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NEWS
SYNOPSIS
SNIP depicts an extremely painful and nightmarish submersion in a world filled with apathy, alienation, emptiness and despair.
Glued to his TV set, a man channel-surfs frenetically, zapping from one stultifying show to the other. As he grows more and more indifferent to the constant stream of violent and crude images, he stands up and engages himself in an unspeakable act of self-liberation.
"A visceral and genuinely nightmarish experience that will make even the most hard-boiled viewer cringe in his seat."
Glued to his TV set, a man channel-surfs frenetically, zapping from one stultifying show to the other. As he grows more and more indifferent to the constant stream of violent and crude images, he stands up and engages himself in an unspeakable act of self-liberation.
"A visceral and genuinely nightmarish experience that will make even the most hard-boiled viewer cringe in his seat."
ABOUT
What is SNIP?
It's first and foremost a reflection on how people slowly allow themselves to become numb and dehumanized, how they become slaves...
And what it takes, to rise up again as free beings.
In the Beginning
It started with a recurrent nightmare I had about someone peeling his skin off. On and on, like a never-ending loop. All in vivid and gory
details, as if David Lynch had shot the skinless kiss scene from Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
SNIP is really borne out of that nightmare.
Fleshing out SNIP
SNIP started out as a short experimental film, more or less inspired by the works of Stan Brakhage whom I've always been a great admirer of. On second thought, it seemed too abstract.
At it's core, SNIP is about emotions and feelings long buried, bubbling up to the surface again.
It's about someone who stands up against his own apathy.
Let there be light
Cinematographer David Acereto, who worked as camera operator on several acclaimed Spanish genre movies (The Night Of The
Sunflowers, BackWoods…), brought out particularly fine details such as the surface of the skin and the networks of nerves within an already dimly lit environment.
What I wanted to achieve with SNIP is to maintain a balance between graphic, visceral shock and a stylized aesthetic.
David accomplished this boldly and dramatically, exceeding all of my expectations.
Working with FX
I can't stress the great contribution of the Quimera FX team enough, especially since they had the time factor going against them. They had less than a month to create elaborate props and prosthetics from scratch.
We used mainly sculptures, detailed anatomy sketches and pictures as references to achieve the naturalistic tone I was shooting for.
The outcome is tremendously realistic to the point that it looks almost natural.
A blood-splattered performance
SNIP wouldn't be as edgy without Zoe Berriatúa (Africa, Volavérunt...). Not only was he perfectly in tune with what I had in mind, he also showed a lot of commitment and brought an earnest intensity to the role.
He was extremely supportive all around, even when he had to stay naked during long hours in a freezing cold set, not to mention the prosthetic latex pieces he had to bear with.
You couldn't make it more difficult as it already was.
Making the word be flesh
Even if there's not an immediate connection, SNIP is a very personal take on the New Flesh theme.
The character played by Zoe definitely shares the same disconnected-ness and loneliness as any cronenbergian figure.
He's at odds with himself and unable to communicate other than through extreme body modifications.
The Art of SNIP
One of the greatest challenges of SNIP was to instil a palpable tension throughout the whole film.
We went for something that was quite close to Caravaggio's chiaroscuro technique, with it's dramatic light and deep hues.
Auguste Rodin was another great influence. His sculptures are endlessly fascinating: they show us not only the movements of the body but also the feelings that drive them, which is what I was really after.
Shooting SNIP
We shot SNIP over three nights of non-stop filming in October 2007. The set was originally a sculptor's workshop where Pedro Almodovar is rumored to have shot a few scenes and which we redesigned to fit our needs.
It was quite hectic and exhausting, especially for the actor and the Quimera FX team who worked extremely long hours to apply the prosthetics and all the props.
Photographically we decided to go handheld not only to capture a naturalistic feel but also to enhance the character's alienation and again to maintain a palpable sense of tension.We used Sony HDW-750p camera and DigiPrime lenses, mainly because it provides such color depth and contrast that you might associate with 35mm film. One of it's upsides is that it also transfers well to 35mm film for projection.
On the Edge
I didn't want SNIP to be pinned down to any distinct style. It's neither an all-out in-your-face gore fest nor an experimental short film. It's somewhere in between.
