Natural Light

Documentary makers on how the real thing gets shot

Lwazi Mthembu2 episodes2 min of audio148 playsEpisodic

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S1 · E2Aug 16, 20260:5497 plays Preview

Four Hundred Hours: An Editor on Finding the Film

Editor Thandiwe Khoza explains how she turns hundreds of hours of unscripted footage into a story, from the first viewing log to the structure that only appears in month three.

S1 · E1Dec 31, 20250:5751 plays Members

The Room You Cannot Change: Lighting Observational Documentary

Lwazi and director Nomvula Dlamini talk through shooting a two-year observational film in a Johannesburg clinic where nothing could be moved, and explain exposure and available light along the way.

About the show

Natural Light is a fortnightly conversation with the people who make documentaries, hosted by Lwazi Mthembu, a documentary cinematographer from Durban who has shot films in mine shafts, courtrooms and kitchens across southern Africa. Each 45 minute episode pairs one working filmmaker, a director, an editor, a sound recordist, an archive producer, with one specific craft problem: how do you light a room you are not allowed to change, how do you earn trust with a camera on your shoulder, how do you cut four hundred hours into ninety minutes. Lwazi asks the questions a crew member would ask, and the answers are practical and honest about money, ethics and luck. There is a regular segment that explains one cinematography idea, from exposure to lens choice, in plain language. It is for documentary lovers and for anyone who wants to make one.

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