Music-video cinematography with Natasha Duursma

In a relatively short period of time, Natasha Duursma has built an extensive and impressive list of cinematography credits across music videos, commercials, and other short-form projects. Her music-video work includes collaborations with such artists as Jungle, The Last Dinner Party, Tove Lo and Memory of Speke. In this video, Duursma talks about getting her start as a spark, shares insights into her preproduction process, reflects on the creative challenges and opportunities posed by the 14 music videos for Jungle’s Volcano album, and more.

Becoming a Cinematographer

"I was always making music videos with my friends," Duursma reflects. "I moved to London to study film, and I became a spark. I climbed the lighting route into cinematography, and then one month I was just super busy shooting so many music videos that I was like, 'Cool, I'm a cinematographer.' I've been doing it ever since."

Asked whether there was a particular project that served as a key stepping stone on her career path, she shares, "The big break's always working alongside collaborators and directors that you keep climbing with." Early in her career as a director of photography, Duursma adds, "We managed to have support from people like Panavision, and they'd give us loads of kit and upscale the project. It makes the video look high value, and then it means people trust you with bigger projects."

Across a multitude of projects, Duursma has developed a personal relationship with the team at Panavision. "Everyone knows exactly what I like shooting on, and it's great having that from a text away," she says. "When I shoot on film, I love to shoot on super clean, sharp lenses. Vintage glass on digital, and then clean glass on film is usually what I go for."

14 Music Videos in Four Days

Ahead of the release of Jungle’s album Volcano, Duursma worked with director Charlie Di Placido and choreographer Shay Latukolan to make a music video for each of the album's 14 tracks. "We did 14 videos in four days plus a pre-light, which was crazy," Duursma reflects. "We managed to split up three in a day, three in a day, four in a day. It was all in one space in Alexandra Palace, so we broke it up like, ‘Okay, three are going to be in that direction, three are going to be in that direction. We're going to have a backdrop for those four.’ If you break it down with different lighting setups and different camera setups in each one, then it helps.

"When I first heard [about the project]," she continues, "I was like, 'Is this going to work?' But it did work, and everyone pulled it together."

Trouver l'inspiration

As Duursma begins a new project and prepares for principal photography, "The most important thing for me would be going to the recce, really scoping out the location and spending time in the location," she says. "When you're there, you can see how the light falls in the room and your angles and your compositions. I love making little animatics with the director or just really understanding our shots in preparation - exactly what needs to be done, but you've got options to have a play.

"I have a digital notebook on an iPad, and I love putting all the recce photos in and annotating," she continues. "I got into a period where I was watching loads of films from the '70s, and that period of 35mm is quite big for me. I think the more inspiration you have, the more original your idea is going to be, because you've got thousands of references that all puzzle together to make what you are creating."