Jean Pant Short FilmRelease Date: 23 November 2012
Studio: AFDA Film School Cape Town
Director: Rowen Smith
Screenwriter: Rowen Smith
Genre: Comedy, Drama
FPB: 13PGL (for language)
Vimeo page: www.vimeo.com/rowensmith
Starring: Armand Greyling, Roland Reed, Ludri-kay Strohfeldt, Thanjia van Deventer
Tagline
Dog het gedink liefde is reg om die draai, toe kom hy agter liefde was reg onder sy neus.
Rowen Smith Jeanpant.
Jeanpant Logline
When a pathetic swimming instructor at Rover‟s Country Club tries to impress the new tennis coach, only to impress the one he least expected.
Dis 'n afrikaanse comedy oor 'n loser swem instructor, Neelsie van Niekerk, wat verlief raak op die verkerde cherry, Suzette Allerman. Terselfde tyd deal hy met Rugby jock en kaatjie van die baan, Frank Hennop, wat ook in Suzette se panties wil klim. Arme moffie Neelsie gaan mope by sy vriendin , Wille Willemien Wolmarans, en sy tune hom oor sy pantzy ass attitude! Neelsie kry ook advice by sy 3 beste swemmers. Hulle weet fokkol van relationships af, maar Neelsie trust hulle en dit lei hom om dom besluite te maak.
Jeanpant English Synopsis
When Neelsie van Niekerk, a pathetic swimming instructor from Rover‟s Club, tries to impress sexy Suzette Allerman, the new tennis coach, but is challenged by Frank Hennop, the rugby coach at the annual Ventersburg fun gala. Neelsie fails to impress Suzette and leaves disappointed, but thanks to Wilmien the emo- tuck-shop lady‟s tough love, Neelsie rises for the challenge to get his the girl of his dreams and finally rid himself of his humiliating past.
This is a quirky coming of age story of an Afrikaans nerdy guy who tries to impress the girl of his dreams, but impresses the one he least expected. It‟s filled with stomach hurting laughter, rugby, boerewors and biltong. It‟s movie for the modern Afrikaner who loves the same old same.
About the Story & Genre.
Writing Jeanpant took over 12 months with so many different versions of the script. We have over 20 drafts of dialogue and structured scenes that got omitted. The final draft was actually quite easy understood by the crew and the actors loved most of it. The crew certainly helped out along the way with some very creative improvised scenes and themes that could be brought through with their characters.
The story was originally a screwball comedy, but it kind of evolved into what I like to call an Indie Romantic Quirky comedy. There are funny parts and then there are extremely funny parts, we have an emotional beat or two that hits quite deep, or I‟d hope so.
All in all, I am quite content with the final draft and together with my team we visualized and created the story in such a creative way. A way I never even imagine when I wrote draft 1.
About the Characters
I had a lot of actors to direct as the story revolves around about 7 character's some fulfilling sub plots and some eventful flat characters. The 4 lead roles are played by 3rd year acting majors. Armand Greyling plays the skinny Neelsie van Niekerk. Roland Reed is the stereotypical rugby jock. Suzette Allerman, the girl of the hour, is played by Ludri Stroghfeldt and emo-girl and tough cookie Wilmien is played by Thania van Deventer.
First off we have Neelsie van Niekerk. He is the central protagonist and he surely is a complex individual there ever was one. He is a kind hearted swimming instructor who wants to find the perfect girl, but he looks in the wrong places.
Then we have Frank Hennop, the rugby coach and part time DJ at “The Watergat”. Obviously guys like Frank want one thing; to reduce guys like Neelsie and look good while doing it. Frank appears out of nowhere every time Neelsie tries to impress Suzette, but of course he fails over and over and over again until it gets ridiculous.
Suzette Allerman. Her Surname is Allerman, because she sleeps with every man in Ventersburg. The newly employed tennis coach is the center of attention at the annual swimming gala. She's vain and pretentious to the max, but she‟s definitely a stunner.
Last we have Wilmien, now this is a pretty intense character. She's a ginger-minger-emo-goth who works at the tuck shop for who knows why, but the one thing we do know about her is that she is head over heels in love with Neelsie, who never sees or appreciates her friendship and affection.
Shooting day came quite soon together with a few challenges. We shot for 5 days straight from 06:00 am to about 7 pm. The weather was good, but on day 3 we received an unexpected shower of rain. We shot in the rain, and transformed the scene into a character sad mood piece montage expressing the characters childlike comedic emotions. We completed our shooting for the project on 25 October, when we shot a really funny scene in Neelsie‟s bathroom. I‟m really excited for that part actually.
We have about 3 cuts of the film. The first cut was done solely by my editor Christine Scholtz.Afterword‟s I joined her for about six sessions of paper edits and a couple of long nights behind her Mac. Thankfully we got a full Jeanpant Sound Track signed off from Select Music (Pty) Ltd and other music companies. The Jeanpant Movie soundtrack includes songs from: Dewald Wasserfal, Lianie May, Jak de Priester, Ryno Velvet, & Kurt Darren.
About Screening & Distribution
With the Jeanpant production we not only want to hit our target audience spot on, but we want to aim for an increasing viewing rating after the first Jeanpant screening. We screen on 23 November in Cape Town at the annual AFDA film festival. Jeanpant will also go online for a day in the AFDA online film festival. The film will be screened in Johannesburg and Durban for the remainder of the festival days until 25 November.
There are some video‟s out that can excite an audience to our final screening; a teaser trailer is out on my vimeo page (www.vimeo.com/rowensmith) together with a behind the scenes talk with Meneer Neelsie.
In 2013, Jean Pant was selected for the 34th Durban International Film Festival and the audience loved the film. I am especially proud of the cast and crew for getting the film to this prestigious festival.
To Conclude
Jeanpant is a 15minute Afrikaans comedy for the young at heart. It‟s definitely a Valentine ‟s day-High-School-Movie perfect for the general Afrikaans population. It will have English subtitles for our English audience and it has a 13 PG(L) rating for our younger viewers.
Remember to check out the trailer, the film and the behind the scenes on my vimeo page ROWEN SMITH VIMEO or visit the official Jean Pant Google+ Page JEAN PANT GOOGLE+
Writer & Director Rowen Smith
WATCH THE TRAILER: Jean Pant Trailer
WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES: Jean Pant Behind the Scenes
WATCH THE SHORT FILM: Jean Pant Short Film
WATCH THE BEHIND THE SCENES: Jean Pant Behind the Scenes
WATCH THE SHORT FILM: Jean Pant Short Film
