Snapshots

Behind every photo is a story, a moment captured, a snapshot in time...

Snapshots tells three unique stories through the voyeuristic lens of a photo booth camera. Although their circumstances and motivations are very different, each character shares a desperation that’s led them to their booth: a heartbroken transvestite driven to conforming to societal expectations; two young people compelled to risk everything in the hope of a better life; and a lonesome cleaner who goes to extraordinary lengths to attract the attention he so desperately craves. With the help of the camera each character uses deception in pursuit of happiness, demonstrating that appearances are not always as they seem.

  • Phoebe Barran
    Director
  • Lliana Bird
    Director
  • Lliana Bird
    Writer
  • Phoebe Barran
    Writer
  • Jackie Green
    Producer
    Ways Of Seeing - Producer, Rain Stops Play - Producer
  • Nan Davies
    Producer
    High Maintenance - Producer, To Dover - producer
  • Paul Kaye
    Key Cast
    "Cynthia "
    Afterlife, Wanderlust, Shameless, Dennis Pennis, Game of Thrones
  • Mark Benton
    Key Cast
    "Colin"
    Eddie The Eagle, Career Girls, Shakespeare and Hathaway, Outnumbered, Father Brown
  • Kellie Shirley
    Key Cast
    "Marie"
    In The Long Run, Joe All Alone, The Office Christmas Special, Thousand Streets Under the Sky
  • Jake Mann
    Key Cast
    "Bogdan"
    Ripper Street, American Assassin, Quick Cuts
  • Matthew Wicks
    DOP
    Jerk, Sex Education, People Just Do Nothing, Friday Night Dinner, Alan Partridge 25 Years,
  • Anna Bliss-Scully
    ART DEPARTMENT
    Commercials for Keith Brymer Jones: The Overcoat; A Higher Agency; The Cello (Addicted to the Stars); various theatre productions
  • Christine Cant
    HAIR AND MAKE UP DESIGN
    Action Team, French and Saunders, Midsummer Murders, Absolutely Fabulous the Movie, Beowulf,
  • Gemma Brown
    WARDROBE DESIGN
    National Theatre, Jaime Hendry Productions
  • Jasmine Wembankoy and Dave Rowntree
    ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSITION
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 30, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    9,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Phoebe Barran, Lliana Bird

Writer & Director: Lliana Bird

Having trained as an actress (Actors Temple) Lliana went on to co-found Bird & Be Productions with her best friend Phoebe Barran in 2009, together mounting many fringe productions including The Tin Horizon (Theatre 503) and The Duke in Darkness (The Tabard).

Lliana hosts a weekly national radio show and regularly writes for Huffington Post. In 2016 Lliana's first book was published 'The Mice Who Sing For Sex, and other weird tales from the world of science' She also co-founded charity Help Refugees and went on to make several short charitable film appeals for them. In 2016 Lliana was named as one of NESTA's 'New Radicals' and Foreign Policy's "Top 100 Global Thinkers". Snapshots is Lliana's film directorial and writing debut. She shot the film 1 week before giving birth to her first child.

Director & Writer: Phoebe Barran:

Phoebe has worked as a theatre director since 2003. Snapshots is her debut film.

Theatre directing credits include; Tryst (Tabard Theatre, UK tour spring 2020) An Evening with Noel Fielding (UK and International tour), Four Days In Hong Kong, Suppressed Desires and Scenes from a Separation (Orange Tree), The Fitzrovia Radio Hour (BBC Radio Theatre, Edinburgh Festival and National Tour), The Tin Horizon (Theatre503) and Ours (Finborough).

Phoebe has worked as an assistant director at the Royal Court, National Theatre and the RSC.

Lliana and Phoebe have been best friends since the age of 8 and after starting company Bird and Be in 2009, are continuing to create new work together.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Our society is increasingly driven by images. Each day we collectively share millions of photos of ourselves with the wider world, portraying an illustration of our lives that we want others to believe. Look how beautiful I am, how in love, how much fun I’m having…

But what is the truth behind all those smiling faces?

Today, creating an image of your self is easy and instant. The possibilities to alter those images are endless and at the end of our finger tips. Photo booths, on the other hand are places where you cannot use filters, or interfere with light, focus or shutter speed. Yet the ability to deceive through the creation of a photo booth picture is very much alive - you simply have to alter yourself before the snap.

We wanted to explore the idea of illusion and deception behind the captured image. What happens when the curtain is drawn closed, no one else can see us, and the mask truly slips? By telling our stories across different periods of time, but all from the point of view of a photo-booth camera, our audience becomes a voyeur, watching our characters at their most vulnerable and real. Seemingly unwatched by anyone else, we watch our characters transform into who they want (or need) the outside world to see.