Shane Meadows interview

Whilst watching an interview with the writer/director from Warp films, we took notes on his styles and preferences. Firstly we noticed his love for low budgets and that he doesn't mind not using famous actors and that when using farely well known actors the end result didn't matter, it was the story that made the film. Also he mentioned his technique and system in making films and that it is ususally wrong but then said that directing all his films with this system was his style and that made all the films similar. He went on to say that his style is usually to improvise with his actors and develop a relationship, this stems from his dislike of writing, but he says he's comfortable with changing his script and creating an end result different to his previous plans. This is hugely different to Hollywood films and any other high budget films because he mentions that most directors feel compelled to keep to a plan and prevent creativity. Shane meadows style could be described as Social Realism for his use of realistic lighting and mise en scene. As he relies on his old system to create films when recieveing a bigger budget for his latest film he still used realistic elements.

Film budget question on affecting overall production

Question asked after watching This is England, Dead man's shoes and Hot Fuzz: How does the budget of a film institution affect production practices used to appeal to a target audience?Usually the budget for a film affects largely the outcome of the quality but by keeping the film production simple a budget doesn't have to affect the end quality. Sterotypically a low budget means the film wont use well known actors but instead aim for small time actors which suit the role of the characters within the film, this is highly effective because the actors can be chosen by their similarities to the characters within the script, this makes the film seem more realistic because the actor can feel at home with the script and the dialect of the character they are playing.

Advertisment in film

New film releases use a wide range of methods to advertise but the actual methods used will depend on the film institution and use of directors and actors.

In the case of a new film from universal studios many ‘above the line’ methods will be used such as trailers, posters and merchandising to advertise the film, these are called ATL because of the obvious nature they have and because often the audience will see these methods in play in the world around them. But when a smaller film corporation for instance Warp films releases a film they rely on ‘below the line’ methods such as word of mouth (viral), websites and interviews because the audience will have to search for the advertisements, another way of describing this would be: secondary advertisements.

The films I’ll be discussing are 2012, The Men Who Stare at Goats and Bunny and the Bull.

Possibly the biggest influence on which type of advertisement a film receives is its budget as we can see in these films:

2012: $200,000,000 – ATL advertising: trailers, posters, merchandise.

The Men Who Stare at Goats: $25,000,000 – ATL advertising: trailers, posters.

Bunny and the Bull: $5,000,000 – BTL advertising: websites, interviews. $500,000 of that was spent of marketing

Since the likes of 4 weddings and a funeral advertising has moved on immensely, whereas before the main use of advertising was trailers and bill boards current advertising incorporates the use of the internet and relies strongly on viral marketing. This is because of the huge increase in internet use and social networking sites which are viewed in the millions each day, this makes internet advertising usually better than the traditional method of trailers.

Film Budgets

Hot Fuzz

Directed by
Edgar Wright

Produced by
Nira ParkTim BevanEric Fellner
Written by
Simon PeggEdgar Wright
Starring
Simon PeggNick FrostJim BroadbentTimothy DaltonPaddy ConsidineEdward WoodwardBillie Whitelaw
Editing by
Chris Dickens
Studio
StudioCanalWorking Title Films
Distributed by
United Kingdom & Worldwide:Universal PicturesAustralia &New Zealand:Paramount PicturesCanada:Alliance FilmsUnited States:Rogue Pictures
Release date(s)
United Kingdom:February 14, 2007 (2007-02-14)New Zealand:9 March 2007Australia:15 March 2007Canada &United States:20 April 2007
Running time
116 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
£8 million[1]
Gross revenue
Worldwide:$80,573,774

Dead Man's Shoes
UK DVD cover
Directed by
Shane Meadows
Produced by
Mark Herbert
Written by
Shane MeadowsPaddy ConsidinePaul Fraser
Starring
Paddy ConsidineToby KebbellGary Stretch
Cinematography
Danny Cohen
Editing by
Celia HainingLucas RocheChris Wyatt
Distributed by
Optimum Releasing
Release date(s)
1 October 2004 (2004-10-01)
Running time
86 min.
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
£723,00

Working title and WARP films

1: Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, England. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1982. It produces feature films and some television productions. Eric Fellner and Bevan are the co-owners of the company now. They are part of universal studios.

1: Warp Films, a sister company of Warp Records was set up in 1999 with funding from NESTA. It is based in Sheffield, England with a further office in London and has 14 full-time staff. They are independent.

Conglomerate- a group of small companies, brought together by a larger company which work together.

2: If the company is owned by a bigger company then they will have a bigger budget for there films.

3:

warp films:

· My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117

· Dead Man's Shoes

· Rubber Johnny

· This Is England

· Dog Altogether

· All Tomorrow's Parties

Working title films:

· About a Boy (film)

· Ali G Indahouse

· Atonement (film)

· User:Nayrouz Aly/Atonement

· Barton Fink

· Bean (film)

· The Big Lebowski

· Billy Elliot

· The Boat That Rocked

· Bob Roberts

· The Borrowers (1997 film)

· Bridget Jones's Diary (film)

· Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)

· Burn After Reading

· The Calcium Kid

· Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)

· Catch a Fire (film)

· Chicago Joe and the Showgirl

· Chihuanhas

· Dead Man Walking (film)

· Definitely, Maybe

· Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur

· Drop Dead Fred

· Edward II (film)

· Elizabeth (film)

· Elizabeth: The Golden Age

· Fargo (film)

· For Queen and Country

· 40 Days and 40 Nights

· Four Weddings and a Funeral

· French Kiss (film)

· Frost/Nixon (film)

· Green Zone (film)

· The Guru (2002 film)

· The Hi-Lo Country

· Hippie Hippie Shake

· Hot Fuzz

· The Hudsucker Proxy

· Inside I'm Dancing

· The Interpreter

· Johnny English

· Land and Freedom

· Loch Ness (film)

· London Kills Me

· Long Time Dead

· Love Actually

· The Man Who Cried

· The Man Who Wasn't There

· Map of the Human Heart

· Mickybo and Me

· Moonlight and Valentino

· Mr. Bean's Holiday

· My Beautiful Laundrette

· My Little Eye

· Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

· Nanny McPhee

· Ned Kelly (2003 film)

· Notting Hill (film)

· Brother, Where Art Thou?

· Panther (film)

· Paperhouse (film)

· Paul (film)

· Plunkett & Macleane

· Posse (1993 film)

· Pride & Prejudice (2005 film)

· The Return of the Borrowers

· Robin Hood (1991 film)

· Romeo Is Bleeding

· Rubin and Ed

· Sammy and Rosie Get Laid

· A Serious Man

· Shaun of the Dead

· Smokin' Aces

· The Soloist

· State of Play (film)

· Tales of the City (TV miniseries)

· The Tall Guy

· The Comic Strip

· Thunderbirds (film)

· United 93 (film)

· Wild Child (2008 film)

· Wimbledon (film)

· Wish You Were Here (1987 film)

· A World Apart (film)

· The Young Americans (film)

4: Shaun of the Dead- £4million budget

Dead man’s shoes- £723,000 budget

5: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) is the current highest budget film at $300,000,000

6: Working title films get there funds from universal pictures and Warp films get there funds from being awarded £4.5 million from the UK Film Council.

7: The genre of Warp films are social realism as seen in ‘This is England’

8: They are more realistic then normal films as they are gritty and more realistic as they appeal to the British audience.

9: Working Title and Warp Films mainly focus on British people as there audience.

10: the main genre of the films Working Title produce is Rom-Com