GENRE CONVENTION '71 (Warp, 2015)

(Harriet's Work)

'71 is a 2014 British historical thriller film set in Northern Ireland. For our mock exam we analysed the opening of this film under timed conditions in a style similar to the summer exam format - I have embedded the essay (after typing it up) at the bottom of this post as it has lots of relevant points (many of which have been extracted and put in the bullet point format throughout this post).

'71 poster

PRODUCTION CONTEXT/HISTORY
PRODUCTION: Crab Apple, Warp, Film4, BFI, Screen Yorkshire, Creative Scotland

DISTRIBUTION: Studio Canal; 11 territories

BUDGET: £8.1M

BOX OFFICE: $3.2m
BBFC: 15

This production is a Warp production, but it had a much higher budget than the majority of their films. It did receive grants form the BFI and Film4 - typical of indie productions. This ensures that films with more diverse/controversial representations are still made and the industry is not monopolised by conglomerates.
This film lost a lot of money, and it was a big risk for art to have such a high budget in the first place.

The hybrid aspect of it being a historical thriller/action/social realist film did give it a higher chance at being commercially viable than the majority of Warp films, and though Studio Canal is a well-established distributor it did not put much of a gamble into the film and marketing was limited.

The film did have a week long theatrical release in America (to qualify for the Oscars), showing the ambition o this film in comparison to Warp's other productions, but the amount of territories it was related in was still a low number in compassion to WT films (and there was no distribution in China).

No. of territories (BoxOfficeMojo)

Company list (distribution) (IMDB)

The 15 rating form the BBFC is interesting, as This is England got rated an 18 mostly due to cursing and the violent scene at the end (which is relevant to the moral values the film condemns), but '71 has extremely graphic and violent scenes throughout (when his friend is shot in the face when they arrive in Belfast, when a bar is later blown up with a child inside, the homemade stitching done o the protagonist etc.). This is an examples of how more commercially acceptable films are given more chance for commercial success than more controversial ones.

Although the film was ultimately a commercial/financial flop, it was nominated for BAFTAs, BIFAs, and O'Connell won the EE Rising Star award. This shows how although the film was not a financial success, its' critical reception proved it to be a success in ways that many other Warp films are.

IDENTS/COMPANIES

• Studio Canal
• distribution and production company (mostly distribution)
• Subsidiary of NBCUniversal (one of the Big Six)
• co-production financing (that way risk is spread if the film is a flop)
• can be part of meaning (has worked with WT and Warp)
• shows range
• Film4
• tv channel (UK)
• denotes low budget
• BFI (British Film Institute)
• gives grants to low budget indie films they think require subsidy (which do not need to be repaid)
• government funded
• previously known as UKFC (UK Film Council)
• Screen Yorkshire is a regional branch -  the film was not shot on location, and the extensive creation of the streets with houses in varying states of destruction show where much of the budget was spent.

TITLES

• informational words are smaller than company names
• small serif font (white on black)
• signifies serious drama 
• 'presents'
• production and distribution
• co-production between Crab and Warp
• the Warp logo is also on screen - larger contributor

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MISE-EN-SCENE FOR EXPOSITION

• blood, sweat, costume, hair
• all wearing green military costume
• all sweaty (including those not fighting)
• all crew cuts (functional, military)
• creates high level of verisimilitude
• on the bus:
• is not a sports car
• signifies poverty
• man wearing a flat cap and smoking
• connotes Yorkshire
• signifies film is set in the past (cannot smoke on busses now), hence the name '71
• in the café
• is not a fancy 5 star restaurant
• run down, cheap looking place
• signifies poverty
• Is very similar to the sudden cut to the unappetising, greasy food in Withnail and I 
• Though not in the opening, when the locals bang their metal bin lids on the ground
• metal bins are now out of date, so signify the time period (maintain verisimilitude)
• preferred reading: it was a warning that police/army were approaching
• signifies target audience (older, native to the uk/Ireland)

EDITING

• fight scene:
• no ELS (establishing shot)
• fast-paced editing, short takes
• action genre
• cuts closer to protagonists face and cuts to see his reactions
• anchors protagonist
• centrally framed protagonist
• Training montage:
• quick fade from black (ellipsis)
• longer takes
• hand-held camera
• documentary style of realist genre
• sticks to 180 degree rule
• morning scene:
• almost a match cut done through the audio (the sound of the gun is similar to the lights turning on)
• fade-up from black
• shows ellipsis
• Café scene:
• fast-pan to reveal brother's face
• shot reverse shot in the conversation
• continuity editing
• 180 degree rule is used
• match on action with the fork and food

