Putting back the pieces.

A nice piece of Pro-Bono work by Volcano advertising, for National Children and Violence Trust (NCVT), has achieved a finalist in this years Vuka! awards.

As part of its on-going and successful social economic development programme, Volcano conceptualised a TV commercial for its pro bono client, the National Children and Violence Trust (NCVT). The commercial was produced to coincide with the national 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children which commences on 16 November.




NCVT, an NGO based in Fourways, Johannesburg, supports the most vulnerable groups in our society, such as abused and violated children and women, the unemployed and people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The neglected and vulnerable victims who fall into this group are counselled, educated and trained to survive and look after their own well-being and to provide hope for a better future.


Volcano and partners donate time and energy to bring an idea to life


The commercial, conceptualised by Volcano’s creative team, lead by Creative Director Francois Boshoff, Art Director Dustin Sinclair and Copywriter Carl Richardson, figuratively and dramatically portrays “broken” women and children, who find refuge in the sympathetic hands of NCVT staff members.


Broken limbs of mannequins were vividly transposed onto ‘abused victims’ to illustrate the physical damage and pain experienced by them, whilst achieving maximum visual impact and audience responsiveness.


The commercial has been nominated as a finalist in the M-Net Vuka! Awards.
Production Company Unleashed worked with the Volcano team to shoot the commercial. Mark Hebert, Cinematographer at Unleashed said, “We shot the commercial in one day in three different locations. Our crew was highly motivated by the circumstances they were portraying and the empathy of the cast was amazing.”


He continued: “We shot the entire commercial on a Canon 7d HDSLR with a full complement of Canon and Sigma lenses, and a specialised mini slider dolly was used for the motion shots. Our audio production house in London, Zendell, reworked the audio and added in sound effects which really pulled the cinematography and motion graphics together perfectly. We are so proud of the final product which will effectively communicate the wonderful story of the work being done by the NCVT!”


Director Ryan Bronkhorst added: “Our biggest challenge was to figure out the most cost-effective way to create the ‘broken’ effect. We played around with a few techniques and eventually used a strategically-broken mannequin. Fibreglass isn’t fun – it’s the man-made equivalent of a prickly pear! We placed track points on our actors and composited Photoshopped textures of our mannequin over them. The emotive end result was exactly what we had hoped for.”


Passion for the project


Volcano’s Francois Boshoff is very passionate about the project: “We understand the importance of the work the NCVT do. Not only do they provide counselling but assist in the healing process as well. It’s this amazing work by the NCVT that inspired the concept”, he said.


“We hope our commercial will encourage people to donate to this very worthy cause”, said Francois.


The NCVT can be contacted at 011 705 1960. Any donations are welcome.