Resistance Draft

STUDY GUIDE TO THE PRODUCTION AND EXHIBITION OF

RESISTANCE A teaching resource focused on the making, distribution and exhibition of this film from Wales as part of the British film industry. It is also explored as ‘counterfactual’ film’.

For AS/A level and appropriate undergraduate use (Film, Cinema and Media Courses)

Written by Gill Branston

About this resource This guide is designed to help teachers and students to explore the film Resistance at AS/A level Film Studies and Media Studies. It is focused on the industrial shaping and contexts for the film. It makes reference to the film text, as well as the novel. Students will get the most out of this guide if they are familiar with both of these.

The Film Agency for Wales (www.filmagencywales.com) which funded and helped distribute this guide is ‘The national agency for the development of film in Wales’ with ‘a remit to ensure that the economic, cultural and education aspects of film are effectively represented in Wales, UK and the world.’

The guide is written by Gill Branston, main author of The Media Student’s Book 5th edn (2010) . Thanks to Chapter Arts Centre staff for help with the design (Graham Hill) and with co-ordination of the project and sub-editing (Matt Beere). For discussion of digital distribution and exhibition thanks to Sally Griffith (Chapter) and to Roy Stafford itpworld.wordpress.com. Thanks also to Hana Lewis, Film Agency for Wales.

Copyright 2012 Chapter Original text copyright Gill Branston Project supported by The Film Agency for Wales Thanks to FAW for permission to use location stills and posters for Resistance throughout; to StudioCanale for use of the ‘Went the Day Well’ poster; to Owen Sheers for use of Fig 2; to BBC Worldwide for Fig. 4.

Section 1

Introduction and some contexts These notes aim to explore the industrial processes involved in the film Resistance (UK 2011/DVD March 2012), a British film ([1] also see further reading) made in, and coming out of Wales. It involves some textual reference to the film, and book, but mostly explores ‘industry’, a key area for Film Studies, through four concepts: Pre-production You may be more familiar with this as part of ‘production’, but the emphasis on a planning stage to film is valuable. ‘Development’ involves drawing up a brief for a ‘product’, including assessing potential audiences, funders, tax breaks etc. This is then ‘pitched’ to potential funder(s) who assess if that ‘product’ can be made, and can justify its funding.

Production

Distribution Getting the right number of copies of the film to places where, and times when it will be shown/viewed. This still (2012) includes decisions on which medium to use (celluloid or digital?) though digital is likely to be the inevitable choice very soon.

Exhibition and Marketing Usually refers to public screenings, in cinemas, and here includes reviewing and publicity processes, as well as the cost and quality of projection in cinemas. The decision on how the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC [2]) will classify the film is sometimes negotiated at this stage.

The context for a relatively small budget (£2m) British film from Wales, such as Resistance, is shaped by the huge global clout of the Hollywood ‘majors’ or ‘studios’. These are combined

The whole process of scripting, shooting and assembling the

production and distribution companies, with guaranteed outlets

film. Post production is often included, and involves key areas

for their films in their associated multiplex cinemas. The studios

such as sound design and editing.

are owned by huge corporations --News Corporation owns 20th Century Fox; Vivendi owns Universal; Time-Warner owns Warner’s; Viacom owns Paramount; Comcast/General Electric 2

owns Universal, and Sony owns Columbia. These corporate owners drive towards the use of global economies of scale,

EXPLORE 1

usually involving product placements, marketing ‘tie-ins’ and ‘spin-offs’; theme park, celebrity, music, video game and toy links; franchise moneys; tourist board tie-in potential (think Lord of the Rings and New Zealand) and so on. See www.brandhype.org/MovieMapper/Resources/

Get hold of cinema listings for films showing in your region. Choose a city with multiplexes and, if possible,

BehindTheScreens.jsp. Though dated, it’s an eye-opening guide

an independent or arts cinema complex, for

to these global processes. And if intrigued by the accountant’s

comparison.

role in such film, see http://www.variety.com/events/2012/filmfinance-forum-west/ or similar in the trade magazines like Screen

How many screens are showing ‘Hollywood’ as

International and Variety.

opposed to non-US films? What proportion of the

However, things are complicated by the fact that

whole is this ‘Hollywood’ component?

a)

Are any of the US ‘blockbusters’ culturally British (e.g.

the US studio system needs to work at broadly 3 budget

levels, even though ‘Hollywood’ is often taken to mean ‘big budget’. There currently seem to be a smaller number of megabudget films and an increase in lower budget film making, at both

Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings), with British authors, themes or settings, but financed mostly by US money?

