As Schedule 2012-13

Warp Films Research

Warp Films:
Is an independent film production company based in sheffield & London in the Uk with a further affiliated company Warp Films Australia based in Melbourne, Australia. 

Warp films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett and it was initially created with financial support from NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). And had a remit to produce a number of short films.

After the death of Rob Mitchell in 2001 Steve Beckett decided to hire the expertise of Mark Herbert who was also his friend to run the company. (Mark Herbert had just produced the critically acclaimed first series of Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights for channel 4)

The first film, Chris Morris' My Wrongs#8245-8249 & 117, was shot in 2002. It won the award for Best Short Film at the 2003 BAFTA Film Awards and became the first short film DVD single in the UK market.

Through the star of My Wrongs, Paddy Considine, Herbert met director Shane Meadows and asked them to generate an idea for a film. Herbert raised the funding and the result was Warp Films debut feature, Dead Man's Shoes, directed by Shane Meadows in 2004.

Shot in 22 days on a tight budget, and produced from Warp Films’ Sheffield office (at that time a shed in Herbert’s garden), it earned a BAFTA nomination, was nominated for a record eight British Independent Film Awards, won the Hitchcock D’or at the Dinard Festival, and won the Southbank award for Best Film. It received strong critical acclaim and has been hailed as a landmark in British cinema. It was ranked #27 in Empire magazines list of the best British films ever.

In 2005, Warp Films produced Rubber Johnny, an experimental short and 42-page book by director Chris Cunningham, featuring music by Warp Records artist Aphex Twin. To this day it continues to shock and amaze audiences.

Warp Films breakout success came with Shane Meadows’ This Is England, the story of Shaun, a boy who is adopted by a local skinhead gang after his father is killed in the Falklands war. Since its release in early 2007 it has gained many awards including the Best Film at the British Independent Films Awards, the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs.

At the same ceremony, Warp Films received its third BAFTA as Paddy Considine’s directorial debut Dog Altogether won the Best Short Film award.

Film	Year	Director	Notes
My Wrongs #8245–8249 & 117	2002	Chris Morris	Short film
Dead Man's Shoes	2004	Shane Meadows
Rubber Johnny	2005	Chris Cunningham	Short film
Scummy Man	2006	Paul Fraser	Short film/Music video
This Is England	2006	Shane Meadows
Grow Your Own	2007	Richard Laxton
Dog Altogether	2007	Paddy Considine	Short film
Fur TV	2008	Chris Waitt
A Complete History of My Sexual Failures	2008	Chris Waitt
Arctic Monkeys At the Apollo	2008	Richard Ayoade
Donkey Punch	2008	Oliver Blackburn
The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour	2009	Paul King
Curtains	2009	Julian Barratt	Short film
Hush	2009	Mark Tonderai
Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee	2009	Shane Meadows
Bunny and the Bull	2009	Paul King
All Tomorrow's Parties	2009	All Tomorrow's People & Jonathan Caouette
Four Lions	2010	Chris Morris
This Is England 86	2010	Shane Meadows & Tom Harper	TV
Submarine	2010	Richard Ayoade
Tyrannosaur	2011	Paddy Considine
Kill List	2011	Ben Wheatley
This is England '88	2011	Shane Meadows	TV
The Organ Grinders Monkey	2011	Jake & Dinos Chapman	Short film
Snowtown	2011	Justin Kurzel	Warp Films Australia
The Minor Character	2012	Richard Curson Smith	TV
The Snipist	2012	Matthew Holness	TV
Care	2012	Amanda Boyle	TV
Swimmer	2012	Lynne Ramsay	Short film
The Midnight Beast	2012	Ben Gregor	TV series
Berberian Sound Studio	2012	Peter Strickland

Film 4

Film4 was originally known as Film four when established in 1998 as channel 4’s second channel but was for subscription only. 

Channel 4 is a production house company, who's funding comes from adverts/commercial funding.

FILM 4 - "committed to enhance the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent"

Film 4 has a niche (very specific small audience)

It was then followed by many other channel 4 further programmes who time shared the air of blockbuster films.

In 2006 film four modified its name to Film4 and also became a free digital viewing channel and started producing many adverts with celebrities in weird situations to stress and intrigue the audience that this is the only channel to watch free movies continuously.

Tessa Ross became the Controller of film4 in 2004 and head of TV drama for Channel 4. 

Film4 is very heavily linked with Channel 4. Channel 4 financed in the helping of production in such films as “The Crying Game” and “Madness of King George”. Channel 4 also decided that there side film channel would be made free on digital networks, therefore becoming the only free film program to boost ratings. 

Film 4 are currently on some large projects including Tyrannosaur, which Film4 backed in production and distribution closely working with Warp X and Inflammable films. This movie is an example of how Film4 help broadcast and produce English films and not just Hollywood Blockbusters as this was the first film ever to be directed by Paddy Considine. Also Film4 are in the final stages of distributing their own creation of Random originally a theatre play by director Debbie Tucker Green. It is being regularly advertised on channel 4 and competitions have started to try and attract people to see the film in cinemas.

Film 4 produces about 6 films a year and works along their subsidiary Warp X

Less of the budget is spent on distribution, because the films can be advertised on their own and parent companies TV channels.

They have won 5 Oscars in 4 years & 3 BAFTA's in 2007. 8.3 million AB Cl's a month, with an upmarket (42%) and male (55%) profile.

Successful Films include - Slumdog Millionaire/127 Hours/Four Lions/This Is England/Trainspotting

Film 4 work closely with specific actors and directors such as Danny Boyle's/Martin McDonagh/Steve McQueen/Peter Mullan/Chris Morris

Film 4 recently launched Film 4.0 - digital/online arena

Film 4.0's aim will be to find new talent and discover new ways of making, marketing and distributing films and engaging new audiences online in a multi platform environment.

Films:

• Johhny English - It was wrote in 2009, worte by the same people of James Bond which grossed $160 million. Rowan Atkinson starred and the sequal was released in september 2010.
• Wild-Child - Budget of $20 million. Filmed at Cobham Hall. Was marketed on radio stations, social networking sites and TV adverts - was a financial flop with 2.2 mill opening weekend.
• The Soloist - Based on true Story. Budget $60 mill. Based on books and articles/directed by Joe Wright. Produced by Gary Foster & Russ Krasnof. Grossed $31,720,158 mill. Paramount helped distribute through Dreamworks animation and Universal Pictures. Released a year later than planned, therefore lost oscar potential

Written by Stephen Hare