Embracing the Audacity of Creativity with Katlego Baaitse
When it comes to directing, some know from a young age that they want to do it and others find it along the way. The latter is true for Spitfire’s director Katlego Baaitse, who began his career working in graphics and on title sequences, before realising that he wanted to tell the whole story, rather than just parts of it.
“My childhood was filled with love and joy,” says Katlego. Giving credit to his late mother, he reflects on how having children altered the way he speaks about his younger years, “For some reason speaking on my childhood feels like such a heavy question now that I have kids,” he explains as he considers the moments that left him with memories he perhaps refrains from thinking about.
Reflecting on the happier times, it’s graphic novels, anime, movies, art, music, football and other sports that took up his time – quite the collection of interests to keep him busy. Like many children, it was these varied interests and the people around him who helped shape who he is today, and to some extent had an effect on the creative career he’d go on to pursue. However, he also jokes about the hobby he didn’t mean to take on, “Heartbreak can be a hobby if it keeps happening, right?”.
Across his years, there are some hobbies which stayed and some which fell to the wayside. For instance, while Katlego no longer plays football as much as he used to, he does still keep up with training and staying in shape. “I am also on my way to being a 50 year old man who’s still into anime,” he says, “I still really love some of the more grown-up/serious anime and have a Princess Mononoke tattoo.” While he put the pencil down with drawing, he still does storyboard as some of his interests have transformed, but there’s one thing that he’s happy to get rid of, “I’m grateful for hanging up my boots on the heartbreak front,” he jokes.
When starting out professionally, Katlego began working on graphic and title sequences, which he did for a few years. But eventually, his storytelling nature needed to break free. He explains how his initial job role made him excited to create beautiful visuals “but the need for story overwhelmed the need for pretty,” and he decided to make a shift. The process of shooting ideas, trailers and pitching them to prospective clients was where he began, “I directed some title sequences and conceptualised many promos for TV shows. At this time directing was intermittent and I was working full time as a creative.”
Eventually, this led Katlego to his first role, which involved the FIFA World Cup in 2010. With South Africa as the hosts, he found himself at a small studio, “I art directed (as a creative) and directed a commercial for Ladine hair. It was a small job but I was really proud when I saw it play on a big screen during a game. That’s some nostalgia there,” he says. With his prior creative experience and need for variety, he now creates work spanning across different themes. “I bounce between stripped down and bare docu-style or solely performance driven work or hyper styled and graphic spots. Although the industry prefers to have directors in categories."
Katlego’s motto is fairly simple - - he embraces the “audacity of creativity”, a phrase initially inspired by Obama’s line, ‘the audacity of hope’. He adds, “That said, the fact that some ideas really are absurd, and we get to execute them, is a gift.” One such idea that combined strangeness with his motto was his work on South Africa’s iconic Chicken Licken brand. “The creatives decided to put a billboard 13,800 km away from SA, in Kentucky, USA. All this to make a playful jibe at KFC in SA. Now, that is audacious as well as creative.”
Katlego also mentions the detective series, ‘The PI Diaries’, which he worked on for KFC, as a favourite from his career so far. “It coupled so many things I like - character building, comedy and performance. It was a great piece of work, as we had the opportunity to really play with performances.”
However, according to him, there is a caveat to the idea of audacious work: “I also believe it takes a certain level of grit mixed with vulnerability to make powerful creative work, which in itself is also audacious. In a line: despite the challenges, creativity has the will and grit to persevere.” Every brief requires its own set of considerations, which he’s mindful to incorporate during the planning and storyboarding stages of the process.
He says, “If the brief is for a docu-style film, then I’d look at the relevant references in the genre, using tropes, tricks etc. to achieve that. If the brief is ‘street culture’, then a mood board and visual representation of a tone can help. It’s also thinking about details, like setting, art and styling that all lean into whichever genre or style you’re leaning into for a brief.” He continues, “Using a ‘classic’ artist or filmmaker is also a nice hack. Once you do that, you’ll start to see others are already playing in that world too. I find the key is to get a tone and keep it clear and simple in explaining - as I tend to over-explain or get too detailed as well.”
Taking inspiration from local directors surrounding him in the industry, Katlego also looks further afield for work that makes him want to create. “East Asian cinema, Tarantino, Scorsese to name a few, (I’m such a cliché),” but other mediums also heavily influence him. “Art and music most definitely play a role, as well as travel. Seeing different cultures helps you understand yourself in a way. I’m also a big fan of tattoos and photography, general expression in an art form is inspiring.”
Of course, this means keeping at the forefront of innovations and technological leaps in the industry, one of which is AI. This has changed the way in which he considers creativity. “With the advent of AI, being influenced and expressing culture is going to be even more important. How we see ourselves is reimaged in a non-existent way that could become popularised and could create a misunderstanding of African culture. In short, I’d like to be more influenced by culture.”
Aside from his directorial responsibilities, it’s a given that Katlego gives time to other interests and pursuits, much like he did as a child. “I’ve been travelling to Norway almost every year for the past 13 years,” he says, reflecting on the transformative and inspirational power of visiting other places. At 40 years old (though no one thinks he looks his age), he keeps up with speaking four different languages and even dabbles in the odd cliché – “I also like pina coladas and dancing in the rain… Had to do one dad joke,” he jests.
Katlego sets his bar high when thinking of the future, aiming for work that will win big in the next year, “Inshallah ya Habibi, finalists at Cannes, D&AD and the likes in 2024,” while also being keen to launch his own YouTube channel to house his short films, case studies and discuss a range of other topics he’s interested in. He leaves us with what he believes is to come, “Continued growth and hard work for us, the willing and creatively hungry.”
