All Initial Ideas for Thriller Location

When told that we were going to make a thriller opening I immediately pictured the scene in Millers crossing in which Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) takes Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) out into the woods and is told to shoot him one to take him down and 'once in the head' to make it final. This is because i really loved the way in a forest vanishing points can be utilised and also by using a filter (brown) like has been done in this film it makes the whole world seem bleak and dirty which is a common signifier of the thriller genre.

On top of this i really liked the mystery and intrigue that could be gleaned from a variety of shots not actually showing someones face but just the person begging (example below) with this idea you would need a very convincing actor.


Moving away from 'Miller's Crossing' by the Coen brothers i also really like the tension built in the ending sequence in the forest to 'Assault on Precinct 13' directed by Jean-Francois Richet in 2005 (and also starring Gabriel Byrne), in this ending sequence Sgt Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke) is hunting Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) who is hunting Jake in the forest, not knowing which way to turn, the audience do not know who's feet are who's and the mystery and suspense is built upon which character will win the fight and find the other one sooner! this effect would be great for our thriller but would have to be done using some difficult editing and camera shots which may be to much for the technology available to us.

This is why i think filming would be great in a forest. During our first large group meeting at Tanwyn's house both Tanwyn and I thought that filming in a wood/forest would be a great idea, however we were a bit dubious as to how steady and flat the camera could be kept whilst filming. On top of this filming out in the open would create a lot of background noise, run the risk of other people being around and we would also be relying on the weather. Despite this i still took a camera to the University of East Anglia (UEA) grounds in which they have a lot of woodland just to see what effects could be gleaned from working with a forest view. (apologies for the humming!)

From this film you can see that walking in a forest without tracks is extremely uneven and shaky, this type of hand held camera look works well for films like 'Cloverfield' directed by Matt Reeves, however all the thrillers that i have seen use stylish, smooth camera work unless trying to make a point in a particular section of film. On the other hand the rows of trees has the nice effect of shadows on the ground and can also be used for vanishing points into the distance.

On my way round the UEA grounds i did find a nice clearing and a bench over looking a lake that could be used for scenes like in Layer Cake when looking from behind Daniel Craig at his back when talking to the Dragon and with the cityscape in front of him. the bench and clearing i found are shown in the footage below:

Update: Due to all the problems with filming in a forest we have decided to film in a car park that is also more accessible in the city. Tom went and took some footage of the car park here it is:

Music for our Thriller

Music is used in films to add emotional tension and in thriller films it is especially used to build tension and mystery to get the audience on the edge of their seat. Without music films would be extremely boring and tedious. For example, watch this emotion scene from ... including the music.

Now watch this video on mute. This makes the scene feel empty and boring, and evokes no emotion in the audience.

This is why we have to carefully select the music for our thriller making sure that it suits the theme and adds something to the film, otherwise the film will not work and will be lost on the audience.After a long time looking for some music that is copyright free, long enough to fit over the entire (approx) 2 minutes of our film, and also a track that will fit the mood, Tom Kail finally managed to find a track that fitted. "The Four Of Us Are Dying" by "Nine Inch Nails" (shown below) was almost perfect for our thriller opening, however it had one major flaw because it was made by a popular band and we concluded that it was not copyright free. Despite this we still read the copyright laws surrounding the album 'The Four of us are Dying' was released on ('The Slip). we found out that it was released under a creative commons license which means that this song is suitable for use on our thriller opening.

This music is so perfect for our thriller due to the beat being at a walking pace to fit in with the opening sequence and the staircase. Also I love the way at the beginning the main beat sounds like a heart beat and after 20 seconds the beat builds with a 'psycho' like sound building in the background which adds tension to the plot of our opening. The music builds at the beginning which shows the audience that the film is leading into something and so keeps them on their feet. Obviously we will not be able to use the entirety of the track which is useful as I do not like the track as it starts to whine and has a ringing noise in the background. However throughout the track it sounds very dark, which is great for our thriller as it climatises the audience to the theme of the film at the very beginning. This song has no lyrics, as we purposely looked for one without, this is because during our very first group meeting we had a look at some amateur videos on 'youtube' and the ones that we disliked the most were those who had picked a song merely for the sake that they liked it and those what had lyrics just did not fit because it distracts from the film and does not seem like back ground music but music that has to be listened to word for word.

Plus the music has many different beats all put together along with the unusual (almost whiny) guitar sound make this song very mixed up and confusing which adds to our films sense of mystery and twists. All these reasons are why we have chosen to use this song for our background music.

Actor choices for our Thriller

Choosing actors for our thriller film was relatively easy surprisingly, for we had decided that we only wanted two characters so as to keep things simple and due to the fact that we are only making the initial opening sequence to a possible thriller film we decided that we didn't need to introduce lots of characters and over complicate things!

Finding two actors was really painless as we knew what we were looking for and that was: acting ability and whether they had any past experience also looks to fit the part and their availability to shoot.
The first two people we looked at fitted the bill exactly, these were Lukman Hussain and Tanwyn Smith-Meek.

Lukman Hussain

At 25 years of age Lukman was especially good for the part of a gangster as he obviously looks older and more mature making our film look more authentic, than if we had picked both actors from our year (16 - 17 year old's).
Lukman's experience in amateur film making and acting was one of the main points we picked him as our sinister actor, as we needed quite a bit of emotions and thoughts communicated without using words and all through his actions and expressions.

On top of this Lukman's brother Ibrahim is good friends with Tom Kail and goes to our school so messages could be relayed through him to Lukman making him very easy to contact and make arrangements with.

Tanwyn Smith-Meek

Tanwyn is a member of the group already which has many advantages such as: We can rehearse with him, he knows the plot and script thoroughly, it is easy to organise filming times with him, he would put more effort in respect with his acting, he is up to date with all the changes made, and including him in the acting gives us the chance to hear comments on shots that we would not otherwise have thought of because he was the one in the shot being filmed.
In addition to this Tanwyn would like to persue a career in acting and this gives him a great insight into the world of film (even though we are amateurs) as he has only acted on stage in plays with his acting and he would also put a lot more effort in, and because of his ambition to be on the big screen one day he is also taking A-level Drama and gained an A for Drama GCSE.

