The Citizen - View from above

	A MUSIC video shot in Cape Town recently made use of re- volutionary new film-making technology. BRUCE DENNILL investigates.
THE camera zooms in on four young musicians on a rock, waves breaking behind them as they strut and pose. Cut to shots of racing cars roaring down a mountain road, a leather-clad extreme skater speeding along, and a number of other scenarios expanding the video's storyline. The scene is Cape Town, and the event is the filming of the music video for Pretoria band Xten- sion 5's latest single, Feeling. Cut into the video is footage from the upcoming feature film Love Crazy, in which members of Xtension 5 and other video cast members also star. The movie, and therefore by extension (sorry) the video, is about a man who takes under his wing a group of teenagers with no direction and a num- ber of personal dilemmas. Among the outlets for their angst is extreme sport, hence the racing and so on What makes the footage stand out, though, is not the action - these days entire television channels are devoted to what used to be cult sports - but the camerawork involved. Many of the shots are aerial shots, but taken from angles that preclude normal means of getting such footage. To get these shots, which add pace and excite- ment to the production, the film-makers brought in local company Visual Air Productions. Stephen Verheul and his team use incredible miniature helicopters fitted with cameras to go where no cameraman - or full-size helicopter - has been able to go before. Designed from scratch (Verheul couldn't find a design elsewhere that worked as well), these nifty little machines can fly up to 200km/h, carrying 16 or 35mm movie cameras or digital or stills cameras. A team of highly trained controllers pilot the helicopters from the ground, while the camera crew working on the movie can operate their cam- eras remotely as well to ensure that they get the shots they want. At the moment, this proudly South African com- pany has the edge in its field. Love Crazy, made locally and starring home-bred actors, may be the vehicle to convince Hollywood to come knocking.

For a behind the scenes look at the making of this video, go to our HD Features section.