Hot Fuzz and This is England Comparison essay

HOT FUZZ AND THIS IS ENGLAND COMPARISON ESSAY


How do Hot Fuzz and This is England appeal to a British audience?
This is England and Hot Fuzz are both directed by British Directors. Edga Wright directed Hot Fuzz and Shane Meadows directed This is England. Both directors use their own experiences to write their films, Shane Meadows uses his childhood experiences which are related to the film and Edga Wright uses past humorous film experiences and childhood wishes to make another humorous film. Both the films are made from British film companies. They are both made by British companies, This is England is made by Warp films which is a sister company of Warp Records, an English record label which was set up in the year 1999 and based in Sheffield, England. Hot Fuzz is made by Working title which is a British film production company, based in London, UK and is a mainstream covered by Universal. Hot Fuzz uses well known actors that are famous for working together and producing humorous films whereas This Is England uses brand knew actors which are unknown to the audience which is risky but also cheaper. Both films are located in England which relates to the British audience and both films incorporate elements of humour in them.

Shane Meadows grew up in an area like one that is used in This is England replicating the atmosphere that he lived in which shows the audience what life was like for him, it shows his experiences in the film which makes the film more realistic. He uses social realism and people that have been through the same situation as him will be able to recognize specific things that happened because it happened in their childhood. Many things that happen in the film are based on his early experiences, it aims at a British audience because people that have been through the same experiences will be British people and will be able to understand the humour and the events that happen in the film.
Edgar Wright uses his experiences in Hot Fuzz as he uses his own judgements ‘You kind of have to imagine yourself as the target market’ he uses his own judgement to make the films and as he is British he has a British mind set so people will be able to get the humour and understand the film. The film is based on personality and his childhood dreams. He uses his experiences from his film Shaun of the dead to produce a film that is similar to it because it sold so well so he uses elements from it to produce Hot Fuzz e.g. repeating the use of characters. British people that have already watched the British film Shaun of the dead will want to watch Hot Fuzz.    

Shane Meadows used a range of completely unknown actors in his film, it was a very risky strategy but it worked, also it was cheaper to do because you wouldn’t have to pay them as much as known actors. He used unknown actors to focus more on the British stereotypes rather than the characters themselves; it makes you think more about the stereotypes e.g. skin heads. It appeals to the British audience and an audience which is more interested in Britain itself. He also used actors which were less known because it means people will focus more on the stereotypes rather than the actors themselves and how the stereotypes relate to Britain in the past.
Edga Wright is famous for his work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost so he used them in Hot Fuzz because people liked them acting together so he decided instead of making a sequel to Shaun of the dead which is what most people wanted he made which would have put pressure on Edgar to make another outstanding Shaun of the dead film but instead he decided to make Hot Fuzz which was a new film with the same actors. Also a lot of famous actors had volunteered and asked to be in the film because they know Edgar is a good director and know the film will be popular. Edgar uses a lot of stock actors, this is good because it saves money auditioning and also it means he knows it’s going to be popular because the actors are popular. By using these famous British actors it ensures people to watch the film and also as them being most famous in Britain, mostly British people will watch the film as they are aware of the characters.

This is England had a budget of 1 million which is a small budget for a film but by using a small budget it means that they could make more profit. The small budget means there is less money for special effects and advertising of the film but also it means as there is less money for special effects it may provide a more realistic view of the film. It will provide a realistic view of what Britain was like and this appeals to a British audience because they can see the realistic side of Britain and what is was like.

Hot Fuzz used a budget of 8 million which is a massive contrast to that used in This is England. The bigger budget means that they would have had more money to advertise their film so that more people were aware of it and also it means that they can use more special effects which makes it more of an action film and makes it more humorous because it shows things that may not happen in reality. Hot Fuzz can use more detailed camera work and editing and can also make it more professional looking. 

This is England is set in Grimsy, Nottinghamshire, where there are a lot of council houses, showing it’s a lower class area, it is set in areas that are cheap to film which keeps the budget down. It is in a British area so helps relate to a British audience.
Hot Fuzz is set in London and Standford, Gloucester village and both have their own police station which is where Simon and Nick work. The atmosphere in Standford is somewhat different to that of London and we see a difference in the two British locations.

The use of stereotypes in This is England are the use of skin heads to show what gangs were like in the past and how different and similar it is to nowadays, it relates to a British audience because it’s showing past experiences of Britain and past Stereotypes.
The use of stereotypes in Hot Fuzz the stereotypes of the different types of police officers are used, the harsher police force in London and the non caring police force in Standford. The difference of the two characters makes the film humorous because they contrast with each other. The use of stereotypes in this aims at a British audience because they are what we see police officers like stereotypically.

To conclude the use of all these elements in This is England and Hot Fuzz relates to a British audience. The directors using their own experiences make the films more realistic to what British people like and their past. Shane Meadows use of his own childhood experiences makes the film appeal to the British audience because British people will want to know what life was like in the past in their country and people that have been through the same experiences will watch it, in contrast Hot Fuzz doesn’t use his childhood experiences but instead using his childhood dreams and his own judgments making himself the target market so being British we get the humour and what’s happening etc. The use of using unknown actors in This is England appeals to a British audience because they focus more on the stereotypes, in contrast in Hot Fuzz they use actors which people are aware of which pulls in British people to watch the film as they are aware of the actors and how humorous they are. The contrasts of budgets makes a difference between the films because they have a different visual effect, Hot Fuzz has more of a more professional look to it and This is England has more of a realistic look to it so British audiences will want to watch the films because of the realisticness of This is England and the unrealistic view in Hot Fuzz which makes it more humorous because it shows thing that wouldn’t happen in real life. The settings of each of the films are in British areas which make the play appeal to a British audience because they know of the area and know the background of the area. The use of stereotypes in the films makes the films more humorous because it over exaggerates them. Hot Fuzz is a comedy film so it is very funny and people that have watched Shaun of the dead will want to watch Hot Fuzz because they know the high standards of Edgars British films. This is England uses the stereotype of skinheads and gangs which make the film more rougher and this appeals to a British audience because there are a lot of gangs in Britain so people British people will watch it to see what gang violence was like in the past. The films relate to a British audience because they have specific elements which relate to Britain which pulls in British people to watch the film and be interested in watching the film because of the humour, stereotypes etc. which shows why British people watch both the films.