Warp Films Film Research

Title: This is England (2006) Cert. 18


Genre: Crime, Drama, Social Realist


Synopsis: After being bullied at school, 12-year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) comes across a small band of Skinheads lead by Woody (Joseph Gilgun), a charismatic and benevolent teenager who befriends the boy immediately. Bringing him into the fold as one of their own, Woody quickly initiates Shaun as a Skinhead to the dismay of his widowed mother. Having lost his father in the Falklands War, Shaun gleefully embraces his new found friends (and look) until the group is split with the arrival of Combo (Stephen Graham), an older, nationalist skinhead just released from prison. Once friends, now bitter rivals, Combo and Woody divide the group along political lines. Blaming England's economic woes, growing unemployment and post-war grievances on the influx of foreign minorities, Combo persuades Shaun and other members of the pack to make a stand, preserving England for the English. After attending a meeting of right-wing nationalists, Combo takes his new found gang of hooligans to threaten the local Pakistani community. In his contempt for others, Combo begins to reveal his own emotional battles with loss, loneliness and isolation. When his romantic advances are later rebuffed by Woody's girlfriend and former fling, Lol (Vicky McClure), Combo turns his hate, envy and prejudicial rage against one member of the group to disastrous effect... changing Shaun's viewpoint in an instant. (Source: imdb.com)


Director: Shane Meadows


Cast:

	Thomas Turgoose	...	Shaun
	Stephen Graham	...	Combo
	Jo Hartley	...	Cynth
	Andrew Shim	...	Milky
	Vicky McClure	...	Lol
	Joseph Gilgun	...	Woody (as Joe Gilgun)
	Rosamund Hanson	...	Smell
	Andrew Ellis	...	Gadget
	Perry Benson	...	Meggy
	George Newton	...	Banjo
	Frank Harper	...	Lenny
	Jack O'Connell	...	Pukey Nicholls
	Kriss Dosanjh	...	Mr. Sandhu
	Kieran Hardcastle	...	Kes
	Chanel Cresswell	...	Kelly

Locations Filmed:

• RAF Newton and Nottingham in Nottinghamshire.
• Grimsby and Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire.

Production Companies:

• Big Arty Productions
• EM Media
• Film4
• Optimum Releasing
• Screen Yorkshire
• UK Film Council
• Warp Films

Distribution: Optimum Releasing in the UK, and various other small distributors for Europe, Australia and Japan.


Exhibition Formats: 

• Theatrical Release (Originally on 62 UK screens, then expanding to 150 in its forth week due to high demand)
• DVD

Cinematographic Choices:

• Documentary-like style;
• Composed of simple shots, usually long in duration, allowing viewers to absord the mise-en-scene.
• Transitions are very basic; blunt cuts are used most often, with the occasionally cross-faded cut, long in duration.
• No CGI used, effects limited to giving realism in scenes of violence, and slow-motion shots for use in montages.

Production Budget: £1.5 million (£1,500,000)


Worldwide Revenue: $8.2 million ($8,176,544) 


Critical Reception: Received well, and generally praised as 'a moving coming-of-age tale that captures the despair among England's working-class youth in the 1980s.' (Rotten Tomatoes Consensus) Given a score of 86 on Metacritic, and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.


Marketing: 

• Relied on word-of-mouth to raise awareness, with appearances on the BBC's The Culture Show and ITV's The South Bank Show, and feautures in magazines such as the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound publication catalysing this spread of information.
• Of course, posters and theatrical trailers were also used, and information was also posted to Shane Meadow's offical website.

Warner Bros. Film Research

Title: Watchmen (2009) Cert. 18


Genre: Superhero / Action / Thriller / Mystery


Synopsis: "Watchmen" is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock" - which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity... but who is watching the Watchmen? (Source: http://www.imdb.com/)


Director: Zack Snyder (Other works: '300' - 2006, 'Dawn of the Dead' - 2004)

Cast:

• Malin Akerman ... Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II
• Billy Crudup ... Dr. Manhattan / Jon Osterman  
• Matthew Goode ... Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
• Jackie Earle Haley ... Walter Kovacs / Rorschach
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan ... Edward Blake / The Comedian
• Patrick Wilson ... Dan Dreiberg / Nite Owl II
• Carla Gugino ... Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre
• Matt Frewer ... Edgar Jacobi / Moloch the Mystic
• Stephen McHattie ... Hollis Mason / Nite Owl
• Laura Mennell ... Janey Slater
• Rob LaBelle ... Wally Weaver
• Gary Houston ... John McLaughlin
• James M. Connor ... Pat Buchanan (as James Michael Connor)
• Mary Ann Burger ... Eleanor Clift
• John Shaw ... Doug Roth

Locations Filmed: Mainly Canada, with specific locations for specific requirements, such as the Bloedel Floral Conservatory in Vancouver for part of Veidt's home, and a Vancouver soundstage for Nite Owl's lair. A Vancouver backlot was also used to recreate Watchmen's iconic version of New York City for use in many scenes, pictures of which can be seen to the right. Certain sequences include film from the actual New York City.

