Shifty

“Shifty” An Independent British Thriller.

“Shifty” is a British Film that was made in 2008 as part of the microwave scheme The microwave scheme provided young London film makers with a platform to make a small independent film.

The rules of the microwave scheme were that the film had to be made in 18 days and with a budget of less than £100,000. “Shifty” was the second Microwave film to be released and opened in 51 small independent cinemas including the Curzon chain and on its opening weekend it took £61,000. The final box office takings were £143,000. Most of the film’s profits came from DVD and television sales.

“Shifty” was distributed by Metrodome. They spent £50,000 on making celluloid prints, administration and advertising of the film. The intention was to attract two different audiences. The first of which was the middle class audience that regularly sees small independent films at independent cinemas. In addition they wanted to attract a new, younger urban audience. This audience had made “Kidulthood” and “Adulthood” profitable.

Targeting Audiences and Cross Media Convergence

In order to target both audiences, Metrodome produced different trailers. Interestingly the trailer targeting the youth audience had a soundtrack of ‘hip hop’ music. However, there was no soundtrack in the actual film.

In addition Metrodome ran adverts on pirate radio stations, used Fly Posters (which are illegal) and gave out ‘business cards’ which made Shifty look like a drug dealer and directed the recipient to a website. In addition to this, a music video was uploaded to promote the film. The music video used audio suitable for a younger audience. This lead to more exposure for the film.

Furthermore, emails were sent out virally that made shifty look like a drug dealer, these emails were banned, however the publicity generated had already helped promote the film.

Finally, Metrodome targeted the youth audience through a competition offering £500 worth of studio time to young musicians. The winner of the competition had the chance to work with a musician who starred in the film.

Synopsis
"Shifty" isa thriller that builds slowly. There are three parts to the story. The first part is the fact that Chris, a young man in his twenties visit his best friend back home, who he hasn't seen for years. We are lead to believe that something awful happened.

We quickly learn that Shifty has become a drug dealer.This creates a realistic picture of urban life as shifty has to make a living illegally. The second part of the story is about Trevor, a drug addict, the film follows his search for drugs as e becomes more and more desperate.

The third part to the film involves Glen, who places Shifty in danger by lying and claims shifty is short changing his supplier. The film builds towards a climax which takes the audience by surprise.