Changes at VWV

Award-winning experiential communications agency VWV has announced that group operations director Theo Pretorius has resigned. As a founding member of the core team that started VWV some 20 years ago, Pretorius was instrumental in raising the profile of the video productions department of the group. He took it to the highest levels of creativity and production value on the local and international scene.

During his tenure as group operations director, Pretorius worked tirelessly to maintain and extend the standards of excellence achieved by VWV, while at the same time developing a team of creative and production personnel whose multi-award-winning performance has been recognised in South Africa and around the world.

The time came recently for Pretorius to explore and expand new horizons and he has taken his expertise to develop the project known as 'My Acre of Africa.'

In his absence, VWV has adopted a more horizontal structure among its management and has replaced the role that Pretorius played with his team with one that is now headed by experienced and multi-award-winning director, Warren Stewart.

Stewart left university armed with a BComm and a vision for making movies.

He joined VWV in 1997 and began his career in the deep-end as a production manager. During this time he worked on major productions such as a panoramic five-screen for Brazil Tourism and a three-screen production for Ford Mondeo, shot on 35mm film.

Stewart moved into editing in 1999, working on numerous productions which garnered a range of industry awards, including crafts and Loeries, as well as a gold craft and Grand Prix Loerie for 'SAA One Flag', a gold craft for BAT (five-screen), and a craft for Brazil Tourism (five-screen), among others.

In his first year as a director in 2002, Stewart won silver and gold Loeries for Petro SA. In his second year he filmed and directed the first ever VWV eight-screen production, 'Fast Forward' for SAB. This went on to win a Grand Prix for production, a gold craft for direction and a further gold at the SASC awards for cinematography.

Stewart was promoted to the position of general manager of the VWV Productions Unit in April 2005.