Ronan Cooper — IADT On Show 2020

Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries

On Show 2020

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Ronan Cooper

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“SOS” is a film about a young named Dermot who is enduring agoraphobia in his office following an encounter with a gang of youths one night on a walk home.

“This project was one of two which I was attached to as Director of Photography. It was the first of the two and was also the first graduate film shot, which meant a great deal of time pressure. It was to be shot almost entirely in one location which posed a big challenge. Keeping it true to the narrative of being isolated from everything else but also keeping it visually interesting in such a small, tight space meant getting very inventive with our choice of shot sizes, movements angles. I feel we achieved this and I feel the visual style compliments the claustrophobic agoraphobia that our protagonist Dermot is experiencing.”

“Stay Home” is a short film that follows the life of man who has been reduced to a monotonous,
humdrum routine during a pandemic lockdown. This psychological horror explores the insanity that someone in this situation could experience.

“For me this was definitely the more stressful shoot of the two, but it was very rewarding. The film was inspired by the Covid-19 lockdown, but remarkably shot during the middle of it. This meant next to no locations, no gear and no actors. So we called upon favours from close family and roommates to shoot this scene who weren’t isolated and shot in a socially distanced manner. This film isn’t dissimilar from SOS given the fact that it follow men in claustrophobic scenario which drives them crazy. However, SOS is realist. This is much more stylised. We were on a budget and limited, but we introduced many inventive ways of conveying this claustrophobic anxiety – such as introspective zooming shots, shooting through door ways to generate negative space, wide-angle close ups and even in some cases snorricam shots.”

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