"When our characters are in the infinity pool, we used a camera in a splash housing perched on a small inflatable system our key grip Malcolm Huse built, which let my A-camera operator Jon Beacham operate with a huge degree of flexibility, almost like a handheld camera, but he could keep the camera at water level and track around in the water with the actors.
"We’d complement that with our B-camera on a Scorpio 45 telescopic crane which we could then use to track from the dry set to the water’s edge. Keeping the lens right at the water level with the actors helped build their isolation, because not only could they not touch the edges of the pool but now visually you could see they were stuck treading water in the centre."
In one of Primate’s most tense sequences, its characters try to escape a bloodthirsty chimp by diving into an infinity pool – Stephen Murphy BSC ISC explains how the impressive set and sequence came together.
Read more on our website.
🚨NEW EPISODE ALERT🚨
Today we welcome back Cinematographer Stephen Murphy, BSC, ISC who joins us to talk about their work on Primate. Stephen will talk us through how he went shooting a creature feature predominately in one location.
/episode/6TDzMgpPaPnlL4paIjLxZT?si=gDZ0u3kqTqqfRGqngiKd0A
#primatemovie #creaturefeature #cinematography #filmmaking #ISC
At this year’s BSC Expo, we chatted to Primate DP Stephen Murphy BSC ISC to get his words of wisdom for younger cinematographers.
Watch more from Stephen on our CinePlayer – link in bio – and read our full interview on Primate in Issue 134, coming soon!
Massive thanks to Diverse Made Media and Chris Lynch for their support with the video and throughout BSC Expo.
🎥: @diversemade
A vacation home becomes a cage in Primate, as cinematographer Stephen Murphy, BSC, ISC @stephenmurphybsc details his strategy for transforming a cliffside retreat into an oppressive arena of survival. Shooting anamorphic on the Sony Venice 2 with Panavision T-series lenses, Murphy crafted a dark yet luminous night look inspired by Dean Cundey, ASC — balancing atmosphere, tension and a creature suit brought to life through precise edge lighting and in-camera control.
From 20’x20’ soft-box ceilings and concealed “noodle” tube lights to a custom LUT modeled on Kodak Vision2 Expression 500T 5229, Murphy breaks down how camera movement, format and lighting design amplified dread within a single, glass-walled location.
Read more at the link in bio.
#AmericanCinematographer #Primate #Cinematography
“For the soft lucid moonlight I wanted, gaffer Shawn White built a series of large soft boxes into the ceilings of the stage, as tightly packed as possible, which gave me a very large soft ambience source, which could work both for day, evening and night. I augmented the soft boxes with Domino moving lights and Cineo Quantum’s that could give me a mix of both hard and soft backlight wherever I needed it. The edges of the stage were also ringed with a mix of Large Tungsten units for punchy sunlight during our day and evening work.
For close ups we used what Shawn would call “Noodles”, which were Astera tubes wrapped in the thick white foam used to protect scaffold tubes. That gave me a very soft light that was incredibly lightweight, which I could hide behind furniture, or rig anywhere. We built small lightweight corex boxes for them so they wouldn’t be reflected in any glass surfaces, and if we needed an even softer light we could just add 4x4 frames of diffusion.
We used a lot of different tools to move the camera but primarily we worked in a conventional way using dolly and Steadicam, switching to handheld for some of the more intense scenes. For anything set in or around the pool we used a series of inflatable rigs that Key Grip Malcolm Huse built, which allowed my operator, Jon Beacham, to keep the camera right at the water level, giving him the freedom to track with the cast around the pool almost like a handheld camera. We had a Scorpio 45 crane on hand to reach out across the water and shoot anything where we wanted to connect the dry side to the water or if we wanted to glide across the waters surface to the set.
Working with the Anamorphic format is a fantastic way to elevate the blocking of an ensemble piece like this. You can use the depth axis to reveal a character in a more interesting way or my favourite is having someone move from a mid shot into their own close up. I specifically chose the T-series because of their small size and excellent close focus which meant I could also use them in our scuba housing for the pool work”.
BTS photos @garethgatrell@deswilliephoto@primatemovie@shawn21000@jonnyb_camop
With Primate hitting #Cinemas today we invited #Cinematographer @stephenmurphybsc to share his thoughts on shooting this amazing #horror.
Stephen: “The photographic style of “Primate” was heavily influenced by my love for Dean Cundey ASC’s collaborations with John Carpenter.
We shot in a combination of a location and a brilliant set built by Production Designer Simon Bowles. I was really keen to treat the environment as an extra character, using careful camera movement and framing to build tension and suspense. The extensive floor to ceiling glass windows were an incredible design element we leaned into, making liberal use of reflections, and shooting through glass. The open plan of the location and set design meant we could use the wide anamorphic frame to always feel the environment in each shot, giving the suggestion the characters are always trapped.
On every film there’s a conversation about visual darkness and how dark is too dark. I wanted darkness but I still wanted to be able to see the story and I wanted the actors to look good when appropriate so I designed the moonlight to be more of a lucid, vivid moonlight rather then a dark gloom, so while I always had a colder soft ambience I could make sure that night ambience was directional and I could give it shape. I always made sure I had either a hard kicker or a soft backlight to add a little edge light or to give the eyes a glint. I find giving the cast an eye-light helps me go darker when I need to and the eye-light helps direct your eye in an otherwise dark frame.
I built a LUT with my colourist, Dan Moran, designed with similar qualities to Kodak’s 5229 Expression stock and used that throughout the shoot and the final grade was incredibly faithful to the rushes.
I shot on Sony Venice 2 cameras rated at 2500asa but pulled to 1600asa and paired the camera with Panavision’s T-series Anamorphics. I chose the anamorphic format because it works well both for intimate shots and group shots, and because for me Panavision Anamorphic is the visual language that I associate most with the Cinema I love”.
@primatemovie@simonbowlesdesign@danmorancolour@panavisionofficial
“Primate” opens today in US theatres (opens Jan 30th in the UK). I am a huge fan of Dean Cundey’s Cinematography from the 80’s so I tried to channel some of his magic into my work on this film. A MASSIVE thanks to the hard work and support from my fantastic Crew - you all know I could not have done this without you 🙏. Colourist @danmorancolour made sure my images always looked their absolute finest. Fantastic support as always from @panavisionofficial shooting Venice 2 and T-Series anamorphics and @rob_garvie_universal for all the many, many lights. @sonyprofilmmaking@jonnyb_camop@shawn21000@iscinedop@bscine@wpagency and thank you @simonbowlesdesign and @mfx_kate for your fantastic work.
