‘AGAIN’ Exclusive: Zhelyaz Tomov on creating SA’s own ‘Game of Thrones’
Film editor and VFX specialist Zhelyaz Tomov is currently working with South Africans Nizaam Ackerman (from Cape Town) and Amanda Dlamini, as they develop a South African TV show concept for Netflix African Originals. The series, titled AGAIN, is set seven centuries into the feature, in a dystopian South Africa, which has been torn apart by conflicts.
The South African spoke to the 39-year-old Bulgarian-born, Berlin-based film editor, who would like to see this TV series brought to life, and on a global streaming service platform such as Netflix.
Netflix African Originals: SA ‘perfect arena’ for dystopian sci-fi story
The series, which is already in pre-production, was created after the team heard about the Netflix African Originals sub-section.
“We wanted to do something different and unique. South Africa, with its complicated past and present, offers the perfect arena for a dystopian sci-fi story,” says Zhelyaz.
“Since English is spoken by everyone, this helps to open up the story for an international audience as well. There are amazing South African actors, who will no doubt bring the story into life in a way, which will resonate with millions of people.”
Zhelyaz says that he has worked on an array of international award-winning productions as an editor. One of these productions includes Roads to Olympia which premiered at 40th Durban International Film Festival in July 201. It is working on productions like these that taught him one thing:
“The most important goal is to keep the audience entertained, so the viewer can remain hooked up to the story. Our everyday life is exhausting enough, so when we turn our attention to a film or a movie, we demand the content is worthy.”
That’s what he hopes happens with AGAIN.
Keeping the viewer engaged
“Editing is a crucial part of achieving that goal. If the story builds up too slow and it feels dragged off, people get bored and if it’s too hectic and escalates too much, people get exhausted and end up bored at some point. This is especially important for a TV series, where the storyline stretches over multiple episodes or even seasons. Nobody wants their audience to lose interest after episode two.”
AGAIN will ultimately be a 10-episode post-apocalyptic drama set about 700 years from now in a dystopian South Africa.
“The editing allows me to find the right balance in terms of building up the tension and story. I can accelerate it at times and slow it down if needed. By leaving some lines or even a scene out, by cross-cutting different scenes, telling a sub-story over a simple montage, and so on. Or through technical tricks like time ramps.
“Sometimes even small, subtle things have a big impact on the pace and storytelling. I tried to implement that knowledge while writing AGAIN, so the script and story are already optimised to keep the viewer engaged.”
Zhelyaz says that producers are having meetings with various people in order to finalise everything for the pilot.
“Right now we are in talks with a concept artist to visualise the characters and the world, bases on the reference imagery I provide. Since everything in the series is happening so far into the future, none of the designs is existing and they all have to be created from scratch.”
The first African sci-fi series of this magnitude
Once the series gets the greenlight, Zhelyaz says this will be the first African sci-fi series of this magnitude.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to bring the story out in such a way, that it would resonate well internationally. If it gets green-lighted, we’ll see the first African sci-fi series of this magnitude. That people realise high-end content is not restricted to US shows and will increase the interest in more African and SA made productions because they can shine exactly as much like the one from the West.”
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