ByBento × espAfrika — Production Brief
Cape Town
International
Jazz Festival 2026
Pre-Production Active
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ByBento × espAfrika — Production Brief
The Mission
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival is South Africa's most celebrated music event. ByBento is the full content production partner for 2026 — delivering a premium body of photography, film, and social content that captures the soul of the festival for espAfrika and its partners.
CTIJF is Africa's largest jazz festival — a 25+ year institution drawing world-class artists and audiences to the Cape Town International Convention Centre every March.
ByBento is producing the complete content package — from live-day photography and videography to a premium aftermovie and a real-time social media presence.
We're building a body of work that rivals the world's best festival content — Montreux, North Sea Jazz, Summer of Soul. Four visual registers. One golden thread. No compromise.
Dates & Schedule
From crew confirmation now through to post-production delivery in April — here's every milestone the team needs to hit.
Package offers issued. All shortlisted crew to confirm availability and accept terms. Roy available remotely from NZ. Thoban leads on-ground coordination.
Creative Director Gee Yako returns from retreat. Treatment development starts immediately — shot lists, visual language, interview style, golden thread across all content.
Call sheets distributed. Equipment checked. Shot lists locked. Artist interview schedule confirmed with espAfrika. All crew briefed on workflow, media management, and communication protocols.
Open public concert kicking off the festival week. Mpumelelo covers photo — shooting and editing live selects on the night (20-30 images). Apollo covers fast-turnaround video content for social.
Intimate welcome event with artist access. Key priority: artist interviews (max 10 min each). Led by Gee. Bradyn on camera. Consistent backdrop setup. Mpumelelo on stills. This content feeds the heritage and talking-head registers in the aftermovie.
Full crew on-site across 4 stages: Kippies, Mannenburg, Moses, and Rosies. All three videographers rolling. Three photographers on rotation — military-style coverage so someone is always on floor. Tsepo cutting reels live. Justin Leslie running DIT. Sarah posting. This is the main event.
Full crew repeats. After Party coverage added — Mpumelelo on stills as part of his extended package. Day wraps. Handoff of all media to DIT. Post-production begins the next morning.
All photographers deliver personal top 20 selects (own edits) within 3 days of event. Justin Leslie begins full curation edit. Bradyn and Gee lock into aftermovie edit, grade, and audio mix over 4 days.
All deliverables reviewed and signed off by client. Full content package delivered to espAfrika. Post-production wrapped.
The Team
15 specialists across production, photography, videography, post-production, and social media. Click any card to read about their role on this project.
Creative Direction
Every frame we capture should live in one of four visual registers. Together, they form the creative architecture of CTIJF 2026. Gee's full treatment expands on this — but this is the foundation every shooter and editor works from.
The soul of the festival lives in faces — joy, concentration, connection. Handheld. Shallow depth. Crowd moments. Eye contact. The unscripted. This register humanises the spectacle and gives the audience someone to feel with.
Composed, deliberate, architectural. Warm-cool colour grade. Long lenses. Shallow focus. This is the brand-grade content — the shots that go in the aftermovie trailer, on a billboard, on the client's reel. Think Johnnie Walker × Afro Exchange meets Adizero House of Fast.
Table Mountain. The CTICC. 20,000 people. Drone aerials. Stage lighting filling the frame. These shots contextualise the festival as an event of national and continental significance. Wide. Epic. Earned.
CTIJF is 25+ years old. That history is content. Talking head interviews with artists. Archival footage from previous years. Cultural context. The story of jazz in Cape Town. This register gives the aftermovie weight and meaning beyond a highlights reel.
Moodboard References
What We're Making
Here's everything we're committed to producing. Every deliverable has an owner and a deadline. No exceptions.
On The Ground
Social Strategy
Social Media Plan