Ben heads to New York

Many sights of Namibia, from the outskirts of the capital city, to the grassy savannahs, to the Namib Desert and the sea, forms part of the visually striking cinematic eight-minute travelogue that got young Ben Thunder into the New York Film School.
Helene Bam
Gabby Tjiroze

Ben Thunderwalt, known as Ben Thunder, is a 19-year-old aspiring filmmaker, who has a passion for film. He fell in love with the expressive power of the art of filmmaking.

He now has an opportunity that every young person dreams of.

He was accepted at the New York University into its Film School for a four-year degree in film and television.

He was born and bred in Windhoek and matriculated from the Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaatskool last year and since then he has been focusing on his film journey.

“When I send out my application, I never thought that I would get positive feedback, seeing that the school only had a few intakes for this year, so I never thought that I would be one of the selected candidates.

“At first when I got the letter I just thought it was too good to be true, so I never got excited, but as the days were passing by, I realised it was indeed true and then my excitement kicked in and I really feel honoured” said Ben.

Ben, who leaves towards the end of August, says he is changing the film world with a fresh way of cinematic storytelling.

“I call my films new cinematic tales, because they are not stories that I have seen on screen before; they are just films that tell a story about my surroundings. It will be an opportunity for me. I always try to have a message in my films, social issues and something that I feel strongly about. I just make sure that they are enjoyable and flexible to everyone,” he says.

Ben, who is a young, strong-willed and plain-spoken says that he taught himself about filmmaking and in his free time. He mostly spends time creating vlogs on YouTube.

A vlog is a video blog or video log and is a form of blogging for which video is the medium.

“Everything that I know I have taught myself, and now I am presented with an opportunity to expand in the film sphere, and I am so much looking forward to this chance. I have so far made YouTube videos, which are just informal and mostly just for fun. Right now, I am vlogging just to keep busy and gain a bit of experience, in the meantime too.”

Ben has been making videos for the past eight years; he has created some videos for his school and family.

Ben can be reached on Twitter: @BenJohnWalt, Facebook: Ben Thunder, YouTube: Ben Thunder Cinematic

10 Fascinating Filmmaking Facts

1. The biggest box office hits of their time – “Jaws” in the 1970s and “Titanic” in the 1990s were a nightmare to shoot as it went massively over budget and their directors honestly thought that they would never work again.

2. The two most gifted and wildly successful filmmakers in history Steven Spielberg and James Cameron did not go to film school and do not recommend going to film school. Instead, they both advise aspiring filmmakers to shoot their own projects and build their reel until their skills are marketable enough to be hired on paid directing gigs.

3. Most independent filmmakers have very poor judgement when it comes to choosing actors.

4. The first moving picture cameras were invented towards the late 1800s, and movies were boring. They were a single scene, about a minute long, and they were silent.

5. Within 3 days of release The Hunger Games has become the highest grossing film for production company Lionsgate.

6. 16 frames per second is the speed that early cameras filmed. By today’s standards it’s pretty slow. For perspective, modern 35mm cameras film at 25 frames per second.

7. Most movies theatres these days use digital video projectors. The technology is called DLP which means Digital Light Processing. Since modern films are projected digitally, movie studios don’t ship huge reels of films to the theatres anymore.

8. Introverts can make the best film editors as they usually work long hours, viewing hours of footage in dark rooms. Although they do interact with directors and assistant editors, their job is highly solitary.

9. The Dark Knight made more money in its first six days in the US than Batman Begins made in its entire domestic run.

10. Originally, the term “movies” did not mean films, but the people who made them. It was generally used with disdain by early Hollywood locals who disliked the “invading” Easterners.