FAST GIRLS

PRE-PRODUCTION• The original inspiration for “Fast Girls” came from producer

Damian Jones. He was always influenced by athletics and was fascinated by the idea of these dedicated talents training to get into the public spotlight throughout competitions and games.  Jones suggested the idea to Noel Clarke and they developed his idea with co-writer Jay Basu. “The basic focus of the story is a British female sprint relay team who take home a gold medal against all odds and the journey explores their individual and collective differences”-Jones.

• As for the casting of Fast Girls it was difficult to find people who didn't just have to act, but they had to train at the same time and maintain their fitness levels throughout filming, they had to convince the audience that they were really athletes and not actors pretending to be athletes. British female Olympians Jeanette Kwakye and Shani Anderson, who were introduced to the 'Fast Girls' team to coach the Fast Girls and they are both proud that a film is finally being made about their field.

PRODUCTION• For Fast Girls there were three production companies that helped produce the film. All of the

companies were not well known however they did all specify in British films. The three companies were Aegis Film Fund, Ealing Metro International and DJ films. BFI also helped with the presentation of the film as well as Studio Canal. These two companies are well known for helping small independent films start off, just like Fast Girls. BFI have helped produce just over 500 films and have produced just over 200 films. In addition to this, Studio Canal been a production, distribution and miscellaneous company for over 200 different films.

• Aegis Film Fund had previously produced other British films such as Chalet Girl, The Horrid Henry Movie, St Trinians 2 and The Kings Speech. Aegis Film Fund seem to be the most successful out of the three compared to other producer, as all of these companies are only small, but are helping film makers too distribute their films by helping them financially as well as with their marketing, distribution and production.

• DJ Films was founded y Damien Jones and he personally helped to produce other films such as Thunderpants, Kidulthood and Millions. However, DJ Films as company have produced minimal films such as Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, The Iron Lady and StaightHeads.

• Ealing Metro International specialize in prestige films for sophisticated audiences and they also represent broad commercial thrillers and art-house films as well as their theatrical documentaries.

DISTRIBUTION• Fast Girls’ distribution company was Studio Canal, however abroad there was

different companies. For example Germany: Capelight Pictures, Netherlands: Film1 and Portugal: Zon Audiovisuais. Studio Canal is is a French film production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world.

• The film was launched at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, as well as this the cast also promoted the film at the 2012 Cannes film festival to secure an international distributor for the movie.

• Premiere of the film took place in Leicester Square weeks before the 2012 summer Olympics, which was the year they took place in London. The red carpet had track marks to symbolise an athletics track; significant within the film. It was on general release in the UK on June 15th 2012. With it being released before the olympics, people were in the spirit of sports in the UK therefore a wider range of people were enthusiastic about watching the film.

The official trailer was released April 4th 2012, 2 months ahead of the release.

Official Film Poster

Marketing the film around the build up to the Olympics inspire those to chase their dreams and people are already in the spirit of Olympics, therefore there is more influence around the film popularity.

FILM MAKERSRegan Hall- Director• Regan Hall graduated from film school in New Zealand and started his career as an editor in

Wellington, home to Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop. He moved to the UK in 2000 and soon after, started his own production company, Progression Media, producing and directing films for the advertising, fashion and music industries. Hall made his drama debut with the emotive and engaging short film 3 Hours, an Iraqi war drama, showing the human side of war. The award-winning film was shot in Jordan, in Arabic with and Iraqi cast and drew major industry support from the team behind the Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker.

Damian Jones- Producer• Damian Jones' was successful with his most recently released international feature film, the Academy

Award-winning The Iron Lady, for which Meryl Streep received the Oscar, the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for Best Actress.Other major feature film credits as producer include Mat Whitecross's acclaimed biopic of Ian Dury, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll. Other film credits include Straightheads, Thunderpants, Very Annie Mary, Some Voices, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, A Texas Funeral and Belle.

