Warp Films

Information gained from: http://www.warpfilms.com/#page=AboutPage

G322 B Institutions and Audiences Case Study on “This is England” and Warp Films

Warp Films has created some of the most exciting pieces of British film making in the last five years. It has won numerous plaudits and awards (including three BAFTA’s) since being set up in 2002.

'My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117' was Warp’s first short film and was directed by Chris Morris. It won the BAFTA in 2003 and for its television premiere on Channel 4, more than one million viewers tuned in to watch it. Warp sold an astounding 22,000 DVDs of My Wrongs and was the first DVD single in the UK market.

Warp's debut feature 'Dead Man's Shoes', directed by Shane Meadows, received a record eight British Independent Film Award nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Achievement in Production. ‘Dead Man’s Shoes’ was also nominated for a BAFTA and won the Southbank Award for Best Film. The film has received nothing less than rave reviews across the board, and is being hailed by some as a landmark in British cinema.

Chris Cunningham directed Warp's next film, Rubber Johnny, –an experimental short and 42-page book that shocked and amazed audiences.

Following Rubber Johnny Warp made the critical success 'Grow Your Own', a film written by Frank Cottrell Boyce (24-Hour Party People), which tackled the subject of immigration.

In 2006 Warp made their most successful production to date: 'This is England', the story of Shaun, a boy who is befriended by a local skin-head gang after his father is killed in the Falklands war. With its evocative soundtrack, dazzling young star and emotive content it has won numerous international festival awards as well as scooping Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards and Best British Film at the BAFTA’s. At the same award ceremony Warp collected its third BAFTA as Paddy Considine's directorial debut 'Dog Altogether' won best short.

Warp Films has also worked closely with the Arctic Monkeys, producing two music videos for them and collaborating on the short film 'Scummy Man' starring Stephen Graham, which won best music video at this year's NME awards. Richard Ayoade has recently directed a feature length live show film with of them. Shot at their final concert of a world tour.

Warp Films' development slate currently includes projects with directors Shane Meadows, Chris Morris, Chris Cunningham, Richard Ayoade, David Slade and Lynne Ramsay. They are also dedicated to seeking out new voices; this goal is reflected in their recent ventures into promo making and the new digital slate, Warp X.

Warp Films Include:

Production Company

1. Four Lions - (2009)
2. Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo - (2008)
3. Crack Willow - (2008)
4. “Fur TV” - (2008)
5. Exhibit A - (2007)
6. Dog Altogether - (2007)
7. Grow Your Own - (2007)
8. Dog’s Mercury - (2006)
9. This is England - (2006)
10. Scummy Man - (2006)
11. Rubber Johnny - (2005)
12. Dead Man’s Shoes - (2004)
13. My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 - (2002)

Distributor – Filmography

1. Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo - (2008)
2. Cinema16: American Short Films – (2006)
3. Rubber Johnny – (2005)
4. My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 – (2002)
Warp films also funded ‘The Englishman’ in 2007, and supported ‘The Work of Director Chris Cunningham.

Warp Films purpose in the British Film Industry





Warp Films is very small company focusing on producing new innovative, controversial features that involve new talent from the film and music industry. ‘Scummy Man’ (both parts shown above) is a perfect example of this as it is a short film inspired by the Arctic Monkeys song ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ and stars the relatively unknown actors Lauren Socha and Stephen Graham. This controversial short film involves prostitutes, differing accounts of rape, violence, drugs and the things that go on in today’s society that none of us like to think of. The short production would be extremely dire without the added notion of faith left in human nature and a Jock the taxi driver that tries to help Nina (Lauren Socha) out with money and food. In short Warp films is here to support British films that are trying to make a political or social statement of some sort, these types of quirky films appeal to wide British audience, whilst integrating and developing existing talent, on top of discovering new, interesting, intriguing talent.
These films appeal to a wide British Audience as they tackle the problems in our society and politics at the time; also it is always nice to see the young acting and filmmaking talent that comes from our country. In addition to this they are all filmed in this country in so doing making the viewers recognise the culture and relate to the characters of the story making the watchers feel stronger emotions towards the characters as they will understand the images and ideology being shown to them.

