This blog explores US influence (financial + cultural), Anglocentric (ie, primarily English) representations, digitisation, ownership, industry developments, audience, media theories, tracking key news + events, with Film/Media A-Level/undergrad students + educators in mind. Examples often include Sheffield's Warp (Indie) and London/LA-based Working Title (NBC-Universal subsidiary), ie This is England/Four Lions v Bridget Jones/Green Zone! Please acknowledge the source/blog author: Mr D Burrowes
Posters can be a little awkward to analyse, as we'd normally imagine any character pushed to the top of the frame to denote the shot type, but these are typically cropped out shots. (Specifically, we used a mix of poster/DVD cover)
4 WT posters were picked, brief points follow two examples ...
In each example, look closely at how basic framing (rule of thirds: place the important action/subject centrally) is used to easily signify the importance of characters (literally central to the narrative!)...
There are multiple obvious anchored preferred readings, but lets focus on the binary opposition...
This is signified through the colour blocks and the light/dark contrast of the two colours and the framing of the two lead characters (same actor).
Whilst this anchors a preferred reading of the brother on the white side as protagonist, and the brother on the blue side is signified/connoted as antagonist, there is also a skilful ambiguiety, or polysemy (narrative enigma!), encoded too: the 'good' brother is partially stood on 'the dark side' and is also wielding a gun! There is also equivalence drawn as it is a medium-long two shot; their gazes are similar, looking sideways off-frame ... though the divide between the two is cleverly anchored by their looking in different directions!!!
The connoted moral ambiguiety (not quite a fully anchored Proppian archetype of the hero) is in keeping with modern values as seen through the cultural impact of shows like Dexter, Sopranos and Breaking Bad and even some of the smash hit comic book adaptations, not least the Dark Knight trilogy.
Again, multiple aspects of a preferred reading are accessible, but lets focus on the anchorage of genre hybridity within this famously triple hybrid of zom-rom-com...
The 'zom' element is simply denoted through the literal use of zombies and the title itself, though their framing signifies who our protagonists are, whilst connoting Pegg as the central protagonist, or Proppian archetype of the hero.
Its a three-shot, not a two-shot, as an over-emphasis on the 'rom' component is not desired, and the 'com' is multiply anchored, including the female holding flowers and the bizarre 'weapons' wielded by all 3 (garden spade, cricket bad and chain), the bright colouring (playing on the blood red) and of course the bubble font of the title and the graphic of the hand within the 'A'.
Anyone who somehow misses the many signifiers to anchor this can rely on the tagline!
Can you apply this to the 2 additional egs below? Look at how Theory anchors serious drama, or how Bridget Jones's Baby anchors its hybrid genre (rom-com), and the primacy of the female audience for this (the com conventionally makes rom-coms more palatable for a secondary male audience!).
I've posted on the issue of women's under-representation at all levels of the film industry, including the nature or narrative significance of onscreen roles, since 2008.
In that time the Bechdel Test has become quasi-law in parts of Scandinavia and the #metoo movement has blown the lid of the routinised abusive behaviour of powerful men in the industry.
Changes, but still statistically the central issue remains pretty similar.
I'm doubtful that this move will achieve a momentous shift, and not entirely certain it's an entirely good thing: content analysis devoid of context - useful to add precision to analysis of overall trends but a fundamental impingement on storytelling freedom (of expression) potentially?
However YOU see it, it is a significant move, and as it's Disney, now seemingly headed for a 40/50% share of the global film market, who are partnering with Davis to trial and develop the AI (which scans scripts for gender terms and roles), it COULD lead to fundamental changes.
Though what will they do if the AI pings that their Marvel movies are fundamentally problematic...?
....
The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media was founded in 2007 after the actor – who won a best supporting actress Oscar in 1989 for The Accidental Tourist – became concerned about the male-dominated entertainment her young daughter was consuming.