‘medium’ and ‘low’ budget levels. Such smaller films partly act as a kind of ‘research’ division, involving innovative work which tests out actors, themes, and techniques. b)

many of the US films in the top grossing lists are US/UK co-

productions, and they often involve a kind of ‘cultural Britishness’ in locations and stories.

3

EXPLORE 2 Research which of the US films showing in your area are from the ‘experimental’ or speciality arm of ‘The Majors’ —production companies such as Focus, Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage, Sony Pictures

EXPLORE 3 The term ‘speciality’ is widely used, but you might explore the other words for this ‘different’ group of films. What term would you use to describe a film like Resistance?

Classics. See if you can find budget levels, including those of a third level, of very low budget films.

Resistance, as film but especially as novel, explores ideas of both ‘resistance’ and of ‘collaboration’. The story is set in 1944, near an imagined or ‘counter-factual’ (see below) version

Resistance is different. It’s a feature film (generally defined by

of World War Two (which actually lasted from 1939-1945),

length—see Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

involving a Nazi invasion of Britain. The remote and beautiful

Feature_film) for different definitions. The British Film Institute

Welsh rural setting, especially in the book, makes its broadly

[BFI] defines it as ‘more than 69 minutes long’). Resistance

anti-war tone more understandable. Even in peace time this

cost around £2m. Such smaller budget films are sometimes

animal farming would involve violence and some horror, and

called ‘speciality’ or ‘cultural’, ‘arthouse’ or ‘independent’. The

here the women are silently (resentfully) grateful for help with

BFI uses ‘specialty’—see its website for definitions. See also

hard and often bloody work. A couple of the soldiers, too, with

Chapter 5 of UK Film Council 2011 stats on the same website.

horrific memories of war, cautiously express a yearning to

http://statisticalyearbook11.ry.com/?id=82816

return to their civilian lives.

4

Like ‘Hollywood’, British cinema broadly operates at three levels, indeed it often works on, is dependent on, US films—a kind of ‘collaboration’. This can make it difficult to define what we mean by a ‘British film’ (1). There are high budget films which appear ‘British’ (see EXPLORE 1) but are mostly US financed and distributed. Then come medium budget films, costing from £2-5m, mainly ‘specialty’, and often co-produced with BBC or Channel 4 support. The King’s Speech (UK 2010) for example comes at the top end of that group, costing £8-9m but only getting made because the (now abolished) UK Film Council put in £1m of public money.

Even lower or ‘micro-budget’ films, often exclusively British in funding, also exist. For a long time ‘low budget’ meant around £1m but with new digital technologies and ways of working it can involve a great deal less (e.g. Somers Town (UK 2008) and Monsters (UK Figure 1 Publicity s0ll, in Buzz magazine, Nov 2011

As Sheers put it (3): ‘the people in the valley are …forced to find a position of mutual dependency which raises up a question mark over

2010)). But the major problem is how to gain full distribution for such work. This is where the backing of a publicly funded body such as Film Agency for Wales helps support film makers (see FAW’s remit statement on their website, www.filmagencywales.com

the concept of war… the idea that the enemy has as much humanity as we or I do.’ In this context the rightness of the actions of the more solitary -- perhaps even fundamentalist --figure, George, is very much open to question. They do, after all, resemble acts of terror.

5

Section 2

Pre-production Even mega-budget cinema needs to take this stage seriously. As

benefit-as-the-Film-Agency-for-Wales-invests-in-film-talent for

Daniel Craig said, about Quantum of Solace (US/UK 2008) ‘We

latest list of development projects being supported by FAW.

were hamstrung by the writers' strike. We had half a script and lots of pressure. We suffered because of a lack of preparation.’

