THE BRAINS OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
In life one never stops learning, we got an opportunity to talk to one of the best cinematographers, who goes by the name Ronald Moabi aka ClouttGrapher X, an 18 year old young man who comes from Lobatse.
When asked about the kind of software he uses to make the best videos, the young man explained that his favourite software is Adobe Premiere, as it entails everything that will help one to create a video where they can carefully control the lighting. He explained that its attributes allows it for one to control the lighting in a way that will give the clip a precise feel that matches the mood of the song, and concept the director wants it to flow which makes it beautiful.
He went on to introduce us to the men who inspired him to work hard and be where he is right now. “I was influenced by Director X, Cole Bennet and Cyc Jouzy”, he said. What made ClouttGrapher X to like Director X’s work is the fact he has an awesome mind and his visual interpretation of a song is soul taking. Ronald narrated that he also loves Cole Bennett’s work and the way he do things, he built a promotional platform which goes by the name Lyrical Lemonade which he managed to pull off by shooting visuals.
A platform that he now uses to promote young American rappers which is very inspirational to Ronald. He could not stop praising Cole Bennett. Ronald went on to explain that he was inspired by Cyc Jouzy in the sense that he put effort in all his work, is very consistent and always gets better with every video, “Who would not be inspired by his work”, he said.
Motivation is free of charge and so is learning. ClouttGrapher X is a self taught cinematographer, he worked himself up by shooting promotional videos for his friends who are in the rap field. He also learned to sharpen his skill by working on already made videos before he managed to raise capital for his own equipment.
The young man’s dream became a success as he aslo used online platforms like YouTube in his process of learning. Through YouTube he managed to learn how to manipulate his environment and use DIY tools when he could not afford gear used for video making. With all this learning he grew conscious of the cinematography field, what it entails and what one needs to become successful in the field.
Its funny how one factor inlife helps harness the other. Ronald‘s has always being found of script writing at a young age. We all know that script writers are very imaginative and always write scenes that are inticing, exciting and always bring the suprising factor into every scene. ClouttGrapher‘s love for script writing helped him when it came to putting a rappers ideas into the video and making it come to life. In that way he was able to relay the right message, mood and feel that a rapper wants his lyrics to potray in a video. He exlained that it is one of the key factors that made his video shooting days a smooth sail.
The young man considers night shots and colour grading as one of his favourite specialities. We always wonder how videographers make night shooting a sucess. He went on to argue that his goal is to tap into Botswanas Hip Hop scene and work with much talent as possible. He would like to see his counter parts music videos become a success.
“I shot Safe Hands for AbTheActivist”, he stated. It was an amazing experience to work with AB because of how open he was when it came to executing ideas and the research he does to make sure a scene goes well. He explained that in the cinematography field it is always wonderful to wrok with improvisers.
He went on to narrate that when walking with AB its team work that helped them to come up with a video that managed receive positive reviews and over three thousand views. It is through working witth AB that he was able to show the world his potential, it opened doors for him as more potential artists began to hit him up and work with him.
Keleabetswe is a 24 year old woman from Palapye. A product of Lotsane Senior School and Limkonkwing University. She loves writing..music and solving puzzles. Her dream is to be the best business and health news journalist.