Chris Cunningham and Warp Films

Biography
Chris Cunningham - one of the most influential filmmakers of the last decade - has been at the forefront of innovation and an inspiration for technological boundary-breaking world wide.
Cunningham first forged his relationship with Warp Records in 1995 with his debut promo Second Bad Vibel for Autechre, and since has directed a score of mind-bending videos for the likes of Squarepusher, Bjork, Madonna, Portishead and most memorably, Aphex Twin.

The creepily hilarious Come to Daddy (1997) and bootilicious Windowlicker (1999) Aphex videos have both been showered with accolades, but deemed too darkside for daytime MTV. However, his delicate hand on Bjork's All is Full of Love (1999) sensual, milky robot promo won him the best breakthrough video MTV award and a Grammy nomination, as well as 4 silvers and the first ever Gold Award for a music video at the Design And Art Direction Awards.

Cunningham's film making successes followed on from an accomplished career in feature films. He learnt his craft as an FX sculptor, designer and engineer on numerous feature films, which included working for David Fincher, Clive Barker and Stanley Kubrick.

In 2000, Cunningham created a video art installation flex for the Royal Academy of Art's Apocalypse exhibition. His next two short films with Warp Films, Rubber Johnny and Spectral Musicians are scheduled for release on DVD in 2005.With much anticipation from his legion of fans, Cunningham is finally turning his attention to feature films and is currently developing a feature length script with Warp Films.

Africa Shox

The music video created by Chris Cunningham for Leftfield feat. Africa Bambaataa is exemplary of his work due to the unusual content and the hidden agendas. The themes of this video are quite similar to that of ‘This is England’ produced by Warp Films, for both have stereotypes; the skin heads in ‘This is England’ and the emaciated figure of the African man and the urban ‘gangsters’ break dancing in ‘Africa Shox’. Also the idea of being lost is recurrent in both videos, however in ‘This is England’ the little boy is put back on his feet again by the Skinheads and is adopted into their family, whereas in ‘Africa Shox’ the African man is put back on his feet again when he fell smashing his only remaining hand, but no one helps him find his way home or helps him; everyone just stares. ‘This is England’ goes against the typical thoughts about Skinheads being stupid, violent, thugs and adapts them into a loving family just looking out for one another and their country. On the other hand ‘Africa Shox’ depicts the entire city as being out for itself and unconcerned about others only themselves.

To find the video 'Africa Shox' go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxbFWY2Hsc

Storyboards for our Thriller

These were the very first drafts of the storyboards, we never made any very neat ones because we filmed using these and it was no longer important to the task as we had finished filming.

Thriller Script

INT. CAR PARK STAIRS - NIGHT

JOHN: These days you see too many people complaining about their situation. The way I see it everyone has their chance. Too many people just don’t see it. Now I’ve got my chance. Start when you’re young, and when life moves on, you’ll have no reason to complain.

INT. CAR PARK - NIGHT

JOHN: Smith is it? (SMITH nods slightly) Thought so. (Silence) Well? (Silence) Ok. (Laughs) I’ve brought your stuff, well your bosses stuff. (SMITH Looks away) Hey, you listening to me. Do you speak English mate. You fucking idiot. What’s the matter, are you pissed off cause I’m a bit late. You do know who I am don’t you? (Silence)I’m John Vanik, you know, the son of fucking Harvey Vanik. I’m sure he sounds familiar (SMITH looks up) Yeah that’s right, you know who he is don’t you, one of the most powerful men in this business. You didn't think he’d send his own son to do shitty jobs like this did you? No they normally send little pricks like you to do this kind of shit. As you can see though, I’m still pretty young, this is just practice really, I’m just building my way up, you know. It’s not easy being the boss’s son; no one dares to mess with me though; but at the same time have a lot to live up to. But hey, I’m sure I’ll do fine; one day I’ll be taking my fathers place. Are you not interested in what I’m saying? Look, I could have you fucking killed; dickhead! I’m talking to you; you’re not very polite are you. You’d be better off showing someone like me a bit of respect. (Silence) Fine, fuck you. You’ll regret this. (JOHN throws the briefcase at SMITHS feet then turns around)