The Guardian, Dec 23, 2011

In total the backers for Resistance were: the FAW; Big Rich Films (http://www.bigrichfilms.com) run by the film’s producer, Richard Holmes; Square One Entertainment, Munich who gave

This stage lies between the securing of financial backing and the

development money and have first option to buy German

start of actual shooting. Here, the Production notes (often

distribution rights; Metrodome distributed. Support also came

provided to reviewers to enable publicity) for Resistance describe

from the European MEDIA fund http://www.mediadeskuk.eu.

trying to find co-funding. Once the Film Agency for Wales had given support , ‘road shows’ pitching the film were made in London and Wales. Commercial backers will be looking for profit, while bodies with a ‘community interest’ remit, such as FAW,

No backer can afford to waste money. But, surprisingly perhaps, the constraints on budget can often produce their own kinds of creativity and ingenuity.

exist for broader ‘public good’ reasons, making no profit from

The origins of Resistance lie in the successful novel of the same

film investments, or from any other awards for film exhibition or

name, first published in 2008. Owen Sheers, a poet and novelist,

education activities. The FAW itself is funded by The Lottery, the

wrote the book out of a fascination with a piece of history he

British Film Institute, Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government,

stumbled across while labouring near Abergavenny one summer

and Creative Business Wales, and it aims ‘to ensure that the

(see Buzz interview). Later, Amit Gupta met him, and after

economic, cultural and educational aspects of film are effectively

another meeting in New York, they agreed to adapt it to be

represented in Wales, UK and the world.’ See http://

Gupta’s first feature film as director. There was already a contract

www.filmagencywales.com/Welsh-film-writers-and-producers-

6

in place with the publishers for Sheers to ‘option’ the film, i.e. to

Traces of copyright authorship also emerge in the need for

adapt for the screen.

permission to use photos, images etc. Often the ‘author’ for these is

Eventually Sheers and Gupta co-wrote the script, funded by a small

the owning production company.

grant from the Film Agency for Wales, who also provided valuable

Sheers had several parts to his ‘authorship’ status in applying for

comments on it. Sheers describes it as not an adaptation of the

FAW grants: a record of other writing achievements, including poetry

novel but something that ‘took off’ from it. Which brings us to

(which he has compared to screenwriting); making TV programmes

authorship, an important concept in Film Studies. First, in the 1950s

about poetry; and an attractive and thoughtful presence in TV and

and 1960s, it was a way of insisting on the important role of

public literary performance—not to mention Q&As about this film. He

individual directors in the ‘classic’ (c 1930-c1950) Hollywood studio

calls himself a ‘writer from Wales’ (and is currently writer in residence

system, thought to be simply a ‘factory’. Now it is sometimes used

for the Welsh Rugby Union). He was born in Fiji but brought up in

to explore how the status of ‘an author’, often the director, and often

Abergavenny, currently lives in London, and has travelled globally

figures who work with him, enables agency, a kind of creativity within

since university. So he is a cosmopolitan figure who identifies himself

the hard business of film making.

as ‘from Wales’, writing in English. Most recently he had on-screen

Another powerful aspect of authorship is the right of a named ‘author’ to claim royalties for making copies, i.e. copyright.

and off- screen involvement in a huge experimental drama project for the (English language) National Theatre of Wales-- Michael Sheen’s The Passion in Port Talbot, Easter 2011. Michael Sheen and Iwan

For example, with this Guide, Chapter, not the writer, has been given

Rheon, who both play small roles in Resistance, were also involved

this right (see p.1).

in this event. As we go to press (April 2012) Sheers also scripted a theatre project in London (Jan. 2012) working with injured and wounded soldiers, The Two Worlds of Charlie F. (http://www.owensheers.co.uk/honour.htm) .

7

One final note: ‘publicity’ goes on as far as possible throughout the making of a film. See this article in Screen International (http://www.screendaily.com/reports/features/ resistance/5020443.article) a year before release, but acting as notification to potential investors, distributors and exhibitors.

See the film’s cinematographer’s behind-the-scenes video

!

diary of production (5).