At the summit, Davis added: “We don’t have enough female role models to inspire change. We need to see it in fiction to create the cultural change we need. If we see more women on screen as corporate leaders, scientists and politicians, there will be more women in real life taking up these roles.”
Geena Davis announces 'Spellcheck for Bias' tool to redress gender imbalance in movies https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/oct/09/geena-davis-institute-gender-media-disney-machine-learning-tool?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
UPDATE: 1 OF 5 RECOMMENDED MOVIES TO STREAM ON BLOODYDISGUSTING.COM GUIDE, APRIL 2020. https://bloody-disgusting.com/editorials/3611040/editorial-diving-weird-world-fan-made-horror-games/
Haunted by its synonymous shadow: spookily TWO ghost stories out (URL)
October 29th and still no box office hits for Ghost Stories - I wonder if the release of A Ghost Story, with a couple of US stars (UK release August 11th: Deadline), but a miserable flop (under $2m worldwide: The-Numbers; BoM), is undermining release plans? The-Numbers; BoxofficeMojo. Its extraordinary how often similarly themed/named movies emerge at the same time, something that helped undermine The World's End (WT) too. Ghost Stories has been screened at the London Film Festival, but its looking doubtful for a theatrical release.
IFC Midnight is acquiring North American distribution rights to supernatural thriller Ghost Stories from Altitude Film Sales. The film stars Andy Nyman, Alex Lawther, Martin Freeman and Paul
Whitehouse. Its based on the Olivier-nominated stage production and is
co-written and directed by Nyman and Jeremy Dyson. The deal was negotiated by Altitude’s Mike Runagall on behalf of the filmmakers with Arianna Bocco of IFC Films. The film is produced for Warp Films by Claire Jones (Sightseers, Kill List), and Robin Gutch (’71, Kill List) and is backed by Ultimate Pictures and Screen Yorkshire. Catalyst Global Media and Screen Yorkshire serve as executive
producers. Altitude Film Sales is handling worldwide sales. Lionsgate
will distribute the film in the UK/Ireland in Spring 2018. Ghost Stories has its World Premiere today (Thursday 5 October) at the BFI London Film Festival. [Screen Daily 5th October 2017 report, spotted by Richard]
Warp announced a new film in Feb 2016, already picked up by 'big 7' Lionsgate for UK distribution, with Altitude handling international sales
Pre-selling rights at the pre-production stage is common for Indies (legendary social realist auteurs Ken Loach + Mike Leigh have done this throughout their careers). German rights were also pre-sold to Tele München/Concorde after a pitch at the Berlin European Film Market in feb 2016
This is an adaptation of an internationally successful play, bringing some comparisons with Woman in Black (but note the IP is limited compared to Les Mis)
Warp's reputation for allowing creatives to retain control, not the accountants, saw Nyman reject interest from Hollywood studios (who immediately suggested star-based changes!)
Martin Freeman's casting led most reports; star of the $3bn Hobbit franchise this suggests a more ambitious/commercial approach from Warp ...
...BUT he's no A-lister (the IP and CGI sold the Hobbit, not a UK TV star!), and its no coincidence that as of May 2017 the UK remains the only territory with a distributor
Warp's online efforts at building interest and an audience through the pre-/production/post- stages has been typically lax ...
... BUT co-director/writer Andy Nyman has exemplified the ability of cast and crew to use social media to promote a production (eg the 5 crew badges Twitter draw)
... AND Altitude have been very active
Lionsgate UK, however, have yet to properly launch; their website contains only a coming soon message!
PRODUCTION ANNOUNCED AT A FAN FEST...
