Lauren Tandon

Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. Since its birth as a shop and record label in Sheffield in 1989, Warp has become one of the Worlds most respected creative organisations. Originally just a record label/shop, Warp Records, Warp have since launched two film production companies Warp Films and Warp X (for low-budget, digital productions only) Warp Films was set up with funding from NESTA, the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. It is based in Sheffield with a further office in London and has 14 full-time staff. Warp X is a separate company from Warp Films, and was set up to exclusively manage and coproduce films for the Low Budget Feature Scheme tendered by UK Film Councils New Cinema Fund and Film4 in 2005, to revitalise the low-budget sector of the British film industry. Warp X is building on Warp Films reputation for combining creative originality with commercial success. Both companies share the same office space and some support staff to make them as resource efficient as possible. Since then high-profile features have come courtesy of Shane Meadows, whose masterpieces Dead Mans Shoes and This Is England have enjoyed widespread success, the latter winning Best British Film at the 2008 BAFTAs. Mark Herbert points to an early 20,000 grant from Screen Yorkshire, a Leeds-based regional film development and promotion body, as a key moment in the company's story.

Warp Films produced the film this is England with Film 4, and this film focuses on genre based films i.e. social realism, which is a key genre associated with British film because it is cheaper to make that Hollywood films, which focus on special effects, CGI, HD,3D, because they have the financial clout to finance, and market and distribute. Warp Films does cannot rely on a big studio to finance their films and it cannot act as a distributor. Warp Films also own a record label, and Warp X. It often works with other studios to produce films because it has limited money

In April 2008, Australian film distributor Madman Entertainment announced a collaboration with Warp Films. Madmad Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. This is England was distributed in the UK by optimum releasing, whose parent company is Vivendi which also owns Universal Studios, which owns Working Title, showing how media conglomerate works by dominating a large amount of the market. Digital distribution Warp Films Developing test cases Warp has developed a digital distribution and marketing plan for low-budget rockumentary Le Donk, which premieres at the Edinburgh International Festival in June 2009 prior to release in September. The plan includes audience targets for each digital media activity, to allow the team to explore the kind of audience that the film appeals to and the tools it can use to understand its audiences better. Low budget studio Warp X an initiative of The UK Film Council, Film4, Screen Yorkshire and Optimum Releasing is also dipping a toe into the digital pool with All Tomorrows Parties, a music documentary produced by Luke Morris of Found Films. Warp and Found are creating an online portal through which audiences can access the film when it is released in September 2009.Getting closer to the audience

Submarine a Warp Films production, had a 1.2million budget and got a box office profit of 2.03million. On the opening weekend the film made 244,476 being shown on 6 screens. In the USA the film on the opening produced $41,832 and that was shown on 4 screens

Warp Films worked with Film4 to produce This is England. This gave Shane Meadows' production exclusive access to their TV channel, where they show, analyse and preview productions. Film4 channel can be seen either on Sky or freeview channels making it available to a wider audience. Warp Films also created a website for This is England where you can download various things such as desktop backgrounds, and iron on print outs.

Warp Films is an independent film company and is therefore not part of a media conglomerate. Although since its original creation in Sheffield in 1989, it has become on of the worlds more respected creative organisations. Comparing an indie company to a multi media conglomerate: This is England's production budget was around 2million where as Harry Potter Philosopher's Stone was close to 125million, Harry Potter has its own website, a variety of merchandise, many games on devices such as; xbox, ps3, wii, pc, they also have soundtracks, extended scenes etc. Where as This is England just about has a few links from google which says a lot in today's modern society. All of these media platforms and means of merchandise are what makes films more successful and gain a wider audience.

Synergy and Distribution One of their key financial backers is Optimum Releasing, who are closely involved in the development process and distribute the films theatrically and on DVD in the UK. In April 2008, Australian film distributor Madman Entertainment announced "a collaboration" with Warp Films. Warp and Madman plan to make "at least 2 films together over the next 3 years." Optimum is a small, British-owned distributor operating in an industry dominated by major Hollywood distributors, and this relationship therefore benefits both themselves and Warp Films.

Warp X only make digital films. They say we make digital films with budgets between 400,000 and 800,000 for theatrical distribution in the UK and internationally. Our films are genre based but with acutely original interpretations that will ensure rhey stand out in the market place. We do not make character based drama or ultra-cheap versions of mainstream Hollywood studio films. Digital film=making Is a lot cheaper than 35mm Harnessing of cutting edge digital technology with low budget production methods, namely high definition, will enable Warp X to be well placed to take advantage of the coming digital transformation of film distribution. Technology is crucial: We wouldn't have been able to do something like Warp X five years ago, but today's technology means you can shoot a movie like Donkey Punch digitally and genuinely make it look good while still keeping to a tight budget. Also, a lot of the snobbery attached to digital filmmaking has vanished in the last five years and Dogme had a lot to do with that.

