post-production. After having clashes and problems with our time tables, the actors and I have finally recorded the final take. This could only mean one thing, that is, the radio drama that I have been writing about has been recorded. This was done on Saturday, it went well. What happened is that I promised to bring food (pizza) so that we can do it all in one go without people excusing themselves because they want to go out and have lunch.

Like any normal recording I put on my head phones, stood still as a director with the script on my hand. I made sure everybody has the script, the right script. I also had to make sure that we are all in the same page. Once that was sorted, they also put headphones and the game begun. This recording was different because it was no longer about reading the words but following the pointers in the script. If it is off mic, it has to be recorded off mic; if a person has made a mistake we all have to stop, discuss it, help that person if she needs help and do it again. Honestly it is an exhausting process but we all wanted something special, believable and listenable.

I must confess the professionalism of the actors has come in very handy in this process. One amongst the things I liked about them is the fact that they are not scared or afraid to say “let’s do it again, I did not feel good about this scene”. This is what made me happy and this is the same thing that I noticed when I was at uMhlobo Wenene, the actors respect what they do and they give it their best. They also said when they did not feel good about a particular scene. What I enjoyed watching was the fact that they corrected each other; they were not scared to say “no I think you have to do it again”. As a person who is not an actor I find this very interesting and it shows how personal people take their job or acting. They internalize it, it becomes part of them; it becomes a group effort. They are aware that a mistake made by one person will not do justice to the piece. As I had previously pointed out, I am learning a lot in this process, it teaches me different things.

This is what Toffee Zitshu, the uMhlobo Wenene producer said to me. She said as a producer you do not only show people how to do it but you also learn from how they do it. I have learnt the importance of communication; I have learnt the importance of team work, I have seen the support that actors give each other. I have learnt that as a director and producer I have to give actors their freedom, I have to give them a room for improvisation. I saw this happening when I was at uMhlobo Wenene where an actor would ask “can’t I change this sentence to this? I think it sounds better like this”. It happened to me as well; I remember one of the actors, Anelisa said “I am glad you said we can alter some of the words or lines because when I read through the script I also realized that there are things that need to be rephrased in order for this to be better understood by the listener”. I found this very helpful because as a writer I sometimes think that something makes sense when it does to me without thinking about how everyone is going to understand it. IsiXhosa language is broad and different isiXhosa speakers use different words but there is also standard isiXhosa which is the accepted one. Working with people like Anelisa who have studied isiXhosa at University level as I have done myself made a difference because she also became part of the script, she contributed both as an actor and as an editor.
Moving on, having recorded the final show, I told Toffee that the drama has been recorded and she was excited and told me she cannot wait to hear it.
On the other hand, all along I thought this drama has to be 15 minutes; I had no doubt in my mind that Toffee had said this drama has to be that long but after recording it I realized that there is absolutely no ways that this drama is going to be 15 minutes. It is going to be more than that. I called and told her about my biggest worry and to my surprise she said the drama must be 30 minutes long. I was so happy, in fact I was relieved.  Therefore now I am producing a 30 minute documentary. At the moment I am sitting on 23 minutes excluding sounds effects and music. I hope to fill the remaining time with sound effects, music and the credits at the end.
Ciao!