Okay, so its not the 80,000 packed into the Dallas Cowboys football stadium just to see a teaser trailer (1 strand of the epic Avatar campaign, arranged through ComicCon, the world's leading fan forum for such announcements), but Ghost Stories is following a smart path of pre-/production promotion, launching a 'concept teaser trailer' at FrightFest:
ScreenDaily (US) announce the production, Feb 2016
So much for the auteur theory! Empire (UK) also led on Freeman's involvement
Casting Martin Freeman seems a real coup for Warp - after all, he was the lead in the tentpole Hobbit franchise (combined budgets $675m, box office $2.9bn). However, IP was the key marketing factor there, and he cannot be considered an A-List star any more than Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis can 'open a film' by himself. Freeman's presence does help with marketing though, and gaining distribution, but the lack of progress there is significant. Hollywood conglomerate Lionsgate picking the film up for distribution is a coup, as one of what many now argue should be called the big seven to reflect their considerable global success in recent years (expanding the traditional big six of Disney, Warner Bros, Fox, Universal, Sony, Paramount).
Is Hobbit Freeman really such a BIG star...?!
No star billing!
However, that is for the UK only (reflecting Freeman's greater profile in his home market, where TV show The Office made him a star, popular with men and women as his role centered on a romance narrative), Lionsgate are not, for example, picking it up for the US or any other territories. Many of Warp's films (especially on their digital subsidiary Warp X, or the also low budget Warp Australia) have failed to attain UK distribution, with fewer still getting theatrical release in the US or other markets.
Even when they have, the case of Tyrannosaur is typical of their struggles to make impact with films lacking stars, and typically centred on working class protagonists, often outside of the London setting that is familiar to an international audience. Tyrannosaur's US distributor sent 2 prints on a 4-month arthouse circuit, taking a mere $22k as part of a $450K global take (about 80% from the UK) on a £750K budget. Even more successful US releases have been relative successes only: both Four Lions and This is England took 3 months there to reach a $300K total, peaking at just 14 screens. This would represent a small % of a WT flop, with 8/9 figure takes their usual expectation, way beyond the 5/6 figure Warp takes!
Pre-selling rights, the power of IP
Indeed, they have actually pre-sold the UK and German rights, with shooting not commencing until 6 months after Lionsgate picked it up, based on Freeman being attached and the marketing potential of the IP (intellectual property) of a hit West End play that also gained multiple international markets, from Russia to Peru! This is a financing model more typical of the very low budget social realist movies by British auteurs Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, whose lack of scripting routinely denies them access to UK grants through the BFI/UKFC, but who typically pre-sell rights to several European territories to fund their productions. Without the additional element of a hit book, however, it is questionable how far the theatre link will guarantee box office success. Working Title have had success adapting multiple hit books, not least the Bridget Jones franchise (and About a Boy, which WTTV have also adapted into an NBC TV series), and of course had huge success with Les Miserables - though its $61m budget and global distribution through parent company Universal, plus the multiple A-list cast, helped!
A significant genre change? Abandoning social realism?
However, this is actually a notable step away from Warp's typical genre base - most movies have blended in/hybridised a social realist approach to more saleable genres, from their debut feature Dead Man's Shoes (horror) to teen rom-com Submarine (although the Warp X fantasy with animation Bunny and the Bull was a clear exception). The Screen feature announcing the movie noted the Woman in Black comparison: a low budget horror fantasy that hit big, and this (alongside the IP factor with the promise of pre-built recognition), given Freeman's modest international profile, was probably key to the pitch, given the film industry's aversion to original ideas, which are hard to market. Warp's high concept, high budget TV co-production with Sky Atlantic, Lost Panthers, is another signal of a company preparing to give commercial returns a higher priority - but until we see the same routine level of narrow stereotypes in characters and setting, and US stars among their cast (the Working Title model), it would be premature to think this clearly signals a change.
The importance of creative relationships and the Warp brand
It must be noted that Warp are the production company while the company that will get the main co-production credit, Altitude, are exclusively handling sales. The importance of personal relationships in this large-scale, even at Warp's level, industry is clear to see: Altitude's founder, Will Clarke, was formerly a key figure in Optimum Releasing, UK distributor of many Warp releases (now StudioCanalUK, just another NBCUniversal subsidiary!).