Production Companies:

• Warner Bros. Pictures
• Paramount Pictures
• Legendary Pictures
• Lawrence Gordon Productions
• DC Comics

Distribution: 

• Paramount
• United International Pictures
• Universal
• Warner Bros.
• Other smaller companies and subsiduaries such as Bontonfilm and Solar Films or specifically located branches such as Paramount Japan.

Exhibition Formats:  

• General theatrical release
• IMAX theatrical relelase
• TV (Sky Movies)
• Downloads (iTunes, PSN)
• Blu-ray
• DVD

Cinematographic Choices:

• Shot using 35mm film.
• Super 35 process used.
• Aspect ratio 2.35:1 
• A mixture of CGI and live effects used for background scenery and for features such as Rorshack's mask and the character of Dr. Manhattan.

Production Budget: $130 million ($130,000,000)
 

Worldwide Revenue: $185 million ($185,253,487)

Box Office Gross:  

• $107 million ($107,503,316) in US
• $77 million ($77,743,688) elsewhere

Critical Reception: Generally commended as a 'smart, stylish, decent adaptation [of the comic]' (Empire), but criticised for 'sink[ing] under the weight of its reverance for the original [comic,]' (Washington Post) with a complex plot. Received a score of 56 on Metacritic, and 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, along with this consensus:

'Gritty and visually striking, Watchmen is a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel, but its complex narrative structure may make it difficult for it to appeal to viewers not already familiar with the source material.'

Marketing:

• Viral site: http://www.thenewfrontiersman.net/ 
• Viral videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/thenewfrontiersman
• Advertised with posters and digital merchandise in Playstation Home 
• Posters and theatrical trailers, including teasers, were used.

Developments of Warp Film

Since its formation, Warp has developed mainly in terms of the films it produces. Warp's first short film in 2002, My Wrongs #8245-8249 and 117, was directed by comedian Chris Morris and based upon one of his earlier ideas for a radio monologue. In the film, Paddy Considine stars as a mentally disturbed man who, whilst looking after his friend's Doberman Pinscher, begins to believe that the dog is talking to him. With such a surreal plot, an adundance of dark humor, and a run-time of only 12 minutes, it is more than justifiable to describe the film as 'niche'. Nonetheless, the film went on to win the 2003 BAFTA for Best Short Film, and Warp gained recognition as a new and upcoming independent institution who were willing to take risks for the purpose of innovation.

Later, whilst continuing to make unusual and music-based short films, such as Chris Cunnigham's Rubber Johnny (2005), Warp produced their critically acclaimed feature debut Dead Man's Shoes (2004), and followed this with the equally successful, but generally more popular, This is England (2006), both by director Shane Meadows. In contrast to the quirky surrealism of Warp's first production, both of Meadows' films are driven by a much more conventional narrative. Dead Man's Shoes is a gritty thriller about a disaffected soldier seeking revenge for the treatment of his brother, and This is England is a light-hearted crime drama about a boy who joins a gang of 'skinheads' in 80s Britain. Although the films have very different themes, both could be described as social-realist pieces, and I believe it is this factor, carefully cultivated by Warp and Meadows, which has resulted in their acclaim and success. With these films, Warp was quenching the thirst of a British audience that were suffering from a lack of realism and emotion in mainstream blockbusters; the institution had discovered what kind of films would work for them.

The most recent development of Warp is known as Warp X, and is described as 'a pioneering new digital film studio based in Sheffield...allied to Warp Films.' The purpose of Warp X is to utilise the potential of digital technology along with low-budget production methods to create high value films that can reach a large audience, both in Britain and internationally.  

An article detailing Warp X and the innovative techniques they use can be found here.

Introducing: Warp Films

Warp Films is an independent media institution that was set up in 2002 as a sister company of the already established Warp Records.

The new institution was partly funded by NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), who, alongside the UK Film Council, had selected 12 of 50 candidate independent film companies to receive, 'tailor-made business support and help [with identifying] new film distribution opportunities.' Source.