Continuity Test

The continuity task is one being undertaken by everyone on the year 12 media course, it involves filming someone walk through a door sitting down and having a conversation with themselves or another person/people. The final production had to be fluent and exhibit, The Line Rule and The Rule of Thirds, whilst also being coherent and stylish. This was a perfect opportunity to mess around with the cameras to gain a basic understanding of how they work, their limits and what to expect from them in connection with our thriller filming.

Our continuity task is shown below:



I hope you enjoyed it!

Women in film...

Surfing the internet one day, i encountered a great website about women in the film industry, i am afraid that it only focuses on German cinema and people but it does however bring up many good points about difficulties that face women in cinema today: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/tag/women_and_film/

Thriller Editing - Random Updates

During making/editing our thriller opening we tried many things out that did not work to try and improve the plot and shots here are a few examples:

To try and make one scene more dramatic we tried having a close-up of Lukman's eyes slide into shot, this however looked extremely cliched and very corny so we decided not to use this. Also the style was too reminiscent of the western cowboy genre.

On one shot the top has been cut off by a low hanging wall and because it is dark it looks like a black block at the top of the screen. As this shot is really nice we tried moving the screen so that it looks like a wide screen shot, however the switching from full screen to wide screen looks extremely stupid and out of place so, we have decided to keep the scene in the film but have kept it with the band at the top. This shot can also symbolize how John's (Tanwyn's character) has his life cut short.

Also as we over ran the time limit by about 20 seconds to shorten the film we tried speeding up the part of Tanwyn walking, to make it a fast motion shot, however with the internal monologue on top and the slow beat of the music it just didn't fit in. Also the pieces in which he is walking are the tension building, mysterious parts as you have no idea where he is going or who he is! To save time we finally decided to cut down each of our shots and dissect some of the dialogue.

Why do we need the British film industry?

Chinatown Narrative

A Critical Analysis of ‘Chinatown’ (directed by Roman Polanski) and its Narrative

Chinatown is best described as a crime thriller as it is full to the brim with deception and illegal business that fills the narrative with twists and turns that are so reminiscent of the thriller genre.

The narrative of a film is its storyline, how it is told and from whose perspective. A simple narrative will usually begin with an introduction where everything is fine and normal which then turns problematic because of a conflict or event, then there will be a climax and at the end of the narrative the problem will be resolved; for example Goldie Locks would have a very simple narrative. At the beginning the bears go out all happy for a picnic and Goldie Locks enters the house all happy and not aware that she is doing anything wrong when eating their porridge and sleeping in their beds, until the bears come home (problem) and find their porridge eaten and her asleep in their bed (climax), but they resolve this when in the end she runs all the way back to her own home. This example of a simple Narrative is extremely different from that of ‘Chinatown’ because Chinatown has a very complex plot with many ups and downs, twists and turns which make it such a brilliant film.

In ‘Chinatown’ the narrative is presented in the eyes of J.J. Gittes so this is a very subjective narrative we can see this in many different shots for example when Gittes is driving the car you see through the windscreen as if you were looking through his eyes, also we see the events through his eyes, we flinch when his nose is cut and we feel repulsed when we find out that Mrs. Mulwray’s daughter is also her sister! The use of this type of narrative leads us into the story and connects us with the characters as if they were real. However with this type of narrative you only get one side of the story and one perspective, and even though Gittes is the most interesting character in the plot and is obviously the best choice for the subjective narrative to be based around, the audience still only receive his perspective and cannot know what is going through some of the characters heads even though we can guess, on top of this it is a biased view of the characters and plots that surround Gittes and he influences our opinions of the characters, for example Detective Loach the arrogant police detective who is in competition with Gittes comes across as a cocky idiot but from another persons narrative his partner for example he would come across as completely different.

The subjective Narrative is typical of thrillers and it is very popular to use an internal monologue like in ‘Sin City’ (directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez), and ‘Layer Cake’ (directed by Matthew Vaughn). Internal monologues draw us into the plot and the mind of the character, this is extremely effective in ‘Sin City’ with the monologues of all the men with gruff voices add an eerie, tension as there is only a faint sound of the background except the voice this draws us into their life and the storyline, this is why they are very typical of the thriller genre. The Narration in the first person by a male protagonist in both ‘Layer Cake’ and ‘Sin City’ is also a characteristic of the thriller genre as the voice of the men adds depth to the plot and also adds to the bleak atmosphere of many thrillers. Another type of Narrative that I have briefly mentioned before is the spiraling, twisting, turning narrative that is full of mystery and intrigue every single thriller has this sort of narrative and is how we classify a thriller, this is because the twists in the plot as in Chinatown draw you deeper into the lives of the characters and helps the audience to form an understanding of all the characters. The mystery and intrigue helps build tension and the theme of corruption, deceit and moral ambiguity, this is very evident in the film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ directed by Quentin Tarantino. In any film it is very important to get the narrative right because if you have a brilliant plot for a film but you tell it from the wrong characters perspective it can spoil the film. So using the subjective narrative from the point of view from J.J. Gittes in Chinatown was the right choice and is the factor that holds the brilliant plot together.

To conclude the narrative in Chinatown is very clever as it gets the audience involved in the action through Gittes’s eyes and it fits in brilliantly with the theme as the whole film revolves around him and his investigation and was the obvious choice for the subjective narrative. This film could have used an internal monologue as that would fit in with the thriller genre however I believe one of the great things about this film is that it keeps you guessing.

