5 Minutes with… Bruce Jackson – Director of Photography

Born in Connecticut, USA, Bruce grew up in Brussels and moved to London in 1994. He graduated from the London Film School and has worked for TV stations such as MTV & ESPN.
He recently filmed the photographer ‘Rankin’, and is just putting the final touches to a short film he collaborated on in Belgium. His partner Julie, is a talented costume maker and their children are Curtis & June.

How did you become a ‘director of photography’?
I went to the London Film School for a couple of years after studying Communications in Brussels. This is where i shot my first films. After graduating and a million CV’s sent out, I trained as a camera assistant for a couple of years, always shooting short films as a DOP on the side. I broke through to commercial DOPing through making quite a few music videos, and networking. Hanging on to the freelance status was also important but quite challenging in the early years. Not much security.

Have you always been interested in film and photography?
Photography was my hobby from age 13 and I took the option in high school. I was lucky to have a very good and passionate teacher. I liked cinema but i wouldn’t say I was that interested. This came much later whilst studying Communication at Uni in Brussels, where we had extensive film theory courses. The power of cinema soon began to compel me, it just grew on me I guess. I will always do photography for myself, but the moving image seemed like more of a challenge. Telling stories and the aspect of greater teamwork attracted me as well.

You recently filmed a documentary for one of Britain’s most famous photographers ‘Rankin’. How did that come about?
Documentary is a big word, but I’m part of an ongoing film for Swatch watches in cooperation with MTV. Four artists, one of which is Rankin, are designing faces for the now famous watch and these films aim to inform about the artists, their work, and collaboration with Swatch. I got the opportunity to shoot these films through a director I worked with a couple of months back, we got along really well personally and professionally, in his eyes I was right for the project.

And you followed an upcoming band The Big Rush around town recently, tell us more…
Haha, i’d rather not promote their real name, but yes we followed this pretty lame boys band around their stay in London, setting up situations where they would look advantageous and popular. We finished by shooting a music video for them in the top of the BT tower, which made it all worth while. Not my cuppa to be honest, but hey, I can rarely turn down work…

What are you most passionate about?
My family. My work. My shorts.

Who or what inspires you?
My partner Julie mostly, everything she does in her work is so precise and uncompromised. She has extremely high standards and can be quite strict with herself and others when it comes down to her projects, she’s a true perfectionist. I’m sometimes a bit jealous of her incredible sense of taste, something i hope will be passed on to my children.

Many things inspire me though, the nature of what I do forces me to seek inspiration in other people’s works, photographers, painters, architects, designers, other filmmakers, etc. But also my environment around me, people and places can be a source of inspiration too. I feel it’s too vast to elaborate.

What’s next for you?
Colour grading a 25 minute film I shot in Belgium in September, 3 more artists to film for Swatch/MTV, a Malaria charity campaign. But in the grander scheme of things, I hope to make more docos and feature films.

Rankin for Swatch will be shown on MTV in the coming months.
You can see more of Bruce’s work at www.brucejackson.net