The best thing about (the surprisingly good!) new reality show Clifton Shores on Vuzu (DStv 123) is that it not only brings sunshine and brightly-lit, beautiful people filmed in summer into South African TV viewers' living rooms in the middle of winter - it's that it's actually good.
Clifton Shores which started this Tuesday on Vuzu (21:00) and filmed more than a year ago in Cape Town, follows an American girl named Destiny Moniz and some of her "friends" travelling from Las Vegas to Clifton to work for mining the South African mining mogul Quinton van der Burgh's event planning company Quintessential (Van der Burgh also funded this reality show).
With Vuzu's disastrous track record of extremely shoddily produced and low rent reality trash like Nonhle Goes to Hollywood and the new Dineo's Diary which is a major embarrassement not just to Dineo Ranaka's brand but also to the channel, Clifton Shores is well-made television with meticulous attention to detail. No people's cellphone numbers seen here!
For once Vuzu has locally shot reality show not making the amateur production mistakes of Dineo's Diary and others - showing that local unscripted (although Clifton Shores is clearly quite scripted) television can be made and be made well.
Technically Clifton Shores has polished production values - it clearly has deft and experienced producers who know television and know how to successfully wield the camera and later do the editing, conscious of all the small technical details going into producing successful semi-scripted TV drama.
From the outset of the first episode the voiceover narrative of Destiny Moniz - the pacing, the script - is wonderful.
The opening title sequence of Clifton Shores - a fusion of The Only Way is Essex, Top Billing and Laguna Beach - from colour saturation, to the techno rave music ("I Want it All'') and mosaic screen utilisation titillation, are well crafted.
Once again its instantly clear that people really working in TV and film took care and the time to create something of at least standard quality and higher, which immediately elevates Clifton Shores to a TV show much better than half of what South Africans have ever seen and the run-of-the-mill filler mess that pass for reality shows on MTV.
The opening title sequence of Clifton Shores makes you want to watch it, which is what an opening sequence should do - entice you to stay for the main course.
Fast-changing multiple camera angles betray another secret: Clifton Shores had a more ample budget than most shows - more cmaeras mean more angles during the same scene edited together, which means a more vibrant and visually exciting show. You don't see that often in South African productions where skimpy budgets are the norm and camera crews and units are maybe all of one camera big.
The fake drive through through Gugulethu's shacks to show that side of South Africa and Cape Town (when the road between the airport and airy Clifton does not pass through there) as the girls arrive and are escorted to their accomodation was offputting, insincere, clearly scripted (and a mistake) and too contrived.
On the other hand it was obviously inserted for the presumed overseas TV audience the show was primarily made for, to give context of the setting and for dramatic tension (Oh my gaawd! Do People really live like this? That's so sad.")
The long yellow rays of the sun and the fantasy and panoramic escapism version of Cape Town and Clinfton Beach during summer are perfectly captured, lending Clifton Shores an air of high gloss without the usual pretentiousness.
Another surprise: The girls don't come across as "overacting". They're quite normal, they're not stilted and the conversations come across as genuine - even the ones clearly being framed in the first episode as the troublemakers and stirrers.
Clifton Shores is very well edited, there's clever cutaways (just not the cows!), the dynamic composition of Clifton Beach (and the aerial shots!) are wonderfully well done, and the first episode's scene setting from which future episodes will presumably build, didn't feel forced.
Clifton Shores is created and executive produced by Quinton van der Burgh with executive producers Clive Morris, Genna Lewis, Chris Roland and David Kolko.
Clifton Shores is a good surprise because South African television is usually so bad. The show doesn't necessarily raise the bar for reality television in as much as it showcases that it can actually be done with a modicum of professional production values - and that alone already deserves respect.
