For one of the scenes in the film we are going to use the music of a Neo-Nazi band called scerwdriver.
Scerwdriver formed as a punk rock band in 1976 by Ian Stuart Donaldson. They spilt in 1979. Ian Stuart Donaldson started the band up again in 1982 but with different members. The reformed Skrewdriver eventually became openly supportive of far right wing groups, after a period of denying such claims. In stead of seeing them selves as a Neo-Nazi band they prefer the term British National Socialist. The band became associated with groups such as the National Front and British National Party, and raised funds for them through the White Noise record label. They released records on Rock-O-Rama, a record label that became known for far right sympathies. Skrewdriver was instrumental in setting up Blood and Honour , a network of bands promoting militant Neo-Nazi ideas through music and concerts.

information take from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skrewdriver
for more info one them visit
http://www.bloodandhonourworldwide.co.uk/
http://www.bloodandhonour.com/index.php

postproduction

The editing is going well. To distinguish between past and present, I have put a blue tint on the footage of the past. It will also be darker to show the audience that this is a time that the main character isn't happy with. It is a time he wishes he could forget (thus why he is getting his tattoo removed).

Another point is that I have placed a flash of light as a transition between past and present footage to show the passage of time (flashback).

For the soundtrack, I am making the music on Soundtrack (a piece of software that accompanies final cut pro). Some of the music will be based on a band called Skrewdriver. They are a white supremacist band so the music will be used during the skinhead scenes.

filming

We have shot the film over a weekend. It went well but we had a problem with actors. We had to characters cast but still needed actors for the other characters. We solved this problem with some group members playing minor roles.



Half way through filming we shaved our main actor's hair so that it is a different length in the past and present. However, his hair was already short to begin with so there isn't much difference.



We also filmed on location at the pub and tattooist. They were very successful.









When we went to pick up our equipment, for some reason the date was changed so we had to use equipment that was left over. Since it was a busy weekend we were given equipment that wasn't in the best condition. We were given a panasonic camera, which no-one knew how to use at first. Also, it couldn't be changed to 16:9 so the footage is in 4:3. We also booked tracking but since our booking was change, we couldn't get any out.

However, we took what we were given and shot the film. Some of the footage does look good and I am in the process of editing it.

locations

We went on a location scout to find a tattooists and a pub to film at for the film.

We found a great tattooists with a waiting room and a separate room for tattooing in the back. They gave us permission to film on Friday 30th November.



However, it was harder to find a pub to film inside of. Most said no because they were part of a chain. We did find a pub that looks like a house on the exterior but is perfect inside. They gave us permission to film a scene on Saturday 1st December.



We are also going to the museum on the Stoke campus on Wednesday 28th November to hire out props for the film.

actors

We have struggled to find actors and as the shooting date looms it is becoming frustrating. We have managed to contact actors through www.starnow.com but all have said they do not want to shave their heads.

However we have found an actor who will do this and will be our main character.

script

We wrote the first draft of the script and then we showed it to John. The script was very long and was very basic. We then looked at a film called The Limey. We looked at how the film is broken up by past and present events. We also saw how somethings were left out but we knew they were happening e.g. when the main character shoots at a gang that have beaten him up inside a warehouse. We do not see the killings but we see the shots being fired. We decided to incorporate this into the new script.

Here is a link to the script:
http://clearskyfilmsfirstscript.blogspot.com/

This is much better because it's cut down and is more filmic. The initial story follows the main character as he is about to have a racist tattoo removed. During his journey he remembers when he was apart of a skinhead gang.

ideas

Sunday night we had another meeting and started thinking of more film ideas. after chatting we decided on this as a rough idea.

Guy comes into his bedroom and checks his answer machine. As the answer machine is playing he walks over to his mirror to look at a new swastika tattoo on his chest. The message left is to meet his friends at the pub. After looking he begins to get ready to go out and leaves the room.

The guy is walking toward the pub and sees his mates about to enter so he runs to catch up with them. As they walk to a table they begin to chat.

A few subject ideas for them to talk about:

One asks the guy how did the job go?

