Hugh Mitton comes out of Africa - with a bucketful of experience

Our young director Hugh Mitton has recently completed a few TVCs in East Africa for Safaricom (a la Vodafone), Weetabix, and a few nifty retro 15ers for Broadways Bread.

Says Hugh, "Africa is a wild and wonderful place and each day arrives with its own gifts and challenges. I'll still never get completely used to it. I was doing most of my shoots out of Nairobi and everyday I'd see something new, be it a startling cultural difference or discovering Whittakers chocolate at the supermarket."

"As for the shoots, the crew and equipment here are perfectly modern - you can get an Alexa or Dragon plus a skilled crew - though there are still some relics. We used some of the 12K and 18Ks which were leftover from Out Of Africa, which definitely added a classic filmmaking charm to the set."

"You have to be able to adapt fast too. Weather days aren't covered here and yet plenty of TVCs are still shot in the rainy season. I'd never had the chance to film black skin in New Zealand or Australia, so tailoring and lighting the scenes was more invaluable experience."

"I'm pretty lucky really, on top of all this I missed a blisteringly cold Tasman winter and now I'm coming home to summer."

Broadways Bread