Web 2.0: In 2004, Warp pioneered the sale of unrestricted mp3s via the launch of the awardwinning download store Bleep.com. Hosting nearly 500 other independent labels, Bleep has sold over 2million tracks to date. Several of their film productions, mainly documentaries area available to download royalty free. Why would they do this, when most other production and distribution companies are keen to protect their digital rights from piracy? Plainly, it benefits WarpX to have as many people as possible spreading goof word-of-mouth about their products, as a form of viral marketing. Institutions are always looking to increase their audience size and seen as the younger generations are becoming more and more interested and involved with hitech gadgets, these institutions focus more on the young generation and try to put out their product via TV, Internet and other technological devices. Also by giving away 'free' items or downloads on websites, regular users will keep returning to see whats new on the website because this makes it easier for them to decide what they want especially as they have choice as to what they want to watch, listen to or read. Many Warner Bros. films will include some form of CGI or special effects, they also make the film viewable in 3D which gives off the wow factor to many people. In the trailers for their upcoming film they can show short shots of the special effects in action which will draw the audience in making them think the film will be fantastic due to the looks of a few short snippets. Warp Films do not always have enough money to include many special effects or if so good quality effects and this make the audience able to connect with the characters more so than the action filled films from Warner Bros.

Warp Films have unveiled their new digital download store, offering DRM-free downloads in different sizes scaled to fit any device. Music documentary All Tomorrow's Parties, Shane Meadows' Le Donk & Scorz-Zay-Zee and Arctic Monkey's at the Apollo are amongst the first releases on www.warpfilmstore.com.
The platform, produced by Luke Morris and Warp Films offers downloads, DVDs and other film merchandise and was built to complement Warp's presence in traditional retail, allowing the company to sell films direct to their fan-base worldwide. Unlike stores such as Itunes, warpfilmstore.com provides films pre-sized to fit all devices so they can be viewed on phones, desktop computers or through any other medium without requiring reformatting. The files are DRM free.

Technological convergence is an important factor for institutions, without the aid of technological convergence film production would not be as efficient in the exhibition phase. Convergence is now a very popular trend as people crave for updated technology. Rather than watching films or random videos on computers or laptops, people can now receive these same variables to watch but by using say phones, tablets and mac books. Phones now have many downloadable apps which can do variety of things; ordering take out, buying clothes or tickets even turning lights on and off in the home. The Internet on a phone was a huge advance in technology but as time has progressed companies are making it easier and faster to download and receive information. Media platforms are all around us, if you are keen on a particular film or director, you can find information out about them and of the film in a variety of ways; reading articles, listening to reviews or the soundtrack, seeing a trailer etc. Low budget film companies and independent film companies such as the British production company, Warp Films (affiliated with Warp Records and Warp Films Australia), these films have minimal convergences, however they do have their own website warp.net/films which allows online promotion for distribution and sales to the public viewers. This is England is a popular trend on their website and has lots of information regarding the film with extra acknowledgements.

Targeting British Audiences Warp X say that they only produce films which qualify as British. Even more specific than that, they would strongly prefer producers to shoot in Yorkshire or some other northern region of England, but "if there is a compelling creative need to shoot elsewhere, then we will put the needs of the film first.

Warp X's joint objectives as outlined by the UK Film Council and Film4 include: to provide new opportunities to increase participation of groups currently under-represented in the UK film industry such as writers, directors, producers and actors who are disabled, women and/or from black and minority ethnic groups. to encourage filmmakers to explore social issues of disability, cultural/ethnic diversity and social exclusion through the content and range of individual film projects. to create much-needed progression routes into the UK film industry for identified filmmaking talent, who may have experienced some success through their first feature film or through short filmmaking, but who need further infrastructural and other support to make their next film(s) a success.

Dead Man's Shoes (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2004) Rubber Johnny (Dir: Chris Cunningham - 2005) Scummy Man (Arctic Monkeys short film/music video) This Is England (Dir: Shane Meadows - 2006) Grow Your Own (Dir: Richard Laxton - 2007) Dog Altogether (Dir: Paddy Considine - 2007) At the Apollo (Arctic Monkeys Dir: Richard Ayoade - 2008) Le Donk and Scorzayzee (Dir: Shane Meadows- 2009) Four Lions (Dir: Chris Morris- 2009)