UNDER THE SNOW CAST
UNDER THE SNOW CAST & CREW
PRODUCTION NOTES
Labor is normally synonymous with doing our best to get through our eight hour work day as quickly as we can, as if it did not exist. They are considered dead hours, where life ceases to exist because we won’t let it in. And all because “that's the way it is”, “production volume is what matter”. We do what we are supposed to. We follow those rules that have been imposed upon us by “others”, just because we do not dare to look at what may be on the other side. We roll with the punches and we don't leave room for the unexpected, because of our fair conservatism, and at the same time, lack of ingenuity.
We could go to work hoping for that white, sweet, unexpected snow that will dazzle us as soon as it appears with its beauty and magic. We could go to work hoping to fall in love, to enjoy ourselves, to get excited, to be loved, waiting to be disappointed, to be reproached, waiting for annoyances, waiting for life.
We could go to work under the snow.
THE MAKING OF UNDER THE SNOW
To produce with snow and without money
Based on a true story
Independent projects are extremely difficult. Most people are not financially secure to dedicate two years to the writing and preparation necessary to make a film. You take any job presented to you for survival, and make do with the remaining hours to pursue your real desires.
A factory job packaging snow chains begins and ends early, good money and free afternoons. When the experience provides the inspiration and the story for your first film, it becomes that much better. The film characters are based on four real people who actually worked in the factory, two of them still do. Many events will appear similar to their lives during the winter campaign 2004.
At the factory
As luck would have it, we were allowed to film in Jope S.A., the actual snow chain factory that had initially inspired us. During the month of August the factory closes down for its annual vacation, freeing up the ideal setting for our film with no inconvenience to its owners.
We began our shoot on July 31st and finished four weeks later on August 26th, 2006. The story takes place in the winter, but what could we do? Pray to the gods to bring us a cloudy, overcast August. Maybe due to the praying or beginner’s luck, while everybody was complaining about the horrible weather of August, we were grateful for each cloud appearing in the sky, including that unexpected rain that fell at the right moment, when the shooting schedule required it. When there is no money to get a rain truck you can only hope for the natural rain.
Budget? Lot of snow, and enthusiasm, but not a dime
Even though we tried to acquire funding from institutional grants, when none complied, we carried on and didn’t give up. If we had to wait to obtain all the money necessary to make the film under normal conditions, it would have taken too long or maybe we would have never done it. Therefore, we had to think about whether it was possible to produce the film with the little money we were able to gather and make a decision.. We came up with a budget using our limited funds that came from our savings, friends and family.
We reduce the schedule to 4 weeks, 3 for the factory where most of the movie took place and one week for the rest of the locations. Friends that let us invade their homes for the shoot. Between them was the real Karmentxu´s house where Uxue (the real one) played herself.
We also reduced our technical support team to ten, many of whom included young, eager people looking for experience on a film crew.
We had the full support of Rob Webb, our director of photography, who traveled from Los Angeles with his camera equipment to aid us in our endeavor.
We used our inventiveness to make the best of the natural light, as we had very little lighting equipment at our disposal. We also made homemade dollies with two copper tubes and a cart for the camera that rolled on skate wheels. For the camera car we created a system based on magnets to hold skis.
The snow was a little bit more complicated, but as usual we got lucky. In a city close to Pamplona, they were throwing a party where they were using a soap machine. We realized that if we use the soap machine we could get the same effect as real snow. Luckily they let us borrowed the machine for a day. It wasn’t easy because in most of the shots big pieces of soap come out flying, but at the end we got it.
We asked our friends to work as extras. And our actors, although they may have come with a limited amount of acting experience, surprised us both with their talent and their dedication to our project.
Everyone shone as a true professional and without their support we would not have been able to complete this film.
We could go to work hoping for that white, sweet, unexpected snow that will dazzle us as soon as it appears with its beauty and magic. We could go to work hoping to fall in love, to enjoy ourselves, to get excited, to be loved, waiting to be disappointed, to be reproached, waiting for annoyances, waiting for life.
We could go to work under the snow.
THE MAKING OF UNDER THE SNOW
To produce with snow and without money
Based on a true story
Independent projects are extremely difficult. Most people are not financially secure to dedicate two years to the writing and preparation necessary to make a film. You take any job presented to you for survival, and make do with the remaining hours to pursue your real desires.
A factory job packaging snow chains begins and ends early, good money and free afternoons. When the experience provides the inspiration and the story for your first film, it becomes that much better. The film characters are based on four real people who actually worked in the factory, two of them still do. Many events will appear similar to their lives during the winter campaign 2004.
At the factory
As luck would have it, we were allowed to film in Jope S.A., the actual snow chain factory that had initially inspired us. During the month of August the factory closes down for its annual vacation, freeing up the ideal setting for our film with no inconvenience to its owners.
We began our shoot on July 31st and finished four weeks later on August 26th, 2006. The story takes place in the winter, but what could we do? Pray to the gods to bring us a cloudy, overcast August. Maybe due to the praying or beginner’s luck, while everybody was complaining about the horrible weather of August, we were grateful for each cloud appearing in the sky, including that unexpected rain that fell at the right moment, when the shooting schedule required it. When there is no money to get a rain truck you can only hope for the natural rain.
