Production
Drum is Zola Maseko's first feature film. He originally wanted to tell Sophiatown's story in a six-part television series called Sophiatown Short Stories. Unsuccessful in convincing the South African Television Company to pursue such a series, he decided to change the medium to that of film. He secured a large amount of his funding by convincing Taye Diggs to fill the lead role.
American screenwriter Jason Filardi was asked to write the script by production company Armada and subsequently "fell in love" with Drum's plotline. In preparation for this task, he read books on Nxumalo and the history of South Africa, and stayed for a month in Johannesburg. Filardi said that his work on the film was his fondest experience with the medium. Filming began in May 2004 and lasted for six weeks. On 29 May, producer Dumisani Dlamini died after being shot in the head at his home in Johannesburg.
The soundtrack was written by Terence Blanchard and Cédric Gradus Samson. Much of it is a jazz score, which has been called "strong". This is a reflection of the music that was popular during the movie's place and time.
Read more about this topic: Drum (2004 Film)
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“An art whose limits depend on a moving image, mass audience, and industrial production is bound to differ from an art whose limits depend on language, a limited audience, and individual creation. In short, the filmed novel, in spite of certain resemblances, will inevitably become a different artistic entity from the novel on which it is based.”
—George Bluestone, U.S. educator, critic. “The Limits of the Novel and the Limits of the Film,” Novels Into Film, Johns Hopkins Press (1957)
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The society based on production is only productive, not creative.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)