Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows born in the UK on 26^th December 1972 is regarded as a self-taught British film maker. 1994 saw his first steps into the film making industry and escalated shortly after as he began making a selection of short videos. Shane’s growing catalogue of films and his frustration of not being able to screen them at any festivals led to his creation of “Six of the best”, a screening opportunity for short film makers to display their films. After growing in popularity this developed into an international video festival called “Flip Side”.

Shane’s popularity increased over the years with more examples of heartfelt films that continued to attract a collection of fans. His popularity however was not being reflected in the Box- Office among most cinema goers; many not being able to appreciate his style i.e. creating a black and white feature in his film Twenty-four Seven; his lack of film prints available and his budget. This however was halted by the release of his success film  “This Is England” a story set in 1983 which documents the life changing events that can take place during the school summer holidays. “This is England” grossed over £ 1 Million in the box office showing in over 150 cinemas, competing with blockbusters such as Spiderman 3 this Independent film won Best British Independent Film at the BIFA awards and a BAFTA film award in 2008.

For some reason 'Gold' just didn't seem cool enough so they called it...

SILVER FILMS!

“Silver can be formed into a shape the mind can conceive”

Janey de Nordwall

Silver films was established in 1996 by Janey de Nordwall. She wanted to take the step from events to films, a different step indeed, but a step which would lead on to her being a part of a team who won a 2001 BAFTA award for the 'Best short film' and others.

Silver films began in Manchester with business from advertising for gaming companies, product launches and live events. This helped to build a reputation for the company but also for generating enough money to have the resources to concentrate solely on researching film making and development. Silver films has since then made a few accreditated films which have won or been nominated for awards in numerous film festivals. Other work includes adverts for famous brands such as Toyota, Lexus and Umbro.

Also in 2006 the company was joined by advert director Richard Oliver and now have bases in both Manchester and London. Janey de Nordwall has continued to work in the film industry with the role as producer on a numerous amount of films including the most recent 'Gardens with red roses'.

They describe how they work with just one word ‘Diligently’. The fact that they use a word that solely means persevering efforts tells a lot for the values they have for films. They put a lot of hard work into their projects and our confident in what they do. The confidence is shown through the use of one strong word to describe how they work, shows the focus they have also.

The trailer for Gardens with red roses.

This film is set in 1997 at the start of the New Labour government, with the effects of the Conservative era still in the midst of society. This story sees the struggle of a couple looking to make their own mark in the world but are being held back by misfortunes in their lives.


Janey de Nordwall interview - (http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/interviews/2001/janey_de_nordwall/1.html )

Youtube -( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EibA3rKqaI )

Silver Films- ( http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/#Nav_intro)

I Love Death... Thats the title but personally I don't love death, we just have a mutual agreement

This is just a life cycle in animation form, from an bitter old man getting a woman pregnant who goes on to have a slacker son, who joins in on the menial officeworker bandwagon and gets cheated on by his wife to then become a bitter old man, in simple terms.

I just wanted to drop it in really.. 'The Big Push'

The Big Push is a simple short film showing an old lady's struggle pushing a pram up a hill.
This could relate to a lot of people literally and in other ways too. Things like 'Life is an uphill battle' ,' They'll be obstacles you'll have to overcome' , and other cliche quotes like that.
Also the fact the old lady makes it over the bump, and further up the hill to only fall back down to the bottom is hilarious. Firstly other people's misfortunes can be funny in some situation, and funny in the sense that a lot of people have gone through situations where you've overcome something to only fall back down; which now after reflecting are sometimes funny.

The short film entitled..(freeze frame)..Bouncer

Bouncer (2002)
Director: Michael Baig Clifford
Starring: Ray Winstone
Synopsis: Bouncer deals with club doorman’s worst nightmare ‘ the one that comes back’
The film is simply the worse nightmare of a nightclub bouncer- the revengeful club-goer who gets kicked out of the club. As the synopsis says ‘bouncer deals with the club doorman’s worst nightmare ‘the one that comes back’.
Voiceovers from the main character played by Ray Winstone create the background story for the audience. He introduces the other characters, previous nightclub stories as a way to help the audience understand from his point of view, which is a point of view we don’t usually come across.
The freeze frames used throughout help to make the film more visually interesting, it also helps the voiceovers catch up with the visuals and tell the story at the same pace.

We go back and forth between the present of the main character talking in a gym, to flashbacks of the story unravelling.
The lighting is dark and realistic making it feel like we as the audience are being told a true story.
The soundtrack throughout conveys the emotion, feelings, etc of the characters
The twist brings the whole story back to reality, as if to bring the audience back to the consequences of our actions and the character’s actions. It also challenges what the audience initially thinks.