• Paul Brett and Graeme Law- Executive Producer• Roy Williams- Writer• Joy Basu- Co-Writer

FIGURES, RATINGS AND REVIEWS• Production Budget:

£50,000• Box Office-Foreign- $527,714United Kingdom- $1,207,241

• BBFC CERTIFICATE- 12A

• GENRE- Sport/Drama

• 89 Minutes running timeRATINGS

IMDb: 6.2/10Rotten Tomatoes: 82%The Guardian: 3/5

The Guardian associated Fast Girls with Bend it like Beckham due to its sport inspiration through the power of females. They also said: ’ This British film has energy and fun, and feels like the great niece of Chariots of Fire’. The Telegraph- ’There are some neat moments on the way to the finish line in

Regan Hall's debut feature Fast Girls.’ 3/5. Don’t pack away that bunting just yet: this streetwise British drama, designed to capitalize on the mounting zeal for all things Olympian, might have you prematurely cheering on Team GB.- This was posted on the 14th June 2012, therefore giving the public their opinion of the Olympic inspired film. This helped to promote the film to those who weren’t frequent fans of the cinema, simply looking forward to the games in summer 2012.

CAST• Lenora Crichlow- Shania Andrews• Phil Danis- Brian• Tiana Benjamin- Tara Andrews• Lily James- Lisa Temple• Rupert Graves- David Temple• Emma Fielding- Ellie Temple• Noel Clarke-Tommy Southern• Lashana Lynch- Belle Newman• Lorraine Burroughs- Trix Warren• Dominique Tipper- Sarah• Bradley James- Carl

Crichlow is the main actress within the film as well as Lily James. She had been in various amounts of films and TV shows before Fast Girls such as The Bill, Casualty, Wilderness, Death in Paradise and Material Girl. She also presented a few documentaries for a range of channels.

Lily James is presently well known for starring as the princess in Cinderella which was released in 2015; she has also starred in other series and films. She was involved within Pride and Prejudice, Downtown Abbey, War and Peace and Just William. She is also the main star in an upcoming 2017 film called Baby Driver.

TARGET AUDIENCE

To begin with the BBFC certificate was rated a 12A when it was released in the cinema, however when it was released on DVD it was taken down to a 12 in hope to sell it to a wider range of an audience, as this allows 12-15 to now watch it without parent supervision.

Fast Girls target audience is mainly aged 16-25, which follow the main age groups within the film. In addition to this, besides age this also was aimed at those who enjoy sport and was a promotion for the lead up to the Olympics. The timing of the release was well thought out as it managed to achieve a lot of views from people outside of their target audience.Themes:• Sport (Athletics)• Relationship ( love, friends, family)• Dreams

INTERVIEWS

Crichlow:’When I got my injury it felt like the hand of God was striking the film down.’ 'The problem was that I was using athletics spikes and hadn’t properly learnt how to run on them.’'In the short term we used body doubles and camera trickery to get around the fact that I was unable to run. When the film wrapped in December, I spent most of my time with my feet in an ice machine.’

Lily James:‘Training for the sword fight scenes in Titans alongside Liam Neeson was hard work, but nothing like as tough as the Fast Girls regime.’‘Top athletes are like warriors. Ten weeks of training gave me just a taste of what those people have to put themselves through to be the best. I’ve never experienced anything so intense.'Out of all the girls I was the most addicted to the exercise. I became especially addicted to sit-ups. If we were meant to do 600 a day, I’d aim for 800.

TECHNOLOGY & LOCATIONS• Fast Girls was released on both Blu-Ray and DVD; these were released on October 8th and is

also available on Netflix, Amazon and Google Play Movies. It also has its own Facebook page.

The GB Qualifiers scene was filmed in Queen Elizabeth II track, Enfield. The Championships in Barcelona were filmed inside Lea Valley Athletic Centre, also in Enfield. The derelict track where Lenora's character trains is filmed in Feltham, West London.

Fast Girls may be being pitched as Streetdance meets Bend It Like Beckham, but its star and co-writer Noel Clarke thinks its more “Rocky, with girls in lycra”. A tempting tagline for any potential buyer.

MUSIC• Strivin’ – Tor Cesay• Hold Me Close – Sabrina Jones• Spinnin’ for 2012 – Dionne Bromfield & Tinchy Stryder• Style - BZerQ• Supersize – E.J• Stay Awake - Example• Heaven – Emeli Sande• Earthquake – Labrinth feat Tinie Tempah• Just A Kid – Sabrina Jones & Robert Greenfield• Express Yourself - Labrinth• Special K – Arkell & Hargreaves

Labrinth is one of the main artists for the music and these songs were popular around the release. With recognisable songs within the film it makes it more modern and ties everything together as all of it was released around the same period.