Figure 2 Photo of Sheers from the Buzz magazine interview, 2011

Partly as a result of such experiences and connections, Sheers was a convincing applicant for support from the FAW. He was thus able to insist that: - the film was shot near and around the Black Mountains and Abergavenny - actual German dialogue and subtitles were used (rather than ‘Hollywood’ Nazi soldiers, speaking in heavy accents). This may also relate to the film’s credibility as a co-production, with potential German distributor Square One Entertainment.

8

Section 3

Production and Post-Production ‘Films’ can now be made on tiny budgets, in someone’s

Such creative improvisations are one of the great pleasures of

bedroom, or the street, on a mobile, and they can be distributed

film making, at all levels. Post production on this film involved

through YouTube and other tiny internet circles (6). But, in what is

editing, visual effects, sound design and a music score. See the

still called ‘cinema’, budgets for feature films and their

Production Notes from Metrodome

distribution have to be much larger, even at the low budget end

(http://www.metrodomegroup.com).

of film production, and even if viewed only on TV or computer

EXPLORE 4

screens. Film production, or ‘cinema’ is an industrial process, and an expensive one. Look carefully at the long credits for even, Resistance, which is a relatively small budget (£2m) film.

The shoot took 5-6 weeks—that was what the budget allowed.

Which parts of the novel could have been put on screen with a bigger budget? How would these

But within this the commitment of the makers involved real

change it, and expectations around it (e.g if stars had

creativity. Sheers, who knew the area from childhood, was

been used)? Would longer battle scenes or more on

allowed to be present as the film was shot. Even so location

the women’s farm labour have improved it for you?

scouts, who normally search for suitable locations were needed to check access, safety etc. As well as co-scripting the film

Which elements of the novel did you miss in the film?

Sheers offered guidance and alterations to the script where

Which did you prefer in film form? How does all this

needed. He even made a cameo appearance and, according, to one article ‘roped in everyone from his parents to his old RE teacher and his dentist to help out with crowd scenes, props, even… the loan of a horse. Riseborough, meanwhile, enrolled in

relate to the differences between novels and films a) as forms (i.e. using written words, or moving audio-

aqua aerobics at the local leisure centre to immerse herself in the

visual images)

valleys lilt.’(7).

b) as businesses?

9

This unusually shaped poster (called a Film Market Poster), centering on Riseborough, was produced as the film was being made, to entice funders and others who might be interested.

10

Section 4

Distribution ‘OK, your film is made—how (and when? and where?) do you get it to audiences? This vital work is called Distribution. It is the key to power in the film industry, even though it is ‘production’ (especially glamorous scenes set in Hollywood) which often gets represented in films themselves.

EXPLORE 5

Figure 3 We did find two photos, showing distribution of a) celluloid and b) digital films to Chapter Arts Centre. Copyright Graham Jones, Chapter.

List any films you can think of which deal with the production of cinema. Do any of them treat

The first step in distribution is to ensure enough copies to show to planned audiences. This estimate is shaped by the way that

distribution? Or exhibition? Sketch a proposal for a

the fate of many films is sealed by the ‘first weekend’s’ takings.

film which might do this. What problems do you

Hence the marketing efforts to fill the cinemas at the very start of

encounter in making the proposal a credible one?

We found it difficult to visually illustrate this section.

Do you have ideas on how to do this? Bear in mind copyright searches and permissions.

release (see Exhibition). Here’s an unusual review which invites readers to think about distribution as a key part of cinema (9): It is a good week for film and lots to see over the weekend, which is going to make it all the harder for a small British movie Resistance, which really deserves to be seen. …[it] demonstrates just how hard it is for a small film to make its mark…only screening in 13 screens across the country. Our bonkers distribution system means that if enough people go to see it this

11

weekend, then the distributors will book it into more. If they don’t,

compared to the £1,000 plus cost for a 35mm celluloid print,

then by Monday morning, the cinemas will decide there is no

though the initial cost of converting projectors is expensive,

audience and pull it from the screens. So it is really important that

especially for ‘independent’ arts centres (like Chapter, Cardiff).

everyone with even a passing interest in seeing it, sees it now.

Otherwise they will never have a chance to see it on the big screen where it looks sumptuous. If you go to Facebook.com/ resistancemovie, you can see where it is screening. If you can go to see it, do: you will be helping the British film industry to thrive.

