This document provides information about the 2008 low-budget British film "Shifty" including its production, distribution, marketing, and reception. It was made through the UK Film Council's Microwave scheme which funds films with budgets under £100,000. Though the film found success in UK theaters and received international distribution, its marketing relied heavily on viral campaigns and targeting niche audiences through unconventional methods like pirate radio and social media. The case study examines how "Shifty" was able to achieve success on a minimal budget through innovative distribution and audience engagement strategies.

1. Film Industry
Case Study

2. Summary!

3. Team Challenge
You have ten mins to write down EVERYTHING
you remember about the film
Do it quietly as you don’t want others to steal your
ideas…..
Production Marketing Distribution ExhibitionProduction Marketing Distribution Exhibition
AudienceAudience
SWAP
You now need to ‘fact check’ another groups work
(your own brains, books, Google, Miss Hill Brain)
Write down up to five points that are not on the
sheet that you think the group needs to know

4. SHIFTY - Introduction
oIn recent years the production
budgets for British films have been
falling
oWas £2-3 million – Now £1-2 million
oThere has been an expansion in films
of very low budget - known as
‘micro-budget’

5. SHIFTY - Introduction
o Shifty was made in 2008 under the
Microwave scheme (UK Film Council)
o Microwave was set up to widen
participation and access for young
London-based filmmakers
o The scheme offers support for films to be
made in 18 days and with a budget of less
than £100,000

6. SHIFTY - Introduction
The film was written and directed by Eran
Creevy
It is the second Microwave film to be
released
Released on 24th
April 2009
Opened with 51 prints through
independent distributor Metrodome

7. SHIFTY - Introduction
Opening weekend – took £61,000
After 3 weeks down to 12 prints after
taking over £131,000
Final box office - £244,579
Note: that the release used both
traditional celluloid and digital prints

8. SHIFTY - Introduction
However, the cinema release for a film
such as Shifty is mainly a marketing
platform not a revenue generator
The majority of the revenue will come
form the DVD/Blu-Ray rental and direct
sales, television, cable and satellite

9. Marketing
The film was distributed by Metrodome who
marketed the film in the following ways:
Spent about £50,000 on prints,
administration and advertising
They felt that the film was similar to
Kidulthood/Adulthood and wanted to reach a
similar audience – known as Urban Genre
They wanted to reach a young, urban
audience

10. Marketing
However, to maximise the reach of the film
Metrodome produced three trailers all tailored to
appeal to different audiences
It was felt that the film could also appeal to the
middle-class Guardian reading audience
The trailer targeting this audience featured a
more classical style soundtrack whilst the ‘urban’
trailer featured a hip-hop style soundtrack that
didn’t actually feature in the film

11. Marketing
How to attract the young
‘urban’ audience?
 This audience is highly
proficient with New Media
Technologies
Therefore a low-cost
high-tech campaign
would be the best way to
reach the target audience

12. Marketing
To reach the target audience, adverts ran
on pirate radio stations
Fly-posters were used
The poster was simple & eye-catching
with a bold yellow background
‘Business cards’ representing the
character of Shifty as a drug-dealer were
distributed which included the website

13. Marketing
A viral marketing campaign was used via
email
Emails were sent to various opinion
formers in the media (e.g. The editor of
Time Out magazine)
The email appeared to be from an official
community organisation that had identified
the recipient as a possible drug dealer
There was a link at the bottom of the
email to the official Shifty website

14. Marketing
There was a complaint to the Advertising
Standards Authority and the email was
banned
However, the publicity actually helped to
raise the profile of the film
A further viral campaign suggested that
recipients ‘frame a friend’
Again the links took you to the Shifty
website

15. Marketing
The website included a competition
whereby music from the film (by Molly
Nyman and Harry Escott) could be
downloaded and remixed to create a new
track
The website stated:
‘We’re looking for remixes in a wide range
of styles, from dubstep to classical, the
choice is yours’

16. Marketing
The remixed track could then be uploaded
and the producer of the best track would
win:
‘£500 and time in a studio to complete
your track with a professional producer’
Music was also recorded by the star of the
film Riz Ahmed who is also a professional
musician
Some of the tracks could be downloaded
free from the website

17. Marketing
A music video was also created that was
uploaded to Youtube
There were also pages on Facebook,
Myspace, Bebo

