Director of Photography Services

Here is how this works in practice. We place directors of photography who own the visual language of a film or series, designing lighting, camera, lens and movement to serve the director's vision. Our network is centred on Cape Town and Johannesburg, where a deep, top-tier cinematography community has been built on decades of global features, streaming series and the country's huge commercial sector. The directors of photography we supply lead the camera, lighting and grip departments, work fluently with ARRI, RED and Sony camera kits and the full range of lenses, and bring the technical command and creative instinct that demanding shooting days need.

Here is the short of it. We match each DoP to your genre, format and ambition, whether that means a feature, an episodic block, a documentary or a high-end commercial, and we set up them with the gaffer, camera ops and colourist. Because English is the working language of the South African industry, directors of photography work with directly with overseas directors and studios, and the favourable South African rand exchange rate means a top-tier cinematography team is engaged at budgets well below European or North American norms.

Here is the breakdown. South Africa's enduring appeal as a shooting destination is built on its light. That is exactly what a director of photography works with. The clear, strong Southern Hemisphere light, central to the country's reputation, gives images a distinctive crispness, while the Western Cape's Mediterranean climate delivers dry, sunny summers as a prime production season. Within a mature production region, a DoP can light the controlled stages of Cape Town Film Studios or shoot across Table Mountain and the Cape Peninsula, the Cape Winelands, the Kruger bushveld, the Drakensberg and the Karoo, each with its own colour and quality of light.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. South Africa is one of the world's top destinations for servicing global features and series, supported by the DTIC rebates, and productions such as the Starz series 'Black Sails' and Ridley Scott's 'Raised by Wolves' at CTFS have drawn on local camera departments. The prime November-to-February season aligns conveniently with Northern Hemisphere production calendars.