Intitial Plan of Perfume Advert

Initially i had decided on a very noir, sexy, Gothic theme to my perfume advert as i have found that they tend to be very over the top and are always full of nudity. I had a basic plan of how my advert was going to look. Here is a rough sketch with annotations:

Update: Due to the fact that I will not be able to find a model for this sort of naked shot and one that will fit the bill, and also partly because the technology we will be using to take the photo will not be of the highest quality and the light will not be right for the light and dark shadows on the skin. on top of this the programme to be used for editing, 'Photoshop Elements 2.0', does not have a high enough quality to enable me to obtain a flawless shaded skin tone without spending an overly large amount of time on this project. Instead i am going for something with more red in it and a close up shot instead of an extreme close shot so the skin tone does not need to be changed too much.

Shooting locations

For the main part of our film we are planning to shoot in a car park this car park is located in Norwich, East Anglia in the city centre:

In Norwich we will be filming in a car park at the top of St Steven Street here is an arial view from google maps; the red arrow signifies the car park.

This location is close to the school so is very accessible and also has the dingy, urban sleeze factor that is a popular thriller signifier.

Wallander - a T.V. production

Wallander is a new T.V. series involving a detective aptly name Wallander, whose job it is to investigate homicides. This plot and theme of this series is very similar to thriller conventions in film so to analyse and compare this to thriller films should be quite interesting. I have only seen the first episode as it is a new series however this was an extra long episode of one and a half hours so there is plenty material to look at.
The opening credits consisted of the face of the actor playing Wallander (Kenneth Branagh) in black and blue block colour framed by yellow which were the words of the title using the letters a, a, d and e as they are the letter with holes in them. once all the letters were exhausted it was just a yellow screen with Wallander in black unobtrusive letters. The yellow mirrors the colour of the Rape Seed plantation in which the opening sequence took place with a young girl committing suicide. The large use of yellow may also intimate cowardliness or jealousy that is to come, after watching the whole episode i find that the yellow would be a good representation of Wallander's troubled mind which is close to cracking and could be interpreted as cowardly. Whilst watching these credits the yellow gave me the picture of lines on a road, this signifies the journey of twisting and turning plot that the series contains. The blue/black face also shows sadness 'he was feeling blue'. And also provides an image of a storm that is to come.

The Thriller conventions shown by the first episode shows the style of this series as it has a flawed hero, many male protagonists, mystery into who the murderer is, slanted blinds and fast tension building music. I could not see many differences between this T.V. thriller and that of the big screen productions except that this is a series and obviously the story is carried on throughout the space of time the series lasts. There was one subtle difference that i did notice however, which was the repetition of some of the shot types used, as well as having a variety of shot compositions the variety was not as wide as that of a film and the shot that was often used was extremely strange and the audience saw the main male protagonists reflections in windows, vases, mirrors etc. This indicates that there is a hidden person inside everyone or that there is always someone watching which adds to the sense of tension/worry, although these types of shots would be used in films the frequency in which they would be used is definitely not as much as was used in 'Wallander'.

This is England: Case Study

‘This is England’ (2006) by Shane Meadows: Case study

Certification and Reasoning

This Is England is certified as an 18 due to the content of rude and vulgar language, in particular the word ‘cunt’ which is the strongest word in the English vocabulary, and also the re-occurring themes of strong racist abuse, such as the scene in which Shaun repeatedly calls a Pakistani shop owner a ‘paki’ and then the group pull a switchblade on him. There are also scenes of sexual and violent content, for example the scene in which a 16 year old girl asks Shaun whether he would like to ‘suck her tits’. Shaun Meadows was very upset with this certification as he felt that the most important group to watch the film would be teenagers between the ages of 12-18, however with the certification of 18 this group was clearly ineligible.

Locations

The film was shot in three main locations. These were:

-Cleethorpes, North Lincolnshire, England, UK (ending credits)

-Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK

-RAF Newton, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK (abandoned houses)

Company Credits

The production companies to the film were:

-Big Arty Productions

-EM Media

-Film4

-Optimum Releasing

-Screen Yorkshire

-UK Film Council

-Warp Films

All of these companies have produced other famous British films and/ or other films by Shane Meadows. Big Arty Productions have in particularly worked closely with Meadows, producing seven of his ten films (Where’s The Money, Ronnie? – 1996, Small Time – 1996, A Room for Romeo Brass -1999, Once Upon a Time in the Midlands – 2002, Dead Man’s Shoes – 2004, Northern Soul – 2004 and This Is England – 2006)

EM Media have also worked with Meadows on two other occasions excluding This Is England (Once Upon a Time in the Midlands – 2002, Dead Man’s Shoes – 2004) while Film4 and Warp Films have both worked with Meadows on one previous occasion (Dead Man’s Shoes – 2004). UK Film Council on the other hand have not worked with Meadows on any other occasion, however, like Warp Films and Film4, they have been part of countless famous British films such as:

-Bride and Prejudice (2004)

-Valiant (2005)

-The Constant Gardener (2005)

-Severance (2006)

-The Last King of Scotland (2006)

-Venus (2006)

-Notes on a Scandal (2006)

-Brick Lane (2007)

Meanwhile Film4 also have an impressive list of successful British films:

-The Last King of Scotland (2006)

-Venus (2006)

-Brick Lane (2007)

-In Bruges (2008)

-Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Distribution

These were the distributors of the film:

-IFC Films (2007) (USA) (theatrical)

-IFC First Take (2007) (USA) (theatrical)

-Iae (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)

-King Record Co. (2009) (Japan) (theatrical)

-Madman Entertainment (2007) (Australia) (all media)

-NetFlix (2007) (USA) (DVD)

-NonStop Entertainment (2007) (Sweden) (theatrical)

-Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (theatrical)

-Red Envelope Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)

-Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2008) (Finland) (DVD)

User Comments and User Rating: From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/usercomments

A great British film - or should that be English?, 29 April 2007
******** 8 stars
Author: Andrew Marshall from United Kingdom

There is no doubt that this film is a truly great piece of film-making. Shane Meadows crafts films in the same style as Martin Scorcese. We are given a glimpse into the lifestyle of a group of characters over a short period of time. It is very much a fly on the wall type of movie. The point of these films is to understand the actions of the characters rather than judging their actions. I have no doubt that there will be some people that tag this film as being racist which is rather missing the point.