Warp's typical funding (centred on grants plus pre-selling UK TV rights to either BBC or C4/Film 4) model, and low budgets, enables them to take more creative risks than Working Title (though their selection of an Indian director for historical epic Elizabeth, who confessed to know nothing of the monarch, shows they too can take risks). This reputation for allowing the creatives, not the accountants, to retain control, was behind Nyman's choosing to go with them. In reading the quotes below, from ScreenDaily, consider the experience of Coz Greenop, whose £30K Wandering Rose became Demon Baby at the hands of its US distributors, a title (and trailer) that rather misrepresented the film.
Speaking on a panel about the future of UK horror filmmaking, chaired by Screen, Nyman said there had been interest from US studios back in 2010, when the show was playing in the West End. But they decided to team with Warp in order to retain creative control.“There was a lot of interest early on from a couple of big American studios that wanted to do it, but they hadn’t even seen it,” said Nyman.... Nyman recalled changes suggested by US execs that ultimately convinced them to team with UK producers.“The first meeting we had with an American producer, they said we should take one particular character, turn it into a girl and it make it a breakout role for someone from the Disney channel,” said Nyman.“We thought, ‘Oh god, that’s not what we want to make’. We’d rather make the film for no money and have the freedom to express ourselves.”... “Ghost Stories is deeply British in all of its oddness and quirks, and Warp get that and support our artistic vision.”
If this had been a WT production, with a much bigger budget, surely there would have been similar pressure to add a significant US star?
The Lionsgate announcement came in Feb 2016, but there is still no release date or even evidence of press packages. Indeed, as of 28.5.17, the Lionsgate UK website remains a placeholder only, with nothing more than a coming soon message, suggesting it still hasn't completed setting up its UK distribution office!
Warp failing again to build interest in their own productions?
With the notable exception of Le Donk..., which provided customisable Christmas cards and a downloadable comic, Warp's use of web 2.0 tools has been surprisingly weak. In theory, the radically reduced costs of online distribution (with digitally equipped cinemas, something the UK leads the world on, able to stream films or play through hard drives/DVD/Blu-Ray) and marketing somewhat level the playing field with studio subsidiaries like their UK rival Working Title.
Remarkably, this is the extent of Warp's own promotion of their upcoming film!
Marketing is of course the principle domain of distributors, not producers, but Working Title have shown how a producer can successfully boost the marketing of a film independently from their distributor. The Cornetto Trilogy was boosted by clever, but cheap, arcade game adaptations (Shaun of the Dead Pacman, Hot Fuzz Space Invaders: fun for a youth audience used to mobile gaming, and nostalgic for an older audience who are also represented by the films' characters). They commissioned web designers RedBridge to boost their website with such marketing materials, accompanied by a wide range of stills and videos posted during pre-production, the shoot, post-production and all the way through the release phase, including Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's video diary. Films such as Paul, also starring Frost and Pegg (with the usual Working Title addition of an American A-lister, Seth Rogen, and also set in the US; the Brits were the true aliens of this sci-fi comedy hybrid) also benefit from Facebook pages run by both Universal and Working Title in multiple languages to directly target multiple territories (France, Spain and more in the case of Paul).
Click on the YouTube and this is what you get!
The YouTube link has been clumsily mis-entered - and never corrected
As of May 2017, over a year since the Lionsgate pick-up announcement, with shooting wrapped in Nov 2016, the Warp website presents a single image with a broken YouTube link, and a non-functioning hyperlink on the sole image itself. Click on the Twitter link and instead to taking you to the film hashtag, you get a tweet template. Click on a dropdown arrow and you get greeted with an illustration-free ream (3 scrolled PC screens worth) of grey text on a black background - which hasn't been updated for nearly a year ("shooting started yesterday...")!
They even seem to have messed up the Twitter element
This highly unappealing text, horribly outdated, is all thats below the dropdown arrow.