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

• fight scene:
• no long shots (M/MCU)
• no fade-up
• cuts straight to action
• impact
• shows brutality
• whip-pan and hand-held tracking shots (realist)
• Barthes action codes
• low-key lighting
• brutal/grim
• natural lighting?
• shallow field of focus
• protagonist in focus (and foreground), but can still see detail in the background
• anchors protagonist
• cuts back to protagonists reaction (and centrally framed)
• Training montage:
• ellipsis (there is an overall ellipsis, not just here)
• tracking shots of protagonist
• cuts back to protagonist
• anchorage
• morning scene:
• begins with tracking shot of superior officer
• becomes MCU
• long take
• lighting as man steps forward (lowkey and shows shadow on half his face)
• signified as villain?
• establishes power dynamic
• protagonist is in the edge of the frame
• sets up equilibrium with protagonist having very little power within his situation

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SOUND; GENRE SIGNIFICATION

• Fight scene:
• audiobridge over titles
• sound is unclear: basketball? fighting? shouting and hitting noises
• creates narrative enigma (Barthes)
• audio does not fade up - cuts in
• impact
• brutality
• diegetic sound
• ambient sound (crowd shouting and hitting)
• only coherent speech is coming form the coach
• Northern accent (Yorkshire)
• all for verisimilitude
• Morning scene:
• audiobridge fade-up
• music is sinister
• foreshadowing

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CENTRAL PROTAGONIST/NARRATIVE

• Anchorage:
• the camera repeatedly cuts back to the protagonist to show his reactions
• the protagonist is the first character we see in an MCU
• As the fight scene comes to a close there is a tracking shot of the protagonist, form an MLS to an MCU of his face, showing the blood and sweat on it (verisimilitude)
• Todorov's narrative theory:
• the protagonist's equilibrium is established almost entirely through the editing of the opening:
• he is established as the protagonist by repeatedly cutting back to show his reactions
• in the training montage, there is always an establishing shot of the area, with the troops training, then it cuts to a close-up of the protagonist's face - this shows him as indiscernible from the rest of the men (a 'cog in a machine')

GENRE CONVENTION Withnail and I (Paul Heller and HandMade Films, 1987)

(Harriet's work)

Withnail and I is a 1980's British black comedy/social realist cult film. Set in the 60's, very effectively, with the actor portraying the protagonist having stated "Its provenance is from a different era. None of the production values, none of the iconography, none of the style remotely has it down as an 80's picture". the plot follows two unemployed and unemployable actors, Withnail and "I" (played by Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann, respectively) who share a flat in Camden Town in 1969. Deciding to take a holiday, they visit Withnail's uncle Monty for a key to his house in the countryside, but plagued by alcoholism, drug abuse and constant rain, their 'break' is far from relaxing. (Wikipedia)

OUR INFLUENCES

• The use of somber incidental music to set the tone and signify an older target audience (also conventional of indie)
• Use of set dressing for character exposition (though not to show poverty or lack of up-keep)
• shown through panning shots as music plays
• White serif font of the titles to signify social realist
• low-key lighting (showing both the low budget and realism)
• Morally ambiguous characters that do not fit neatly into a single Proppian archetype (the protagonist of our story is both the hero and an antagonist/villain)

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PRODUCTION CONTEXT/HISTORY

Budget: £1.1m
Box office: UK £600k; US $1.5m
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
BBFC: 18

The author of the unpublished novel was paid by an oil heir, Moderick Schreiber, to turn the manuscript into a screenplay, and on its completion Paul Heller (producer) convinced Schieber to direct it after he had found funding for half of the film.
George Harrison (of The Beatles) then agreed to fund the rest of it through his company HandMade Films.
The film was nearly shut down 3 days into filming by Denis O'Brien who was overseeing the film on behalf of HandMade Films, as the film had no "discernible jokes".
In total the film cost £1.1m, although £30k was invested by the author to film scenes which the company refused to fund which he was never reimbursed for.
This film is a good example of the amount of artistic freedom indie productions have in contrast to studio films, as they have diverse and complex representations which were not so commercially viable in the 80's, and still are not today - although this film received no government funding through the BFI/UKFC, grants or TV station funding, theses are all very typical for indie productions as they exist to ensure wider representations.

