Seamus McGarvey is an established and formidable Cinematographer in film over this decade. A Bafta and Oscar-nominated cinematographer recounts how he learns from every single shot he takes and explains how he achieved them.
McGarvey’s credits include Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Godzilla (2014), The Avengers (2012), World Trade Centre (2006), and High Fidelity (2000). And with such a variety of films under his belt, he stresses the importance of staying curious about the world.
“I learn something new with every single shot,” he explains. “I’ve learned to never stop looking with a curious eye, and looking with an artful eye is the key to being a successful cinematographic artist.“
Born in Armagh, Northern Ireland, in 1967, McGarvey’s love affair with the visual world began at the age of 13 as a young photographer. Those formative years would be the basis for a leap into cinema.
He experimented with technique and learned the mechanics of cinematography at Central London Polytechnic in the late 80s. After a spell of shooting short films and documentaries, he began working on feature films and his reputation soon grew, with over 50 film credits in his career to date.
His work on Atonement and Anna Karenina received Oscar nominations for cinematography – and, unsurprisingly, two emotionally-charged scenes from the films feature in his top five. His other selections include Butterfly Kiss, McGarvey’s film first break. “It was kind of a distorted road movie, and one of my favorite films to work on,” he explains.
In Lynne Ramsay’s psychological thriller We Need to Talk About Kevin, the challenge was to create horror without any gore. “I think it’s very powerful – the absence of gore and the simplicity of the shot made it all the more terrifying,” says McGarvey.
The Hours, directed by Stephen Daldry, completes the line-up, and McGarvey explains the technicalities of submerging a hotel room in a large pool of water. He says: “This was an image that came late in the shooting to the director and it was fantastically complicated to set up.“
Source: BBC
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