I don't want to give away too many clues (ultimately, SNIP is what you will make out of it), but my intention was to create a visceral visual experience, one that would make the viewer cringe.
Alejandro Jodorowsky once said: "movies should drive people mad, they should be like a razor blade slicing through an eye".
This pretty much sums up what SNIP is all about.
It's first and foremost a reflection on how people slowly allow themselves to become numb and dehumanized, how they become slaves...
And what it takes, to rise up again as free beings.
In the Beginning
It started with a recurrent nightmare I had about someone peeling his skin off. On and on, like a never-ending loop. All in vivid and gory
details, as if David Lynch had shot the skinless kiss scene from Hellbound: Hellraiser II.
SNIP is really borne out of that nightmare.
Fleshing out SNIP
SNIP started out as a short experimental film, more or less inspired by the works of Stan Brakhage whom I've always been a great admirer of. On second thought, it seemed too abstract.
At it's core, SNIP is about emotions and feelings long buried, bubbling up to the surface again.
It's about someone who stands up against his own apathy.
Let there be light
Cinematographer David Acereto, who worked as camera operator on several acclaimed Spanish genre movies (The Night Of The
Sunflowers, BackWoods…), brought out particularly fine details such as the surface of the skin and the networks of nerves within an already dimly lit environment.
What I wanted to achieve with SNIP is to maintain a balance between graphic, visceral shock and a stylized aesthetic.
David accomplished this boldly and dramatically, exceeding all of my expectations.
Working with FX
I can't stress the great contribution of the Quimera FX team enough, especially since they had the time factor going against them. They had less than a month to create elaborate props and prosthetics from scratch.
We used mainly sculptures, detailed anatomy sketches and pictures as references to achieve the naturalistic tone I was shooting for.
The outcome is tremendously realistic to the point that it looks almost natural.
A blood-splattered performance
SNIP wouldn't be as edgy without Zoe Berriatúa (Africa, Volavérunt...). Not only was he perfectly in tune with what I had in mind, he also showed a lot of commitment and brought an earnest intensity to the role.
He was extremely supportive all around, even when he had to stay naked during long hours in a freezing cold set, not to mention the prosthetic latex pieces he had to bear with.
You couldn't make it more difficult as it already was.
Making the word be flesh
Even if there's not an immediate connection, SNIP is a very personal take on the New Flesh theme.
The character played by Zoe definitely shares the same disconnected-ness and loneliness as any cronenbergian figure.
He's at odds with himself and unable to communicate other than through extreme body modifications.
The Art of SNIP
One of the greatest challenges of SNIP was to instil a palpable tension throughout the whole film.
We went for something that was quite close to Caravaggio's chiaroscuro technique, with it's dramatic light and deep hues.
Auguste Rodin was another great influence. His sculptures are endlessly fascinating: they show us not only the movements of the body but also the feelings that drive them, which is what I was really after.
Shooting SNIP
We shot SNIP over three nights of non-stop filming in October 2007. The set was originally a sculptor's workshop where Pedro Almodovar is rumored to have shot a few scenes and which we redesigned to fit our needs.
It was quite hectic and exhausting, especially for the actor and the Quimera FX team who worked extremely long hours to apply the prosthetics and all the props.
Photographically we decided to go handheld not only to capture a naturalistic feel but also to enhance the character's alienation and again to maintain a palpable sense of tension.We used Sony HDW-750p camera and DigiPrime lenses, mainly because it provides such color depth and contrast that you might associate with 35mm film. One of it's upsides is that it also transfers well to 35mm film for projection.
On the Edge
I didn't want SNIP to be pinned down to any distinct style. It's neither an all-out in-your-face gore fest nor an experimental short film. It's somewhere in between.
I don't want to give away too many clues (ultimately, SNIP is what you will make out of it), but my intention was to create a visceral visual experience, one that would make the viewer cringe.
Alejandro Jodorowsky once said: "movies should drive people mad, they should be like a razor blade slicing through an eye".
This pretty much sums up what SNIP is all about.
TRAILER
WALLPAPERS
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