SMITH: The money has been wired into your account. (JOHN turns to face him)

JOHN: What?! I know the money’s been wired into our account. That’s beside the point. Why bother opening your mouth now? (Laughing) You’re a cheeky bastard you are.

SMITH: Sorry.

JOHN: It’s a bit late for an apology mate. I’ll have to seen about you. You’d better watch it. (Turns and begins to walk away)

SMITH: (Smirking, he puts his right hand into his pocket and slowly pulls out a pistol, it hangs by his side for a few seconds and then he carefully aims it at JOHN who continues to walk, unaware of the danger he is in. SMITH smiles. Blackout. Bang!)

The Original Script (above) was too long, so that we could not fit it all into the space of 2 minutes. Also we decided that our thriller opening should not be long winded and over loaded with information. Here is the revised script that we used after editing it thoroughly:

INT. CAR PARK STAIRS - NIGHT - INTERNAL MONOLOGUE
JOHN: These days you see too many people complaining about their situation. The way I see it everyone has their chance. Too many people just don’t see it. Now I’ve got my chance. Start when you’re young, and when life moves on, you’ll have no reason to complain.

INT. CAR PARK - NIGHT

JOHN: Smith is it? (SMITH nods slightly) Thought so. (Silence) Well? (Silence) Ok. (Laughs) I’ve brought your stuff, well your boss's stuff. (SMITH Looks away) Hey, you listening to me. Do you speak English mate. You fucking idiot. What’s the matter, are you pissed off cause I’m a bit late. You do know who I am don’t you? (Silence)I’m John Vanik, you know, the son of fucking Harvey Vanik. I’m sure he sounds familiar (SMITH looks up) Yeah that’s right, you know who he is don’t you, one of the most powerful men in this business. You didn’t think he’d send his own son to do shity jobs like this did you? No they normally send little pricks like you to do this kind of shit. Are you not interested in what I’m saying? Look, I could have you fucking killed; dickhead! You’d be better off showing someone like me a bit of respect. (Silence) Fine, fuck you. You’ll regret this. (JOHN throws the briefcase at SMITHS feet then turns around)

SMITH: (Puts his right hand into his pocket and slowly pulls out a pistol, it hangs by his side for a few seconds and then he carefully aims it at JOHN who continues to walk, unaware of the danger he is in. SMITH smiles. Blackout. Bang!)

Update: During editing some pieces of the script have been cut out to deal with the issue of time and also to prevent the conversation from becoming to tedious. On top of this we wanted Tanwyn's character to seem cocky, but whilst the script was quite long he just seemed nervous and rambling.

Skins - Cassie Extract

We watched a short extract from the T.V. drama Skins; it was an episode of Cassie coming home from a mad party in which spaghetti got plastered everywhere, to find her parents with their hands down each others trousers. This was the first piece of Skins I have ever seen and from this one extract I can tell that series is definitely appealing to a teenage audience due to the wild parties, sex and drugs. Although the series deals with issues that affect teenagers today, it extremely stereotypes its characters and makes teens out to all be pill popping, alcoholic, sex addicts; it is this construction of teenage life that gives young adults the name it has got today (‘I blame the kids!’), and due to its huge audience popularity it may also influence them to start doing the things that they see on the programme. On the other hand it may open their eyes to the stupid things that they see and the production team may just wish to let the audience escape their boring and monotonous lives, and of course the programme would not be half as interesting if all they showed were teenagers watching T.V, doing homework and occasionally going to a party.

