Still Life

The People Behind The Film

The film seeks to explore one of our darkest fears as human beings. The only certainty we have in life is, ironically, death. But with that comes uncertainty. What happens when we die? Where do we go? Why do we go? This film explores one of the infinite possibilities and comes to an unsettling conclusion.

What if I wake up and I can’t breathe one day?

Harry lives over in Swansea but, undaunted – We Are Fearless (We Are Snoovies) – we held our interview on Skype.

What did we like about it? Well, its light touch of a very dark subject for a start, coupled with the way it leaves the audience somehow more aware of their lungs. Here, Harry explains the origins of the film and credits his co-writer and father, Philip Boast.

People come back with the most obscure things we had no intention of showing.

When we watched the film we found all sorts of meaning and allusion that Harry hadn’t thought of, although he had plenty of others that we hadn’t thought of. But that’s the joy of watching Snoovies – the half hour debate of a film that’s 3 minutes long. One of the ideas we had was that the suffocation of the heroine was a metaphor for her married life. But maybe that says more about our cynical, twisted minds than the happy, complete and rounded persona of Harry B. So we needed to know a little more about the story, why they chose to leave us with as many questions as answers and the significance of some of the scenes.

I think film festivals are good but online is where it should all really be.

On a more prosaic note we wondered what his plans are for the future. “Hollywood I guess.” … Maybe not so prosaic after all. To get there he’s submitted to film festivals and Virgin Media Shorts, where Still Life featured for three weeks. He found the festival submission process pretty tedious. Harry never formally trained as a filmmaker and has learnt the craft by just getting on with it, with whatever resources he could afford at the time. We wanted to know about the trials and tribulations of shooting a film, and how he decides if he’s made a decent film.

In terms of getting it shot and edited, it was done within a few days.

You know, ten years ago you just couldn’t make films like this without some serious hardware. DSLR cameras, especially the Canon 5D, have sparked a creative revolution. From established production companies to the guy-next-door with an idea, anyone can make a film. Some of you reader-viewers will be filmmakers already. Some of you might just be thinking about it, because you have this great idea for a story, but no idea about what’s involved. Some of you may have no intention at all of making a film but would like to gather knowledge. For it is power. So this bit is for you. If you want to know how long the shoot takes, post production time or types of equipment used, then press play.