The film follows Shaun a 12 year old being brought up in early 80's England. He has lost his father in the Falklands war and suffers bullying and isolation until he is befriended by a group of skinheads. The happy band are challenged when Combo is released from prison. Thomas Turgoose is magnificent in the lead role and the direction/screenplay are also spot on the mark. For anybody that lived through the period there are lots of reminders about the period. The film is based on Meadow's own childhood and is quite mesmerizing at times.

I was gripped throughout the film and it also gave me plenty to think about afterwards. What more can you ask for when going to the movies? I suppose if you go to the movies for escapism then go watch something else, but if you want a gripping thought provoking drama then it doesn't come much better than this. Outstanding!

Skins in Thatcherland, 19 August 2007
******** 8 stars
Author: Stensson from Stockholm, Sweden

The skinhead culture fascinates many directors and it's understandable. It's one of the few remaining subcultures in the West, much because of the Nazi connections.

But the skins in this movie aren't political and no racists to start with. One of the gang members is even black. They live in a happy community in the early 80s, having fun and being together in a totally grey unfriendly working class environment. It's very hopeful and the 12-year-old finds himself accepted for the first time in his life. His longing for the dead father of the Falklands war is somewhat replaced.

But darkness arrives with the skin veteran who comes back from jail. And there are conflicts between the racist fraction and the others. But whatever this is, it's not black and white. The characters are much more complicated.

Much has been said about young Thomas Turgoose as the 12-year-old. He's very good but the great portrait is by Stephen Graham as the old/new gang leader. Absolutely brilliant work.

Best film of the Berlin Film Festival 2007, 14 February 2007
********** 10 stars
Author: dePaoli from Berlin, Germany

I just saw "This Is England" at the Berlin Film Festival where it was screened in the section "Generation 14P". This section is an extension of the former "Kinderfilmfest" for teenagers between 14 and 18 - dealing with more mature issues.

I had no clue about it, just that it would be about skinheads in England and that it takes place in the 80s. I wasn't expecting much, hoping for something like a British version of "American History X" - I got a lot more.

When I left the theater I was absolutely stunned! Cast and script were outstanding. I loved the rough editing and grainy camera style that made the movie look a real 80s flick! And last but not least: the soundtrack is a blast! And coming from a director who used to be part of the real scene, it might be the most authentic picture about skinheads ever made.

Although it didn't get as much attention as the Hollywood films that had their premiere at the Berlinale Palast, it's a lot stronger than almost all the films in competition.

Shane Meadows...is a genius!, 27 April 2007
********** 10 stars
Author: nextlevel from United Kingdom

Man oh man, I haven't been blown away by a movie since American History X.

I won't go into the detail of this, I really advise you to watch this movie.

It's hard hitting and gripping, right from the very beginning. Magnificent performances from relatively unknown actors. He did it with Dead Man's Shoes, he's gone and done it again. Hollywood producers, take note. You don't need the best special effects teams, or the 'glamorous' actors. Meadows makes his work look effortless, yet at the same time, it's brilliant, because of its simplicity. I didn't so much grow up in the 80’s; 90's was when I really grew up so can't comment on the accuracy of the times.

I'm a British/Pakistani and wasn't offended a single bit, and there is lots of violence and racism but nothing that isn't expected if you’re not narrow minded. This is a brilliant British movie, and I'm sure now Meadows will finally get the credit he deserves.

Shane Meadows, come forward. Take a bow.

Expected a Lot More., 12 July 2007
***** 5 stars
Author: cornisle1 from United Kingdom

After seeing Meadows' previous efforts I was expecting great things from this film. It starts off well, the 1980s setting really shining through. But as soon as the young lad joins the skinheads it's just too unbelievable, expecting the audience to accept the plot developments as normal human interaction. For instance, the romance of a pre-pubescent boy with a girl of at least 16, and it remains unquestioned by all as if it's normal. The acceptance of the lad's mother of her 12 year old son joining a gang of older, smoking and drinking skinheads. None of it rings true. Meadows has made much in the publicity of this film stating that skinheads weren't all racist NF thugs, but in the film there are only a couple of them who don't immediately jump in with Combo and his NF mates. There just isn't much plot development, Woody starts off as one of the main characters but as soon as Combo turns up is hardly seen at all.

Very disappointing. This and "Once Upon A Time In The Midlands" are leading me to question whether Meadows can be as consistently talented as I was hoping he would be.

I seem to be the only one who thought this was rubbish!, 11 September 2007
*** 3 stars
Author: (siblancomusic) from United Kingdom

The mood of this movie is pretty good and it captures the feel of the 80's well with some good performances.

However.....

The script is run of the mill with the exception of a couple of comedic moments and comes off as being weird where I expect it was intended to be edgy. The characters are totally over dramatized and unbelievable and full of right wing clichés that the script writer probably saw watching a panorama documentary on the national front. The biggest problem is this movie has no real story. It ticks all the right "arty" boxes but nothing actually happens and at the end you are left wondering what the point was.

Very disappointing

A highly overrated film. (Only minor spoilers.), 17 September 2007
*** 3 stars
Author: pib and pob from United Kingdom

I watched this film last night with anticipation, but really wasn't very impressed.

With the exception of 'Combo', I thought the acting was poor and the narrative was limited. It came across like a 'made for TV' drama.