Talking about a leader figure being arrested

messing around with the guy saying he hasn't been in a fight yet

Whilst they are in the pub the guy looks to the window and an ethnic is strolling on past. He asks if anyone else saw, one guy reacts and they both head out to walk after this guy. They catch up with the guy and start pushing him about and get him against the wall. They start having a go at the guy saying he shouldn't have stared into the pub. The other guy blames the ethnic for taking our guys job opportunity(subject from earlier at the table) the guy is worried and begins to apologies for everything and cowers back. Our guy turns to laugh and joke with the rest of his mates who are onlooking, during this time the other main guy steps in and starts hitting the guy with the other group members closely following. Our guy steps back and is looking on at what is going on. He decides to run, the guys from the group are shouting out to him as he runs.

Into the future, our guy is sat in the waiting room of a tattooist with his girlfriend. The tattooist comes out and says 'Lets get rid of this then' and our guy walks in.

More Research

We were looking round the net for information, videos etc. about the training and initiation members of Skinhead and Nationalist groups go through. We found this video from National Geographic about a group of Skinheads in Baltimore in the United States.



It describes how they look for people with a high level of physicality, must be devoted to the groups commandments and do whatever the group asks of them. You can see White Power flags around the room, a lot of the members have tattoos of Swastikas, made popular in Nazi Germany and Sig Runes, which is a Nazi SS insignia.

It also describes the reason why these men have joined this group, mainly becuase they have been wronged or hard done-by, they beileve their masculinity is being taken away by such things alike Feminism, Liberalism, the taking away of manufacturing jobs what they usually see as some kind of "jewish conspiracy. It shows the moves and techniques they use to fight, and also shows a new member joining the group.


Roots of the Skinhead



This film is where the skinhead began and the reggee music joining both White and Black skinsheads together but they were not necesserily fighting for the same cause.

Skin

Skin by Sarah Kane





John showed us Skin. It's a short film written by Sarah Kane about a Skinhead. We all thought that the scene where he has his tattos removed with a scourer was very well done. We also liked the fact that the skinhead changes after meeting a black woman who he falls for but then she turns out to be using him to humiliate him.

We also need to research into why people become skinheads, racists, extremists, join the BNP etc.

Meeting

We had a group meeting on Tuesday 13th November. We discussed ideas we had thought of and turned them into three solid ideas for the film:

Idea 1

A member of the main character's family is killed in the 7/7 London bombings. He seeks answers to his questions by attending a BNP meeting in which he is pulled in by their ideological views on not allowing any race or foreigner live in this country. However, he begins to mix with the extremists and finds himslef in a position he doesn't want to be in.

Idea 2

Follows a reporter undercover to reveal the racists within the political parties such as the BNP. He has gone as far as getting a swastika tattoo to prove that he is a part of the group. However, whilst on their way to a meeting, one of the extremists he is with starts a fight with a passing person who turns out to be a migrant or someone who is on redwatch. He is forced into a dilemma, does he blow his cover to help this person or does he let this happen so that his cover isn't blown.

Idea 3

A skinhead is getting ready for his initiation into his group. A person that is hated by the group (e.g. an immgrant) is talking about getting ready for his interview. We never see him, only the skinhead. This shows the similarities and the contrast between the two. The skinhead meets up with the group and as part of his initiation he has to beat someone up. They do so but it goes too far and the skindhead runs away.

We think that there is too much content in the ideas but it can be cut down. All of the group decided that the third idea is the better of the three. We met with John to discuss them.

Further Research:

Ross Kemp of gangs - Season 2, Episode 2 - Moscow
as further reason, This episode which looks at Moscow’s vicious Neo-Nazi gangs to discover who is behind a recent wave of racist attacks and hate crimes; and uncovers the extent to which these National Socialist groups are gaining power in the country. by watching this i hope we can gain an insite into the mentallity of these right wing organizations .

• These gangs have a heavy presence on the internet…. Videos of them doing racist attacks, propaganda videos.
  
  
  
  
  

