On the spoon-fed stand - Ilya Repin's painting, which the German government as part of the restitution process sends to its former owners. Around it gathered diplomats, officials and journalists. Sparkling flashes of cameras. After all the inspirational speeches, everyone is invited to a drink reception, but a man with a strange appearance disrupts an official holiday. Standing near the stand with a painting, he loudly declares that the painting is just a fake. Officials are shocked, journalists sensing a sensation require explanation. However, the only explanation that can give this strange man is that he picks up in the general smell, a touch of acrylic note and acryl was not used in Repin’s times in the manufacture of paints.
Meet the Sniffer, the protagonist of the television series of the same name, which is produced by FILM.UA Group. The first season of eight episodes has already been shown in Kazakhstan and Israel. And November 11 it will premiere on the Ukrainian channel ICTV.
Now FILM.UA shoots the second season, although there is still no understanding of how Ukrainian and Russian audiences will take it. Certain financial risk, which in this case the studio takes, is covered by image considerations.
New generation of TV viewers
The point here is that in recent years the attitude toward television series throughout the world has changed. Of course, most viewers still prefer serials and melodramas (housewives) and police actions (men), standard and similar to each other like two drops of water. However, among these soaps there are more and more television series that meet all the requirements of theatrical cinema, and even surpass its level. This is not surprising - they have big stars, and are shot by eminent directors and cameramen. It’s hard to believe that a long-time leader of the American independent film Martin Scorsese would have thought in the 70-80s that in the future he will shoot television series. However he shot "Boardwalk Empire" which is just as good as "Gangs of New York".
It can be explained by two factors: the emergence of a new segment of the TV audience and the evolution of cinema for theatrical release. Both of these factors are closely linked. Since theatrical movies are turning into a hodgepodge of special effects, impressive primarily for adolescents and arthouse hopelessly degraded towards entertainment for narcissistic snobs, cinema still has a large group of spectators. Namely - those who come to the cinema to see the same life that is going on around them, but more concentrated, performed by vivid characters that take part in interesting stories. As of today, they have nothing to do in cinemas, as well as watch television, where until recently dominated soap operas. And this target audience, active in life business people, is the most interesting for television advertisers.
Therefore, the appearance of "a new generation of television series" is quite logical. Only the demands of the "new generation of viewers" differ substantially from conventional setups 200-episode stories about unrequited love. Successful entrepreneurs and managers, members of the liberal professions want to see characters like themselves - energetic, self-confident and open-minded. And now FILM.UA has a real chance to become a national pioneer and continue the range of such series as Sherlock and House with its Sniffer.
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Smell of success?
Who is Sniffer, whose name the viewer won’t find out? As you can guess by the nickname - a person with a hypersensitive sense of smell. However, unlike Süskind's perfumer he is not a monomaniac subordinated to the same goal, but an ordinary person whose gift is often a hindrance. For example, how can you properly communicate with loved ones, if you can tell by their smell, where they were, what they were doing, with whom they met? After all, lie is an indispensable companion of a happy family life, and so it’s logical that Sniffer doesn’t live with his ex-wife.
So, eventually, Sniffer has to investigate crimes with his constant companion, RRF Colonel Victor. Some of the journalists have already dubbed him Watson, but if we start from the classics, Victor is rather a hybrid of Watson and Inspector Lestrade. Sniffer is an individualist and does not like to work in a team (this is an important trait for a "new generation of viewers"), and fights off attempts to enroll him in a state of RRF. Each new episode is a new crime investigation. Of course there is a love story in the series – Sniffer is more or less constant, and his partner Victor in each episode has a new partner.
From a technological point of view such a hero is a brilliant discovery. In fact, contrary to popular belief, the main condition for exciting cinema is not the plot, but an interesting character, around which you can fabulate a bunch of events. Therefore, the director and author of the idea Artem Litvinenko together with the producer Victor Mirsky expect that the fate of the series will last for several seasons, and the number of episodes of the season will increase to 10-12. They have the support of the best specialists in the world of TV series - American filmmakers who, having become acquainted with the idea of "Sniffer” said that it can be competitive on the international market. Yet the commercial fate of the series depends on today Ukrainian television screen lovers. More precisely – what is the share of "a new generation of viewers" among them.
Rodion Dorokhov
