Videographer and photographer, Shaun Lewis, from Patensie, who creates shows for his Facebook page and YouTube channel to highlight various social issues in his community, finally received recognition for his work when his show was recently nominated for best drama series.
Lewis, who is a reading assistant at Patensie Primary School, began watching rugby video tributes on YouTube in 2015, which was the start of his love for videography.
He said he then felt inspired to accumulate his own rugby tribute videos, while playing rugby for United Barbarians Rugby Club.
To get the video footage he needed, Lewis asked his friends to film a few short clips of him, during each rugby match, with his smartphone, which he then edited.
After a few games, he bought an inexpensive camera to shoot longer videos, which further ignited his love for videography.
Lewis said, despite not having any formal videography training, he watched numerous YouTube tutorials each day to better his vi-deography skills.
Without any funding or help from a production team, in 2019, once he accumulated enough knowledge about videography, he embarked on his first video project, titled Die Pyp, a show which highlighted the negative effects drug abuse had on the family and friends of drug users.
“My ideas are inspired by people in my community. Most of the events that are acted out in my videos are true events that had happened in my community before,” said Lewis.
He said his community had so much talent and it was therefore important for him to let the world see that their circumstances might not be great, but their talent was endless.
Lewis’s project, Tjintjie se Mammie, featured his neighbour, Muriel Khondlo, as the mother, and Lewis as the son. The show focused on Tjintjie, who was raised in a good household, but began spending more time with bad friends, who encouraged him to participate in bad activities.
Despite Tjintjie’s bad behaviour causing an unpleasant atmosphere at home, his mother continued to love and support him.
Since his first project in 2019, Lewis’s YouTube channel Shaq-vid Production has received more than 127 000 views.
In February last year, his hard work and dedication towards his passion for videography finally paid off, when an episode of Tjintjie se Mammie appeared on OnseTV, a Cape Town-based television channel.
Lewis said when his show appeared on OnseTV he was very emotional and excited because he never thought of showcasing his show on television when he began creating online shows.
To his surprise, he received further recognition for his work, when OnseTV recently nominated Tjintjie se Mammie for an Awêness Award for the best drama series.
Lewis said when his show was nominated for the best drama series, he felt calm, even though the nomination felt surreal.
“To me, being nominated for the Awêness Award in the best drama category meant that I was appreciated for working hard on my art. The award will motivate me and many other people to work even harder on future projects,” said Lewis.
Looking towards the future, his hope is to establish his own production studio which will allow him to create internationally recognised films and provide young people with the opportunity to learn about filmmaking and photography.
- To vote for Tjintjie se Mammie for the Awêness Award in the best drama series category, visit www.onsetv.co.za/ and go to Awêness Voting.