Cassie is angelic, pale, blonde, with a soft cute voice and wearing a gold dress, signifying her innocence although the dress is not pure white like her mother and fathers clothing which reflects their childlike behaviour and in conjunction with the VW12 ‘hippy’ van outside their nice house and the naked pictures of her mother painted by her father all over the house – even in the baby’s room – all these combine to show the rebellion of Cassie’s parents during their mid life crisis. This stereotypical view of rebelling parents is torn between them trying to be good parents but failing miserably by trying to communicate to Cassie with cute pet names like ‘kiddums’ and asking her questions to do with her anorexia seeming concerned even though they change the subject very quickly as their minds are only on sex.

In an attempt to escape the disgust and embarrassment of her parents Cassie has developed anorexia so at least there is one thing in her life she can be in control of, and to block out the incessant noise coming from her parents room into her little brother’s where she is sitting she takes drugs. So beneath all the stereotypical views of teenagers there is a serious matter arising from all the points made, that it is the parents fault, what their children do and teenage behaviour is all a consequence to their family life.

Although I did not particularly enjoy ‘skins’ because of its stereotypical view on teenagers (which many teenagers do not seem to notice or care) and the majority of the cast not being able to act, I did think it utilised music to its full extent using non-diegetic on the bus when the child is offering her a biscuit in an enchanted manner to evoke the audience’s pity and love, and at the same time it uses diegetic sound of the mobile above the baby’s bed to create the sense of realism so needed in a soap.

Overall ‘skins’ is good at tackling the controversial issues facing teenagers, however it lapses into unrealistic phases in which the stereotypes of out of control teens and uninterested parents take over the show.

Analysis of thriller posters

This poster is from a much earlier classic thriller 'Vertigo' directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1958) starring James Stewart and Kim Nova.

Film posters often give an indication of what the film is about or it's themes for example the striking red background connotes danger of some sort and is also related to blood and anger, this is shown in the film when two of the characters (first a cop and second Judy) fall off the top of buildings plummeting to their death.

The font on the poster is solid black to grab the attention of the audience because it stands out wildly amidst the red. Also it is in Hitchcock font which looks quite nervous and unstable due to the slanting on the m, the unsymmetrical letters and the short final stroke on the 'R' in Vertigo suggesting panic or confusion. The writing is all placed on the left side of the page, as if they are trying to get out of the way the people are leaning towards, also it unbalances the poster which will unsettle the audience just as the the film will catch them on the edge of their seats.

The white spiral signifies the twists and turns in the plot that lead the audience round and round in circles (like all Hitchcock's work this can become a little confusing and you have to watch the film from the beginning paying full attention). Due to the white spiral on the red background the spiral becomes an optical illusion implying movement and action. The white of the spiral conflicts with the black of the people and the black of the font showing the opposites and the contrast in character perhaps between 'Midge' and 'Madeleine' or hinting at the difference between 'Madeleine' and 'Judy'.

The two profiles spiralling into the eye of the vortex obviously represent 'Scottie' and 'Madeleine/Judy' as they get dragged along in the current of the plot and so the audience as with the poster are drawn into the spiral/plot to bear witness to the plot actions. The womans profile is outlined as if she is a murdered body been drawn around by the police which reflects how 'Judy' is sort of murdered to cover up for the fake murder of 'Madeleine'. She is also see through suggesting that her persona is fake, however it does also suggest that the character is very easily read, this is contrary to what i thought, i believed that she was quite difficult to understand and i did not see the double cross coming so this may be a perposeful mislead by Saul Bass (the creator of the poster) and Hitchcock, to throw the audience off guard. As a result of this, the effect is that she is shown by her deception in the poster to be the femme fatale of the film (thrille signifier).

The male figure in the middle of the poster is solid black and opaque, being bold shows that he is the main protagonist and the story is told from his point of view. This effect works well with the fact that he is on top of the female figure to show he is trying to protect/shield her whilst following her into the abyss of the spiral.

This poster is great as it hints at the plot/story of ths film but still keeps most things back and decieves the audience as the film itself does.

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.