No BFI - but a grant through Screen Yorkshire
What is also notable is the lack of any mention of BFI (formerly UK Film Council), BBC or C4 involvement, some combination of all 3 being central to the financing of the entire Warp catalogue up to now. The film is listed on the British Council site as in post-production, but there is no mention of any link with the BFI. However, they have once again received a grant through Screen Yorkshire (set up as a regional wing of the national UK Film Council, whose role of distributing government/National Lottery funding to boost the film industry and film culture in the UK has been taken up by the BFI), so perhaps this isn't such a huge shift in production strategy after all. Warp shot the film over 5 weeks (compare with Le Donk's 5 days!) in in Yorkshire during Oct/Nov 2016.
Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the county of Yorkshire all offer funding for production, which is further stimulating growth. Screen Yorkshire’s £15 million ($19 million) Yorkshire Content Fund has invested in films like “Ghost Stories,” starring Martin Freeman, and TV series like “Peaky Blinders.” [US trade mag Variety]
Director Andy Nyman's tweets shows Warp how its done
Before looking at what Nyman has done, its worth reiterating that marketing is the domain of the distributor, NOT the producer. However, building interest from the earliest pre-production surely makes sense when these same production companies will eventually seek to persuade distributors to take a financial gamble on their title? WT are exceptionally pro-active in this field; Warp are fairly lax to date.
Social media, and the web 2.0 convergence it represents, is one means by which marketing can be carried out with low overheads, thus in theory enabling underfunded Indies to compete. It also enables creatives, such as Nyman, to take this on themselves - their careers are linked to the success of their work after all!
Nyman was tweeting throughout the shoot, providing snippets and images which could be shared by fans (of stars as much as the play), but also used by the media. This was a convincingly organic process, a seemingly unfiltered, 'genuine' insight into and access to the shoot, with star Paul Whitehouse pictured eating hummus on set for example. Nyman also offered up a random draw for 5 crew badges for anyone who tweeted badge to him - simple but smart marketing.
Nyman consistently uses the hashtag ghoststoriesfilm, which Altitude are also using in their 'official' marketing to potential distributors. As you'll see below, the badge competition required entrants to tweet ghoststoriesfilm, NOT andynyman!
Its interesting to note that Warp's retweet picked up fewer hits than Nyman's original - the company actually has a smaller online footprint than the creative (though neither are getting 1000s of hits, never mind the millions that Universal often achieve). Altitude have also been busy tweeting behind the scenes content to build interest and momentum, as they seek to pick up sales in more territories:
Simple, smart, effective - and extremely low cost!!!
You can see how this activity sparks media interest - Nyman is providing FREE content for media producers, no investigation or travel required, just monitoring a twitter feed; here's an example that Empire magazine (UK's leading film mag) featured at the top of their article:
Attending a screening inspired a near-100% AS coursework production last year, and with the host of guest speakers (actors, directors, writers, crew) doing post-screening Q+As, not to mention that most of these Indies won't gain distribution here beyond the festival, its well worth a look...
Not all have trailers, some are kickstarter funded; I've put together a playlist of what trailers I could find, + linked these or a web page. If you've never seen Educating Rita - take this chance to do so!!! Never Grow Old and Gwen look especially interesting, and Robert the Bruce has provoked much debate...
I'd done a couple of short posts on Baby Driver, and I'll try to keep this reasonably short too as an overview of useful points. As a very recent WT movie, and one that's essentially American, its a useful example. Lets start with the usual basics:
DIRECTOR:Edgar Wright [see his BoMojo record] BUDGET: $34m BOX OFFICE: UK $17m, US $108m, China $17m, World $227m [BoM] PRODUCTION COMPANY CREDITS:see screenshot from BoM DISTRIBUTION: Sony, UIP 72countriesSony in most markets, UIP in some, also WBros in Turkey + some local distributors like ItaFilm in Italy AGE RATINGS:BBFC 15, MPAA R, France 'Tous publics with warning'.
