Director Patricia Murphy, who continues to maintain her London-based Patricia Murphy Films for European representation, has joined Saville Productions, Beverly Hills, for ad work in the U.S. Murphy was last repped stateside by Bravo Zulu, Santa Monica.
Among Murphy’s credits are spots for McDonald’s, Swatch and Whirlpool. The latter, done via Publicis, London, and Publicis & Hal Riney, Chicago, brought a visually driven fantasy feel to the normally mundane product category of household appliances.
Another atypical spot helmed by Murphy was “Fat,” which plays at first like a fashion/beauty portrait of an attractive woman who’s wearing nothing but a strategically placed towel. The camera moves around the female, almost romancing her from different angles. A voiceover relates, “More and more people like Julia are having cosmetic surgery to overcome the effects of excess fat.”
But the commercial takes a sudden turn when a spark ignites. Flames burst out, seemingly engulfing the woman’s face. In another quick shot, skin appears to wither under intense heat. These abstract glimpses heighten the horror unfolding before our eyes and underscore the devastating damage–both physical and psychological–wrought by fire. A voiceover interjects, “Don’t fill pans more than a third. Don’t allow grease and fat to build up. Don’t leave unattended and never throw water on burning oil.” Then in stark white letters against a black backdrop, a message reads, “Each year in over 72,000 house fires, 450 people die and 14,000 are injured. Don’t be one of them.” Below this text appears a logo for the Kent Fire Brigade in the U.K.
Conceived by a creative team at McCann Erickson, London, “Fat” gained inclusion into SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery in 2002.
Murphy broke into the business as a director’s assistant to Tony Kaye of Tony Kaye Films, London. (Kaye is now with bicoastal Supply & Demand). She then moved into directing projects at the company before launching her own Patricia Murphy Films.
Over the years, Murphy’s work has garnered recognition at such shows as the London D&AD Awards, the Mobius Awards and the Montreaux competition. At the D&AD show, she won best and silver direction honors for, respectively, Kodak’s “The Birthday Party in ’92 out of Young & Rubicam, Paris, and Kiss FM’s “Are You Tuned In?” in ’91 for Abbott Mead Vickers/BBDO, London.
While Saville maintains a roster of select feature filmmakers for commercials, Murphy comes aboard a company lineup of established spot directors that includes Amon, Sebastian Chantrel, Frank Devos, Ivo, Lalli Jonsson, Adriana Laham, Agustin Marques, Dan Nathan, Juan Tartuto, Sng Tong Beng, Jeff Tremaine, Paul Vos and Jason Wingrove.
