Nathan Burland IS A filmmaker AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR FROM South London AND Toronto, WITH Ghanaian heritage. HIS WORK IS rooted IN culture AND movement, SHAPED BY A SENSITIVITY TO WHAT SITS BENEATH THE SURFACE. WORKING ACROSS COMMERCIAL, MUSIC VIDEO, AND IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES, HIS APPROACH IS DRIVEN BY feeling, LED BY instinct, AND REFINED THROUGH intention. THERE'S A FOCUS ON presence, ON THE DETAILS THAT DON'T ALWAYS ANNOUNCE THEMSELVES BUT HOLD WEIGHT. MOMENTS OF tension, STILLNESS BEFORE SOMETHING SHIFTS, ENERGY THAT DOESN'T NEED TO BE FORCED TO BE UNDERSTOOD. EACH PROJECT IS built WITH CARE, KEPT honest, CONSIDERED, AND TRUE TO THE FEELING IT BEGINS WITH. NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE EXPLAINED. SOME THINGS JUST LAND. If it feels right, it usually is.

— Selected Work / 2020–2025
Calm is a Weapon
Calm is a Weapon
Moses Itauma × Nike
I See Red
I See Red
Daniela Andrade
Sacred Ecologies
Sacred Ecologies
IAMISIGO
The Journey
The Journey
Spencer Badu × Hoka
How to Grow
How to Grow
Haventree Bank
Details
Details
Moses Itauma × Nike
Interwoven
Interwoven
Spencer Badu
Culture Vanguard
Culture Vanguard
Take More Photos
We Feel
We Feel
Adidas
Pay Me
Pay Me
Odumodublvck, Stormzy & Zlatan
Double the Fun
Double the Fun
Haviah Mighty
Ravage
Ravage
Rema
01 / 12
— Recognition / 2025 → 2026

AWARDS

Silver Best New Director Shots America — 2026
Nominated Best New Director AICP — 2026
Nominated Best New Director Ciclope — 2025
Silver Best Direction ADCC Canada — 2025
Nominated Best Cinematography Young Arrows — 2025
Featured Selected Work Director's Library
— The Director

ABOUT

Nathan Burland, known as This Was Needed, is a film director and creative director born in London, raised between South London and Toronto with Ghanaian roots. His work stands as a beacon for those with similar perspectives — reminding them their voice and worth are needed.

Working across commercial, music video, and long-form, Nathan's approach blends technical precision with a deep instinct for storytelling. He's brought this to Nike, Adidas, Hoka, Stormzy, Rema, Wizkid, Shenseea, Gunna, Headie One, and more.

Graduate of The Remix Project. Represented by Kode Media (UK), Fela (North America), and Sterntag Film (Germany).

He also builds Needed Tools — the software he runs his own productions on.

— Contact / Worldwide

CONTACT

— Needed Tools / for Mac

NEEDED
TOOLS

The tools I built to run my own productions — references, mood boards and treatments, shot lists, cards, stills, credits and invoices, all around one project. Now yours.

Everything lives on your Mac, in your own folders — your projects, your pictures, your documents.

Coming soon For Mac · macOS 11.3 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel
Needed Tools on a Mac: Home, with the tools along the top, the vault's stills and GIFs, and the world clock, notes, calendar and focus timer.
VaultLinks in, references kept — by project, board, tag and colour.
DesignMood boards and treatments from your stills, laid out for you.
ShotsTreatment in, shot list out — with stills from your vault.
SortCards in, scenes out — every file copied and checked.
GrabStills, GIFs and MP4s from a finished film, in every shape.
CreditCall sheet in, credits out — handles remembered.
PayInvoices from your own email, and what you're owed.
ProjectOne page for every job — the film, the mood, the documents, the crew.
— Needed Mobile Vault / on your phone

MOBILE
VAULT

The pocket half of Needed Tools. Catch references wherever you are — photos, screenshots, clips — straight into a project, with tags. Even with no signal.

Nothing goes to this website. Your pictures stay on your phone until you tap Sync — then into your own Photos, and iCloud takes them to your Mac, where Sync files each one into its project, once.

Open Needed Mobile Vault ↗
QR code for Needed Mobile VaultMobile Vault is for your phone. Point your iPhone’s camera here — then add it to your Home Screen.
1
CatchPhotos or the camera, into a project and its tags. Grab & Go files them without a question.
2
KeepEverything waits on your phone — on a plane, on set, anywhere.
3
SyncSync on the phone saves to Photos; iCloud brings it to your Mac. Sync in Needed Tools files each into its project’s vault, tagged — and never twice.