• This indie/low budget is reflected in the film
• mostly shot on site, although none of the filming was done in Penrith, they were locations near Shap and Bampton
• there is no CGI or SFX used
• the image quality is often grainy, unlike how it would be for a Big Six production - this is probably because of the cheap digital transfer which is more typical of indie films, contrasting completely with studio productions of the same period such as Star Wars, with multi-million dollar upratings overseen by George Lukas

  

  The limited information given on BoxOfficeMojo

• On BoxofficeMojo and The Numbers there is very little information about domestic and international gross (number of territories, US, China), though the film did get theatrical release in the UK
• the film isn't extremely popular outside of the UK - mostly because it is too "English" and International audiences are unable to identify with many aspects of it, but also because it's success wasn't expected
• It is also more common that indies do not have non-domestic release, though auteurs such as Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and sometimes Shane Meadows are exceptions form this as their names are more marketable
• Daniel Day-Lewis (who was in My Beautiful Laundrette) was considered fro the role of Withnail, but it was ultimately given to an unknown actor (also reflective of indie)
• The trailer, similar to My Beautiful Laundrette, aims to portray the film as more of a comedy than a depressing social realist (although the film is a dark comedy)

• in 1999 the BFI voted the film as the 29th greatest British film of all time, and in 2017 Time Out magazine ranked it as 15th best ever
• Re-issues and re-masterings have been released since the film came out, continually making money
• Editionalising - commercial movies are often re-released in box sets, special editions, genre boxsets - even Shane Meadows has boxsets

  

  Withnail and I 20th anniversary 3 disc special edition on Amazon

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TITLES

• the simple white serif font is typical of the social realist genre, similar to '71 and Tyrannosaur

  

  Withnail and I

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SOUND; GENRE SIGNIFICATION

• The film begins with slow jazz music playing
• sets the mood - depressing, mellow - completely contrast with something you might expect to find in a horror film (e.g. the drums and high pitched strings in Bride of Chucky - this clearly reflects the genre), this is more like the incidental acoustic music of Tyrannosaur 
• also signifies the target audience (not teen, older - also reflected in BBFC rating of 18)
• Ambient sound of the kettle and walking is heard as the song comes to an end
• some of the sound mixing is very poor - as actors walk towards the camera their voices become a lot louder, and are difficult to hear when far away
• this is representative of the budget/technology available at the time

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FIRST SHOT

• fade form black, slow zoom, medium shot to close-up, hand-held
• Naturalistic lighting, low-key 
• make it look cramped, dark
• also reflective of the low budget into context
• Dusty dark wooden cupboard and dark brown lamp
• connotes poverty, lack of care
• all the dark colours make it  seem claustrophobic, oppressive, gloomy and depressing 
• Clothing is simple, practical, dull colours
• masculine 
• inexpensive
• representative of target audience (mature), more through identfication than aspiration though
• The film title is seen in the first shot, which isn't extremely conventional of the films we've looked at, and is not distinguishable form the rest of the credits there than the slightly larger font

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PROTAGONIST AND NARRATIVE

"I"

• overgrown 'shaggy' hair and beard
• unkempt 
• lack of upkeep
• does not need to look presentable/professional for an office job
• Glasses and cigarette
• make him look intellectual
• troubled artist look
• 'suffocating' in the apartment
• introverted and bookish look, but also pretentious
• When he goes to the cafe for food there are close-up shots of headlines, unappealing looking food and an ageing woman eating a greasy egg sandwich, the camera cuts to a close-up of the protagonist's eyes
• they are slightly red with massive bags underneath them
  
• he looks tired, depressed
• The voice over is very cynical, but comedic
• is used for exposition 
• his criticism of mundane daily life, but also detachment from it (he "feels sorry" for people because they have to wake up to depressing headlines everyday without marking that he himself does exactly that) creates narrative enigma, but also emphasises the gritty and negative light that the film is shown through (as it is all form this character's point of view)
• Propp:
• The Hero: "I" is signified to be the 'hero' of this film as the camera repeatedly cuts back to show his reactions, and he is the only character we are offered insight into through the voiceover
• The Donor: Withnail's Uncle Monty is definitely the Donor of the story, giving them the key to his house in the Lake District
• The Princess: the princess could be "I" desired career as an actor, or it could be Withnail as there are a lot of homoerotic undertones (in a scene they refer to each other as "lover", and at a bar "I" is threatened by an irishman and called a "poof" - a derogatory term)
• The Villain: Withnail is the villain, as he is one of the obstacles blocking "I" from succeeding in his career, is more active in creating conflict (with both a local farmer, a drug dealer and a policeman), however there is also recognition of "I"s own involvement in a lot of theses situations. 
• The Helper: it's impossible to avoid the fact that the apparent protagonist has no name in this film, and Withnail's narcissistic tendencies clearly show that he perceives himself to be the protagonist of his own life, and he views "I" as his Helper/sidekick. Although "I" is the one who proposes going on holiday
• The Dispatcher: "I" is undoubtedly his own dispatcher, sending himself to the Lake District, but also deciding to leave Withnail to his alcohol and drug addiction to work on his own career at the end of the film
• As there are so few characters in the film there are a lot of overlaps between the propping archetypes, which is also reflective of the realistic and complex representation of the social realist genre

