Duncan to make waves in film industry
Tilley has worked on some of the most successful award-winning South African social justice documentaries.
Local cinematographer Duncan Tilley will join five other filmmakers on a journey along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline for the Nature Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers (NEWF) Advanced Underwater Filmmaking Lab.
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Tilley was selected from over 100 applicants across Africa.
He will be joined by fellow cinematographer Fiona Tande from Nairobi, Kenya, marine scientist Loyiso Dunga from Khayelitsha, editor Jolene van Antwerp and team mentor Takalani Mulaudzi.
Leading the team will be Johannesburg-based producer Maishe Mosala.
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Tilley has worked on some of the most successful award-winning South African social justice documentaries, including Uhuru Productions’ International Emmy award-winning Miners Shot Down.
He is a climate activist with a passion for documentaries and telling stories that matter.
The NEWF Underwater Lab, sponsored by Vulcan Productions, will kick-start in Sodwana Bay in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, where the first of three stages begins.
On Sunday, February 23, the participants’ ‘think tank’ rolls out with stage one.
The team will be based in the park for two weeks, where there will be a strong focus on story development and pre-production.
They will be tasked with developing a concept for a short film.
Participants will also undergo training for three dive accreditations.
The first of these will be an Open Water 20, followed by an Explorer 30 and finally an Ecological Diver accreditation.
The second stage, specifically for the cinematographers, will be to develop diving skills in equipment management, high safety and buoyancy.
This will allow them to grow and become comfortable as an underwater cinematographer.
They will undergo training for advanced diving accreditations of Deep 40, Nitrox and Performance Diver.
During this stage the team will also be tasked with filming and documenting the shot-list as per the outcomes of story development in stage one.
The final stage will be the post-production, with the team tasked with completing their film.
The polished product will be showcased at NEWF Congress 2020, which takes place from July 21 to 24 at the Barnyard Theatre in Suncoast, Durban.
“On a continent surrounded by over 30 000 kilometres of coastline, black African underwater filmmakers are rarer than most of the species we seek to protect.
“We cannot save what we can’t see and therefore fast-tracking the specialised skills development for a new generation of Africa’s nature and wildlife filmmakers is vital,” said Noel Kok, NEWF programmes director.
For more info on NEWF and the project visit www.newf.co.za
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