Digishorts.com - (http://www.digishorts.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=5 , Last accessed 29th September)

Youtube.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WzKnNQEeI8&feature=related)

'I've gotten dead good at hiding things...'

Title comes up like how someone would write a text message. We as the audience can hear the buttons being pushed and monophonic tones being heard. This could be directed at young people, more specifically females, it also has a modern feel, as it uses the phone to convey the title.

We are introduced to the main character by her silhouette and we hear her singing ‘Britney Spears- stronger’ this creates a mystery as to who she is and the song choice could be an indication to the narrative or the character’s personality. After watching the film we as the audience learn that by singing this it’s an escape for her; the escape from the gritty reality of her life and environment and into the dream world of her one day being famous.  This is when we also see her softer side; the hard shell we usually see is replaced with vulnerability.  

The audience are abruptly introduced to the main character ‘girl’ in a documentary style, the camera tracks her as she talks about her family life and relationships, her dreams of being something better than the people around her and about the picture of herself she paints to other people. She repeatedly tries to convince the audience she is old enough to handle things, in probably attempts to try and convince herself she’s old enough. The fast pace in which she talks makes her seem on edge and this is reflected onto the audience who now feel on edge with her. The pace in which she talks seems to be her way of hiding true feelings, because when you talk at a fast pace listeners aren’t able to grasp feelings, or understand quick enough so as a listener your trying to keep up with everything she says and not necessarily listening to what she actually trying to tell you. This idea of her hiding things is clarified before she throws the bag into the canal, when she says ‘I’ve gotten dead good at hiding things from her since then’. 

Throughout the film it goes back and forth between ‘girl’ talking to the camera and cutaways of her reality. A lot of times when she talks directly to the camera she gives the perception that she has a wonderful relationship with her dad and she seems to make excuses for the lack of his involvement and stability within her life. When it shows the clips we see the reality of her and her father’s relationship and how he isn’t as great as the girl makes him out to be. The standout example is when she tells the camera that after her dad plays football he takes her for a packet of crisps and a coke, so we as the audience assume that they are spending time quality time together, so when the film cut to the clip of her alone outside the pub, and male shouting in the background we realise the reality of the girl being left out in the cold and her dad enjoying himself with his friends totally forgetting about her. 

Throughout the film the lighting is a dull, grey colour this helps reflect the working class environment, the general struggle and hardship and possibly the girl’s underlying feelings underneath her perceived bubbly personality. The difference in light is at the end of the film when she throws the bag in the canal, at this point the sunlight peers through the dull clouds, as if the girl’s world has now become a bit brighter, like she has found an escape in reality.

In addition the plastic bag is a symbolism of her. The plastic bag is thrown into the canal in the hopes that better will come from it, but as it travels down the canal it gets trapped in fencing. Which relates to her in the sense that she will become a product of her environment and become trapped in her surroundings with the very unlikely chance of her becoming famous.


These notes of mine from the lesson: 

Stuntmen have feelings too...

Crash, Bang, wallow?

Year of Production: 2010

Running Time: 4 mins 10 secs

Director: Jon Dunleavy

Funded by Screen East, UK Film Council & 4Mations

This short animation tells the story of a stuntman called Larry who’s hay day in 80s films was now shadowed in the 90s from the new use of CGI technology and he was no longer able to find proper work. He wasn’t even able to keep simple menial task jobs as he made all his actions stunt related, such as running into stacked tin cans in the supermarket. He then decides to commit suicide by jumping off a building, but his attempt turns into a stunt job and as he falls to the ground and performs a tuck and roll automatically. He will always be a stuntman!

The main character wallows in his on self pity as you see him sitting in a dark, dirty trailer watching his old movies he’s been in and retells the story to the audience as if was the one that made the movie great. E.g. ‘I was the one to make it seem like Seagal could act’. He now seems resentful towards the public today as it seems like they only want to watch movies that are light hearted and they don’t want the action movies in which he had stunted in anymore. He thinks that the public is simple minded as he makes reference to the fact that an actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is now running the American state California.

Throughout the retelling of his story he is naked in his trailer and as he tries to commit suicide. As if to say that he’s been stripped of everything he’s had, being a stuntman made him who he was, he was born to be one. The nakedness could also represent the emptiness he feels inside; also even though he gives off this strong, tough persona he is still vulnerable. He addresses the audience maybe as a call for help or to give them a wake up call to how much the change in cinema affects the people you don’t care about within a movie.

Brit Films- http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=5005DEF809cae1DCB5kiLvFBCA8C

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMVRQIR2oQs

Joudun Leavy Blog - http://jondunleavy.com/crash_bang_wallow/crash_bang_wallow.html