American Cinematographer - September 2017 - 26

SHORT TAKES

I

Vintage Style
By Phil Rhodes

Hailing originally from Ireland, cinematographer Stephen
Murphy's introduction to filmmaking began at a slight oblique to his
eventual course, at the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and
Technology in Dublin. There, he says, he studied makeup and
prosthetics, and "as part of the training we were encouraged to learn
black-and-white stills photography, so we would understand what
that would do to a sculpture or a human face - and that got me into
cinematography."
Having transitioned into the camera department, he continues,
"I'd been doing really well in Dublin as a camera and Steadicam
operator. I wanted to start lighting, but I didn't think I'd get to do the
sort of work I wanted to do as a director of photography in Dublin.
London is a bigger market, with access to a larger variety of projects."
Having now been based in London for 10 years, Murphy speaks highly
of the local talent pool. "It's a really great place to work," he says.
"The crews are very highly trained; the quality of work is very high."
Among Murphy's diverse credits as a cinematographer is the
short Coward (AC March '14). Recently, he has collaborated several
times with director Chris McGill on projects that include promos for
26

September 2017

the Royal Shakespeare Company and music videos for an array of
artists. London-based singer-songwriter Lucy Rose has been directed
by McGill and photographed by Murphy in three productions to date,
for the tracks "Nebraska," "Floral Dresses," and, most recently, "No
Good at All." The latter music video re-creates the visual style of a
1970s studio performance, combining period-appropriate production
design, hair, makeup and wardrobe with a unique technical
approach. The result is a warm, low-contrast image that instantly
conjures up the mood of the decade.
"Chris came to me a couple of weeks before we shot,"
Murphy recalls. "That's usually the way with music videos. He said,
'Lucy's got this third song coming up. I'm going to do a treatment
for it, and I was thinking of this Karen Carpenter-style Seventies
television performance.' I had to figure out how we might do it, and
a week later we were shooting it. It was very fast." By way of
reference, McGill cited two particular television appearances by the
Carpenters, during which the group performed "We've Only Just
Begun" and "Please Mr. Postman."
"They liked the simplicity of the idea so much so that we
considered shooting on old Ikegami tube cameras, but we ultimately
decided we'd go with film," Murphy recounts. The film approach,
he adds, had an equal period justification: "Taking an OB truck on

American Cinematographer

Images courtesy of the filmmakers.

Cinematographer
Stephen Murphy
reteamed with
director Chris
McGill on the
1970s-styled music
video for singersongwriter Lucy
Rose's "No Good
at All."
American Cinematographer - September 2017

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