Hello and welcome to Out of the Darkroom on Adorama TV I'm Ruth Medjber and
today we have part II of our episode with film stills photographer Aidan Monaghan.
So in terms of when you're looking for that poster shot that might have been
sketched previously and agreed upon previously, how much of that, you know
is up to you in terms of, you know, the photographer's eye? Are you involved in
that process, in terms of where the lighting will be or how the pose is? Or do
you walk on set and you get to use the fabulous big film lights?
I guess I always read the script
document that embodies all the direction, the description of the scene, the detail
of what the actor's wearing. Right down to their general,
I guess expression or thought within a scene so everything starts with the
script for me and I'll read the script a few times and again I'll have in my
own minds eye before I even arrived on set, a kind of a picture in my head I
like to try to imagine the actors in the scenes. It is really satisfying to
sometimes arrive on set and it's just how you've imagined it.
I guess what I'm trying to, kind of, get across is the script embodies the core
of the concept, the story, the narrative, and the scripts obviously been developed
maybe 5 sometimes 10 years in advance and has been rewritten and rewritten.
This is the main document that the director is
mulling over and distilling down into the screenplay.
So sometimes I have a discussion with the director before I come on board and
that's happened, I guess, on a film called Startup where I met David McKenzie
at Crumlin Road jail where we filmed the entire scene, or the entire film
and we did it, it's just a chat, you discuss, you show your portfolio
and there's an interaction of just kind of,
I guess, do you fit the bill, or you know, in terms of your style and approach.
By the time you get on set you're already really invested in this film and you
know it, and I think I think that's what sets your shots apart, I'm thinking of
like your shots of 'High Rise' and when you've got those really great shots of
Tom looking into the camera and the paint on him he looks manic, it looks
chaotic, it looks like that movie you know, I just think that's perfect. I think
you've captured it instantly and from what you're saying it all makes perfect sense
now that you're you know the character before you arrive and that's, you're
portraying him. It's great and that instant little look that he gives you and
you've just managed to snap it. It's fantastic. Was it fun working on that?
The beauty of 'High Rise' is it was one of those films again, I got the script, talked to the
producer and you were dealing with this world. It had been entirely created in
in Bangor leisure centre which was the, you know, the 1970s
tower block and they built several sets within what was the old sports hall
OK
So you're kind of immersed into this set. The the whole aspect of Jeremy Iron's
character Royal and his drawing office and it is white
luminous kind of shed, in which you have this this drawing board, you know.
You've this fabulous shot of him in the middle of it all, just to me those shots are incredible
So with 'High Rise' it was, it, incredible, incredible Director Ben Wheatly,
DOP Laurie Rose, you know and obviously the set designer so it was
this amazing place to kind of play and document. Again, of course, the power of
the actors in that. And again Tom Hiddleston, just his incredible
hunger and drive in that role as Laing and then those series of shots that we did,
those kind of setup shots, I had the advantage of being on set on that pretty
much every day so I knew the story and I knew the kind of look
in terms of how Ben Wheatley and Laurie Rose had shot it, so in terms of lighting,
I did try to reflect that in the lighting and then just that interaction
with Tom for those shots, he just...he's kind of those people that throws
everything at you and is great fun to work with, you know.
Another amazing piece is obviously 'The Martian' as well. Is that the biggest movie you've worked on?
It is so far.
So far, I like that.
It's fantastic. It's just an iconic image, now, you know of Matt Damon on
his knees. What was that like to work on?
So 'The Martian', again was just one of
those kind of calls you got and I think I was called at noon on a Thursday. I was
on a flight from Heathrow the next morning at 6am, arrived in Amman,
Jordan and then a four hour car journey across the desert to Aqaba, where we were shooting,
and then just arrive on set, introduced to Matt and kind of pinch myself think am I really here so...
I want to know, like, the scale of things what it's like when
you're working. Is it you and just Matt and then...I mean, do you have assistants that
travel with you or do you do it all on your own and is there a massive crew just watching you?
I work alone.
Do you?
It's a lonely job being a stills photographer.
You work alone, though, that's hard work.
But, you know, you obviously have a huge crew on set and there's great camaraderie there. In many ways
actually, having the crew and all those kind of various people working on
set is very motivating from the point of view that you have these group of
people that are dedicated to achieving this one piece, this one
moment in time that 10 minutes later is suddenly gone, so everybody is
aiming for the same objective which is the kind of director's imagination of what
each shot can be.
Wow.
So they're all rooting for you as well to make sure that you get what you need.
There's an understanding, I guess, that we're all there to do a job
and everyone from their own department's point of view comes together
to kind of allow everyone to do what they need to do to achieve what
they need to achieve.
And, obviously, from a publicity side I have a, I guess a brief to kind of
capture those images that form the main marketing shots that go on
to sell the movie and kind of, I guess are timeless in a way that they capture
the audience's imagination and almost like an
invitation to the audience to come and see the film.
Oh, completely. Is it a bit nerve-racking as well because I'm sure it's a lot of pressure on
you to get the shot right?
It's...I guess to begin with it was but I think you
learn to kind of... you develop your skills and you develop the understanding of
your camera so that your camera is almost like an extension of your arm so
you don't even think about your settings.
You go into automatic mode with your camera so you're very quickly changing
things. Your almost your conscious of it, but not almost conscious of it. You're
just doing it and you're reacting very quickly to watch them fall in
front of you, to be able to capture that little moment or that look.
Fascinating it's brilliant. Listen, thanks so much for sharing all this with me.
Well, that's all we have for this episode. I hope you enjoyed the show. If you have
any comments or feedback for me please leave them in the section below. If you'd
like to brush up on your own photography skills, then check out the Adorama Learning
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channel. Thanks and I'll see you again soon.