Rob Malpage

Rob Malpage is one of the industry’s leading cinematographers turned director. A tenacious perfectionist who continues to direct and shoot most of his own commercials, for which he has been locally and internationally recognised. Rob’s wealth of experience started when, fresh out of film school, he began shooting the award-winning series ‘Yizo-Yizo’. A steady flow of commercials followed as did a number of feature films and short films. These allowed Rob to delve into the storytelling element of film-making which in turn has given him the ability to find narrative in all genres. Rob made his directorial debut shooting music videos with controversial South African artists, Die Antwoord. Rob has an inimitable and expressive visual language, which translates beautifully to the screen. This, coupled with his deep understanding of performance, composition, music and editing, makes him a multifaceted and highly respected director. He continues to both direct and shoot most of his commercials, which have won him multiple accolades at Cannes Lions, D&AD, LIA, Visible Spectrum Awards and Loeries. " The work that I love doing is above the line big TV commercials, which are cinematic in nature - I love doing big shots in big landscapes. I love the technically challenging shoots where you are pitted against nature somewhere beautiful, or finding textures in the back alleys of Lagos. I like shooting emotion, making an audience feel something, be it love, fear, awe. I like to tap into people’s core emotions let them believe in the characters and what they see on the screen. I love photography as well, in time the two have become interwoven. I love the still moment where everything has come together. The two disciplines of cinematography and photography help you as a director to know the medium of imagery and how to best capture it." - Rob Malpage, director, The Rudeboy Collective