I felt that the film was very contrived. The whole set up of hammering in the context at the start (yes, we get that this is 80s Britain - you can stop now) was tiresome, and gave a very one-sided view of what life was like in 80s Britain - poverty, war juxtaposed with royalty, Margaret Thatcher, yet nothing in between? There were actually middle-classes who existed back then - just ordinary working people, with a decent wage and a mortgage. The Falklands clips also seemed to be added randomly towards the end, for 'dramatic effect', I presume.

The sequence of events felt a tad disjointed, as the characters moved one one action to the next without us seeing how their mindset could've changed so quickly.

The relationship between 'Shaun' and 'Smell' was toe-curling. I couldn't even look during the snogging scene. I find it very hard to believe that she would've been attracted to a boy who was not only so much younger, but also looked so much younger. I know there were only four years between them, but four years is nothing once you reach your twenties, yet it's a huge difference in your teens! In my experience, that kind of teen age difference only occurs when the girl is the younger one, since girls mature so much quicker, and are more on the wavelength of boys a few years older. Sorry, but I didn't buy it - an unnecessary plot point created for shock value.

The ending was somewhat abrupt and, again, contrived. If the flag throwing incident was supposed to be iconic, then it fell somewhat short in my eyes.

It bugs me that British films only concern themselves with either the upper classes or the poverty-stricken. Don't get me wrong, I love Trainspotting, and Four Weddings has its charms, but can't we Brits come up with anything different? Why are our films always so hung up on the class system? I was born in 1973, so wasn't much different in age to 'Shaun' would've been in 1983. I grew up in a single parent family on a fairly down-trodden council estate in a city in England. However, my childhood experiences were vastly different to those portrayed in the film - I don't even remember racism being an issue (although i'm not saying it didn't exist). 'This is England'? Not in my experience.

The bottom line is that I felt this film lacked substance, and I was completely bored and unimpressed throughout.

These reviews suggest that there were a mixture of reactions to the film, however an overall user rating of 7.9 (as voted for by 19, 276 people) shows that generally it received a positive response. The fact that two of the most positive user comments were written by a German from Berlin (dePaoli) and a Swede from Stockholm (Stensson) suggests that the film can be enjoyed by those that you may not necessarily think would particularly relate to the characters in the film. This is quite surprising as one of the essential appeals of the film is the home-grown, distinctly British signifiers which are primarily aimed at young Brits of today. However, the fact that the three negative user comments were written by three people from the UK is quite interesting as according to some of their comments such as ‘my childhood experiences were vastly different to those portrayed in the film…’ the film is perhaps not so representative and authentic as the initial appeal of it suggests it should be.

Reviews:

USA – TIME Magazine by Christopher Thompson

Trying to rehabilitate the public image of skinheads is no easy task. Judging by Hollywood's take on the genre — see 1998's American History X or Russell Crowe in 1992's Romper Stomper — skinheads are popularly portrayed as neo-Nazi racists with a penchant for violent thuggery. Not so, contends Shane Meadows, the young British director whose new film, provocatively entitled This is England, is raising eyebrows in its exposé of this most controversial of subcultures.

Meadows, who admits to once being a "skin" himself, argues that skinheads were amongst Britain's first anti-racists, mixing with newly arrived waves of West Indian immigrants with whom they indulged a mutual love of reggae and ska. Hailing from a staunchly working-class background, Meadows, 35, dropped out of school as a teenager and later made his first films while subsisting on welfare benefits in his native Nottingham. He hit critical acclaim with his 1999 second feature, A Room for Romeo Brass, set in a Yorkshire mining town on the skids.

Meadows contends that it was only during the 1980s that the skinhead movement became infected by the Far Right, a collection of neo-fascist political parties, led by the infamous National Front, which called for the forced repatriation of immigrants. With the decline of British manufacturing and the onset of high unemployment, many working-class skins, whose communities bore the brunt of the new arrivals from abroad, became seduced by the promises of anti-immigrant politicians.

So begins Meadows' film, set in Uttoxeter, the heart of Britain's former industrial midlands. It's 1983 and this declining seaside town is fired up on royal weddings and Thatcherism. A brown-skinned local businessman occasionally has to deal with racist slogans spray-painted outside his shop, but it's a world away from the violent anti-immigrant demonstrations taking place elsewhere in the country.

Shaun (played the excellent actor Thomas Turgoose) is a solitary 12 year-old who, when not being teased about his oversized bell-bottoms, has taken to wandering by himself on a deserted beach ever since the death of his father in the Falklands War. He meets Woody — the friendly head of a local skinhead gang who take Shaun under their wing — and suddenly life starts looking up. Shaun collects friends and protectors, has fun smashing up derelict houses and even scores an older girlfriend.

Meadows' lingering camera shots over the local school playground filled with different gangs — Mods, Rockers, New Romantics — gives an anthropological feel to his study, almost like watching a National Geographic documentary on British youth tribalism. But it's clear where Meadows' own working-class allegiance lies: following Woody's skins strutting through alleyways, apropos of Reservoir Dogs, in drainpipe jeans, checkered shirts and Doc Marten boots.

But the good times can't last. When macho skinhead Combo (played by a snarling Stephen Graham) turns up at a party, fresh out of jail, things are about to go awry. Quickly the alpha Combo sets about ousting Woody with a classic divide-and-rule speech about the need for "proud warriors" to defend England's green and pleasant land. Having then established himself as a surrogate father to Shaun, Woody drags the remaining members of the gang, after several desertions, to a fascist National Front rally.

Typically, Meadows probes deeper than simple black-white characterizations, even eliciting a quiet sympathy for the fearsome Combo when, during an intimate conversation with Shaun, he hints at being abandoned by his own father. Nevertheless our gaze is averted when the once sweet-and-fragile Shaun starts to change, first daubing racist abuse around the town's walkways and then terrorizing a "Paki" newsagent in emulation of his new mentor. Our fears are confirmed: Shaun has been transformed into a neo-Nazi foot soldier in-the-making.

