Sources for "This is England"

[max]

Hi, I'm a french student doing a research study on skinheads and politics in the 80's and I'd like to know what were Meadow's sources (books, reviews, studies, movies, documentaries) to make his movie "This is England". Thanks

[Gareth]

Hi Max, Shane based everything from his own experience so I'm pretty sure everything just came from that.

[max]

dam! Don't you know what would help me? Because his work includes lots of references, very smart references actually, especially about the way politics got involved in the skin culture and the way it transformed it...

[desmond22]

Oct 5, 2010 14:26:25 GMT max said:

dam! Don't you know what would help me? Because his work includes lots of references, very smart references actually, especially about the way politics got involved in the skin culture and the way it transformed it...

Hello Max
You might want to look at British cinema of the 80's, especially Alan Clarkes stuff. In terms of social history, I think any books/documentaries about Thatcher's Government of the 80's, the origins of the National Front (NF) and BNP's submergence into Skin culture, I'm sure there are documentaries available on Youtube.
Also, you could get Richard Allen's books "Skinhead", "Suede head" and "Skinhead escapes", they are trashy exploitation paperbacks but would serve as a good insight into the medias perception of the skin culture. Also the excellent BBC4 documentary Reggae Britannia about how Jamaican music integrated into British working class life in the 70's and 80's, which heavily influenced the early skinhead movement

[Barnesy]

Culture will always tell a story. Fashion, music, language (slang etc), fads and trends, the news, conversations on public transport. Hitchcock used books most of the time as a main reference. Im not a pro but its the old thing of practise makes perfect. If I am writing a lengthy script I like to create questionnaires for my characters to answer. In the language they use etc. This creates a great depth and gives you a good picture of them. If you did this with all your main characters you can interlink their answers where they tell anecdotes. Also one of the great ways is to start with a simple "What If"

[max]

Thanks a million lads, It's a pretty good start!