Foundation Project Evaluation –
Elektra Mavroskoufis


‘Snapshot’ is low budget UK independent feature film. The film stars Russell Leyton who plays an out of work photographer. In the opening sequence he is made aware of very strange happenings when his photographs fit together acting as a puzzle and connecting as a butterfly. Through the film we see his journey from here as he tries to solve these surreal activities in a very limited time period.
Thriller films usually abide by these conventions –

- an intricacy of plot
-a complex unraveling narrative
-focus on fear, apprehension and suspense, resulting in significant rising tension.
-Enigma codes (mysteries/questions)
-a sense of delay
Audience pleasure derived from screen individuals discomfort


Horror-- Female victims are put in vulnerable situations
- Male protagonists have frightening weapons, such as knives
- Characters are stranded in isolated locations
- Inanimate forces are possessed with supernatural forces
- Sexuality
-Death
-Fear
In the dark-room scene we used African style sculpture to insinuate the photographers interest in other cultures and suggest that he might have acquired them on his travels. This gave realism for the audience for the character, and started to build a relationship with the audience. In the opening we used a red gel light to give the instantly recognizable dark room look. This made it clear to the audience from the beginning the setting and the themes of the piece. It also made it clear that the story was based on photography.
The dark-room idea was inspired by ‘The Omen’ (1976, directed by Richard Donner) greatly and some of our ideas are easily compared to it, mainly the idea of having marks in the pictures. In our initial idea, the marks on the pictures were in fact a girl getting closer with each picture. This idea was greatly inspired by ‘The Ring’ (2002, directed by Gore Verbinski) in which a video tape is cursed and a little girl climbs out of a well through the viewers TV set and kills them. The idea of the cursed article also came from this as the camera the photographer used brings out marks on peoples pictures which connect together as a butterfly. The butterfly is known as a very peaceful animal and people usually associate butterflies to more happy things. This is greatly juxtaposed with the dark mise-en-scene and eerie music used within the film, creating excitement for the audience. The butterfly in this has been manipulated into meaning something more sinister. As the butterfly only lives for a few days we thought of making it a symbol of death, and this creates enigmas for the audience, asking why the butterfly symbol is significant, and thinking about the various connotations that go with a butterfly, especially the short lifespan of this insect. The idea is that the butterfly tells the unlucky people that their time is limited. Like ‘The Blair Witch Project’ the use of a repeated symbol, in this case of the butterfly, means that it becomes more sinister and the use of this changes the audiences’ perception of this symbol.
In a way we have challenged the conventions of this genre as we have started with the revelation- a post modern film technique. This means that the viewer is instantly drawn in as they want to find out what has happened and what the enigma code of the butterfly means.
In our piece, the main character is a middle-aged white male. He is of the working class barely scraping by on his low income. He wears casual clothing such as band t-shirts and jeans which suggest his working class status and also connotes to the audience that he is interested in the more artistic side of life. His surroundings of wooden sculptures and African style masks connote his interest in worldly things. Because he would travel a lot, the photographer had to look fit but as he is middle-aged he would be tired so the actor played up to this by giving him more of a slumped posture.
We could have represented the photographer as a young black man but we preferred the idea of having a middle-aged man because it left more room for life experience and helped at our ideas of him being traveled. The fact he was white also was effective because I think it would be more interesting to a white man to explore the African culture as it is only a few decades ago that segregation has been abolished. It also promotes multiculturalism and the respect for other cultures which I feel is needed more in the world.
Because of finance, our cast, locations and marketing expertise I would class our production as an Independent Low Budget film. To aid us in the distribution of our film, I would contact Goldcrest Films International as they seem best suited to the distribution of our film.
Due of the content of our film, we have aimed for the classification 15. We chose a wide target audience of both male and female audiences ranging from 15 until 35 years of age as the people of this age range are more likely to go to the cinema to watch a film and particularly to see a film of within the thriller genre. Although nothing gory would occur in the film, the psychological effect would be too intense on an audience younger than 15. The messages are also quite mature including the message of equality which is present throughout the film, as the photographer researches the happenings.
To help market our product a website would be made with information about the film. There would also be key rings made advertising the film. ‘Facebook’ and ‘MySpace’ would also have accounts made advertising the film and presenting the characters, summaries and would allow audiences to comment on and discuss the film. This in itself would advertise the film as word of mouth can be quite powerful.