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Fiachra Gallagher Lawson

BA [Hons] Film + Television Production

Fiachra has been passionate about filmmaking since the age of twelve, winning awards from the get-go. Majoring in cinematography and minoring in editing at NFS, he is also a very skilled colour grade artist. With strong creative and technical skills, Fiachra is a collaborative team player who immerses himself in his work and is an asset to any film set. At the NFS, he took the opportunity to work across various roles on the film sets to gain valuable experience, knowledge and insight about all aspects of filmmaking, to better perform in his future career as a cinematographer.

1:40 - a film by Fiachra Gallagher Lawson

“1:40” is an experimental short film about suicide. With this I wanted to show how anyone you know can be dealing with depression and you don't know. I wanted to depict the lack of understanding of the illness and its hidden nature. How depression is actually presented on the outside and you never know what is going on inside someone head. To bring this idea as close to home as I could, the actors I used are member of my family and also my girlfriend. I used imagery in ways to show how t the characters were metaphorically and physically trying to hide the effects of depression while the audience was trying to take a deeper look inside their minds.

"Untitled" This is an experimental short film about Anxiety, or more so about how we can feel both trapped in a space and free at the same time. This film touches on how a panic attack feels both like an extension of time but also as a compression of time, to create this growing feeling of uncertainty. This film is inspired by my reaction to the painting “Alabama” by Norman Lewis. This film was a co creation of myself and Miles Murphy. I was also the cinematographer and editor.

“I can learn to forget” a film by Fiachra Gallagher Lawson

“I can learn to forget” is a short film about loss and sacrifice. It presents the audience with only the aftermath of events, showing how in life, you end up in situations where the event has already occurred and you have to pick up the pieces yourself.

Bestial Ones - DOP - Fiachra Gallagher Lawson - Dir - Miles Murphy

“Bestial Ones” is about the inner struggles of a nuclear family.

I worked very closely with Miles in the months prior to shooting, to make sure that his vision was translated to the screen. I was also the colour grade artist on this project.

‘Lighting in cinematography has a direct influence on the engagement of the viewer.’

Undertaking this research for my thesis really expanded my knowledge of lighting in cinematography and challenged my assumptions. It has deepened my understanding of the role of lighting in cinematography and how it can be used to further the story and influence the engagement of the viewer. During my training as a cinematographer, I was taught that it is not how many lights you turn on, but rather, it is how many you turn off that makes a good lighting set up. When I am coming up with a lighting plan for a film, I have to fully understand the story, the intention of the character, the genre, tone, and mood of the film as well as have proper knowledge of the location to build my lighting plan. My work on this thesis confirmed my belief that lighting used incorrectly will draw the audience out of the story even with a beautiful aesthetic. The rules of lighting have to be understood fully before one can attempt to break them. There can be a film without sound, there can be a film without colour, but there can never be a film without light.

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