The film was produced by Big Talk Productions, known for films including Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, who worked with Film4, StudioCanal and The UK Film Council.
Having been a composite of various council estates across London, the Block itself could not be shot from an aerial view, as it didn't exist, and so, instead, they had to show a top shot of the map at the very beginning of the film to establish the area to the audience.
6 weeks of night shoots meant that the film was shot across London from March to May 2012.
What it was based on
Director of the film, Joe Cornish, was mugged a few years ago near his home in Stockwell, South London.
He says that it was a traumatic experience, which had obviously imprinted on his brain in many ways, as he says, "I love where I live and I constantly find myself defending it, and suddenly this very difficult thing happens. My first impetus was to try and get beyond the stereotype. And also, somewhere in my head, to escape into the places I used to as a child, when I'd project Hollywood fantasies onto my everyday life."
He insisted on doing both of these things, and spoke to the kind of children who had robbed him on the street and in youth clubs, thus forming a good enough understanding to create a film that portrayed a hooded gang which practised in petty crime, rather than snazzy gangsterism or striking violence, as big canvas outlaw anti-heroes.
"These are children we're talking about, and children make mistakes; they test the boundaries of the world. They can come from a shitty place with a limited amount of choices."
The film was also inspired by the films Joe Cornish loved when he was growing up in the 80s, such as ET, Gremlins, Critters, Predator, The Warriors, Streets of Fire, The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, and he liked the idea of combining these two genres, fantasy and urban reality, to create something new.
The aliens were slightly based on Cornish's cat, the illustration on the old Space Invaders arcade cabinet, and are also influenced by Rotascope techniques (an animation technique that is used to capture realistic human movement by drawing over film footage of live actors).
Problems that arose in making the film
Cornish had to deal with first time actors, which included 11 kids, creature effects, stunts, explosions, fight scenes, and shooting at night.
They were working with a low budget, also, and so it was a challenge to finish the film before the set date.
The directors's views on the British Film Industry
Cornish feels that the passion of the British Film Industry's film-makers is matched by that of the audience, as he says, "You get that from the blogosphere; they take their role of champinioning films very seriously, and they're led by the heart. If they dislike something, they won't write about it, unless they really feel it violates one of their principles. But in Britain, you get a lot of ho-humming and boiled sweet sucking, and here you get commitment and passion, which I think is really cool."
Also, he believes that being relatively unknown as a film director is a good thing, as he says, "People don't come with any preconceptions. You can tell why some British film-makers who started in television enjoy working in America because people are a bit more accepting of you trying something different. This audience are able to just take this film as a film and not to have preconceptions of what Joe of Adam and Joe might do, not weighed down by any of that baggage. And they really dig it, you now. It's kind of really nice to talk to them as if I'm a film-maker. People here are really excited to have stuff in their town. In London, we're quite haughty. We feel we deserve them to come to us."
How they saved money, and the technology used
As they didn't have the budget to do 3D, CGI creatures, they used practical effects, old school effects and little bit of CG to remove detail, rather than add it.
Issues with film rating/controversy surrounding the film
Some of the parents of the teenagers who had been to see Attack The Block were concerned about the rating of the film, which was a 15, and felt that it should have been made higher, as there is frequent use of strong language, and pot smoking seems to be a regular occurrence in the teens' lives.
Although the main message sent through to the adolescents watching the film highlighted the importance of working together as a team to get things done, there was still this worry that the former would overpower this.
How the film was promoted
Attack The Block was promoted in the usual ways; through the use of film trailers, posters, interviews, and even a premiere was held 5 days before the film was to be released in UK.
About the soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was an original score composed by Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton of the popular electronic dance music group Basement Jaxx, and Steven Price except for the song played during the end credits ("Youths Dem Cold" by Richie Spice).
- "The Block"
- "Sam is Mugged"
- "Round Two Bruv"
- "It’s Raining Gollums"
- "Tooling Up"
- "Moses is Arrested"
- "Tell Me I’m Dreaming"
- "Throat Ripper"
- "Rooftops"
- "Moses - Ninja"
- "Just Another Day"
- "They Want Moses"
- "Actions Have Consequences"
- "Eat My Hat"
- "They Fell Out of the Sky"
- "I Need to Finish What I Started"
- "Turn the Gas Up"
- "Moses vs. The Monsters"
- "Moses the Hero"
- "The Ends" - Basement Jaxx
A good piece of research . Well done Laura.
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