A Hollywood ‘major’ distributor will send a DCP on a hard drive to each of their linked multiplexes. These can then load it, via a Theatre Management System (TMS), onto as many screens as they like (depending on their contract with the distributor). So 400 hard drives might go out, but the film could be shown on 1,000 or

EXPLORE 6

more screens—or more, when it comes to global saturation

Can you find any other reviews for recent films, which

available, each costing £1k . The figure goes up to 5-6,000 for

highlight such exhibition patterns?

release. For UK ‘saturation’ release 600-1,000 copies may be global simultaneous release. Smaller distributors (such as Metrodome) might only send out a handful of hard drives, but these can then be uploaded by one cinema and the hard drive

As of Jan 2012 it’s estimated that over 50% of UK cinema screens will be using digital rather than celluloid copies of films.

Most of the major cinema chains (such as Vue, Warner, Cineworld) are heading for 100% within the next two years. DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) are the projection-ready, compressed and encrypted digital form of film made for distribution to

sent on to another. By planning in advance, a small distributor could have a film on 60 screens by sending out just 5-10 hard drives. It’s a real advantage for smaller arts centres such as Chapter, Cardiff. It means they can get films much sooner, keep them for later use, and thus take advantage of the wider multiplex marketing around them.

cinemas. The cost of duplicating these ‘prints’ is very low 12

Resistance was made on digital format and Metrodome released it on 13 and then 16 digital ‘prints’, as they are still called. They said: ‘We wanted to release after the London Film Festival (midlate October) and before the crowded awards releases (January and February) thus late November was the perfect date. In addition Andrea Riseborough is in the high profile Madonna film W.E, out in January, and we wanted to achieve as much press as possible for our release [alongside] their publicity campaign. The film is only sold in the UK so far [but] international sales are imminent.’ (8) Finally, thanks to the ‘community interest’ or ‘public good’ remit of FAW, a 35mm celluloid print was funded which could travel to those venues in Wales which have not yet converted to digital.

FAW’s educational initiatives, such as work with FILMCLUB, and the making of this A level resource, helped the film towards other young audiences, in and outside Wales.

13

Section 5

Exhibition and marketing All of these stages overlap to some extent. Exhibition is no

budget, and shows how its (perhaps unexpected) success has

exception. We’re encouraged to feel we’re ‘freely’ making ‘free’

resulted from imaginative exhibition tactics (nimbly ‘placing’ it in

choices in a ‘free’ market’ of film releases. But it’s likely that

different cinemas, changing the emphasis of publicity, shrewd

some films have made their presence felt long before they are

use of festivals, of interviews with stars etc).

even finished in production. While only 7% of British screens are dedicated to ‘specialty’ films (2010 UK Film Council stats, BFI) children may know of the next multiplex blockbuster by the tie-in toys they’ve already seen. Sneak trailers or posters, often only a few seconds long, or mysteriously puzzling, circulate months before release. The release practices of ‘saturation’ films ‘announce’ a film as an ‘event’, something your friends may expect you to be able to talk about, that you ‘have to see’. And the marketing around a film’s release date and distribution often book dates assumed as suited to the film. Is it tied in to Christmas, Halloween, St Valentine’s Day ...? All of this helps those crucial ‘first weekend takings’ and subsequent film bookings (see 9).

Surprisingly for some, the classifying of a film by the BBFC is part of this positioning. Some film makers (of horror, for example) may seek a higher age certificate (18) than they are first awarded.

Others want to capture the lucrative young people’s market with a U or 12A certificate. Reviews too are far from the neutral ‘tasting’ they often presented themselves as. EPKs (Electronic Press Kits including clips, interviews etc) of varying degrees of lavishness are made available to industry reviewers. But sometimes films are withheld from even them. Claudia Winkleman had to announce on BBC’s Film 2011 (Nov 30th) that because of what the programme had previously said about The Rum Diary the distributor had not invited them to the preview of Hugo. Increasingly, thanks to the clout of the ‘majors’, big films

A useful source of information on this aspect of marketing but for

are review-proof. A review is seen as a kind of an advert even if

‘specialty’ films is ‘The numbers’, a regular column in Sight and

it’s highly negative. You may have looked forward to seeing a

Sound which takes a recently successful film, often lower

‘bad’ film with your friends for the fun of trashing it?