Budget? Lot of snow, and enthusiasm, but not a dime
Even though we tried to acquire funding from institutional grants, when none complied, we carried on and didn’t give up. If we had to wait to obtain all the money necessary to make the film under normal conditions, it would have taken too long or maybe we would have never done it. Therefore, we had to think about whether it was possible to produce the film with the little money we were able to gather and make a decision.. We came up with a budget using our limited funds that came from our savings, friends and family.
We reduce the schedule to 4 weeks, 3 for the factory where most of the movie took place and one week for the rest of the locations. Friends that let us invade their homes for the shoot. Between them was the real Karmentxu´s house where Uxue (the real one) played herself.
We also reduced our technical support team to ten, many of whom included young, eager people looking for experience on a film crew.
We had the full support of Rob Webb, our director of photography, who traveled from Los Angeles with his camera equipment to aid us in our endeavor.
We used our inventiveness to make the best of the natural light, as we had very little lighting equipment at our disposal. We also made homemade dollies with two copper tubes and a cart for the camera that rolled on skate wheels. For the camera car we created a system based on magnets to hold skis.
The snow was a little bit more complicated, but as usual we got lucky. In a city close to Pamplona, they were throwing a party where they were using a soap machine. We realized that if we use the soap machine we could get the same effect as real snow. Luckily they let us borrowed the machine for a day. It wasn’t easy because in most of the shots big pieces of soap come out flying, but at the end we got it.
We asked our friends to work as extras. And our actors, although they may have come with a limited amount of acting experience, surprised us both with their talent and their dedication to our project.
Everyone shone as a true professional and without their support we would not have been able to complete this film.
Full cast
Angela: Laura De Pedro
Javier: Gabriel Latorre
Karmentxu: Asun Aguinaco
Jairo: Xabi Yárnoz
Angela´s mother: Marta Juaniz
Angela´s grandmother: Dolores Martínez de Narvajas
Angela´s grandfather: Bixente Maisterrena
Esteban: José Mª Asín
Uxue: Uxue Jaime Fernández
Elena: Aurora Moneo
Alberto: Imanol Ojer
Madre Jairo: Maiken Beitia
Padre Jairo: Patxi Beriain
Saray: Ariane Irure
Diego: David Larrea
Jose Luis: Miguel Goikoetxeandia
Rafa: Manu Belando
Pilar: Maritxu Beasain
Cables employees: Iñigo Subiza, Eder Turrillo, Koldo Nuñez, Txon Vega, Angelines Ollo
Chinese: Sinh Tranh
Empoyement office: Elena Martínez
Bartender: Gerardo Pegito
Full crew
Writers, Directors, Producers: Maitena Muruzabal & Candela Figueira
1st Assistant Director: Julieta Lima
Casting Director: Diana Nava
Script: Diana Nava
2nd Assistant Director: Iris Ascenzo
Director of Photography: Rob C. Webb
Steadycam Operator: Ion Saenz
1st Camera Assistant: Yune Aznar
Grip: Gerardo Pegito
Electrician: Xabier Esparza
Sound Mixer: Mikel Ibañez
Boom Operator: Maite Ozcoidi
Production Coordinator: Helena Vizcay
Accountant: Emma Muruzabal
Make-up: Sara Legasa
Make-up Assistant: Lourdes León
Editor: Eduardo Chibás Fernández
Sound Editor: Fernando Urrutia, Victor Moreno, Oliver Barriga
Credits: Nobuo Shima
Color Correction: Alex Chu
Digital Effects: Jan Boria
Making off: Felicidad González & David Pascual
Composer: Gonzalo Díaz Yerro
Violin: Joaquín Torre
Chelo: Iagoba Fanlo
Song “Nevando voy”: Airam
CRONOPIA FILMS
Cronopia is the creator of “Under the snow”. It is the conjunction of the writers, directors and producers, Candela Figueira and Maitena Muruzabal.
Candela Figueira was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1978 and Maitena Muruzabal was born in Pamplona, Spain in 1979. The two met in Los Angeles in 2001, when both decided to extend their filming studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Candela has a bachelor degree in Directing and Producing (Belgrano University, Argentina) Maitena has a Bachelor degree in Audiovisual Communication (Navarra University, Spain).
It was during their studies at UCLA that a group of friends banded together, making a great deal of short films. Their friendship and teamwork was born.
With their schooling behind them, they went their separate ways in pursuit of their careers. Some of Candela’s projects include “Sideways”, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and numerous commercials and music videos. Maitena’s work include “… and starring Pancho Villa as himself”, “Club Dread” and numerous commercials and music videos. Their professional paths collided again in 2003 during the filming of “Americano”, a US production, filmed in Pamplona, Spain. During this time, the idea of working together again and creating a production company that would allow them to carry out their own projects began to grow.
Thus, by the end of 2004, Cronopia, the production company was created in Pamplona borrowing the name and meaning of the “cronopios”, those strange characters imagined by Julio Cortazar.
Candela permanently resides in Los Angeles, while Maitena lives full time in Pamplona. The physical distance does not impede their work together; they continue to turn into reality these stories that keep appearing in their imagination.
