Case Study: Natasha Braier

Born in Argentina, Natasha Braier has studied and worked around the world. In 1997 she made her debut as a director/producer/actress/writer on the short Meteoritos (although she left the cinematography to someone else!). A graduate of the Master's program at the NFTS, she has subsequently made numerous short films as a Director of Photography, including the BAFTA-nominated Heavy Metal Drummer.

She has also shot four feature films and recently finished shooting En La Ciudad De Sylvia in France. Here Natasha talks about her career, her views about shooting on digital and her claim to fame: jumping from a film school in Beaconsfield to shooting a Hollywood movie in just three months...

First interest in cinematography...

"It is difficult to say when I first became interested in cinematography. I did a degree in still photography and after a few years I started to realise that there was something called a Director of Photography in films and became interested in that. I decided to move from photography to cinematography. It was kind of a soft transition. As a teenager I loved films: Back To The Future and all that kind of stuff and then later on things that were a little more arthouse. Lots of the things I studied in still photography were really useful. The school where I did my degree in Argentina was very good - it was a very artistic school of photography, lots of things in black and white and very good technical preparation. It was a really good base."

Going to film school..

"After studying for a few months in Argentina, I went to Spain and studied at the official film school in Barcelona. I made a few short films and decided I wanted to go to a really good film school - because none of the film schools I had been to seemed good enough. At the same time I was making lots of shorts so I was getting a lot of experience. I did some research and found the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield in the UK, where they offered a Master's Degree in Cinematography. I applied and spent three years there. That was the main education I had. The school was very technically orientated. It wasn't like the experience of going to art school. It was very craft based. They train excellent technicians and it's not a very arty atmosphere. I've always approached cinematography much more from an artistic point of view rather than a technician's point of view, so it was really useful."

Life after film school...

"At the time, it seemed really difficult but looking back on it now, I think it was easy especially compared to how hard it is for many people to get into this industry. Lots of people start at the bottom and have to go through all the different stages like being a camera assistant and taking years and years until they arrive at the point where they can actually shoot a piece of negative as a DoP. By that point they're exhausted from years of carrying film boxes! They're in their thirties, they have kids, they don't have the energy. The film school route is really good - you're in your twenties, you've got lots of friends, you don't care about money, you just shoot and shoot and shoot until you're ready to grow into something more. "I came out of film school and had shot loads of shorts and had tried everything I'd wanted. People start to get to know you and tell you about other short film projects or whatever. So by the time I graduated I had a showreel - a collection of the best stuff that I had done so far. And I started to look for an agent, because that's what I was told I was supposed to do when I graduated and came out into the real world. The first year was not so easy, there wasn't much work. I kept doing lots of short films for not much money - just to keep getting experience. Then the network of connections that you've built up over the years starts growing and people start getting proper jobs. So within two years of graduating I started working in commercials and paying back all my student loans. I did about five shorts a year and survived on shooting commercials and music videos. After four or five years I did my first feature and now I've done four and make only one short a year - maybe with friends from film school who are still waiting to make their first feature. It hasn't been easy but it hasn't been very hard either. I think the National Film and Television School was the key that made it all happen."

On digital vs film...

"Well, most cinematographers would defend shooting on film and shooting on 35mm and, yes, I think it's probably what I enjoy the most too. I love CinemaScope as well. But I have to admit that lately I've been doing some projects on digital. I shot one of my features two years ago on digital with the Panasonic AG-DVX100A, which is a really small camera and I found it very liberating. We were rich in terms of the amount of time we could shoot in and the number of takes we could do. There was much less pressure because the format gave us a lot of freedom. So even though I would much rather shoot on 35mm like any other cinematographer, I'm kind of welcoming the arrival of digital technology with open arms."

Advice for budding filmmakers...

"Well, I think the best thing is to shoot as much as possible - it's not very original, everyone says that. For me, the film school route was great. I'm a girl and I'm pretty small so I don't think I would have survived following the assistant route. Just carrying all the boxes would have been too much for my back I think! The National Film and Television School was great because it was very practical. We were shooting almost every day and working with directors on the shorts. It was the best way to learn. The only opportunity to do that is when you're at film school. You get all the cameras and you're surrounded by people interested in the same thing. It's a lot of fun also. It was a great opportunity for me. It's better than being an assistant for years and then finally getting the chance to shoot something and s***ing your pants. In film school you don't have the pressure that you have in the real world. But I would recommend living a little bit before going to film school - see the world, travel. I started a little bit too young. It's better to know a little bit more about life before you start trying to tell stories."

Influences and aspirations...

"Jean-Yves Escoffier, an amazing French cameraman who worked on Gummo with Harmony Korine. He died of a heart attack a few years ago. Christopher Doyle is also total genius in the way he works. When I first started my biggest influence was Slawomir Idziak, director of photography for director Krzysztof Kieslowski. He was my main inspiration and I very fortunately met him when he came to my film school to teach. I was lucky enough to shadow him on Black Hawk Down with Ridley Scott. I stayed there for a couple of months operating one of the cameras - they had so many cameras, they had like ten cameras and three digital cameras. Their idea at that time was to shoot digital on film, they were going to use the digitals for CNN-style footage. When I arrived there they needed another operator and asked me if I wanted to stay. They were like 'You can stay and we'll only pay you the same wage as one of the Moroccan crew, but you might learn something'. I was like 'Are you joking?!' I was just out of film school so I obviously stayed! I went from Beaconsfield to Hollywood in three months! I learned that even if I hated action films it was actually a lot of fun to shoot explosions!"

Jamie Russell | Published 10 May 07