Throughout the film Meadows deals deftly with the cultural confusions of the skinhead movement, whose members' bedrooms — replete with vintage posters of blaxploitation flicks and ska-music icons — attest to the influence of foreigners, and of Jamaicans in particular.

Combo admits as much himself when he attempts to befriend the only black member of Woody's gang — the cheekily named Milky — reminiscing about how, when he joined the "original" skinheads back in the late 1960s, they all stood proud under the banner of racial unity. When Milky begins to talk about his extended family, Combo's eyes well-up. Half-ashamed, half-envious of what he misses most, Combo is poised on a knife-edge before the film turns toward its hideous, and inevitable, climax.

Drawing from a rich tradition of British cinematic realism, which includes directors like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, the film has sparked controversy in its native land. England has long prided itself as an island of tolerance and freedom for newcomers, and detractors claim that Meadows' focus on an unpopular war — the film is inter-spliced with Falklands' footage — together with anti-immigrant racism lends undue emphasis to the seamier side of the country's recent past. A Sunday Times review by critic Cosmo Landesman dismissed the film's portrayal of 1980s (predominantly) white-working class as "unconvincing," railing against a "fatuous" attempt to link the war in the Falklands with the one that Combo wants to fight back in England.

Meadows' attempt to humanize skinheads is a world away from the knee-jerk negative characterizations that informed cinema's previous depictions of the subculture as uniformly racist and violent. While it may be true that far-right parties no longer play any part in Britain's mainstream political discourse, other extremist movements are rising in Europe. And with the invasion of Iraq and rise in Islam phobia, Meadows suggests that ‘This is England’ could be as much a warning for England's present as it is a depiction of its past

British – The Guardian review by Peter Bradshaw

Shane Meadows continues his fast and fluent film-making career with this quasi-autobiographical picture about skinheads: a movie with hints of Alan Clarke's Made in Britain and, in its final image, the haunted disenchantment of Truffaut's The 400 Blows. It is a sad, painful and sometimes funny story from the white working classes of 1980s Britain; the cannon-fodder caste alienated from Falklands rejoicing on the home front and not invited to participate in the nation's promised service-economy prosperity.

Meadows boldly attempts to reclaim the skinhead from the traditional neo-Nazi image, explicitly distinguishing his characters from a separate racist influence, and presenting them as an anarchic youth tribe that idolised West Indian music. He sees their susceptibility to the extremist right as a poignant and even tragic part of their fatherless culture, literally and figuratively orphaned by the times.

There's a winning lead performance from 13-year-old newcomer Thomas Turgoose playing a put-upon lad called Shaun in the run-down Grimsby of 1983. His dad was a serviceman killed in the Falklands and he's perennially getting picked on for this, and for his horrible flared jeans which make him look, as one bully cruelly puts it, like Keith Chegwin's son. Sloping and moping his way home after a standard-issue school day of humiliation, Shaun gets waylaid by some skins in a dodgy underpass, but instead of yet more battering, the gang gives him sympathy and understanding; they become Shaun's only friends, and with a new Ben Sherman shirt and number one cut, Shaun has new pride and a new identity.

The gang's leader is Woody - a cheerful, sparky performance from Joe Gilgun - and they have an African-Caribbean member facetiously nicknamed Milky, played by Meadows regular Andrew Shim; Shaun even finds romance with one of the group's girl-punk fellow travelers: a languid and rather elegant older woman called Smell (Rosamund Hanson) who earnestly explains to Shaun's mum that she is called that simply because it rhymes with Michelle. The idyll is soon destroyed with the highly unwelcome appearance of Combo, a ferocious and sinister skin warrior just out of prison, played by Stephen Graham. He demands the group join his National Front cell, and turn out for an NF meeting in a tatty pub, addressed by one of the movement's suit-wearing officer class, played in cameo by Frank Harper.

Turgoose is the picture's heart and soul, and it's a terrifically natural, easy and commanding performance. Turgoose's open face radiates charm, and then, when he goes over to the dark side of racism, a creepy, anti-cherubic scorn: almost like one of the little blond kids in Village of the Damned. But Meadows is always concerned to preserve a sympathetic core to Shaun, and in fact to all the skins. Even the deeply objectionable Combo is shown to be suffering from emotional pain.

Like Meadows' earlier pictures, Dead Man's Shoes and A Room for Romeo Brass, This Is England is about younger, vulnerable figures being taken under the wing of older, flawed men, and this personal theme here finds its richest and maturest expression yet. As to whether we should buy its implied leniency about skinhead culture: that is another question. The West Indian influence is advanced as proof that skins were not necessarily racist: yet it can't cancel out Combo's hate campaign against South Asians, the "Pakis" who "smell of curry", a campaign which goes quite unchallenged or even unremarked upon by any of the skins, good or bad.

The skinhead identity is, after all, obviously supposed to be more aggressive than that of other tribes: I remember as a 10-year-old cowering on the terraces of Watford football club in the early 70s, as the Luton boot boys got stuck in, and my father grimly telling me that the reason they shaved their heads that way was so the coppers couldn't grab them by the hair. Whether or not that is true, it certainly made the wearer's head look like a big, third clenched fist. And it's still difficult to get a handle on them.

Meadows appears to want to find emotional truths behind the bravado, to find reasons for the male rage. It's a valid quest, and there are telling and touching moments, particularly between Turgoose and Rosamund Hanson. I found myself wishing that their love story could occupy more of the film, maybe for the same reason that the Shane Meadows film I have enjoyed most is the one his real fans loathe: the comedy Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. But from the get-go of this drama, it is obvious that things are heading only one way: towards a climactic flourish of violence, and it's a glum business wondering to whom and from whom this is going to happen. This is a violent subject, and these are violent people, and yet I couldn't help feeling that Meadows is, as so often, more comfortable with machismo than with the humour and gentleness which play a smaller, yet intensely welcome part of his movies. However agnostic I confess to still feeling about his work, there's no doubt that Meadows is a real film-maker with a growing and evolving career, and with his own natural cinematic language. When I think of his films, I think, for good or ill: this is English cinema.

