WARP X RESEARCH TASK HOMEWORK (for Tues 24th)

If you look on the British Cinema blog you'll find plenty of notes (and further resources for your own reading) on Warp X/Warp Films. We're going to end this week by viewing This is England, a film which effectively forms one half of the binary opposition we use to study British cinema:

the Indie production co, Warp X/Films, working on very low budgets, and often in the social realist genre, with the backing of the UKFC, National lottery, BBC, C4 etc v Working Title, a titan of British film production who have worked with budgets more than 100 times the size of some Warp productions, and seem to compromise their representation of Britain and Britishness to best suit an American, not domestic, audience, with the backing of the Big 6 giant NBC-Universal.

This is the only film we will watch in its entirety; for everything else we will look at specific scenes, trailers, posters, websites and marketing materials. I'll post a list of some of these films shortly.

I'd like you to do some research into the company Warp X/Films (Warp X is basically a wing of Warp Films set up for a specific purpose...which you can find out for yourself!) for Tuesday. This is not for a presentation, nor for handing in (unless I suspect you haven't carried out the research, in which case extra work will be set); I want you to be able to engage in a discussion about Warp, armed with your knowledge ... and maybe be able to answer questions in a quiz...
I don't mind if you work together on this, so long as you've read through your notes and are able to answer points on the questions below

THIS HOMEWORK IS TO BE COMPLETED FOR TUESDAY 24TH NOVEMBER

TASK DETAILS:

You will find a lot of resources, including links to a range of articles, on Warp (and certain of its films) on the British Cinema blog. Use these, and consider using the periodicals (eg Splice, Media Magazine, Sight and Sound) held in the library (you can browse contents pages for some editions in F6 - they're on the wall!), plus your own additional research, to answer the following broad questions:

1. How are Warp X and Warp Films different?
2. In which year was each set up?
3. List the films (including shorts) that each have produced, including box office and budget figures (final totals for box office, though you can also learn a lot by looking at the number of screens - see Q7!)
   
4. Give precise details of the financial backing that Warp X receives, including one example of the production credits on a Warp X film
   
5. What does the UKFC have to say about Warp X (you obviously need to work out what the UKFC is first!)
   
6. What can you say about the production, especially the budget, of Donkey Punch?
7. Look at, and note, the box office figures for This is England. Looking carefully at the US figures, what does this suggest about how the US audience/market perceived the film? [quite a tricky question this; you might ask your folks if they can think of an answer! If you read through the blog though, you will find the answer!]
8. Is there a Warp X website? If so, give details of what it features
9. Is there a Warp Films website? If so, give details of what it features
10. Based on this, and your viewing of This is England, make a list of any points which suggest that Warp is a typical British film production company
11. If Richard Curtis and Hugh Grant are arguably the most important creative figures for WT (although WT have also repreatedly worked with several other actors/directors), who would the equivalent director/actor(s) for Warp be?

 There is a lot of work here, but if you put in the effort on this you're going a long way to preparing yourself for this half of the exam. We will carry out similar work with WT, and effectively you are working on developing a set of notes which enables you to compare and contrast the two companies, and form an argument as to which is the more typical of British cinema. We will also therefore be looking at some of the trends, facts and figures covering the entire British cinema industry, not just these two companies.
Do feel free to work ahead on this: there is a lot of material on that British cinema blog!!!