14

Mark Kermode and a few other critics feel it’s important to ‘draw your

EXPLORE 8

attention to a movie you might not have seen. Half of a critic’s job is praising movies. Critics getting behind obscure films can help them to

There are pleasures to feeling part of a huge ‘global’

find a space in the market.’ (10)

event, like a ‘blockbuster’ film. But equally there is

EXPLORE 7

something very special about seeing on screen a landscape or townscape or even extras you know, or

Read or view as many film reviews as you can in a week

hearing local accents, or maybe having a film refer to

(press, TV, radio and internet). Are any big releases given

specific legends or historical events. Did you enjoy any

negative reviews? What proportion of the time/space

such ‘local’ aspects of Resistance?

available is given to big releases compared to smaller

EXPLORE 9

releases, like Resistance?

a) When and how did you first hear about the film Resistance had initially a specific ‘local’ lower budget British exhibition pattern. It was screened at the Cambridge Film Festival in September,

Resistance?

premiered in London on 20th November, then shown on 21st at a small

b) When and how did you first hear about any

Abergavenny cinema with Prince Charles in attendance. General

‘blockbuster’ film presently at the top of the charts?

release date was 25th. FAW also facilitated a screening for exhibitors in Wales, and set up the FILMCLUB screening and discussion with Sheers

Was that through a ‘sneak’ short trailer, possibly made

and Rheon at an Abergavenny secondary school.

a year ahead of release? By ‘buzz’ on the internet?

15

Film posters are a key part of marketing a film, even before it’s finished. They are seen in the street, in print, internet and other media forms. Key elements (apart from the details in small print) here seem to be: 1) actor or star ‘image’, as well as, often, the name of an ‘author’, usually the director. Here Sheers’ name advertises an adaptation of a successful novel. For many younger audience members the actor Iwan Rheon (see Buzz interview [11]) is well known from his performance as Simon Bellamy in the E4 TV ‘ASBO’ serial, Misfits. But his small role here did not justify an image within a very simplified design, though Michael Sheen’s name does.

Andrea Riseborough (‘Sarah’) is not yet a ‘star’, widely known to audiences. Cleverly, the poster showcases the review phrase ‘a career defining performance’, inviting interest in a newish talent.

There was also an exhibition at Abergavenny Museum related to

The UK release date of W.E, directed by Madonna, with

the film, and covering the secret network of volunteer men and

Riseborough starring, was January 2012. The makers of

women prepared to be Britain’s last-ditch line of defence had the

Resistance expected some publicity from that release.

Nazis invaded in World War Two. See www.coleshillhouse.com for more on this.

In addition, when The Iron Lady came out (Jan 2012) several reviewers praised more highly an earlier, 2008 BBC4 film on the 16

young Margaret Thatcher (12). Riseborough made her mark in this as the younger Thatcher (2008).

2) landscape, location, setting; 3) narrative: does this poster suggest a particular kind of story or narrative (via costume, facial expression, direction of looks between the two characters; make up; casting, and the short ‘teaser’ summary of the situation: ‘1944. D-Day has failed. Britain is occupied.’)?

4) title: what is the tease in the powerful meanings of that word ‘Resistance’? How does it combine with the review quote ‘love, loss and what we’ll do to survive’? Though not exactly announcing a genre (war film), it may flag powerful expectations around the brutal treatment of women said to have collaborated

Figure 4 The DVD cover of Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley

Unlike Streep in The Iron Lady (2012) Riseborough was not at all well known. So the poster could concentrate less on impersonation than on this striking moment of a female politician (assumed to be Thatcher partly because of the iconic hat, dress

with ‘The Enemy’ in wars.

5) poster design, especially the colours and composition of the poster—including that ‘torn’ look to the main image. What seems to be signified by these?

and handbag) entering one of the doorways of power in British politics.

17

!

Figure 5 The final poster for Resistance.