• Nio-Nazi – National socialist society – have links with skinheads and combat training. this training is classed as training for momentous events that will happen in future. Training for the moment to defend the motherland, and their people (True White Russians.) , against the Islam the Muslims…but they are many enemies. They have plans for civil war between people that "realise that the country is in a critical situation and the people that don’t care." It would seem that their idea of enemy is pretty abstract, yet they use Islam as Muslims as a way to recrite new members stating "If people think about terrorist attacks, if you don’t have the same views after that then you don’t deserve being called “people." "were training people for street fighting, not sports competitions," Dimitry leader of the party states himself. “we are the most feared political party, we bring fear to the streets.”
• When addressing actual Skinheads, they state their reasoning for the attacks, stating "Scars are decorations for a fist, its beautiful to have a scar, In the desert there are aggressive wild animals, you have to hunt them, if you don’t they attack the peaceful population. If you kill 1, and thousand immigrants wont come."
• The National socialist party though do not openly admit to racial attacks, though its pretty obvious they do. they differ themselfs from Skinheads by stating, "we understand that just street violence alone doesn’t solve problems," but they don’t say its wrong.
• Seem to have a deranged vision of the future. Stating "When we take power, the first thing to do is to arrest all the corrupt officals and decide the fate of each of them, we would then have to put in their place, young guys that are fighting in the streets and have no experience of government, of course it wont be easy. 2nd priority is to get rid of all the immigrants, they need to be put in camps and prisons like the corrupt officials"
• Ideologies based on mien-camp and Hitler’s rise to power
• Ross talks to an writer of a famous right wing book. Dimitry author of this apparent work of fiction, admits book is based on personal experiences as a skinhead. “in the next carriage the skinheads stood by the door, watch the communication door, don’t attempt to attack all together. The immigrant woke up and saw that he was surrounded by angry skinheads. He looked around in desperation. Twice the Immigrant tried to get to his feed, but the skinheads pushed him down. The skinhead where removing their belts and chains. The air was electrified with calm and calculated hatred. There was nothing left for him to do, but await the execution. There was a countdown in everyones head, Four, Three, Two, One. Lets go. “Why the fuck did you come here? Bitch, Die, Die” having arrived home they phoned each other to make sure everyone had arrived home safely. At 3 o’clock in the morning they were asleep with the sense that they had fulfilled their duty."
• Since the book was written the movement has made a step forward. Victims are no longer beaten up…but stabbed to death.
• The right wing can speak so openly about these attacks because Convictions against race hate crime are very rare. Several cases even involve police. Corrupt police make situation a lot worse. Threaten immigrants with crime or even death if the don’t pay up. This makes right wing gangs think they are above the law.
• They even have supporters in the russian parliament,
  Nikolai Kurianovich – Member of the state parliament is a fan of Hitler and starlin. Likes the spirituality of union of far right portrayed in books of the 4rd reich and films. The “Imperial power”, he believes Migrant workers should be used as cheap labour, A form of slavery. Shouldn’t be allowed to be Russian citizen. Work, Pay tax, go home. and that the removal of passports from white Russian women that go out with “Blacks” should be put in place.
• This is becoming a major problem in cities such as Moscow, where 1/3 of the population and immigrants.

Clips from this episode can be seen here... www.youtube.com/result?search_query=Ross+Kemp+Moscow

research

Here are some videos on youtube to look at as research for our idea:

The Battle of Cable Street




The Battle of Lewisham





The young BNP in Stoke

First meeting of Clear Sky Films. All group turned up and was a productive session. Wrote a list of subjects we thought would be interesting and then researched them.

Islamophobia.

Definition- Islamophobia is the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture. Islamophobia can be characterised by the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy.

It is viewed as a new form of racism whereby Muslims, an ethno-religious group, not a race, are nevertheless constructed as a race.

A set of negative assumptions are made of the entire group to the detriment of members of that group.

During the 1990's many sociologists and cultural analysts observed a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on skin colour to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness.

(definition found at http://www.islamophobia-watch.com/islamophobia-a-definition/)

Ideas related to this subject would be a documentary following a Muslim showing the racial hatred he receives of just being a Muslim.

Human Trafficking
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5343036.stm Good information on what human trafficking is and the human trafficking situation in the UK.

Immigrants
would look at the situation of immigrants in the UK and what it is doing to the unemployment statistics and the way they are treated.

Yob Culture
Meaning young people acting in a violent way for no reason. hanging in streets causing trouble and when ask to leave they attack and some times kill. some times young group just attack random strangers. we ask why do they do this and who is to blame.


MP's idiots or not?
looking at Mp's to find out if they actually do anything. do they do it for self gain or to improve the way of life for others.

Terrorists

for film ideas we talked about:
looking at a terrorist orginisation and how they set up for a terrorist attack and then them being found out by police or goverment.

National parties

Here we began to think about nationalist parties such as 'skin heads,' BNP and other organisatiosns that don't believe in accepting foreigners and other races into the country.

For the film idea we wanted to show the violent nature of these groups and how they go about their work. For the main character we wanted to have a more passive member of the gang that isnt too sure if what he has decided to become is the right thing.