Gold Standard:

According to the Gold Standard Rule 16 points in various categories are needed for a film to pass for tax relief, and also what defines a truly British film!

A Cultural Content
A1	Film Set in the UK	Yes	4/4
A2	Lead Characters Citizens or residents of the UK	Yes	4/4
A3	Film Based on British subject matter or underlying material	Yes	4/4
A4	Original dialogue recorded mainly in the English language	Yes	4/4
B Cultural Contribution
B1	Film represents/reflects a diverse British Culture, British heritage or British creativity	Yes	4/4
C Cultural Hubs
C1	Studio and/or location shooting/visual effects/special effects	Yes	2/2
C2	Music recording/audio post production/picture post production	Yes	1/1
D Cultural Practitioners
D1	Director	Yes	1/1
D2	Scriptwriter	Yes	1/1
D3	Producer	Yes	1/1
D4	Composer	No	0/1
D5	Lead Actors	Yes	1/1
D6	Majority of Cast	Yes	1/1
D7	Key Staff: lead cinematographer, lead production designer, lead costume designer, lead editor, lead sound designer, lead visual effects supervisor, lead hair and make-up supervisor	Yes	1/1
D8	Majority of Crew	Yes	1/1
Total:		30/31

‘This is England’ is most definitely defined as a British Film, and is entitled to the full tax relief from ‘The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’.

Movie Connection:

The themes running throughout ‘This is England’ are of racism/ethnic hatred, emotional loss, misconceptions of stereotypes (Skinheads), bullying, gangs, grubby urban locations, prison, family and friend relationships, and political unrest. Other films with themes like this include, American History X – Skinheads/Gangs, Racism, bullying, relationships, prison etc. Green Street – gangs/skinheads, aggression, prison etc. Boyz ‘n’ the hood – Crime, gangs, police, relationships etc. Football factory - Gangs, racism and bullying.

Awards:

‘This is England’ won 8 awards and was nominated for another 14 these were in chronological order:

In 2006 at the ‘British Independent Film Award’ it won the ‘Best British Independent film’ and ‘Most promising Newcomer (On Screen)’ for Thomas Turgoose. It was also nominated for ‘Best Director’ (Shane Meadows), ‘Best Screenplay’ (Shane Meadows), ‘Best Supporting Actor/Actress’ (Joseph Gilgun), ‘Best Supporting Actor/Actress’ (Stephen Graham), and ‘Best Technical Achievement’ (Ludovico Einaudi).

Also in 2006 at the ‘London Film Festival’ it won the ‘UK Film Talent Award’ for the Producer Mark Herbert.

In 2007 at the ‘Bangkok International Film Festival’ the film was nominated for the ‘Golden Kinnaree Award’ (Best Film).

On top of this it was also nominated for the ‘Grand Prix’ award at ‘Flanders International Film Festival’.

Also in 2007 it won the ‘Young Audience Award’ at the ‘Gijόn International Film Festival’.

In Addition to this it won the ‘Best Director Award’ at the Newport International Film Festival.

In 2008 ‘This is England’ won the ‘BAFTA Film Award’ for ‘Best British Film’ and was nominated for ‘Best screenplay’.

At the ‘Empire Awards, UK’ it was nominated for ‘Best British Film’ and also ‘Best Newcomer’ for Thomas Turgoose.

On top of this it was nominated for the ‘Best Independent Poster Award’ at the ‘Golden Trailer Awards’.

Also in 2008 it was Nominated at the ‘London Critics Circle Film Awards’ for ‘British Breakthrough in acting’ for Thomas Turgoose, ‘British Director of the Year’ for Shane Meadows, and ‘British Film of the Year’.

Finally in 2008 ‘This is England’ won ‘Best European Film’ and ‘Young European Jury Award’ at the ‘Mons International Festival of Love Films’.

Other Shane Meadows Films:

Shane Meadows in comparison with someone like Steven Spielberg has been involved in making very few films and out of these films ‘This is England’ is by far his most popular and biggest film so far, however he has tried his hand at lots of different jobs like: Directing, Producing, Writing, Acting, Editing, etc. the full list of his other films can be seen below:

Director

Somers Town (2008)

This is England (2006)

The Stairwell (2005)

Northern Soul (2004)

Dead Man’s Shoes (2004)

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)

A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)

24 7: Twenty Four Seven (1997)

Small Time (1996)

Where’s the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Writer

This is England (2006)

The Stairwell (2005)

Northern Soul (2004)

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)

A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)

24 7: Twenty Four Seven (1997)
... aka TwentyFourSeven

Small Time (1996/II)

Where's the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Actor

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)

A Room for Romeo Brass (1999)

24 7: Twenty Four Seven (1997)

Small Time (1996)

Where’s the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Editor

Northern Soul (2004)

Where’s the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Producer

Small Time (1996)

Where’s the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Cinematographer

Where’s the Money, Ronnie? (1996)

Outlets/Exhibition:

The film is currently out on DVD, and was shown recently on Channel 4 after the 9 o’clock watershed. When it was first released it was shown in the local area at an independent cinema called Cinema City.

Information collected from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480025/

Our Thriller

Themes

To follow with the Thriller genre our themes that we are trying to achieve include; Corruption, deception and betrayal shown in the opening scene with the double cross performed by Smith on John Vanik by shooting him after the drop, crime is conveyed by the covert operation they are carrying out in the car park, and the entire urban city being grimy and corrupt is also shown throughout by the car park and also the city scape we are going to shoot.

Style

We are going to try and convey the style of Crime in a slick and professional manner to reflect the character of Smith and the circles he travels in, this is going to be quite hard as the equipment we have is not very good quality, so we have to use the tripod as often as possible because it keeps the camera steady, still and focused. We do not want to use much handheld camera as it becomes very shaky and unslick.

