“I had to experience what it would be like to have my childhood dreams become memories before I could understand that maybe this isn’t everything.”
Despite being just 22, filmmaker Natalie Lynn already has 9 years of experience in creating videos and sharing them on YouTube.
Over this time, she has developed her own unique style of storytelling and grown in her ability to produce outstanding cinematic storytelling that’s already seen her recognized in several awards—including at our very own IMI Fest 2024 for her indie travel documentary series Borderless.
Natalie’s admirably raw and honest style puts authenticity and vulnerability at the heart of what she makes, creating films that provide space for reflection and self-examination of our own journeys.
I spoke with Natalie last week following the release of her latest film on YouTube, All My Dreams Became Memories. We chatted about what life is like for her now post-Borderless and Natalie reflected on suffering for your art, and how to battle with your inner critic.
Camera-wise beyond her years.
Hey Natalie! Can you start by telling us a bit about your background, and how you got started creating?
I grew up in Nevada, in a city called Henderson. That’s where I got into making videos. I was watching a bunch of YouTubers online. My parents wouldn’t let me start a channel until I was 13. I started filming on an iPod Touch I saved up for when I was, like, eight years old.
I used to make really cringy pranks and those corny YouTube challenges and scripts that everyone did back in the day.
Honestly, I’ve privated so many of my early videos, but I wanted to keep a couple to tell the story to show how long I’ve been trying to make this shit happen, you know?
Obviously, it’s embarrassing, but it really does show the full story rather than make it look like it just happened overnight.
I particularly love your editing style. I'm curious, how did you learn video editing?
I would watch tutorials on YouTube. I started out in iMovie, you know, the most basic thing, and then I eventually upgraded to Final Cut Pro, which is still what I use now. I recently learned to color grade in Davinci Resolve too.
Whatever I can do in the edit that enhances the story, or get something to like, hit harder, or build up more to a moment, that’s where I really go crazy with editing. I learned to do that through honestly just years of experience and practice, and drawing inspiration from movies or filmmakers on YouTube.
In that interview that you did with Jack Conte, you talked a little bit about the role that intuition plays in your filmmaking. Could you unpack that a little bit for me? How does intuition play a big part in what you do?
I feel like it’s mainly through the music that I use. I structure my edits and the way that I tell stories around the music entirely. That's how I judge cutting or placing footage where it needs to go, adding voiceovers. It’s all like a big rhythm.
A lot of the time I'm editing a video that was shot a year ago, so I'll go back to a Spotify playlist that I had at the time and pick a song from there. It’s kind of like this time capsule that I can, like, go back to, I guess, and kind of re-feel the emotions I was feeling at that time.
I love those little animations and scribbles too. Did you make those?
I worked with an animator, and kinda added my own touch to it at certain points to make it feel a little more personal.
When working with someone, my biggest fear is that my audience would say that it didn’t feel authentic to me - that they could tell that I didn’t do it myself.
I’ve been in this constant battle of asking myself, 'How do I make these videos that I’m envisioning be the best they can possibly be?', whilst also not overworking myself because I’m doing like, everything on my own, and it’s...it’s a lot of work.
So I was like, okay, let me try to work with someone and let go of some creative control. I just felt I needed to learn how to collaborate with someone. And so I found this really cool animator and she did a great job.
You are incredibly honest and vulnerable in the things that you share in your videos, which is really admirable. Why do you think that is, and how has that affected you?
I guess I just sort of cringe at myself if I say something that I don’t fully mean with my chest.
I spent a year just editing this past video. It shouldn’t have taken me that long, because it was really footage of me basically just yapping my stream-of-consciousness. But in order to get to the end of the edit it took me so long to actually understand what it is I was even trying to say in the footage.
I want to make sure that I'm being authentic in what I'm saying.
In the video, you talked about 'being defined by the work that you put out'. What does that look like for you? And how do you battle that?
It sounds so depressing, but I feel like I didn’t have a life outside of the videos for years. I felt like I had to put everything I was into it. I didn’t have a lot of friends. I barely talked to anyone in school.
I just didn’t have a life outside of making videos before I got into my first, like, real relationship.
And now I’m realizing that, you know, this doesn’t have to be everything that I am.
I had to experience what it would be like to have my childhood dreams, I had to let them become those memories before I could understand and see them in hindsight and be like, okay, maybe this isn’t everything, you know?
It means a lot to me, but it’s probably not, like, healthy, I guess, to be that all-consumed in it, constantly and, like, very tunnel-visioned with it.
Do you feel that it’s necessary to be such a harsh critic of your own work?
You know, that is something that I’m still trying to figure out, to be honest.
This was supposed to be the first video I posted on my channel in a really long time that I didn’t spend so much time on and, like, push myself. I wanted to make it more light-hearted.