Figure 6 A draJ poster for Resistance

EXPLORE 10 What seem to be reasons for the choice of elements in the final poster?

Compare it to the draft version. See suggestions on George’s ‘fundamentalist’ character, p. 5.

18

EXPLORE 12 Original Trailer

How effective do you find this trailer? How does it represent the film?

Storyboard your own trailer, or suggest ways this one might be re-edited or otherwise altered.

19

Finally, a note on ‘counter-factual’ films ‘Counter-factual’ (or ‘alternate history’) is for some audiences a

EXPLORE 13

kind of genre, involving ‘what if’ scenarios around real historical

Went the Day Well? (UK

events (see Wikipedia entry). It’s not quite as free flying as

1942) is a shorter

science fiction, but does allow for similarly rich ‘what if’ questions to be raised. As such it’s often used in propaganda films. An

counterfactual film

earlier British film using this approach to World War 2 is It

(available on YouTube)

Happened Here (UK 1966), made by a future historian of British

made during the war,

film, Kevin Brownlow, and centred on London . See Wikipedia, especially the section on the film’s production, and the US trailer on YouTube. Peter Watkins’ The War Game (UK 1965) likewise imagined in vivid documentary style the effects of a nuclear attack and its aftermath in and around an English city.

Silent Village (UK 1943) which Sheers

!

imagining resistance to a

Nazi invasion of Britain.

If you’ve seen this film, explore how it signifies ‘Englishness’ via accents, gender roles, class rankings, a

says partly inspired Resistance, re-

kind of English countryside/landscape, and village rather

stages a notorious Nazi atrocity at

than industrial setting?

Lidice, Czechoslovakia in a South Wales village, using miners to act the

How does this compare to Resistance and its versions of

parts of Czech victims of that 1942

‘nation’, of location etc? Does the landscape of

massacre. The National Archive of Wales www.screenonline.org.uk/film has digital copies, and the BFI the !

copyright.

Resistance shift that film towards horror, or dark European ‘art’ movie?

20

EXPLORE 14 A very different, much more recent big budget ‘counter-factual’ is Inglourious Basterds (US 2009).

How does the poster frame expectations of this film? Does it seem to re-think history’s ‘what if?’ questions in the same ways as the other films mentioned? Or is it interested in a different agenda?

Research its budget and suggest how this may have shaped its particular ‘counterfactuality’.

21

Section 6

References and Further Reading References 1) A debated term. See BFI website for current definitions of the term ‘Britishness.‘(http://industry.bfi.org.uk/research 2) The excellent website http://www.bbfc.co.uk includes links to student and other useful material.

3) http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/owen-sheers-resistance-qa/ 4) See Wales Screen Commission which handles and promotes Wales’ film locations: http://www.walesscreencommission.com/ 5) See http://sebastiansolberg.com/2011/11/10/resistance-behind-the-scenes-1/ 6) See for example www.secretcinema.org 7) Jones, Alice, A writer who’s hard to resist, The Independent, 24th November 2011.

8) In correspondence with Gill Branston while researching this resource.

9) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-blog/8916702/Resistance-the-small-British-movie-Resistance-really-deserves-to-be-seen.html 10) Mark Kermode interviewed in The Metro, June 10 2008 11) Buzz interview with Rheon http://www.buzzmag.co.uk/uncategorized/iwan-rheon-resistance-interview/ 12) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk_to_Finchley is a useful discussion resource.

22

Further Reading For further discussion regarding the term ‘Britishness’ and how a film is classified as British, please visit the industry research section of the BFI website http://industry.bfi.org.uk/research Bigger Picture Research http://www.biggerpictureresearch.net/ is a useful film industry blog, centred on understanding the business of film in the UK at quite an advanced level.

Branston, Gill with Stafford, Roy (2010) The Media Student’s Book 5th edition, website http://www.mediastudentsbook.com has free resources, including Production organisation, Contemporary British Cinema, Digital cinema, production and exhibition and Production techniques.

Sight and Sound is a useful source of information and debates for British cinema.

Screen International gives global industrial contexts, reviews with an eye to ‘business’ and likely audiences, as well as general news, reports from the making of some films etc.

23