G322 Section B Shifty Case Study

1. Film Industry Case Study

G322 Key Media Concepts (TV Drama)

Section B: Institutions and Audiences

UK film aimed at a national audience

Traditional UK film genre

Ultra low budget production via National Lottery UK Film Council / Film London

Typical UK film funding

Metrodome distributors

Interesting use of viral marketing, film festival and award ceremony

Produced with DVD extras in mind

UK film aimed at a national audience

Shifty is a typical British success story.

Filmed on ashoestring budget , director Eran Creevy was still able to create thischaracter-led ,well-crafted , cinematic piece as his first feature film.

The actors -As his first feature, it was obviously a risk for well known actorDaniel Mays(Atonement and Vera Drake) and up-and-coming actorRiz Ahmed(Brits and Deadset) to undertake but, with Erans well-written script, insightful character observation and on-point direction, what was created in only three weeks certainly was impressive.

Traditional UK film genre

The story tells of 24hrs in the life of your friendly neighbourhood crack dealer and doesnt adhere to the often, stereotypical workings of previous British, working-class, grimy gangster flicks.

Its a character led film that has its feet firmly on the ground. It doesnt try to be something its not and theres no glossing over the grim realities of a story based on a childhood friend of Eran.

Genre - contemporary, urban thriller with a strong element of social realism. More Ken Loach and Mike Leigh than Guy Ritchie or kidulthood!

Ultralow budget production

Microwave challenges film-makers to shoot a full length film for up to100,000.The scheme will provide an intensive approach to film-making, with an emphasis ontightly focused scripts ,short production schedulesand commercial potential.

Microwave offers a unique professionalmentoringscheme from leading industry figures.

Film London and its partners will also offer a range of assistance including in-kind support from leading facilities and service companies,waived locations feesfrom many of Londons local authorities, and a generous revenue share model which will enable producers to utilise the UKs newtax creditto secure a40% share of receipts . Completed projects will have the opportunity to showcase at the annual London UK Film Focus sales event as well as atmajor international markets .

Rory Aitken - Producer

The Microwave Scheme challenges filmmakers to make films for 100,000. You could make it for less, but for no more. It's run byFilm Londonso they oversee the production and you have to go through various stages of applications. The last one of which they callMicro-schooland that's a week where you spend time with experienced people in the industry who talk you through your film and you try to develop it in various directions - to thescript , thebudgetand who you're going to get to act in it etc. - and then you have topitchthe film to about 10 people on a panel for 15 minutes which is the most terrifying bit of it all. They then gave us half the money and we had to raise the other half. Then they helped us make the film with that very, very low budget.

Typical UK film funding

The average budget for a domestic UK film in 2009 was 3.3 million.

IndependentThe Duchess ,In Bruges, Son of Rambow

UK Film Council productionsBright Star, In the Loop

TV Co-productions

BBCThe Duchess, Fish Tank, Revolutionary Road

Film4Slumdog Millionaire, Nowhere Boy

European co-productionsAdulthood

Anglo-American co-productionsMamma Mia! ,Quantum of SolaceandThe Dark Knight

Interesting use film festival and award

ceremony

As part of the microwave projectShiftypremiered atThe Times BFI 52nd London Film Festivalon Friday 24 October 2008 at Odeon West End.

Shiftywas also nominated for a FIPRESCI International Critics Award for best first or second feature and later for 5 British Independent Film Awards.

Shiftyhad some great reviews off the back of the screenings from the Daily Mail, Time Out included it as one of their three Picks of the Festival, Heat magazine called it Ace!, and The Observer called it their personal discovery of the festival.

Metrodome distributors

Following the London Film Festival screening in October Shifty had interest from several distributors.

Rory Aitken - We went to meet several interested parties individually to discuss the film, and after some negotiations with them all, we went with Metrodome - a great UK distributor who didDonnie Darko , and Oscar-winningThe Counterfeiterslast year.

So what did the distributor Metrodome find attractive aboutShifty ?

Metrodome acquiredShiftyhaving seen it in 2008 and I think the first and most important point is that cinema can be so much more than big studio blockbusters. I think great British cinema, can be about a place that you might live, about people you might know. It can involve stories that might be familiar to you. It really doesn't have to be an Americanised view of the world. There's some fantastic cinema out there which comes from Britain, from London and other regions, and I think really in distributing films likeShiftywe're just trying to get people to see how diverse cinema is in Britain today.

One of the important things for Metrodome aboutShiftywas - although it is an urban genre film which obviously brings to mindBullet Boy, Kidulthood&Adulthoodit's not just a group of anecdotes and stories about drug dealing scrapes and the police. At the heart of it, there are two people getting to know each other again after four years apart and a universal story about friendship. So although it is an urban genre film, it's very important that it's telling a real story.

What kind of challenges did a film like Shifty present in marketing terms?

The marketing challenge for us is telling people who we think would be interested in the film that it's coming and it's out there and we have to do it in such a way that you feel you can make an informed decision.

It can be a struggle for a small company because we can't spend the level of money that a Hollywood blockbuster would spend so we have to try and be clever about how we do things and I think we have to be sure that when we speak to the target audience that we're doing it in such a way that they feel that the tone is right and represents the film

To do that we're used a mixture of TV and ads on things like pirate radio. We did fly-posting. The poster of the film was really designed to be eye-catching and simple but really we always said the poster needed to be quite exhibitionist. A show-off poster - just so it's big and loud and yellow - but we also need to be able to give you an idea of what the subject matter of the film is without spelling out that it's about drug dealing as that may be a problem for some people.

International Distribution

Shiftywent on to further success and secured a distribution deal inAustralia . The newly set-up distribution arm of Curious Film, based in Sydney, handled the release.

Deals like this signify the increasing opportunities for independent films to reach audiences globally.

Mia Bays, Creative Executive for Microwave, went to Australia to give a keynote speech in which she gave her tips for making a little go a long way.

Her top tips urged film-makers to make sure they had a clear motivation, story and vision for their films and emphasised the importance of teamwork. However, she maintained that getting your film made is only the first step half your job is making the film, the other half is getting it out to the world.

Interesting use of viral marketing

'Drugs' email banned by ad watchdog

Shifty email viral campaign banned

An email marketing campaign for the British filmShiftythat encouraged people to "stitch up a mate" by making them think they were being investigated by police for drugs offences has been banned by the advertising regulator.

The website promoting the movie, which charts a bad day in the life of a drug dealer, allowed web users to anonymously send a friend an email with the headline "Criminal Investigation".

The email, which was sent from a ficticious police department, told the recipient they had been named by someone caught in a class-A drugs swoop by police as a "habitual narcotics user".

Produced with DVD sales in mind!

Throughout the production period, a selection ofaccompanying materialwill be produced such as documentary footage of the films being made, as well as transcripts of seminars and interviews. This will be made universally available as anonline learningresource for all micro-budget film-makers.

Exhibition

With the BBC as Microwaves broadcast partner even the eventual screening of the film on TV is already organised.

G322 Section B Shifty Case Study

Education

Transcript of G322 Section B Shifty Case Study