Seamus McGarvey - Directory of Photography

Interviews and Press Coverage

There is an extensive collection of interviews with Seamus on the CCEA website - part of their moving image arts educational section. We have also broken them down below.

Photography

  1. Cinematography: How did you get into cinematography?
  2. Background: Is a background in photography the best possible preparation for becoming a cinematographer?
  3. Photo Influences: In terms of lighting, which photographers or artists have influenced your work?
  4. Digital Photography: Could you talk about how you see digital photography fitting into your work?

The Cinematographer

  1. Approach to Cinematography
    Seamus talks about his working methods, production and post-production, naturalism, techniques of conveying emotion and lighting a scene.

    1. Working Methods: What do you see as the role of the cinematographer?
    2. Post-Production: Once filming is over, what role do you have?
    3. Naturalism: What is your relationship to the use of natural light?
    4. Post-Production Role: What role does the cinematographer play in post-production?
    5. Digital Post-Production: What do you see is the relationship between film and digital post-production?
    6. Conveying Emotion: What techniques do you use to visually convey powerful emotions, such as grief, loss, trauma, tragedy in your films?
  2. Polish Influences
    Discussion on influence from Polish filmmakers and cinematographers, Kieslowski’s relationship with realism and the naturalistic approach versus the expressive possibilities of cinematography.

    1. Naturalism: How would you describe your approach to cinematography? Do you prefer a simpler, naturalistic approach or are you interested in the expressive possibilities of cinematography?
    2. The Polish School: You have talked in previous interviews about how Polish filmmakers and cinematographers have influenced your work. Can you discuss this further?
    3. Kieslowski: Could you talk more about Kieslowski’s relationship with realism and his more stylised visual style?
  3. The Cinematographer’s Role
    Filming Landscape, the relationship between cinematographers and directors and the collaborative aspects of the job of the cinematographer.

    1. Fliming Landscape: What techniques can a cinematographer use to evoke emotions and specific moods in landscape shots?
    2. Working With Directors: How would you describe the relationship between cinematographers and directors. Are there basic rules or is it different every time?
    3. Collaboration: Could you talk about the collaborative aspects of the cinematographer’s job from pre-production through to post-production?
  4. Working With Artists
    How working with artists influenced your cinematography, working on experimental cinema and art installations outside the mainstream.

    1. Derek Jarman: How did working on some of Derek Jarman’s films influence your developing cinematography?
    2. Working With Artists: You continue to work with artists such as Sam Taylor Wood and Willie Doherty on much more experimental cinema and art installations. What is it that inspires you to work outside the mainstream?

His Films

  1. World Trade Centre
    World Trade Centre (2006) is a based-on-fact film about two Port Authority cops, Will Jimeno (Michael Pena) and John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage), who were among the last of the twenty survivors pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center on 9/11.

    1. Finding A Style: World Trade Centre deals with one of the biggest stories of our time. How difficult was it to find a way of visualising events that are now part of our collective memory?
    2. Into The Light: Light and shade play a significant role in World Trade Centre. How did you set about designing the lighting scheme for the film?
    3. In The Hole: Most of the film takes place in near darkness. How did you decide how much darkness an audience could take in this story?
    4. Working On Set: The set for Ground Zero in the film looks very realistic. What was it like to work on this set?
    5. Halens Lens: How did the halens lens improve your ability to tell the story of World Trade Centre?
    6. Halens Lens 2: There is considerable use of the close-up in World Trade Centre. Could you talk about how you filmed Nick Cage’s face.
  2. The Hours
    The Hours (2002) is a film about three women of different generations and times (1923, 1951 and 2001) whose lives are interconnected by Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Taking place over one day, all three stories are interconnected with the novel, as one is writing it, one is reading it, and one is living it.

    1. Visualising The Hours:
      What was your visual approach to photographing The Hours?
    2. Time Periods:
      How did you construct the visual grammar of the three different time periods in the film to achieve fluidity and consistency as the story moves seamlessly between them?
    3. Train Station Scene:
      How did you use camera framing and different lens sizes to achieve the emotional intensity of the train station scene where Leonard confronts Virginia?
    4. The Final Scene:
      One of the most interesting scenes in The Hours is the meeting between Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore at the end of the film. Could you explain your visual approach to this revealing scene?
  3. The War Zone
    The War Zone (1999) is a starkly uncompromising look at one of society’s great taboos – incest.

    1. Photo Influences:
      What were your visual influences for The War Zone?
    2. Landscape:
      In The War Zone, the landscape plays an important role in generating the dark mood of the film. Could you explain your approach to photographing landscape in The War Zone?
  4. The Winter Guest
    The Winter Guest (1997) is set in Scotland on one cold winter’s day, The Winter Guest focuses on 8 people; a mother and daughter, two young boys skipping school, two old women who frequently go to strangers funerals, and two teenagers.

    1. Digital Work:
      The location photography in the Winter Guest, one of your first feature film assignments, is very atmospheric. How did you achieve this unique look?
    2. Exteriors:
      In a key sequence in the Winter Guest you evoke different moods and feelings by juxtaposing exterior and interior shots. Could you explain this visual approach?
    3. Interiors:
      How did you light the intimate interior scene between Alexander and Nita in the Winter Guest?
  5. Wit
    The made for tv film Wit (2001) chronicles the personal awakening of a longtime literary scholar (Emma Thompson), who learns the importance of simple human kindness when faced with the most daunting of crises: a diagnosis of advanced cancer.

    1. Painting Influences:
      The cinematography in the final scene of cardiac arrest was inspired by an 18th century painting by Wright of Derby. How did Wright’s ‘An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump’ influence the visual design of this scene?
  6. Enigma
    Enigma (2001) is a World War II mystery thriller, based around the Enigma code breakers of Bletchley Park.

    1. Visual Approach:
      Could you describe your visual approach to filming Enigma?
  7. Flying Saucer Rock ‘n’ Roll
    Flying Saucer Rock ‘n Roll (1997)is a low budget short film, a homage to a toe-tappin’ rock ‘n’ roll rebel who is about to meet terror from beyond our dimension!

    1. Working On Set:
      What was your experience of working on the low budget short, Flying Saucer Rock ‘n Roll?
    2. Black And White:
      How did shooting in black and white affect your visual approach to Flying Saucer Rock ‘n Roll?
  8. I Could Read The Sky
    I Could Read The Sky (1999) is a film about music, madness memory, love and loss, a haunting story of immigration. Directed by Nichola Bruce, I Could Read The Sky is imaginatively adapted from the original photographic novel by Timothy O’Grady and Steve Pyke.

    1. Collaboration: What was your experience of sharing the cinematography duties with another DOP on I Could Read the Sky?
    2. Visual Influences: I Could Read the Sky is a poetic, experimental film. What visual influences shaped the film?

Press Coverage