18. Conclusion
The marketing of the film represents an
example of cross-media convergence
with:
Posters
Radio (adverts on pirate radio)
A website
Social networking sites (Facebook,
Myspace, Bebo)
Email – viral marketing

19. Conclusion
Music – MP3 downloads
CD – the soundtrack
Youtube – the music video
Cinema and television trailers (also on
Youtube)
DVD/Blu-Ray
www.shiftyfilm.com

20. Case Study - Shifty
Key Issues
 UK film aimed at a national/local audience
 Traditional UK film genre
 Ultra low budget production via National Lottery UK Film
Council / Film London
 Typical UK film funding
 Metrodome distributors
 Interesting use of viral marketing, film festival and award
ceremony
 Produced with DVD extras and sales in mind

21. Case Study - Shifty
1. UK film aimed at a national audience
 Shifty is a typical British ‘success’ story.
 Filmed on a shoestring budget, director
Eran Creevy was still able to create this
character-led, well-crafted, cinematic
piece as his first feature film.
Eran Creevy - Well established in the
world of music promos and commercials,
he has been honing his craft for a good few
years before turning his hand to features.
http://www.thereel.net/blog.php?article_id=172 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkYhQoLEDzA

22. Case Study - Shifty
The actors - As his first feature, it was obviously a risk
for well known actor Daniel Mays (Atonement and Vera
Drake) and up-and-coming actor Riz Ahmed (Brits and
Deadset) to undertake but, with Eran’s well-written script,
insightful character observation and on-point direction,
what was created in only three weeks certainly was
impressive.

23. Case Study - Shifty
2. Traditional UK film genre
 The story tells of 24hrs in the life of your ‘friendly
neighbourhood crack dealer’ and doesn’t adhere to the
often, stereotypical workings of previous British,
working-class, grimy gangster flicks.
 It’s a character led film that has its feet firmly on the
ground. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not and
there’s no glossing over the grim realities of a story
based on a childhood friend of Eran.
 Genre - contemporary, urban thriller with a strong
element of social realism. More Ken Loach and
Mike Leigh than Guy Ritchie or kidulthood!

24. Case Study - Shifty
3. Ultra low budget production
 Microwave challenges film-makers to shoot a full length film for up to £100,000.
The scheme will provide an intensive approach to film-making, with an emphasis
on tightly focused scripts, short production schedules and commercial
potential.
 Microwave offers a unique professional mentoring scheme from leading
industry figures.
 Film London and its partners will also offer a range of assistance including in-
kind support from leading facilities and service companies, waived locations
fees from many of London’s local authorities, and a generous ‘revenue share’
model which will enable producers to utilise the UK’s new tax credit to secure a
40% share of receipts. Completed projects will have the opportunity to
showcase at the annual London UK Film Focus sales event as well as at major
international markets.

25. Rory Aitken - Producer
 The Microwave Scheme challenges filmmakers to make
films for £100,000. You could make it for less, but for no
more. It's run by Film London so they oversee the
production and you have to go through various stages of
applications. The last one of which they call Micro-school
and that's a week where you spend time with experienced
people in the industry who talk you through your film and
you try to develop it in various directions - to the script, the
budget and who you're going to get to act in it etc. - and
then you have to pitch the film to about 10 people on a
panel for 15 minutes which is the most terrifying bit of it all.
They then gave us half the money and we had to raise the
other half. Then they helped us make the film with that
very, very low budget.

26. Case Study - Shifty
4. Typical UK film funding
 The average budget for a domestic UK film
in 2009 was £3.3 million.
 Independent The Duchess, In Bruges, Son of Rambow
 UK Film Council productions Bright Star, In the
Loop
 TV Co-productions
 BBC The Duchess, Fish Tank, Revolutionary Road
 Film4 Slumdog Millionaire, Nowhere Boy
 European co-productions Adulthood
 Anglo-American co-productions Mamma Mia!,
Quantum of Solace and The Dark Knight

27. Case Study - Shifty
 Interesting use film festival and award
ceremony
As part of the microwave project Shifty premiered at
The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival on Friday
24 October 2008 at Odeon West End.
Shifty was also nominated for a FIPRESCI
International Critics Award for best first or second
feature and later for 5 British Independent Film
Awards.
Shifty had some great reviews off the back of the
screenings from the Daily Mail, Time Out included it
as one of their three ‘Picks of the Festival’, Heat
magazine called it ‘Ace!’, and The Observer called it
their ‘personal discovery of the festival’.

