Matthew Dalby

This Is England (2006)

Budget - £1.5 million

 Funded by the National Lottery

 Received a further £90,000 by the UK Film Council after production
 Made in 2006
 Directed by Shaun Meadows and Warp Films (Mark Herbert – Producer)
 Based on Shaun Meadows’ experiences. Thomas (Staring) was from a troubled background
with no acting experience.
 FilmFour made a deal with Warp Films to help exhibit the film and for distribution.
 Genre: Social Realism (1983 set in)
 Bought Authentic props from eBay
 Sheffield – prefabricated set (not has been changed since the 1920s)
 Natural lighting used
 Improvisation when building script – cast had a lot of creative input into it.
 There is a racist element added to the gang – off skinheads
 Aimed at teenagers – but has an 18 rating (Racially aggressive language and Violence).

? How does it appeal to a British Audience?

? How does the cinematography differ from Working Title’s Hot Fuzz?
? How is the social realism genre constructed?

 Shaky Camera – Actual Footage – hand held instead of being on a secure tripod.
 Montage Sequence of everything to do with England during the 1980s. Reggae Music is used
to show the skinhead culture.
 Iconography – British Flags.
 Social realism is built by the authentic montage sequence.
 The transitions used are simple but effective because the audience does not notice the cuts.
 People from the 80s/reggae music/teenagers/working class males are probably the audience
but have girl personas to appeal to women as well.
 Shaun could be seen as ‘likeable’ to girls.
 Slower paced sequence of shots (which is the opposite of Hot Fuzz).
 Comedy is through general improvisation by the characters.
 Natural lighting used in the shots (cheaper than using artificial lighting).
 Close ups and mid shots are used to define drama.

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 Matthew Dalby

‘This is England ‘86’

Channel 4 drama series

Rationale:
The Idea for the drama series ‘This is England ‘86’ came about when they wanted to revisit the gang
from the film ‘This is England’ three years on. The film is based in 1986 when over 3.4 million British
people are unemployed. Thomas Turgoose who plays Shaun sits his last school exam and this is
when he reaches an epiphany that as adulthood draws closer in the mid 80’s in England, he is going
to have to learn to be independent in the world.

Who was involved and how does this differ to the film?
The director was Shane Meadows who directed and wrote the film as well but with ‘This is England
‘86’ he only directed two episodes but wrote the four. The other two episodes were directed by Tom
Harper who directed hit series ‘Misfits’ which appears on E4 this means he is a stock director for
British television. This differs from the film because the movie was written and directed by only
Shane Meadows.

Casting:
The cast that appeared in both the film and television series are…
Thomas Turgoose: Shaun
Andrew Shim: Milky
Vicky McClure: LOL
Perry Benson: Meggy
Joseph Gilgun: Woody
Rosmund Hanson: Smell
Chanel Cresswell: Kelly
Andrew Ellis: Gadget
George Newton: Banjo
Danielle Watson: Trev
The only character that is seen as a main character in the series but not the film is Micheal Socha
who plays Harvey.

Funding/Budget:
The funding/budget was provided by Channel 4 as they had distribution rights and gained some
rights from Warp Films, this is the same as their deal with FilmFour. They also gained funding from
EM Media and Screen Yorkshire (which gave funding to the film as well). The TV Series’ budget was
20 million whereas the film’s budget was only 1.5 million. Because of Big Brother being axed,
Channel 4 has pumped 20 million pounds into dramas and comedies in order to fill the space left by
this cut and also to encourage more of these genres to be shown to the audiences.

? How does ‘This is England ‘86’ differ from the film ‘This is England’?

 The leftover ideas from the film were used in the TV Series.
 Beginning of the first episode was of footage from the film that never made the final cut.

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 Music is more modernised and not reggae (as if the characters have moved on)
 Exams and education (as if moved on from the skinhead culture and concentrated on the
exams)
 More close up shots (different cinematography)
 He has smartened up for school.
 Everyone else is happy now whereas Shaun isn’t.
 Slowed down shots (Post-production enhancements)
 Woody seems to have moved on (getting married).
 The world cup is on in that year.
 Still talks the same (Moans to his mum as if still younger and pouts)
 Terminator intertextuality.
 New character introduced
 Fashion has slightly changed
 Humour is the same; language is toned down (probably because of it being exhibited on the
TV and not via a cinema or DVD).
 Same cast used (Woman from shoe shop)
 Electric guitar (instead of traditional music)
 Same humour as Shameless and other Channel 4 TV Series.
 Props and locations increased.
 Artificial lightning used instead of natural.
 Cast is bigger overall.

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