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MISE-EN-SCENE

• the first shot is followed by a panning shot of the apartment, lots of set dressing has been done

• wine bottles, mess, dirty clothes
• everything looks dusty or dirty
• the walls look grimy
• used cups lying around
• a British flag is hung carelessly from a chair  - shows lack of patriotism, and England isn't painted in the best light throughout the film
• As the camera moves into the kitchen the protagonist re-enters the shot to fill up the kettle and you see the real extent of the mess
• the sink is full to the brim, empty and full milk bottles are thrown on top of drying racks loaded with plates and a curtain over the window looks to be on its last leg
• The curtain pattern is good for verisimilitude, as the film is set in the 60's and it is a stereotypical pattern style of the decade
• All the furniture is clearly very fine
• glass cabinets, wooden chairs, a grand dining table, leather sofa
• but all clearly uncared for, maybe even second hand, all mismatching

...
OTHER POINTS

• There were some issues that probably wouldn't have happened were the film a high budget studio production
• the author "forced" Grant, the actor playing "I", to binge drink so he could more realistically portray the character, although in real life he was Teetotal and had a health condition which prevented him from being able to process alcohol, so he was violently sick
• The original ending saw Withnail killing himself by pouring wine into a shot gun and firing it whilst drinking form it, but it was deemed 'too dark'
• the film is already too grim to be considered by a conglomerate, and the low(ish) budget does mean that theres is less pressure to make a profit
• the involvement of HandMade Films is what really prevented this
• demonstrates the amount of freedom low-budget index have in contrast to subsidiaries/conglomerates who use the tentpole format

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Genre Conventions: more films for analysis

Tennis Films

Wimbledon (Richard Loncraine, 2004) 
Synopsis: rom-com about 2 upcoming tennis players.
I'm going to look specifically at how tennis scenes are shot for influence in shooting a tennis scene in our film opening (specifically: framing, sound, and editing)


...
Match Point (Woody Allen, 2005) 
Involves a retired tennis player, also looking into this one for inspiration for the tennis scene

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Main Films for Influence

Journeyman (Paddy Considine, 2018) 
Synopsis: social realist about an accomplished boxer suffers brain damage after defending his title at a tournament and has to work to recover and rebuild his life

Journeyman poster

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Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011) 
Synopsis: a social realist which follows the life of working class, racist, violent man, Johnny.


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This is England (Shane Meadows, 2007)

Synopsis: social realist drama following the life of young Saun as he becomes a skinhead in 1983 England


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Dead Man's Shoes (Shane Meadows, 2004)
synopsis: British psychological thriller, Richard returns to his home town in the Peak District after serving in the British Army. He and his younger, mentally-impaired brother Anthony, camp at an abandoned farm near the town. Flashbacks reveal Anthony's abuse by a group of drug dealers in the town; Richard vows to take revenge. 


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Naked (Mike Leigh, 1993)

Naked poster

 
Synopsis: British black tragicomedy written and directed by Mike Leigh and starring David Thewlis as Johnny, a motor-mouthed intellectual and conspiracy theorist steals a car and visits his ex living with two housemates in London.
Mike Leigh is a famous kitchen sink realism writer so we'll probably take a lot of influence from his style.



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Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach, 2002)
Synopsis: the story of a teenage boy from a troubled background, Liam, who dreams of starting afresh with his mother as soon as she has completed her prison term. 


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Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)

Withnail and I poster

 
Synopsis: British black comedy, loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" who share a flat in Camden Town in 1969. Needing a holiday, they obtain the key to a country cottage in the Lake District belonging to Withnail's eccentric uncle Monty and drive there. The weekend holiday proves less recuperative than they expected.


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My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan, 1989) 
Synopsis: biographical comedy-drama about a working class Irishman born with cerebral palsy who could only move his left foot.
Focus on disability/rehabilitation aspect (in narrative, dialogue and filming/editing techniques) on how to realistically/effectively represent characters with disabilities (like our protagonist who is recovering form brain damage after being in an accident).