Warp X: Low Budget DIGITAL Film Production Co

There are a series of materials I'll add to this, as well as posts on the films This is England and Donkey Punch which we've looked at to varying degrees; many are linked below. I'll revise this doc and add a fuller summary.
Warp contrasts nicely (effectively forms a binary opposition) with the juggernaut that is WT (whilst sharing the same roots).
There's much more detail in the docs that follow, but some key points:

• just like WT, the key personnel behind Warp gained their initial filmic experience in music videos (Warp was initially a record label)
• Warp Films was set up first, followed in 2006 by Warp X - both are essentially the same company, but WX was specifically funded by the UKFC to the tune of £3m (EM Media & Screen Yorskhire added £1.5m [total £4.5m]) to produce 6 films in 3 years and to foster the development of low-budget digital film-making in the UK. WT's low-budget subsidiary, WT2, spends more than this on any one of its releases!
  
• Optimum Releasing handles distribution (TV rights to C4/Film4) - hardly on the same scale as WT with their tie-ins with Universal and Studio-Canal providing distribution deals for the USA and Europe
• Just as with WT in their early days (with MBL), Warp has had critical acclaim for some of its initial output, including Shane Meadows' TisEng and Dead Man Walking
• forging long-term creative relationships seems to be another trait they share with WT (perhaps they've studied what has made WT such a success?), with Paddy Considine and Shane Meadows two examples of this
• amazingly enough, given the tiny budgets they work on, Warp has even found time to launch its own offshoots, or subsidiaries: as well as a competition for female comedy film-makers, it has sought to set up a production arm in Australia, taking advantage of government funding there
  

This Is England (Shane Meadows, 2006): Case Study

If the Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant series of WT rom-coms exemplify one prominent trait of contemporary British cinema, the gritty, low-budget social realism of films like this mark out quite a different trend within the UK's film industry. Whilst nothing like as commercially successful as BJD, Love Actually et al, it can certainly be argued that films like this are culturally vital to Britons' sense of self-identity.
PRODUCERS' PROMOTIONAL BROCHURE
This Is England promotional brochure

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Potential financiers of this film would have seen this brochure, which seeks to sell the idea before filming can commence.

What's All This Then?

Across the year a variety of handouts are distributed, which I'll start making available through this blog, but there are a great deal of additional materials you may wish to access. These include case studies of films we've looked at (and many we haven't), useful links and suggestions for further reading, and overviews of relevant concepts and theories linked to the study of cinema.
For 2008-9 there are significant overlaps between an exam sat by the A2 and that sat by AS, so I'll make most of this available to all, with some additional points (including tips and guidance on exams, and past questions) specific to AS or A2 kept in a separate posting.
If you come across any materials or resources you think would be useful, please pass on the details. The same goes for any ideas, suggestions or comments you may have.