Sub-genre

seeing as how we are making a thriller the usual subgenres for thrillers are: crime, betrayal, murder, and gangster all of these appear during one stage or another of our thriller opening

Ronin Directed by John Frankenheimer and Focusing on the Opening Sequence

As you can see from the trailer above, 'Ronin' directed by John Frankenheimer, is an action packed, humorous thriller with an all star cast. There is no wonder really why this is one of my favorite films and also why i have picked this film to be part of my blog. Another reason is that it exhibits so many thriller signifier's and is so full of mystery and intrigue that it is great to analyse for this subject. On top of this the opening sequence is brilliant, so is great to gain inspiration from for our thriller. The DVD box quotes the tag line for the film as being 'Loyalty is bought, betrayal is a way of life...' this tells a little of what to expect and also shows one of the thriller signifiers of twists, corruption and betrayal.

Before the establishing shot there is an epigraph that tells the tale of lone, masterless Samurai named 'Ronin' which explains why the film is named thus and also implies that the characters or main character is a merciless, live wire, who goes where they will and does not like taking orders. The film name then appears after the epigraph about Samurai and the title is written in black on a striking red background as if handwritten which connotes bloodshed and a personal vendetta. Already the audience has got great expectations of the film - they definitely will not be disappointed, in my opinion.

The opening sequence exhibits a great many thriller signifiers, whilst also introducing the main characters and using pathetic fallacy to intensify the feeling of danger, mystery and secretiveness. With the setting being at night time indicating the covertness of the operation and adding an opportunity to contrast the bright light from windows and street lamps with the blackness of the night, which is very effective when Robert De Niro hides in a pitch black doorway and peers into the light where his face is only partially visible (Chiaroscuro lighting), in addition to this the weather is miserable, continually raining, thus adding to the sense of dank, dark and illegality. Furthermore the establishing shot that shows that the setting is Paris, also depicts a maze of small, black cobbled streets that reflect the white light of windows due to the continual rain, besides this they symbolise the many twists and turns the plot takes like all thrillers do.

Panning down from the establishing shot of Paris, the camera focuses on a man (Robert De Niro) walking down a hill, this cuts to a close-up tracking shot of that man so the audience walk alongside him and can get a good look at him wearing a trench coat (generic thriller quality) and a flat cap that do not really cast great shadows over his face as you would expect, but instead it would seem that the director wants you to know what he looks like and that he is played by Robert De Niro. The character shows his secretiveness in a different manner and whilst walking down the hill he slows and walks into the shadows of a doorway, where you can only partially see his face, the other half being cast in darkness, peering round the corner at someone or something on the road below the hill. We can tell from these few shots that the narrative structure will be from De Niro's point of View because we see these very first events through his eyes.

Japanese type music, that fits with the opening sequence of sentences that introduced the name 'Ronin', sounds like a heartbeat to intensify the sense of Sam (De Niro's character) being so calm, as the heartbeat beat continues in the same manner the music builds on itself adding more instruments to make the surroundings seem more dangerous, as it cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of what Sam is looking at (we are in his shoes); a car on the road which stops outside a pub and then it cuts to a mid-shot of an attractive woman (femme fatale another thriller signifier) getting out, saying something to the driver and then a tracking shot following her as she walks into the bar and we watch as the door closes behind her. Why was De Niro hiding from her? (mystery and intrigue). The camera then flashes back to the shot of De Niro watching the street as if he is waiting for something.

In the bar the music builds and falls as we meet more and more of the main characters in mid-shots, introducing them to the audience; a man looking inquisitively at the woman who is working behind the bar and who we later find out is called Larry, the woman herself who we later find out is called Deirdre. Jean Reno is now introduced to the audience with a tracking shot alongside as he walks up to the pub's entrance, this shot is more interesting than that though for two people walk in front of the camera as it is tracking and when they exit the shot Reno seems to have skipped a few paces and is already at the door although he was not walking that quickly. This shot seems to have been designed to put the audience off guard and to prove that nothing is what it seems, also this shot is longer than the introductions to Larry and the woman showing that Reno's character Vincent bears more importance.

When Reno is ordering beer in the bar where the non-degetic music is still rhythmic but has gone back to the steady beat like a heart. There is an over-Vincent's-shoulder shot from the side so you can see the woman and in between them both Larry is framed sitting in a chair smoking next to a no smoking sign showing that he pays little heed to what he is told and looking from one to the other so they are obviously not here by accident, but the opening still has me asking: Who are all these people? What is going on? And why are they there?

A worms eye view shot brings us back to De Niro walking down the final steps to the front of the bar where he looks enquiringly at the menu and we can hear the diegetic noise of the light in the pub's window until it goes out and we track beside him when he walks round the back of the bar until he disappears out of sight, showing that he knows his way round and has maybe been scouting the place out. A cut to a shot of a wet, narrow, cobbled street with stairs at the end that Sam walks down the it cuts to a close up of his face, which leads us into a panning shot of the street from his point of view, looking back and forth as if we were the eyes in his head, this gives the audience a unique perspective into someone else's head to process what they are seeing and to get them very familiar with the character, so much so that they are standing in his shoes.

A close up of him walk into the street and down it a little way and in the background there is a window, through it we can see vaguely see Deirdre although they are all steamed up. It would seem from this shot that either she is the orchestrator in all this as she bears great significance in most of the shots or she is a later love interest as seen through misty glass by Sam. He turns and walks back the other way as the smooth camera tracks with him to a stack of bottle crates next to the back door to the pub, we then see an extreme close-up of him taking out a gun and from a high vantage point over his shoulder we see him hide it behind the crates. The extreme close-up of the gun shows how significant it is to him and how dangerous he is. As he is hiding the gun this would suggest that all the people in the pub are dangerous and that if he is expecting trouble he knows where to go even if they search him they wont find a gun until he retrieves it.