Billy Elliot - Week 2

On Billy Elliot's official site (see address Julio posted in his comment) we can watch some short interviews with the actors and director and...much more!!!

Here are some excerpts of very interesting articles:

THE BIRTH OF BILLY ELLIOT
The inspiration to write the story for Billy Elliot came in a flash to screenwriter Lee Hall while living in America and writing about his own childhood. The story gestated for about a year, mostly because Hall was working on other projects, then in a flurry of inspiration, he completed the first draft in three weeks.
After further researching the art of ballet by visiting the Royal Ballet School to interview dancers hailing from small villages like Billy's, Hall showed the screenplay to Greg Brenman, head of Tiger Aspect's drama department, who was immediately taken by the story.
"The idea of a young boy growing up in a tough mining village who wants to become a ballet dancer was fantastically engaging," says Brenman... Read more

BRINGING BILLY ELLIOT TO LIFE
Now that the script was to everyone's liking, the search for the title character began. And everyone involved realized that the film's ultimate success lay in the part of Billy. For this role, the filmmakers auditioned over 2,000 boys.
"It was a nightmare at first seeing so many boys, and we started to think the film might be uncastable," says producer Finn.
Daldry agreed, and says, "It was a tall order to find a child who could dance as well as act, who came from the North East and had the right accent, and was also the right age. But eventually we found Jamie, who completely understood all the elements of the story, and he had that elusive thing that allows you to fall in love with a child and be terribly concerned about what happens to him. We found our needle in the haystack."
Jamie Bell, a 13-year-old from the northeastern town of Billingham, still can't believe his luck. It was through a friend of his that he was able to secure an audition, and after quite a few call-backs he was eventually chosen." ... read more

JULIO, HERE'S A CHALLENGE FOR YOU:

Further in this article, we can read

Director of Photography Brian Tufano, who has shot such edgy films as Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, was instrumental in setting the tone of the film. "Framing, composition, colors and texture are the elements you need to convey a story," he says. "Stephen knew exactly what he wanted and was happy for me to show him how he could achieve his vision on film."
Together, they decided to frame the mining village in a claustrophobic way to reflect the tight knit community. "The buildings were part of the narrative, so we framed them tight and had them spilling outside of the framework," explains Tufano. "When we shot the picket lines, we got right in there, making the camera a participant in the strike."
As for the dance scenes, Tufano shifted perspective to encompass a wider, more open frame, which was to enhance the feeling that Billy was breaking free of his surrounding constraints.
"We shot in the way they did in the 1930s for Fred Astaire's movies," says Tufano. "When Billy ventures out of his town to the audition, we wanted full emotional impact so we shot much more sky to show that his world was opening up."

Using your expertise in photography, what if you selected some of these scenes to illustrate what Director of Photography Brian Tufano points out above?
:-)
I bet everyone in class will love it!