Background Research- Warp Film

Warp film is the sister company of Warp records. It is based in Sheffield, and has another office in London, England. They employ just 14 full-time staff. It was set up using funding from NESTA (National Endowment Science Technology and the Arts) in 1999.
Warp film have released a few films, for example,  My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117 by Chris Morris, which won the Best Short Film award at the BAFTA Awards, and Shane Meadows's films Dead Man's Shoes, This Is England and "Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee". This Is England, is an award winning film about 80's Britain and the culture around this time.

Background research- Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows was born 26th December 1972. He is a famous English film director, screenwriter and occasional actor. When younger Meadows grew up in Westlands Road area of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. This was not a well off area, infact most of the houses were council houses. When in school, Meadows was bullied and shunned by other children, due to his father discovering a child murder victim and later being considered a suspect in the case. His fathers occupation was a long distance lorry driver and his mother worked in a fish and chip shop. Meadows left school before he finished his GCSE's and turned to petty crime before moving to nottingham when he was 20. He was always very interested in film, and his love was fostered by regular trips to the Elite Cinema.

Meadows made many short films with friends, but none of these were shown to anyone because of lack of film festivals in his area. He began making short films in 1994, and made his first long film in 1996. This was called 'small time'. He made 'This Is England' in 2006, this was one of his more famous films made and had many great reviews and is praised for his good 'English cinema'.

American Beauty...

• Within the opening scene you learn that Lester Burnham is a man that feels very trapped, examples of this are when he is in the shower he is behind the screen, and when he is looking out of the window at his wife he is staring through it. These are symbolising how he is trapped within his own home. As the audience I also feel like the director was trying to portray that Lester was very controlled by his wife, this is because he has 'indoor shoes' by his bed to keep floors tidy, and also as his wife is ordering him to hurry up as they are heading for the car.
• He is also stuck in a boring routine and I think that the music used at the start of the scene is used to show this, as it is repetative and very simple. It creates a very plain and recurrent atmosphere to go well with the opening scene. The script used at the beginning also makes the audience feel as though his life is very repetitive as introductories are made about his life by using 'this is...' over and over. His voice is very monotonal and unenthusiastic when he is talking, showing he is bored and feels stuck.
• The colours used within this scene are very simnple and plain eg white to show how boring his life is. However, there is also a running colour theme going through the opening scene which is red- mainly red roses. As within the scene, we see red roses that his wife is cutting and the daughter is wearing a jumper that is red with red roses on and there are also smaller details such as a red door. there is also some blue within the scene and i think that these three colours are used alot too represent the American flag.

Representation...

 First Impression...

First impressions are he's scruffy, dirty, smelly, patched trousers, suffed shoes, straggly hair and bead, untucked shirt. Generally untidy and unkept. At a longer look you notice that his trousers are evenly turned up and pressed, neatly sewn of patches, his beard is evenly trimmed and his shirt and cardigan fit well.

This man is Ralph Laurens floor manager.

Info...

A levels i'm doing;
Art
Media
Business
English Language

GCSE results;
B - English, maths, science, art, textiles
C- RE, French
A* - Drama

Why I chose media;
I'm interested in the media, and how its created.