A Case Study
Narrative | Dramatic Features
Film Name: Family Snapshot
Genre: Drama
Length of film: 90 minutes
Date: January 15, 2021
Executive Producer: Chris Woods
Director: Chris Woods
Producer: Chris Woods, Sean Donohue, Brandon “Eigh8t” Jones, Bob Glazier
Writer: Chris Woods, Brandon “Eigh8t” Jones, Bob Glazier
Cinematographer: Chris Woods
Editor: Chris Woods
Composer: Toshiyuki Hiraoka
Production Company: Icon Film Studios
Budget: $1,000
Financing: Chris Woods
Shooting Format: HD 1080i
Screening Format: Apple ProRes QuickTime Movie file or MP4
World Premiere: Online premiere January 2021 and public screening premiere May 2021
Awards: Awards: Best Feature Film (Art is Alive Film Festival). Best Feature Film (Prestige Film Festival). Best Movie (Tampa Bay Motion Picture Industry Professionals Film Festival)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Family-Snapshot-106647598040393/
indieactivity: What is your film about?
Chris Woods (CW): Family Snapshot tells of a father-son ex-con duo who plot a mass shooting at a Florida concert. Jonathan Oswald Jr. is a recovering drug addict and former white supremacist who is getting his life back together. His father, Jonathan Sr. recently out of prison tries to get his son to go along with the plot. Jonathan Sr. wants to make a statement to the world with a massive shooting. The origin of the film started back in 2018 during multiple mass shootings in the US. The script revolves around the shooter’s POV and what led them to make that choice.
Tell us about the festival run, marketing, and sales?
Chris Woods (CW): Our festival run has been good. We hit seven film festivals around the country in 2021. We got eight nominations and three wins. There has not been a digital or physical release yet, but it is a close reality in 2022. We relied on Social Media to get the word out. People and fans learned about the film and its festival showings on social media. Though most of the festivals were online, the film got viewing traffic for the computer or devices. This was a benefit to us, to have it watched remotely.
Give the full Official Synopsis for your film?
Chris Woods (CW): This film is based on true events taken from news headlines. A father and son hold a jaded vision of the world and decide to plot a mass shooting. Meanwhile, the mental health counselor tries to get Jonathan Jr. to stay on the right path. Along with drug addiction, he is fighting depression plus mental illness. The story puts him in a relationship with a Hispanic woman at the counselor’s office. Things spiral downhill when his father releases from prison.
Big Oz released after twenty years for armed robbery had been a white supremacy leader. He also sold arms and set off explosions at minority-owned businesses. The father dealing with Alzheimer’s gets out, yet chooses to finish what he started and take this country back. Big Oz plots a plan to set explosives somewhere and he wants to plan a mass shooting. Jonathan is against all this at first and knows his father isn’t right in the head. But Jonathan has his demons as well and is trying to fight them. He tries to stay on the straight and arrow but things start to fall apart.
Fired after a day’s work as a dishwasher, Jonathan Jr. tries to make advances to the woman he likes but it doesn’t work out for him. He then gets back on drugs and starts to listen to his father and help him go ahead with his plans. The two have some failed attempts at some bombings and shootings. How far will these two go to make a statement and will Jonathan actually go through with his father’s master plan?
Development & Financing?
Chris Woods (CW): I wrote the story idea and most of the script. I got the idea of what was going on in our country at the time with all these mass shootings and racial divides.
The father and son are the centers of the story where I made the son someone who was improving in life but then starts a downward spiral after his father comes back into his life and tries to get him to go back to his evil ways.
I also wanted to put a lot of the social issues that were going on in the world to be represented in the film like gun control, racism, mental illness, drug abuse, immigration, and domestic issues. Also, lead actors Bob Glazier and Brandon Jones help write dialogue from their scenes. I would let them adlib scenes between the two and would just provide their bullet points on what to talk about and they came up with really great dialogue that became very emotional scenes.
As far as financing the film I was the sole financer on it. The budget was very low (less than a thousand dollars). Most of my other films are made for that much just because where I am at there are not that many places or people that will invest in films. With Family Snapshot I know I could make a well-done and powerful film on this budget with the talent I had in the actors and with some help from friends who donated time and locations to help with this film. I and fellow producer Sean Donohue were the only crew. Sean did lighting and some special effects and I did camera, sound, and editing. So, with very little money and a small crew, I feel like we delivered in making the film we wanted to make.
Production?
Chris Woods (CW): Our production started in late March 2019 and went to August of 2019. Between that time we had a total of 12 days. We worked mostly weekends since most of us had Monday-Friday full-time jobs, so we just schedule shooting days when our actors and locations were available. As I mentioned before we got a lot of locations for free from friends and used our own houses or apartments to film scenes. I was pretty much the crew on the movie and the whole post-production crew as well. We didn’t have any deadlines for the film, but I did want to get it out as soon as I could because I thought it represented our current time and what was happening in the world. I started editing the film in September 2019 and finished sometime in December 2019.
The editing was enjoyable and it is one of my favorite things to do on a film next to directing. I also wanted the film in black and white and I adjusted all the scenes in editing and took the saturation all the way down and adjusted the black and white levels and contrast in the picture.
The black and white gave it a dark and depressing look which I wanted. We did have one pick-up scene to do which we were going to film in early 2020 and then the COVID pandemic hit and that scene was delayed and we end up shooting that scene in December 2020. If I had the film done a little bit earlier and entered the film into festivals in 2020 it would have been a waste since all film fests were canceled that year because of COVID. So, since I had to wait to shoot that final scene I was able to get it into the festival in 2021 and had some great success.
Festival Preparation & Strategy?
Chris Woods (CW): For the film festivals I had to budget since some festivals cost a lot to enter but I wanted to enter certain ones. I picked ones that were free or at low costs but I did pick ones that were in my area in Tampa or ones that were around Florida since the film takes place in Florida. The PR for the film was done by me at the festivals.
I would just use my social media pages and spread the word when the film was accepted and if it was an online-only film fest I would tell people about it and tell them where to go to watch the film fest. I’m not sure which festival I played in gave me the edge but I would say the Art is Alive Film Festival was amazing and we won best feature film in that and had some other nominations for the film.
The Release?
CW: The official release for the film hasn’t happened yet. I wanted to have a festival run which was in 2021. Now in 2022, I do plan on releasing it. I usually self-distribute my film on DVD and blu ray and I’m planning on doing that with Family Snapshot but I am looking for a bigger distribution with a wider range and hope to get it on bigger streaming platforms. But it has been difficult to find a distributor. I have reached out to a few smaller but well know distributors but never heard back from most. So I’m hoping with the word out on the film may be a company will take interest in the movie.
Advice from the Filmmaker?
CW: My advice to filmmakers is if you love making movies and you have a strong passion for it just keep at it and don’t give up. It does get tough sometimes and you may feel like quitting but if it is your dream and you love it don’t give up. I would say to filmmakers that are starting off is to take it slow at first and watch tons of movies from different genres and different times and really study them.
Nowadays there are tons of videos online on how to make movies so that can be helpful. But if you’re starting out start with a few short films and get familiar with the equipment and the fundamentals of filmmaking and develop your own style as well. Then when you’re more comfortable you can move on to bigger film projects like a feature film. But if it is your passion stick with it.
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