But then I realized that that’s the question that I had been asking myself all of last year; 'is it necessary to be hard on yourself to make something that you’re proud of?'.
I don’t think it is for everyone, maybe.
But I guess for me, I just don’t know any other way of creating.
I’m trying to redefine how I create right now in a more healthy way. You know? I don’t know if it’s sustainable to, like, kill myself every time I’m making a single video, but that’s just how I know how to do it as of right now.
I’m still trying to figure that out.
You also talked about reading The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. I actually just finished it last week. This quote from one of the last pages made me think of you;
‘Being an artist means to be continually asking, 'How can it be better?' Whatever it is, it may be your art and it may be your life.
Do you relate to that at all?
100%. That’s what I’ve wanted to do - just become the best person and best artist that I can be.
But I feel like for a while it was not as balanced; I wanted to become the best 'artist' or 'YouTube filmmaker' that I could be, rather than 'person'.
I guess the question I’ve been asking myself, though, is, like, at what cost? Because it was stressful to finish my latest video because I hadn’t posted in such a long time. And I felt a pressure to one-up Borderless.
I realized eventually that this is its own thing, and so it doesn’t matter if it’s better or not. And it's important for me to take as long as I needed to make it, otherwise the video wouldn't have meant anything to me at all.
Show us your algorithm! We want to see what your YouTube homepage looks like.
I feel like a lot of it is actually people I'm either subscribed to already, or just random channels.
Does the YouTube algorithm, or, the homepage at least, accurately show you what you want to watch?
Yeah. I don’t feel like I watch as much YouTube as I would like to. I feel like it’s my attention span from apps like TikTok and Instagram reels.
There’s a couple of people where I’m like, Oh, I haven’t watched that person in like, years, so I don’t know why they’re appearing.
Lastly, can you give us some recommendations for creators that we should be checking out right now?
Mateo Mejia - His film 'Just a Little Noise' is an absolute masterpiece and encapsulates so many thoughts/emotions I and so many artists I know have experienced.
Makenna Greene - I've watched this channel for years now, and every time I am mesmerized by the emotions put into each video.
Harold Bohorquez - Writes, directs, acts in, and self-funds all his films - so much admiration and respect for him.
Anna Maria Luisa - Super creative camcorder movies (imagine if vlogging was a thing but in the 80s/90s)
brad radio - Brad makes documentary-narrative-vlogs, and I love how genuine, pure, and thought-provoking each video is.
Shaffer Nickel - Shoots his videos on 16mm film, very cool vibe and great storytelling!
A big thanks Natalie for taking the time to talk to me. She is a delight, and an absolute open book, in the best way, and really pours her soul into the films that she makes. Do check out her series Borderless on YouTube, if you haven't already - it's beautiful. I'm really excited to see where she goes next!
See her latest film, that we spent most of the interview discussing, below.
Bulletin Board
A sample of some exciting happenings in the independent creator space right now.
 Jane Marie's award-winning podcast The Dream is back for Season 4 |  Alan Becker's Animation VS game has been announced and is launching soon on Kickstarter |
 Listen to Dr Smiti Nathan on the Voices in the River podcast |  Two of our 2024 award-winners combine - listen to PJ Vogt speak with Ronald Young Jr on Search Engine |
February Staff Picks
Just a fun simple pick from a YouTube OG - OK Go for me this month. Their videos always have such a wonderful balance of familiar but challenging shots. Simple but complex. This is their new video “A Stone Only Rolls Downhill”. Oh yeah, the music ain’t bad either.
OK Go - A Stone Only Rolls Downhill (Official Video)
As someone who loves painting, I find M. Falconer's work deeply motivating, and it’s my hope to one day paint murals at the same level of creativity and impact. I admire her ability to blend personal expression and cultural themes into her work.
how to paint your first mural
This is a video I watched a long time ago, but it has stuck with me throughout the years. It has many lessons of filmmaking through failure which is something I think is inevitable in art.
i made a movie. it stunk.
My girlfriend found this channel and it's ridiculously well written. Willie Muse is only at 77k subs, but is bringing back an authentic form of commentary/humor I haven't seen since the 2014 bedroom-vlog YouTube days.
The Most Problematic B-Story In 'Bones' History
I think all creators will be able to painfully relate to the kind of self-destructive thought patterns that Nathaniel Drew so wonderfully portrays in this artistic and vulnerable video about creative block, self-doubt, and the futile behavioral patterns that plague the artist.
How to be miserable for the rest of your life
I used to hate Meat Canyon’s (Hunter Hancock) videos, but as the YouTube algorithm continued recommending Hancock’s videos to me, the creepy style of animation has grown on me. I love the small jabs that Hancock takes at internet culture.
David Dobrik's New Body
See you next month.
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