-- -- SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE:
Currently screening on Afrikaans lifestyle channel VIA (DStv 147), new South African TV show Trap! Dis My Huis - co-presented by Amalia Uys and Zo Brown - is based on the hit international Fremantle television format titled Get The F*CK Out Of My House.
Produced by Cape Town-based production house Afrokaans Film & Television, Trap! Dis My Huis sees 50 strangers living together in a two-bedroom house - equipped with supplies for just two people - for a chance to win R1 million. The original format caters for 100 people in a four-bedroom house over 30 days or longer, says Afrokaans producer and founding partner Handrie Basson, but we had to scale down the format for effective production budget control and compelling storytelling. The VIA version is for 50 people in a two-bedroom house for 18 days.
With cameras recording their every move 24/7, the housemates must spend three weeks together in the two-bedroom house without leaving. If a housemate wishes to leave the house, they are free to do so, but this means that they are also choosing to leave the competition. Contestants are also regularly voted out of the house by their fellow housemates.
An intensely focused production
The casting team selected potential housemates based on their short video and questionnaire submissions that were submitted via the online audition platform, Short Audition. Our casting team then sorted and shortlisted candidates, and did follow-up interviews to select a final cast of 50, says Basson.
The production crew had their work cut out for them, tracking the various subjects 24 hours a day, for the full 18 days. Working with a large number of contestants, cooped up in a confined space, brings about its own set of unique challenges. And the fact that contestants could leave the house voluntarily at any given moment meant that the crew had to be prepared for a walk-out at any time of day. An amazing part of the production was to monitor 50 individual audio tracks at all times and making sure that the individual microphone packs were always functioning and powered up. Keeping on top of all the story developments in a house with 50 contestants, meant that our content producers - in fact, the entire control room - had to be glued to the camera monitors constantly to ensure that we are abreast of all conversations, emotions and strategies, comments Basson. Designing and setting up the episodic challenges had to be of such a nature that we could continue filming non-stop without having to break for set-ups and striking of challenge builds and props.
These restrictions pushed the Afrokaans team to think outside of the box in order to create feasible yet compelling games and challenges for the contestants. It was an intensely focused production across the board and our crew managed to pull it off spectacularly, says Basson.
Great entertainment for viewers and guaranteed ratings for broadcasters
The reality TV show has previously had successful editions in the Netherlands, Germany and Brazil. Basson says that the format first caught his attention a few years ago at MIPTV: After attending MIPTV in Cannes, France a few years back, we spotted the Fremantle format, called Get The F*CK Out Of My House, creating great buzz at the market and we were adamant about bringing it to South Africa. Afrokaans negotiated the rights with Fremantle and found a broadcast partner in VIA to bring this exciting format to South African audiences.
Afrokaans specialises in unscripted formats, both internationally acquired and original, for South African broadcasters and content platforms. The company also produces lifestyle series and branded content, as well as productions in the scripted genre. Some of their recent projects include Survivor SA (international format) and The Scene (original format) for M-Net; Hoor My Sien My Soen My (international format) for kykNET; Style Squad (original branded content format) for Mzansi Magic; as well as In Ons Midde, Mooi, Dit Proe Soos Huis and Die Kliek (all original formats) for VIA.
Localised international formats are hugely popular in the South African television market - think Survivor, Come Dine With Me, The Bachelor, Masterchef and Dinner Date, to name a few - but while producing home-grown versions of these formats guarantees reward, executing these productions effectively for the local market can be challenging.
South African TV audiences are becoming more and more sophisticated and demanding in their content choices, and broadcasters and South African production companies have to deliver to these demands, says Basson. International formats executed locally allows South Africans to see themselves on TV in international success stories and it brings a unique flavour to tried and tested TV formulas, but it is sometimes difficult to execute international formats on the same scale as our overseas counterparts, because local production budgets often do not allow the scale and production values that one sees in international executions.
However, South Africans are creative, resourceful and innovative when working around restrictions and smaller budgets. The pay-off is huge when it is done authentically and professionally as our local versions of international formats provide great entertainment for viewers and guaranteed ratings for broadcasters, he adds.
A huge technical challenge
Afrokaans engaged with Visual Impact SA to provide their trusted turnkey technical support on this format execution. A producer is only as good as their suppliers and crew, says Darren Lindsay, supervising producer at Afrokaans. According to Stefan Nell - digital imaging HOD at Visual Impact - this was no easy feat. The concept of the show is fantastic and I knew that this was a project that would be a huge technical challenge as well as a lot of