28.  Metrodome distributors
Following the London Film Festival
screening in October Shifty had interest from
several distributors.
Rory Aitken – ‘We went to meet several
interested parties individually to discuss the
film, and after some negotiations with them
all, we went with Metrodome - a great UK
distributor who did Donnie Darko, and Oscar-
winning The Counterfeiters last year’.

29.  So what did the distributor Metrodome find attractive about
Shifty?
 Metrodome acquired Shifty having seen it in 2008 and I think the
first and most important point is that cinema can be so much more
than big studio blockbusters. I think great British cinema, can be
about a place that you might live, about people you might know. It
can involve stories that might be familiar to you. It really doesn't
have to be an Americanised view of the world. There's some
fantastic cinema out there which comes from Britain, from London
and other regions, and I think really in distributing films like Shifty
we're just trying to get people to see how diverse cinema is in Britain
today.
 One of the important things for Metrodome about Shifty was -
although it is an urban genre film which obviously brings to mind
Bullet Boy, Kidulthood & Adulthood it's not just a group of anecdotes
and stories about drug dealing scrapes and the police. At the heart
of it, there are two people getting to know each other again after four
years apart and a universal story about friendship. So although it is
an urban genre film, it's very important that it's telling a real story.

30.  What kind of challenges did a film like ‘Shifty’ present in
marketing terms?
 The marketing challenge for us is telling people who we think would
be interested in the film that it's coming and it's out there and we
have to do it in such a way that you feel you can make an informed
decision.
 It can be a struggle for a small company because we can't spend
the level of money that a Hollywood blockbuster would spend so we
have to try and be clever about how we do things and I think we
have to be sure that when we speak to the target audience that
we're doing it in such a way that they feel that the tone is right and
represents the film
 To do that we're used a mixture of TV and ads on things like pirate
radio. We did fly-posting. The poster of the film was really designed
to be eye-catching and simple but really we always said the poster
needed to be quite exhibitionist. A show-off poster - just so it's big
and loud and yellow - but we also need to be able to give you an
idea of what the subject matter of the film is without spelling out that
it's about drug dealing as that may be a problem for some people.

31. Case Study - Shifty
 International Distribution
Shifty went on to further success and secured a
distribution deal in Australia. The newly set-up
distribution arm of Curious Film, based in Sydney,
handled the release.
 Deals like this signify the increasing opportunities for independent
films to reach audiences globally.
 Mia Bays, Creative Executive for Microwave, went to Australia to
give a keynote speech in which she gave her tips for making a little
go a long way.
Her top tips urged film-makers to make sure they had a
clear motivation, story and vision for their films and
emphasised the importance of teamwork. However, she
maintained that getting your film made is only the first
step – “half your job is making the film, the other half is
getting it out to the world”.

32. Case Study - Shifty
 Interesting use of viral marketing
'Drugs' email banned by ad watchdog
‘Shifty’ email viral campaign banned
 An email marketing campaign for the British film Shifty that
encouraged people to "stitch up a mate" by making them think
they were being investigated by police for drugs offences has
been banned by the advertising regulator.
 The website promoting the movie, which charts a bad day in
the life of a drug dealer, allowed web users to anonymously
send a friend an email with the headline "Criminal
Investigation".
 The email, which was sent from a ficticious police department,
told the recipient they had been named by someone caught in a
class-A drugs swoop by police as a "habitual narcotics user".

36.  Produced with DVD sales in mind…!
Throughout the production period, a
selection of accompanying material
will be produced such as documentary
footage of the films being made, as well
as transcripts of seminars and
interviews. This will be made universally
available as an online learning
resource for all micro-budget film-
makers.

38. Case Study - Shifty
 Exhibition
With the BBC as Microwave’s broadcast
partner even the eventual screening of the
film on TV is already organised.

39. How would you answer this
question?
Does a film achieve success because of
its appeal or because of the money given
over to distribution and marketing?

40. Homework
Using your own knowledge and the handout to
help fill in the seven boxes on your revision
sheet.
Remember that these are the seven key areas
that the essay question could be on…..