Hot Fuzz and This is England Comparison.

Compare how Hot Fuzz and this is England appeal to a British audience.

The directors of both films are British, Shane Meadows was the director for This is England and Edgar Wright for Hot Fuzz. Both of their films were based somehow on their own experiences.  Both were also British film companies ‘This is England’ was done by warp films which is an independent film company whereas hot fuzz was done by working title which is owned by universal, this is a mainstream film company.

Both directors used their own experiences, Edgar Wright used his own judgements based on his personality and his childhood dreams, he thinks of himself as the target audience so that he makes the film for people who would enjoy the same things as him and has the same kind of sense of humour, however Shane Meadows did also use his own experiences but more realistic than Wrights who’s was more based on his dreams. This links to the British target audience because this happened to a British person, his childhood shows the social realism of the 80’s.  The budget for the films are very different , this would be because one is an independent film and the other mainstream. This is England’s budget was £1,000,000 however Hot Fuzz had a much bigger budget of £8,000,000. The cast also aimed the films at a British audience because in both films, British actors were used, however the difference was in Hot Fuzz all of the actors were well known and in This Is England they were all unknown actors, this cast created the perfect eighties stereotype for the skinheads with the doc martins and living in a rough area, this cast would be recognised for their appearance throughout the film whereas in hot fuzz the actors were already well known and it is stereotypical because of the location and the setting , especially of the ‘Metro Police’.

Hot Fuzz was set in Glouster and also in Sandford Village, however This is England was set in Grimsby in Nottinghamshire which are all British location which again appeals to the British Audience.  The humour in the films are very different.  Shane Meadows used a lot of bullying and swearing to put across the humour in his film, also to show this the actors laughed within the film at their own jokes rather than just the audience laughing at the film, however in Hot Fuzz the audience is expected to laugh at the film rather than the characters laughing within the film because they are meant to be serious.

This is England had more of an Artistic Edge and slower pace  using the camera work than hot fuzz, this showed a more natural and realistic feel to the film which means we could relate better to it, the music also synchronises with the film more, both films had close-ups in their films this would be to make sure we understand the characters facial expressions. Hot Fuzz had a much faster pace and the events weren’t as realistic, this helps us to understand that the film is imitating other films such as bad boys 2. Iconography is very important in both films and this worked well to appeal to a British audience, in Hot Fuzz the Black Taxi represents Britain along with the underground being shown and the Metro Police. A lot more however was shown in This Is England , a montage has been used in this film at the beginning to show the setting of the film and British event that have already happened and this was a really good way to show that British people was the target audience for Shane Meadows film. In the montage images of Margret Thatcher were used along with clips from the news in the eighties of riots, also shown were skinheads wearing doc martins and British flags, this showed the social realism and meant the audience could really connect with the film and feel like it was filmed at that time which is what Shane Meadows wanted to achieve. A clip of Roland Rat was shown, which was on television in the eighties and the audience would also be able to re late to this time through showing this.

Both films appeal to British audience very well and very differently, the humour in This is England is used a lot more to do this than in Hot Fuzz I think because it is more realistic, however I also think that because the film companies are different and Hot Fuzz had a bigger budget and well known British actors this would help massively to get a British audience’s attention. The stereotypes in both films are used well, they both show the British just at different times and this is also shown through iconography.