Internet advertising to grow at slowest rate since 2001 dotcom bust
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jul/22/internet-advertising-grow-digital-scandals-facebook-google?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
A stark message from senior players in the UK indie sector, who warn that distinctively British film could largely disappear with the double whammy of Brexit and American streaming giants' growing dominance (on top of the traditional talent drain to Hollywood). While both Netflix and Amazon (with others like Apple following suit now) spending BILLIONS each year, the BFI annual film budget is £15m and the BBC's even less at just £11m.
The likes of Warp are highly reliant on such financing - unless they transform their production style to more of a commercial, globalised approach as Working Title (mostly!) have.
Streaming could kill UK independent film industry, experts say https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/07/streaming-could-kill-uk-independent-film-industry?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
DIRECTOR: Sharon Maguire BUDGET: $35m BOX OFFICE: UK $60m, US $24m, World $212m PRODUCTION COMPANY CREDITS:Miramax*, StudioCanal, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films*presumably they retain rights as original film co-producer with WT DISTRIBUTION: Universal, UIP 62countries'Universal is releasing in most territories with Studiocanal handling France, Germany and Austria' [Deadline] AGE RATINGS:BBFC 15, MPAA R, LuxEA.
Much more to come on one of the most significant Working Title productions for years. They have multiple highly successful franchises (Nanny McPhee, Bean, Johnny English...) but none are as iconic and central to their identity as BJD, the franchise based on Helen Fielding's hit novel.
AGE RATINGS
Quite an extraordinary variation on this one: BBFC 15 and MPAA (US) R, but U in Luxembourg!
PRODUCTION HISTORY
I've blogged on this for a few years now (here; here on novel + musical; here in a wider post on WT franchising): BJD3 was announced in July 2009! It was then formally greenlit by Universal + WT in October 2011 ... but would take another 4 years for shooting to commence, with Hugh Grant dropping out and a change of director (Paul Zeig was originally attached, but with the film seeming dead in the water Sharon Maguire wasn't attached until negotiations with the principal cast resumed again in June 2015). [details from Wiki]
DIRECTOR
Sharon Maguire was overlooked for the first sequel...
Sharon Maguire, who directed the original Bridget Jones’s Diary in 2001, returned to direct the feature film from a script she co-wrote with David Nicholls (One Day) [source]
Starting with Saunders' excellent Telegraph article I'll look at arguments that BJB is too British for the US market; non-English markets experience a radically different Bridget through culturally-weighted translations (eg Spain) - and even censorship (Japan). Japanese subtitles reposition Jones as closer to a traditional stereotypical female through certain formalities of grammar. Greeks were among many non-UK/US (Australia/NZ/Canada?) audiences to be left none the wiser when Aretha's Respect kicked in at a key point in the original movie - iconic tunes that 'everyone knows' don't necessarily cross Western, English-language borders.
Saunders cites a number of academic studies in doing so - this is a much-studied franchise and cultural phenomenon, so challenge yourself and look out for more in-depth reading!
One such example that I will re-read in due course, not least as it presents intriguing arguments on the tensions between WT and Richard Curtis' script between appealing to the domestic and US markets: Jones is at once Americanised and critical of American culture ... is the book Falling in Love Again: Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema (Abbott, Jermyn eds. (2008)).
I'll get to view the film in due course - but your own (or second hand) observations from this would be welcomed (post a comment).
As I've written on/discussed these elsewhere, I'll simply add the screenshots. You would never try to remember all, but rather pick out a few, looking for one or more of:
the total UK box office
the total US box office
the rough % of world box office the US (or UK) represents
the length of run [how many weeks it was in cinemas for] - especially useful looking at Indie films that basically tour the arthouse circuit with a limited number of prints
the number of screens
if the Gant Rule can be seen with the figures
the number of countries it got theatrical distribution in (many WT films get 40+; World's End was notably quite disappointing)
You can find some tallies and notes on this in both the Warp pack and the list of WT films
Other films that come close: Bean(1997) $257m, Love Actually(2003) $248m, 4 Weddings(1994)$242m [their most profitable film as a $4.5m budget!], Everest(2015)$204m. Those are the 7 WT films that grossed $200m+ worldwide.
Rape scenes no longer allowed in films rated suitable for under-15s
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/16/scenes-rape-banned-uk-films-rated-suitable-under-15s?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
One perfect shot: the unsung power of cinematography
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/10/cinematography-cinematographers-films-role-directors-artistry?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
This is NOT a social realist film! We are, however, using this comedy (spy/action satire) to help us clarify the characteristics of social realist films: we'll contrast the media language of this with what we've observed is conventional for the social realist genre... PRODUCTION: Working Title, Big Talk, Village Roadshow [US partner] +2 DISTRIBUTION: Sony (US), Colombia (UK); [no China] 36 territories BUDGET: $35m BOX OFFICE: UK $7.5m, US $7m; World $25m BBFC 15, MPAA R SOME CONTEXT: An example of the impact of the changed, reduced status of WT within its parent big six conglomerate, NBC-Universal. WT had been receiving $600m funding every 7 years, with clearance to greenlight any project up to a $25m budget - but that has been reduced to a 'first look' deal, meaning Universal can decide whether they want to 'pick up' a WT project or not. In this case they didn't, Sony (and its subsidiary Colombia) did ... and maybe Universal were wise, as it failed to even recoup its budget, never mind the 2-3 times budget generally accepted as needed to move into profit. The Gant rule obviously doesn't apply: its a very British film - so much so that the title had to be changed for US and international markets as the place name Grimsby has no recognition and is essentially meaningless and confusing outside the UK (unlike London). Idents: Sony - sooooo unlikely to see a big 6 name on a social realist flick!! Village Roadshow - US production partner, again essentially unheard of for a UK social realist film (unlike comedy)!! No ident for WT! Non-diegetic, well known commercial track (R Kelly) as an audio bridge over 2 idents + opening shots. The OST features Ed Sheeran!!!! Its unusual to have any lyrical music in SR films, incidental music is more typical (eg Tyrannosaur, but TisEng does feature some). Black screen before shot (after ident 4); no fade in. Unusual choice of (M)CU, no ES. Cuts to another (M)CU showing co-protagonist's huge England football back tatoo, sweat, and England football top + beer can visible. The tightly framed shots for the opening sex scene are made comic by use of a master shot revealing the location, a bed showroom. Poverty signified through the large signs highlighting the sale, lowest prices in Grimsby, and actual (real life rock bottom) prices: just $$89.99 for a double bed. The stereotyping starts immediately: the overgrown hair, huge sideburns, ridiculous tattoo, football top, beer can ... and then the reveal of moronic, antisocial behaviour (the realism of SR can lead to showing antisocial behaviour: the violent lead in TYR, even Shaun in the newsagents). Its a very short opening scene - contrasts with TisEng, TYR etc. Just 30 secs then into titles sequence - soundtracked by a huge hit from Blur! Shot 1 of titles sequence IS typical for SR tho! A grim looking terraced street, heavily graffitied, many boarded up; shot even worse, litter, broken chainlink barrier, metal sheets boarding up every house. A pernicious stereotype - think of how TisEng features SOME grim mise-en-scene (the subway; the terraced street the film title is over) but counterpoints this with smart detail like Shaun's bike left unchained + safe in his garden with its low wall (no litter or overgrown messes there either). There is graffiti, though this is used for verisimilitude and political points from Meadows: Maggie is a Twat; Screwdriver [referring to an 'oi' skinhead, neo-Nazi band, Skrewdriver]
BFI to refuse funding for films with facially-scarred villains
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/29/bfi-to-refuse-funding-for-films-with-facially-scarred-villains?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
There are multiple obvious anchored preferred readings, but lets focus on the binary opposition...
Again, multiple aspects of a preferred reading are accessible, but lets focus on the anchorage of genre hybridity within this famously triple hybrid of zom-rom-com...
